Something that's got me lathered up

Initially, when I started wet shaving, I'd build my lather in a bowl, get it where I wanted it to be, and then apply it to my face like painting a fence. I actually had pretty variable results with this - sometimes it'd be OK, sometimes it'd run off my face, sometimes it's dry out (even when the consistency in the bowl looked and at least initially felt the same!).

Now, I'm still lathering in the bowl, but I'm actually spending more time face lathering with it - so, instead of some light swipes to get coverage, I'm swirling aggressively to develop the lather even further.

I've found the slickness and cushioning to be far better and far more consistent than what I was doing before. And the alum results are clear - I'm not doing nearly as much face torture with this method!

Perhaps I'm stating what everyone already knows. It has, though, made things a LOT more comfortable for me.

Congratulations on working it out! It's great when you get a sudden improvement from time to time.

From what I understand the lathering on the face works it down against your skin more effectively. And maybe helps the hair to stand up better. I'm not sure, but I know it's a nice felling to lather with a good brush on my face. One of my favorite parts of the whole deal.

I just started to face lather, last week, with Arko. Seems to work good, but tricky . I tend to get it too thick, at times.

I started face lathering over four years ago and haven't lathered in a bowl since.

I am with you. Your post mirrors my experience and process exactly.

It's a great thing when you figure out what works for you! I've been lathering directly on the soap and taking that slickness straight to the face, working it in nice and easy. I think face lathering makes a world of a difference when I have a couple days' growth.

Either way, congrats on the improvement and keep enjoying the shaves!

DaltonGang said:

I just started to face lather, last week, with Arko. Seems to work good, but tricky . I tend to get it too thick, at times.

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I have noticed that Arko is MUCH thicker than the VDH I was using previously. The first time I used about the same amount of water on the brush and it was thick as drywall mud! Well, maybe not quite that thick.

I have a bowl but face lather 100% of the time. I just use the bowl to soak my brush and rinse my razor out as I shave (keeps the sink cleaner, and saves water).

Even when you bowl lather you need to work it on your face and I found that leaving it a tad dry when bowl lathering was best so that I could work out a bit more on my face. Now I face or palm lather most of the time and find the bowl isn't really that great in comparison.

rossij07 said:

I have a bowl but face lather 100% of the time. I just use the bowl to soak my brush and rinse my razor out as I shave (keeps the sink cleaner, and saves water).

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That's a great idea Rossi! I do like to soak my washcloth in the hot water in the sink though.

BSAGuy said:

I am with you. Your post mirrors my experience and process exactly.

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+1

I've started doing a bit of both. I'm a head and face shaver, so I use the bowl to work up a good amount of lather. But as I apply it, if I find it a little too dry, I add water to the brush and rebuild directly on my face/head, rather than adding the water to the bowl and rebuilding.

Even bowl latherers like me are partly face-latherers, too. You need to work it in a bit rather than just paint it on.