Face lather hydration

I switched to face lathering and I'm finding that my first pass of lather is shiny and creamy, but all subsequent passes are like a paste. If I try to add more water it quickly becomes too watery so I feel like a catch-22.

I didn't have this problem as much with bowl lathering, but I will mention that I do have hard water. Is it possible that the soap and cream are reacting with the water while I shave? And/Or a technique issue while face lathering?

Just a guess, but...when you "add more water" you might be adding too much. I just barely dip the brush in water to do this...can always add more...subtraction is not an option.

I add water a few drops at a time, as little as a drop or two sometimes. Not directly from the faucet, I wet my hand and let the drops fall onto the brush. I have more control this way.

What soap? What is your water soft/hard?

oldtrout said:

I add water a few drops at a time, as little as a drop or two sometimes. Not directly from the faucet, I wet my hand and let the drops fall onto the brush. I have more control this way.

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+1 on this. Drip just a few drops at a time until right mix is achieved... works for me every time even with hard (250 ppm) water.

I just lightly tip the brush in water and it's usually enough for a second lathering.

I have found that I prefer the subsequent passes as they are generally slicker....... all I ever do is rinse after c the first pass and lather up again. Seems that the residual water on my face is enough to make a great second or third pass. I also don't really "lather" after the first pass, mostly just apply in a painting fashion.

Load/lather on your puck then transfer to face for final lathering. Your puck will have a generous amount of near-lather for any subsequent passes. That's the way I learned from my father.

Face lathering never develops the lather as much as palm lathering (best) or bowl (second best). If you can afford get the nicest scuttle you can afford. For any given soap or cream it makes the nicest lather.

Illinois said:

Face lathering never develops the lather as much as palm lathering (best) or bowl (second best). If you can afford get the nicest scuttle you can afford. For any given soap or cream it makes the nicest lather.

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Disagree here, I find face-lathering to give the most usable lather. Maybe not the prettiest but the best for shaving.

Shiloh said:

Just a guess, but...when you "add more water" you might be adding too much. I just barely dip the brush in water to do this...can always add more...subtraction is not an option.

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+1. This is what I do too. I face lather almost all of the time and I always find the lather tends to get a bit drier between each pass. I don't always need to add more water but it does always get drier as I go. I also start with a very wet brush.

Scott

Ducati Scotty said:

+1. This is what I do too. I face lather almost all of the time and I always find the lather tends to get a bit drier between each pass. I don't always need to add more water but it does always get drier as I go. I also start with a very wet brush.

Scott

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I also rinse between passes and leave face very wet and this helps rehydrate the lather as it's applied.

shaversnapper said:

I have found that I prefer the subsequent passes as they are generally slicker....... all I ever do is rinse after c the first pass and lather up again. Seems that the residual water on my face is enough to make a great second or third pass. I also don't really "lather" after the first pass, mostly just apply in a painting fashion.

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+1

Tallships said:

I just lightly tip the brush in water and it's usually enough for a second lathering.

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Same here. To the OP, do you load enough soap or cream?

I seem to have that problem also. I rinse my face after, leave water on my face, and apply the next lather. Each lather gets worse. The first is usually good, second is "ok", third is just terrible by the time I get to the second half of my face.

I've always face lathered with soap, I start first soak my brush in my soap mug filled with warm to hot water while i shower, then dump the water and shake brush nearly damp then swirl brush over soap puck, spread on face, then lightly dip brush in water and build lather dipping brush in water as needed till i have a nicely hydrated lather, leaving lots of soap on brush while i shave, dip brush to lather for second pass, face has more than enough slick for touch up. If ever I find I need a third pass , it's time for a new blade.
Denis,

Hey all, I thought I'd post an update. I tried using more cream, and as I finished the first pass it looked good and even the amount in the brush looked good. but by the time I was ready for the second pass, the cream had become more like a paste. Instead of dipping the tips or applying to a wet face, I spread it on and added water drops to the brush and tried to rebuild the lather to no avail.

I think I will try with distilled water next time to see if it makes a difference.

Yesterday I went back to a bowl lather and I was able to use more water in the brush than when I face lather since it doesn't go flying all over the mirror and myself. That's probably it.

What I do for a 2nd and 3rd pass when I face lather is to wet my face after pass 1 and then pass 2, rather than adding more water to the soap on the brush. It works better for me that way.

Shiloh said:

I also rinse between passes and leave face very wet and this helps rehydrate the lather as it's applied.

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Totally! But it takes longer to shave when I do that and makes more of a mess to clean up. In the interest of speed and laziness I stopped rinsing between passes.