How do you apply the obscene amount of lather you whip up in a bowl?

[Inverness11]

Thanks to this site I've been experimenting with a lather bowl and love making a ton of lather. However, once you have the bowl overflowing with lather, how do you put it on? When I try to put it on with a brush big puffs of lather fall off the brush and plop on the floor. I suppose I could just put it on my face with my hand like I did with my Gillette foamy, but what's the fun in that? So what do you guys do?

[Ookla The Mok]

I use a brush. Working your stubble with the brush and massaging the face are the best part. You could wipe all that excess lather around the sides off. The stuff that counts is IN the brush not on it.

I used to have huge overflowing bowls of lather, but i switched to using less soap/cream and a smaller vessel. Call me cheap, but I don't like washing 10 facefuls of lather down the drain. I suppose this is part of the reason I have been leaning more toward the soap and face lathering side lately.

[PottyDoctor]

I've always made obscene amounts of copious lather just for the luxury factor I guess! However, I too am trying to 'reduce' the amount of lather I wash down the drain...after all, it all costs money and there's no sense in wasting it.

[Big_E]

Unlike these fine shavers, I haven't successfully practiced moderation with my shaving lather and my cup always runneth over. I shake my brush briskly against the inside of the shaving mug. Lots of lather stays on but any that will fall off will do so at this time. I saw this in an old tv show, you can learn alot from watching old movies and shows. It was an I Love Lucy show. The orchestra members had put Lucy in a barbers chair and commenced to brush shaving lather all over her face. They shook the shaving brush against the inside of their shaving mug to release any loose lather and kept the brush in it's own seperate hot water mug to keep it warm between passes. When Lucy opened her mouth to sing, the orchestra members stuffed the lather laden brush into her mouth, funny!
Ernest

[Mr Mockett]

I always have enough lather for 4+ passes, but my bowl never actually runneth over.

[JohnP]

Or....you could join the dark side and learn the wonders of lathering directly on your face....then all you'd need (if you wanted) would be a Moss scuttle or a bowl of hot water to keep your lather hot between passes....
I have lots of mugs, bowls, etc. but for some time now the actual lathering is always directly on my face. Why would you waste hot lather warming up a bowl, anyway? When I do use a bowl, it is usually for demonstrating, e.g. some of my older reviews on here and elsewhere, the amount of lather that a given product produces.

Try it. It's ok, the bowl police won't know.....
John P.

[cl00bie]

Thanks to this site I've been experimenting with a lather bowl and love making a ton of lather. However, once you have the bowl overflowing with lather, how do you put it on? When I try to put it on with a brush big puffs of lather fall off the brush and plop on the floor. I suppose I could just put it on my face with my hand like I did with my Gillette foamy, but what's the fun in that? So what do you guys do?

If it's falling off the brush and onto the floor, it's probably not thick enough. Are you making a ton of lather out of soap or cream?

[aus71383]

I never had any problems with my old boar brush and Williams' soap, but once I got some glycerine based soap (Col. Conk) I had a hard time keeping soap in the brush. I got my new badger hair brush (Rooney 3/1 G.S.) today and had to try it out....it works much better. The soap/lather stays in the brush, and goes thicker on my face. Maybe I just got better at using the glycerine, or maybe it was the brush. But if you need an excuse to try a different brush, there you go!....

Austin

[adamjaskie]

I have the same problem, green Proraso and a Burma Shave boar brush in a bowl, tons of lather, falls all over the counter.

How do I make my lather thicker? More swirling? Less water? MORE water?

[Mr Mockett]

I have the same problem, green Proraso and a Burma Shave boar brush in a bowl, tons of lather, falls all over the counter.

How do I make my lather thicker? More swirling? Less water? MORE water?

Most likely less water. There are some great stickied topics on how to make good lather.

1. Shake out your brush
2. Use only a snurdle of cream, or if soap, don't overload the brush (it's just a waste)
3. Swirl!
4. Add water in drops, not in great quantities.

[Rei]

The stuff that counts is IN the brush not on it.

I used to have huge overflowing bowls of lather, but i switched to using less soap/cream and a smaller vessel. Call me cheap, but I don't like washing 10 facefuls of lather down the drain. I suppose this is part of the reason I have been leaning more toward the soap and face lathering side lately.

Exactly. I use a mug and soap (generally) and just use the mug to prime the lather. I then lather on my face. There isn't much lather in the mug when I do it this way, and my face gets a good massage.

Recently I've been using a cream because I had some creams that I want to use up so that I don't feel wasteful, but once that tub is gone, I will be back to soaps and face lathering.

[merwtje]

Most likely less water. There are some great stickied topics on how to make good lather.

1. Shake out your brush
2. Use only a snurdle of cream, or if soap, don't overload the brush (it's just a waste)
3. Swirl!
4. Add water in drops, not in great quantities.

That's the way to do it but it is so easy to use to much water and you end up with a lather that is not thick enough

[arcman]

No matter how much lather I make, which can be quite a bit even from just a small amount of cream, I've never had any trouble with it not sticking to the brush enough for me to massage it well into my face. Maybe you've gotten it too thin / too watered down?

[aus71383]

If its too watery just keep mixing it up, or add more soap. Depending on the soap, your brush, your water, etc... you may not look like Santa Claus - but if its slick enough to allow the razor to slide, and wet enough to stay that way until you're through with each pass, then its doing its job. When I get a bad lather (usually too dry is my problem) sometimes I just shave half my face and re-lather before doing the other half. This might be because I'm lazy though...

Austin

[Mr Mockett]

That's the way to do it but it is so easy to use to much water and you end up with a lather that is not thick enough

Agreed. That's why it's important to add water very slowly, and in drops.