Thermal Lather

Taking a trip with the intention of shaving while away from home requires just a bit of thought when packing up one’s shave gear, especially in these days of high airport security.

Last Spring, I had a very unusual and illuminating shaving experience while on such a trip. I had my traveling badger shave brush, a puck of my homemade shave soap and a Mach 3 handle with a packet of Mach 3 cartridges. I assumed that I’d be able to find a suitable vessel in our hotel room for the preparation of my shaving lather.

As it turned out, the only “vessel” in our hotel room capable of accommodating my shave soap puck was a styrofoam coffee cup. Added to that was the discovery that our hotel seemed to have no limits on how scalding hot its hot water could get. At home, my hot water tank is calibrated to produce water no hotter than 125º F.

The combination of the styrofoam cup together with the scalding hot tap water proved inspirational in the production of hot lather, a sensation that I had never before experienced. It was entirely seductive.

The hot lather softened and moistened my beard like never before. Despite my clear preference for Feather blades at home, I was delightfully surprised at how easily the Mach 3 blade plowed through my day old growth. The hot lather promoted a skin totally free of shave irritation. The same luxurious result occurred on days two and three.

When we arrived home, I resolved to continue using tempered lather on my face and neck while shaving. Toward this end, I discovered several web sites that offered shaving scuttles, including Georgetown Pottery in the U.S., Sara Bonnyman Pottery in Nova Scotia and a third one in Germany. All the scuttles were double-walled ceramic mugs with spouts capable of receiving hot water. I settled on the Georgetown Pottery scuttle as my hot lather vessel of choice.

The double-walled ceramic scuttle proved to be a great disappointment. The hot water used itself up in the heating of the ceramic, both inner wall and outer wall. There remained very little heat energy to be absorbed by the shaving lather. Dismayed by the poor existing options in the wet shaving marketplace, I returned the scuttle to Georgetown Pottery for a refund.

I still wanted hot lather for shaving. It was clearly far superior to room temperature lather. Out of this necessity, I evolved an electrically heated shaving mug, two pending patents and two trademarks. For the past three months, I’ve been in shaven heaven.

Pictures please.

Question: does your lather dry up if it get too hot?

A few people have asked me some questions about this new hot lather mug of mine. So, here goes.

What’s so special about this hot lather mug that’s different from other hot lather producers?

I’ve seen three different types of hot(?) lather producers:

(a) the ceramic scuttles that have been around for years (and referred to in my earlier posting on B&B). They’re heated by hot tap water and do a poor job of transmitting heat both to the double-walled ceramic mug AND the lather within the inner portion;

(b) the professional hot lather machines that we’ve all seen in barber shops. I don’t know much about what kind of soap or cream these machines require. However, my wife would not stand for one of these industrial looking machines in our residential bathroom; and

(c) the Conair units that require an aerosol can of commercial foam or gel. These Conair units produce the same stuff that comes out of the can, only it’s heated. I’ve never bothered to try one of these Conair units (mainly because I have never found an aerosol can of shaving cream or gel that worked for me).

My hot lather mug comprises a ceramic outer mug and a stainless steel inner bowl. Heat is applied only to the walls of the inner bowl. Importantly, the base of the inner bowl remains cool. This allows my hot lather mug to accept virtually any shaving soap, cream or gel. One generates lather with a shaving brush in the usual manner. When the generated lather hits the side walls of the inner bowl, it gets heated to form a very comfortably warm and moist lather. The skin feel is great, especially on a chilly morning.

How safe is your electrically energized hot lather mug?

First, I chose the power supply for my hot lather mug very, very carefully. The power supply is a wall adapter. It has an AC plug on its body that plugs directly into an AC wall outlet. That’s where the AC ends. Coming off the wall adapter is a six foot long standard length pigtail with an in-line jack at the end of it. The power output from the wall adapter is a very safe 25 watts DC.

My first safety test was to plug the wall adapter into the AC wall outlet. I then filled the nearby sink with water and plunged the live pigtail end of the wall adapter into the sink water. Nothing happened. The green pilot light of the wall adapter remained on and the GFI safety button of the AC wall outlet didn’t trigger. So, foolhardy me reached into the sink water, grabbed the end of the live pigtail and retrieved it from the water. I felt nothing, not even the hint of an electrical tickle.

Before I describe phase two of my safety testing, it should be noted that coming off the hot lather mug is another pigtail with an in-line plug at its end that mates to the jack at the end of the wall adapter. Power is supplied to the mug when the jack of the wall adapter is brought together with the plug of the mug.

