I am not good at making lather with shave soap

[rwdflynavy]

Title says it all. I'm no good. I've looked at some videos and posts but could use some knowledge. I've got a couple glycerin based soaps and the soap in the VDH(?) starter pack. Any thoughts?

[Reggi L. Beasley]

Me neither... sorry for the lack of valuable input. Today my lather was so bad, I had to add some shaving cream to lt just to get a usable lather.

[rwdflynavy]

I used a shave cream today and got a much better shave than my first DE yesterday trying to make lather out of the soap.

[BrookR1]

Soak the puck in water (submerge it) in its bowl while you shower. Also soak your brush, when you finish showering, pour the top layer of water off and lightly squeeze out some of the water in your shave brush. Try swirling your brush on the puck for a couple of minutes and see if you don't get better results. If you don't get good results, then try a proven soap (Arko is very easy to lather).

When I first started, I bought the VDH set and had a terrible time with the soap. I tossed it after a couple of uses.

[seizure]

My experience is with soaps you need more water than you think. With a glycerin based soap like Mama Bear, I tend to add what seems like a lot of water.

Soak your brush, shake it out a few times rather hard (or give it a gentle squeeze), and go to town on the puck. Move to your bowl and add a few drops of water. Swirl and pump a bit, add some more water. I tend to add 3 batches of water with most soap, anywhere from 3-10 drops of water at a time. I just kinda eyeball it.

Just practice, practice, practice. Go spend a half hour in your bathroom making batch after batch. That's really the best way to learn - once you can do it a few times, you'll get the hang of it and those skills transfer to almost any other soap. It may seem stupid and a waste of product, but it'll make your future shaves much more efficient (no struggles making lather) and enjoyable (actually useful lather).

[rockviper]

Brucered has some really good videos out there for various soaps.
I made a few (not as good as Bruce's) using MamaBear's sticks, pucks and samples. You can find them on my wiki or on Sue's (Mama Bear) site.

The keys for me are:
- let the puck soak, barely covered with water while you shower
- don't have too much water in your brush to start (it's easier to add water than remove it)
- don't mash your brush into the puck, just swirl away until the brush is fully loaded and the lather starts to thicken
- transfer to a bowl/mug and start building lather, adding 5-6 drops of water every 30 secs or so until your lather starts to explode (or if you face lather, start building lather on your face, adding water to the brush until your lather is nice and creamy)
- much better results are obtained by using more soap than needed rather than saving 1/10 of a cent by skimping on product

[Techichi]

Great advice above. Keep on trying. Takes practice to get it down perfect. Load the brush good.

Also, if you have a boar...make sure to give it time. It may need to break in a bit.

[Cynomys]

Without more information, it's hard to say what the problem is. But here are a couple of points to consider:

1) Make sure you are using plenty of product. It never hurts to use a lot.

2) Face lathering (or palm lathering) seems to be easier than bowl lathering.

Also, if you live in an area with hard water, you can expect it will be a bit more difficult.

[Ski-Patroller]

Title says it all. I'm no good. I've looked at some videos and posts but could use some knowledge. I've got a couple glycerin based soaps and the soap in the VDH(?) starter pack. Any thoughts?

Try using de-ionized or distilled water. If you have hard water this will make a huge difference. When I go back to the midwest, I always end up using bottled water to shave. (Wife's home town in NW Missouri has very hard water)


My technique is to soak the brush for a minute or so, and squeeze most of the water out. I rinse the puck and then make 80 to 100 circular passes around the puck. Then ad about a teaspoon of water to my lather bowl and start working the brush in the bowl. 30 sec. or so produces a great lather. I add additional water if necessary. I would rather start with a little less water because it is easier to add water than more soap.

There is nothing magic about this method, it just gets the right amount of soap and water for my brush (Simpson Col.) and our soft water.

[Zarba]

Title says it all. I'm no good. I've looked at some videos and posts but could use some knowledge. I've got a couple glycerin based soaps and the soap in the VDH(?) starter pack. Any thoughts?

Thoroughly wet your brush, then give it a good squeeze to remove excess water. Then rub briskly over the soap for 30-40 seconds. After 20-25 seconds incorporate the "pump" motion to get soap all the way into the knot. After 40 seconds, face lather, adding a few drops of water if needed (I dip by brush in water, shake off the excess, and that seems to do the trick for me). As Ski said, you can add water, but you can't remove it...

