Am I the only newbie to stand at the sink just lathering up repeatedly...

[Brandon P K]

...to compare different brushes and try to perfect my technique?

Just wondering.

[dpmtherrien]

Nothing at all wrong with doing that. It'll help all around with lather building and application techniques, so go for it.

[NickyBobby]

Maybe...but only because I do that and then shave my face...several times a day. :-) Eventually I think I'll have shaved my face down to the bone.

[danparker77]

You aren't the first and I doubt the last. My wife walked past the bathroom rolling her eyes an awful lot when I first started.

[FtVinnie]

Good practice. It will save you money and time and you will learn what you are doing.
But...It IS a symptom

Welcome to the B&B. Hope to hear from you now and then in the discussions.

[mistervee123]

No worries about lather practice. My philosophy was based on my coaching experience. How can you get good at something when you do it only once a day?

I bought a tube of Proraso and practiced away, making bowl after bowl of varied quality lather. It only took 1/3 to 1/2 of the tube before I was fairly proficient at adding water in appropriate amounts and whipping the lather into smooth-shiny, stiff peaks of good quality lather. The practice served me well. Who knows how long it would have taken otherwise?

[Ruston]

Nope
I even did a lot of palm lathering to simulate face lathering without getting too many confused looks from my wife.

[celestino]

Welcome, sir! That is a silly question as even the old guys do that periodically! HaHaHa. Keep up the good work and practice!

[syngent]

thanks goodness i didnt want to ask myself, im glad im not the only one great excuse for trying new scents and brushes and improve your lather skills nothing wrong with it at all !!

[Cochese2323]

I do it quite often, especially for lather. If I read a thread about a particular technique or something another member having success with a product I can't get to lather quite right. Or if I get some new product in, guaranteed it will be mixed up for test lather immediately.

[H.S.M.Jr.]

Brandon;

Welcome. It's good to have you join us here on B&B. No Sir, your not. Plenty of Noobs, and old farts like me do it too. Practice away.

[rxonmymind]

Your good. That is how one goes from being an apprentice to a pro. Keep it up.Enjoy!

[Brandon P K]

As a follow-up lathering question, I'm afraid I'm falling somewhere in between these three methods: Mantic59, the soap "sticky" page soap tutorial, and Marco's method - and this overload of different techniques is leaving me with very poor results from what I believe should be a great brush (Simpson Berkeley 46 in best).

This morning I soaked the brush in hot water and let a thin layer of water sit on top of my Tabac as I prepped with a hot towel. Then I squeezed the brush (a la B&B) and tried to load for 3 sec (a la Mantic59), which seemed like not nearly enough so I just went another 7 sec or so. The first pass of face lathering seemed okay, but was probably too dry in retrospect. However, the second pass wasn't good at all. I couldn't build much, and thinking I was dry, I dipped the brush and that just seemed to clean the lather OFF my face - as if the Berk was soaking it up...? I even tried loading more and continued this way, still not getting a great lather.

If I disregard Mantic (gasp!), it seems like maybe I need to load way longer? Or is it that I need to ignore B&B (eek!) and leave the brush much wetter...? I will continue to research and practice, but thought I'd put this out there for you kind fellows. Plus I hate seeing all that fine Tabac going down the drain just for practice!!

[Songwind]

Not even close to the only one to practice lather. :)

As for brush loading - 10 seconds doesn't seem like long enough at all. I generally load for 45-60 seconds.

[Songwind]

Huh. Under the influence of this thread I've been rewatching some videos. I think I may be flailing about without quite matching any suggestions, too.