Phase two of my insane testing comprised fully immersing the hot lather mug together with its pigtail underwater in the sink. I then plugged the wall adapter jack into the mug’s plug with everything under water (except for the wall adapter itself). I could then feel the walls of the hot lather mug start to heat up under water. My total hot lather mug system behaved even when fully immersed. I can't imagine a more stringent safety test for my hot lather mug. (A friend of mine suggested that the greatest risk of this mug is to drop it on a big toe ... and fracture the toe.)

If I can figure out how, I will try to post at least a photo or two on B&B. I welcome comments and inquiries, both public and private.

The hot lather mug has a very well controlled and targeted heat zone on its side walls. The lather remains moist throughout my three pass shave.

Yes....pics please...very interested in this product. I solve this problem by face lathering...no bowl required.

Here's a photo of one of my hot lather mugs in orange. The one that's in daily use in my bathroom is black.

ShavenMaven said:

Here's a photo of one of my hot lather mugs in orange. The one that's in daily use in my bathroom is black.

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Looks great. I'm sure scuttle users would be interested, but I only face lather, myself.

Very cool! I'm sure you could find plenty of willing beta testers here on B&B! If it goes into production, my vote is to keep the speckled orange mug option along with the basic black. And maybe make it in the US...

Awesome! I'd take one in white.

Let us know if and when you go into production. Looks great.

I have been using a hot plate to keep lather warm - but it is big and ugly and SWMBO would love to see me ditch it.

Wow, that is interesting. If I were into hot lather I would definitely buy one of those.

ShavenMaven said:

Here's a photo of one of my hot lather mugs in orange. The one that's in daily use in my bathroom is black.

Click to expand...

Very nice ShavenMaven...love it

Do you want a Guinea-pig to test it and critique it before going into production? I'd gladly offer ny services....

ShavenMaven said:

My hot lather mug comprises a ceramic outer mug and a stainless steel inner bowl. Heat is applied only to the walls of the inner bowl. Importantly, the base of the inner bowl remains cool.

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I don't understand how you can heat the walls of the inner stainless steel bowl, but have the bottom of the bowl remain cool. I understand the heat is only applied to the walls, but how do you keep the heat from transferring from the walls to the base?

ShavenMaven said:

Importantly, the base of the inner bowl remains cool. This allows my hot lather mug to accept virtually any shaving soap, cream or gel.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that if it was not cool, but it was hot it would somehow be a problem?

Yes, I have explored the idea of the unit heating up on a base. It does not work. The heat has to be selectively applied to the inner bowl. Unlike copper, my first choice of material for the inner bowl, stainless steel is a relatively poor conductor of heat. For my purposes, that was great for this product. The copper inner bowl was taking the heat and transferring it throughout the device and rapidly disipating the heat everywhere. The shave soap puck was melting as it sat in the base of the inner copper bowl. It was a mess. The lip of the inner copper bowl was getting too hot to touch (unacceptable).

With a stainless steel inner bowl, designed and built to my specific dimensions and shape, I achieved the optimal condition of the shave soap puck remaining unaffected until a shave brush starts attacking it for the production of lather. The produced lather hits the sidewalls of the inner bowl and the rest is history.

The base of the stainless steel bowl doesn't remain cold per se. But, it also does not heat to anywhere close to the level of the sidewalls. So, it's a very workable compromise.

My patents also cover the possibility of using induction (see the Braun toothbrush) for the purpose of selective heating. I don't know if this part of my application will ultimately be accepted or rejected by the USPTO in light of other patents in this area. Certainly, my proposed possible use of induction for an energized shaving mug is unique.

From a safety perspective, there are other concerns relating to the use of induction or a split primary and secondary circuit. I don't want my device to be unusable by people with any kind of implanted device in their bodies. The magnetism associated with induction poses such issues. They would have to be thoroughly (and very expensively) researched before I would place such a device in the market.

More.....more........must know more!!!

Very, very cool.

Catalin said:

Do you want a Guinea-pig to test it and critique it before going into production? I'd gladly offer ny services....

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Catalin:

Thank you for the "guinea pig" offer. I believe that this product is now beyond that stage, thanks to my willingness to electrify my body for the common good. (Please see my safety test posting.)

RocketMan said:

More.....more........must know more!!!

Very, very cool.

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This product is now available commercially. I'm continuing to investigate and evaluate the benefits of offering it in the Vendors' Forum. The problem is that the activity in the B&B Vendors' Forum appears to be minimal. I am certainly willing to entertain offering it at a preferred price in the Vendors' Forum to B&B members. (I hope I'm not inadvertently crossing the line of good behavior. If I am, please remove this responsive post.)

Very nice invention. I look forward to seeing your product for sale and I'm interested to see what they will cost to buy. If it's priced right I would definitely pick one up. Thanks for sharing.