I like my VDH, but have found that L'Occitane Cade is better for my face, and though it's more expensive, it's hard milled and lasts forever. I've had a puck since December, and it's got many months left. Amazing stuff.

Hang in there, and don't give up hope.

[Haggises]

Been there, doing that. Having some problems with pucks, tried creams, got a lot better with a horsehair brush.
Then, about 10 minutes ago I made the most copious amounts of good slick lather I'd ever seen. Used the old VDH boar brush, a bowl and the secret ingredient...Arko, just a little smushed against the bowl.
I was amazed.

[Whilliam]

I've gotten great results using B&B's "Uber Lather" formula and instructions. If anything, I always end up with enough lather for about five shaves, whether I use a badger or a bristle brush. FWIW, I use a dollop of "Real Shaving" cream, the requisite three drops of glycerin and Yardley Lavender Bath Soap (cut to fit a coffee cup). Whips up just fine for me; it is certainly worth a try.

[njpaddy]

Without more information, it's hard to say what the problem is. But here are a couple of points to consider:

1) Make sure you are using plenty of product. It never hurts to use a lot.

2) Face lathering (or palm lathering) seems to be easier than bowl lathering.

Also, if you live in an area with hard water, you can expect it will be a bit more difficult.

I agree. If you can't get a good lather with 50 swirls on the soap, do 100 swirls or even 200 swirls or more. First figure out what's overkill, then dial it back. Try it with shaking much of the water out of the brush and try it without shaking the water out. Also don't wait until it's time to shave and you're pressed for time, practice just for the fun of it when it's not time to shave. I'm not even going to admit how long it took me to get good at it with my well water, but with plenty of product and practice, it will come. For me, creams were easier to lather in the beginning. I didn't appreciate soaps until I began face lathering.

[Dusty1]

Just practice. Get it wet with a teaspoon of water before the shower, then load up with a mostly wet brush for at least 30 seconds. Then in a bowl whip it up without water for 30 seconds, then add a flick of water and whip for 20 seconds and repeat until the foam really starts to come out. That's it! If you see a bunch of tiny bubbles, quit adding water and you're done. Try doing this without shaving and keep adding water until you add too much so you know what it looks like.

Soap is worth it, it works great and is very economical. Don't forget that some soaps don't work well with certain types of water, just find out what works for you. Hope this helps.

[rwdflynavy]

Thanks for the hints guys!!

[garyg]

I found that with harder water it takes much more time to load the brush sufficiently, and with a couple soaps it wasn't worth the trip. There is a pretty large gap in load time (again just my humble observation) from soap to soap. I can get a great lather from Tabac or Irisch Moos in 15 seconds loading, Mitchell's Wool Fat takes so long I forget to stop .. same water, same brush.

Oh, and yes the brush changes it as well ..

[Mike'sWorld]

Do whatever you have to do with your setup to load more product. When I was starting out that was always my problem. Longer load time, more swirls, wet soap, wetter brush.

[stuart12dz]

The following:

Soak the puck in water (submerge it) in its bowl while you shower. Also soak your brush, when you finish showering, pour the top layer of water off and lightly squeeze out some of the water in your shave brush. Try swirling your brush on the puck for a couple of minutes and see if you don't get better results.

Then face lather. You do not need a bowl full of lather in order to shave. Face lathering gives you better feedback on the quality of your lather.

[denim]

Just practice, practice, practice. Go spend a half hour in your bathroom making batch after batch. That's really the best way to learn - once you can do it a few times, you'll get the hang of it and those skills transfer to almost any other soap. It may seem stupid and a waste of product, but it'll make your future shaves much more efficient (no struggles making lather) and enjoyable (actually useful lather).

It's less of a waste of product than using it as a bath bar or tossing it in the trash.

[Mandina]

Great advice in general (including that you can see the "wetter vs. drier brush" schools of thought in this thread). I had the same problem, but after five months have finally learned to face-lather soaps quite decently (and btw, using a wetter brush was the key for me, but a drier brush obviously works for many other shavers). 1+ on practice, practice.

1+ also on Arko, as well as various other shave sticks. They're almost as easy to use as the canned stuff, but commonly provide a wonderful shave.