Shave stick lather "thicker" than puck soap?

I've been face lathering using a Speick shave stick the last couple of days. The lather doesn't peak like when I whip up some puck soap in a bowl and doesn't seem as "creamy" as even Williams puck. I had so much water in my brush today that it dripped onto the counter some when I set it down. The stick lather also seems to collect under the blade of my 1912 more, but the shaves are fine.

I was wondering if this is normal, or if I'm getting a bit too much soap on the face before I start hitting it with the wet brush. I've used two restored Ever-Ready brushes; a 150 with a 20mm finest badger set at ~47mm loft and a 79 with an 18mm finest badger set at ~45mm loft.

Sounds like a little too much soap on the face. For some reason brushes like to hold more water while loading the soap on the face, rather than allowing the water to mix with soap when bowl lathering. If you start with a drier brush and spend more time dipping just the tips of the brush into water then back to the face you should get more "bowl-like" lather. I'd also suggest starting with too little soap and gradually work more soap until you find the perfect amount of soap for you and your brushes.
In my experience, for some reason, less dense brushes seem to be more forgiving with a face lather than very tightly packed denser brushes. I have no idea why, or if other people have ever noticed this as well.

Thanks, that seemed to work a "little" better, but I think I still had too much soap this morning.

I tried to lather what was left in the brush, after the shave, in my bowl but it didn't do much. I swirled the brush over the end of the shave stick for about 2 seconds then back to the bowl...made good lather. I probably need to just experiment a little more, and see how a boar brush works.

Hope I can get it down...I think I'll use the MMOC tomorrow.

My theory is that however long you would expect to swirl the brush on the puck is about the same amount of time you should run the stick over your face.

I never had much success with the Speick stick. Worked fine and all, but not the same quality of lather I was used to getting. Milled it into a bowl and it was MUCH better...

Keep in mind I don't really enjoy face lathering anything so...

Spiek lather "thicker" than Williams???

I'm shocked! It's inconcievable!

Seraphim said:

Spiek lather "thicker" than Williams???

I'm shocked! It's inconcievable!

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Maybe I didn't "phrase" that right.

I get better lather out of bowl lathering Williams than the lather I've gotten so far by face lathering Speick.

simon1 said:

Thanks, that seemed to work a "little" better, but I think I still had too much soap this morning.

I tried to lather what was left in the brush, after the shave, in my bowl but it didn't do much. I swirled the brush over the end of the shave stick for about 2 seconds then back to the bowl...made good lather. I probably need to just experiment a little more, and see how a boar brush works.

Hope I can get it down...I think I'll use the MMOC tomorrow.

Click to expand...

My kind of guy!
I think it's pretty easy to load too much soap from a stick. For most of my sticks, if I can see a layer on my face, it's too much. The right amount always looks like too little. Of course the exact amount of soap varies with the brush used and all that.

Go West Young Man said:

My theory is that however long you would expect to swirl the brush on the puck is about the same amount of time you should run the stick over your face.

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That's a good idea. I've never thought of it that way, but it sounds right to me. Great suggestion