Lather building

Okay, normally I start my lather building with a "dry" brush, meaning I give it a good squeeze and few flicks. Cream is then added to the brush, I press the cream into the brush a bit (i.e., I don't just wipe the cream off on the tips of the brush). Now I start swirling the brush around the bowl, add a few drops of water, repeat until lather is the consistency I want. This is all fine and dandy, but I think this method is leaving me with lather that is drier than I probably want/need.

So, the other day I started the lather building process with a wet brush. After soaking the brush during my shower I simply lifted it out of the bowl and let it "drain" until the constant stream of water stopped, no squeezing, no flicking. Again, I added cream brush, same as before ... then to the bowl ... BOOM ... an explosion of large bubbled lather, literally frothing over the sides of the bowl. Stir, stir, stir, whip, whip, whip. After a minute or so without adding any more water I had a very nice meringue consistency with very, very small bubbles. Cool.

I really like the results of starting with a wet brush, but if the brush was too wet then I could see the lather being really thin and undesirable. I am posting this to see what others do. With my old technique, was I started with too dry of a brush. Maybe I need to try somewhere in the middle? Both methods resulted in good shaves, so I can't say that one method was/is superior to the other. Any thoughts?

Here's my two cents, jkh...

I just bought a bigger bowl and, like the lather geek I am, I came home and tried it out with some Taylor's Avocado cream and my Shavemac 177. Results were excellent.

First, I soaked the brush and bowl as usual for about five minutes in hot water. Then, I took the brush out of the water (in the bowl) and shook it "dry." (I didn't wring it out, though.) Next, I dumped the water out of the bowl, which always leaves about a half a teaspoon of water at the bottom, I've found. I do the "dip the tips of the brush in the cream and give it a half turn" trick, so I did that. Then came the whipping. At first, the cream was drier than usual, and I can only assume that was because of the surface area of the new bowl. So, I did what I usually only have to do once, which was dip my hand into the sink (straight-fingered; I don't make a bowl with my hand), and quickly moved whatever small amount of water I get on my fingers to the bowl. Then I whipped some more. I had to do this twice today, but I got twice as much lather, and it seemed at least equally slick.

This being said, my lather is usually satisfactory for me -- doesn't dry out, seems adequately protective and slick, etc. -- but it usually gets colder than I want it to be. I was toying with the idea of lathering it to the first fingertip dip of water before I get in the shower and putting the bowl back into the hot water in the sink while I shower. After the shower, I can add a little more water and finish off the lather before I shave. Anyone ever do that -- pre-lather in the bowl and let it sit for a bit in the hot water bath?

I tend to go on the drier side because it's easy to adjust up by adding more water. This is especially true when I'm using soaps. With creams I leave the brush a bit wetter but still like to make sure I am dialing the lather in by adding water. Some creams are more forgiving than others but agian I would rather add water than more soap or cream - no reason for that just my particular lathering quirks.