Lathering Techniques

[Kyle Stoner]

Hello folks!

Today during my shave I tried a new technique on my *inspired* 2nd pass. I just dipped my finger in the cream and buried it in my hot brush, as seen in the Art of Shaving 'Perfect Shave' video. I was amazed at the results...thicker lather, hotter, and the smell came out so much stronger. I was quite pleased...especially since I have a very hard time carrying over my lather in the brush and bowl from one pass to another.

I have recently added a regular coffee mug to my shaving routine, kept hot and with my brush sitting in it between passes to keep things warm...but it doesnt always seem to cut the mustard (wonder where that phrase came from!). I usually warm both the lathering bowl and mug up with hot water, then my brush, then I refresh the water in my mug and put the brush into that hot water. Then I splash my face with hot water for a good 30 seconds, dump my water and begin the lathering process by swirling the brush in my cream, and swirling in the hot lather bowl adding water as needed.

Between passes my lather filled brush sits in the hot mug, which works fairly well but I never swirl it in the bowl again as I have found that really cools things off...the only problem is that sometimes I find my lather to be lacking as the passes progress, and I have found myself creating a whole new lather all over again. Too complicated!

Any advice out there??

Thanks!

[JCMH]

Hi Kyle...

I have been wet shaving for a long time but have only started using a brush & creams for a couple of months..what I have found recently is that after dipping the tips into the cream and swirling it a couple of times and applying to my face generates just as much lather as swirling in a bowl, I actually have more contact with brush to face that way while generating later on to my face. After reading so much info on this forum and trying different things I am finding out as Charles from QED always tells me this is not rocket science. It's what makes it fun, fun to enjoy shaving again.

John

[TraderJoe]

Hi Kyle...

I have been wet shaving for a long time but have only started using a brush & creams for a couple of months..what I have found recently is that after dipping the tips into the cream and swirling it a couple of times and applying to my face generates just as much lather as swirling in a bowl, I actually have more contact with brush to face that way while generating later on to my face. After reading so much info on this forum and trying different things I am finding out as Charles from QED always tells me this is not rocket science. It's what makes it fun, fun to enjoy shaving again.

John

I couldn't agree more. I lather directly on the face 95%+ of the time. No heat/cream/soap is wasted. In between passes, the brush goes into the warm mug that my brush soaked in during shower. If more soap/cream is needed, I just add some cream or give the soap a few more swipes and then its back to face. If the brush isn't warm enough at this point I just add fresh hot water from spigot.

[rusirius]

Hi Kyle,
Here's what I do that works REALLY well for me. I picked up a "rice bowl" from Wally World. It's VERY heavy and VERY thick. I.e. it stores a LOT of heat. I also picked up a cordless electric kettle from Target. It holds quit a bit, but I usually fill it with 1.5 liters. It boils that in no time (minute or two). (I usually rince my face with hot tap water and rub in some Proraso pre-shave during this time). I fill the bowl up with the just boiled water (it's probably a good 200+ degrees then. Then pop my brush in to let it soak. Then I pour more water from the kettle into a towel I use on my face. Then cover my face with the steaming hot towel. (in combination with the Proraso, this feels FANTASTIC!). After a minute or so I pour some of the water out of the bowl, re-heat it with another dose from the kettle, then use the last bit to re-heat my towel again. After steaming my face again for another minute or so, I empty out the bowl, put a dab of cream on the brush and then begin whipping. I don't shake too much water out of the brush, since because it's so hot it tends to evaporate pretty quickly. Whip up the later and add water from kettle as needed.

I can lather up my face, let it set for a minute or two, re-touch it with lather again, do my first pass, re-lather, second pass, lather, third pass, lather fourth pass... By my forth pass because the bowl retains so much heat, and because with each whip I usually have to add a few drops of water out of the kettle (again, the heat makes the water evaporate quickly), the lather is ALWAYS very warm and great. Right till the end.

Before I got the thick heavy bowl and kettle, I was using hot tap water and a "cereal" bowl. It was a joke... My lather was VERY hard to get right, always seemed too dry or too wet, never seemed to lubricate well, and was usually cold by the time I got it on my face. With the new bowl and kettle I'll never look back! May just buy a spare kettle and bowl to have around just in case anything would ever happen to them!

[JCMH]

I couldn't agree more. I lather directly on the face 95%+ of the time. No heat/cream/soap is wasted. In between passes, the brush goes into the warm mug that my brush soaked in during shower. If more soap/cream is needed, I just add some cream or give the soap a few more swipes and then its back to face. If the brush isn't warm enough at this point I just add fresh hot water from spigot.

Couldn't have said it better myself...

John

[Kyle Stoner]

Thank you very much for the ideas fellas! I'll keep exploring!

[gc_30286]

rusirius suggestion sounds very good and i may even try this myself.
I never got good results lathering in my hand or on my face. while i certinly understand the reasons behind lathering on the face It is just easier for me to make good lather in a bowl and just use extra brush time on my face to compensate. to keep lather warm try floating your bowl in the sink (what i do) or get another bowl the same size and fill it with very hot water and set you lather bowl on top of it.

as alway just IMHO

matthew