Too much product?

[neilz4]

Is it possible to use too much soap when building a lather? I use an HIS synthetic which I've noticed (as well as others) takes much less product to get a great lather going. Despite this, I loaded up at least 45 seconds of MWF into it, letting the slag drip into my bowl. I added a few drops of glycerin and a few of my homemade PSO (mostly grapeseed oil, with lanolin oil, castor oil and glycerin) and this bowl had flowing lather in seconds.

Now, I added about as much water as I could without the lather bursting out of the bowl, but during the shave I kept on feeling like the razor head (not blade) would drag/skip across my skin during a pass. However, the lather felt uber-slick in my fingers when I tested it prior to application on the face.

Did I just not have enough water? Too much soap? I don't know what I did wrong here.

[Eric83]

Do you use anything on your face for pre-shave?

[Sullybob]

It sounds like you needed to work your lather longer. What was the consistency of your lather? It should be thick like soft whipped cream or yogurt. You might want to try making lather with out adding the extra oils and glycerin.

If you can take a picture of you lather it will be easier for us to troubleshoot it for you.

[turtle]

It sounds like you needed to work your lather longer.

Would be my guess also (without pics)

[Sullybob]

Take a look at this thread, it's full of lather pictures. Notice in post #9 the lather goes from bubbly to thick and creamy. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of what your lather should look like.

[neilz4]

You can also see in the bowl that there are two stiff peaks standing up.

I'm also thinking I didn't have enough water, or understirred lather. Would using, let's say, half as much soap and = amounts of water/stirring do better next time?

[SliceOfLife]

That's almost absurdly airy.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/PICT0154.jpg

This pic is a couple years old, so I can't say I recall the soap (was to show off the brush after I had it made), but this is something I lathered up in a mug just for a quick pic. In my experience MWF does tend to be a bit airy, but that is far worse than I remember it being. I'd guess You're leaving the brush too wet before you load and as such are actually getting too little product (and no elasticity in the lather, just bubbles).

[jsj_297]

Sounds like not enough arko in the mix........

$2 a stick, never had this problem, and your load time gets cut down by 30 secs too.;)

[Sullybob]

Your lather looks pretty thin and airy. I'm not familiar with the brush you are using but I would double your loading time. Also, take a look at this tutorial on how to make a great lather, notice the amount of soap he has on his brush when he is done loading.

[ackvil]

I have the same brush as you but use it as a travel brush with shave sticks. I tried using it when bowl lathering but found it retains a tremendous amount of water and the lather it made was too thin unless I removed more water than usual from the brush.

I would agree with what Shawn said above: the lather to me looks on the thin side. Try loading more, whipping it more, and use less water.

[deruitem]

Your lather looks pretty thin and airy. I'm not familiar with the brush you are using but I would double your loading time. Also, take a look at this tutorial on how to make a great lather, notice the amount of soap he has on his brush when he is done loading.

+1

[TallyShave]

I agree on the thin and airy comments. You will often see people oohing and ahhing over pics of nearly identical lather, but people love to see "stiff peaks" and voluminous lather. I have no idea why. The "stiff peak" phenomenon around here is one of the most overblown of them all. I like my lather to look like slightly thickened yogurt...no stiff peaks and shiny as hell. All too often stiff peaks means too much air and not enough product or water. Ian's picture in his link might not get the crowd drooling, but I bet it shaves better than most of the lather porn pictures posted around here.

[SEnSE]

That's almost absurdly airy.

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/j...1/PICT0154.jpg

This pic is a couple years old, so I can't say I recall the soap (was to show off the brush after I had it made), but this is something I lathered up in a mug just for a quick pic. In my experience MWF does tend to be a bit airy, but that is far worse than I remember it being. I'd guess You're leaving the brush too wet before you load and as such are actually getting too little product (and no elasticity in the lather, just bubbles).

Awesome!

I agree on the thin and airy comments. You will often see people oohing and ahhing over pics of nearly identical lather, but people love to see "stiff peaks" and voluminous lather. I have no idea why. The "stiff peak" phenomenon around here is one of the most overblown of them all. I like my lather to look like slightly thickened yogurt...no stiff peaks and shiny as hell. All too often stiff peaks means too much air and not enough product or water. Ian's picture in his link might not get the crowd drooling, but I bet it shaves better than most of the lather porn pictures posted around here.

+1

[LegionPrime]

I was having similar problems with MWS, I'd get really airy lather no matter how long I brush loaded. It would be thin, then airy and if I added more water it would just collapse into soup. I started snurdling a snurdle into my lather bowl and then working that into a great lather. Plus it saves you all that time loading.

[Predict]

Less water. You want your lather shiny. If it has a matte look to it that's too much water/air not enough product.

[neilz4]

Your lather looks pretty thin and airy. I'm not familiar with the brush you are using but I would double your loading time. Also, take a look at this tutorial on how to make a great lather, notice the amount of soap he has on his brush when he is done loading.

This is actually the lathering method that I use every time. Start dry and work the water in, essentially.

Should I just do a full minute upside-down load and then add water slowly into my bowl?

[Sullybob]

I agree on the thin and airy comments. You will often see people oohing and ahhing over pics of nearly identical lather, but people love to see "stiff peaks" and voluminous lather. I have no idea why. The "stiff peak" phenomenon around here is one of the most overblown of them all. I like my lather to look like slightly thickened yogurt...no stiff peaks and shiny as hell. All too often stiff peaks means too much air and not enough product or water. Ian's picture in his link might not get the crowd drooling, but I bet it shaves better than most of the lather porn pictures posted around here.

The stiff peaks always make me think the lather is brittle and not elastic or cushioning. The yogurt lather is elastic and very hydrating.

This is actually the lathering method that I use every time. Start dry and work the water in, essentially.

Should I just do a full minute upside-down load and then add water slowly into my bowl?

I would load for more then a minute, go for 90 seconds, or more. Using to much soap is almost never a problem, not using enough soap is always a problem. If you have to much soap to start with you can add water and you will just have more lather then you need. Once you have your lathering figured out you can adjust your loading times so that you have just enough lather. Also, MWF is a really hard puck of soap, I find that I need to load much longer then I do with other soaps. You might want to try adding a tablespoon of water to the top of the puck and letting it soak in, that will soften the soap and make it a little easier to load. Try adding water a few drops at a time and incorporating it completely before you add more water.

[SliceOfLife]

Looking like Yogurt is a good analogy. I think of it as fresh whipped cream (real stuff, not canned goop). It should shine like it's wet and have a nice thick texture but spread out smoothly and evenly.

There should be weight to it. I'd imagine that brush in OP's pic weighs barely more with all that lather than it did right before he loaded it. If your lather is weightless, it's not going to do much protecting.

[Toddy]

Imagine you were going to spread it on top of your trifle or fill your brandy snaps or cream cakes with it. If it were cream would it be thick enough?

[takeshi]

Is it possible to use too much soap when building a lather?

Not really. You may load more soap than you really need but if that happens all you need to do is add more water to adjust.

However, the lather felt uber-slick in my fingers when I tested it prior to application on the face.

Did I just not have enough water? Too much soap? I don't know what I did wrong here.

Try leaving the glycerin out as it's confusing the matter. Focus on building proper lather and then add the glycerin back (think of it as gravy) once you have your lathering technique down.