What happened?

So, I lost my groove. I've been at this a couple months now, and I was getting great lather with surprising regularity from whatever I used (Proraso soap, cream, Nivea cream, C&E Nomad cream, or T&H Limes cream).

All of a sudden (last two days), my lather dries up on me no matter how much water I use. What happened? I tried L'Occitane Cade soap today, and I was using Proraso soap yesterday (which has been a solid performer thus far). I still had okay shaves, but not nearly as comfy as the last couple days.

Any suggestions? I don't think I changed anything (not consciously, anyway). Would my water all of a sudden get harder with the warmer weather or something stupid like that?

Argh.

Although I'm not sure exactly what you mean by your lather drying up on you, it sounds to me like it might be the opposite -- that is, you might be using too much water, so that the lather is thin and runny. by adding more water, obviously, you would worsen the problem. Hope this helps.


Enjoy!

Harder water due to weather? Never heard of that one before. Depending on your source, however, your water's quality could have change some. Having well water in an area that has built up in the past few years, I've noticed anytime a new well goes in that my water suddenly has more iron and other particulates in it for weeks if not months.

Mweh, I guess I'll keep trying. Maybe less water, hey? I'll give 'er a shot.

And it's city water - I was just grasping at very thin straws...

What about loading more product onto the brush - maybe I have too little soap/cream involved?

Psychdude said:

Mweh, I guess I'll keep trying. Maybe less water, hey? I'll give 'er a shot.

And it's city water - I was just grasping at very thin straws...

What about loading more product onto the brush - maybe I have too little soap/cream involved?

Click to expand...

It sounds to me like you are just touching the soap with the tip of the brush. Don't be afraid to press the brush down onto the soap while you are swirling -- i.e., don't be overly gentle. You won't hurt the brush (unless you go completely overboard) and you'll automatically load up with plenty of lather throughout the brush. I find that I get enough for 3 or 4passes with just a few seconds of swirling in the small (palm size) bowl in which I keep the soap. Of course, I rarely do more than 2 - 2.5 passes, and I end up rinsing out a lot of excess lather into the sink.

Keep at it. It really isn't that complicated, and I am certain you will get it sooner rather than later.

Enjoy!

We have very hard water in Calgary. It took me months and months to finally get my lather right. Even after that It was hit and miss for a few months more.

Have a look at the tutorial on loading your brush, in the soap section. Once I started following that, it was smooth shaving.

Patience is a requirement when starting out. If you stick with it, it will come together.

Can't hurt trying with more product...

But if you're sure that you did everything, with all the same variables EXACTLY the same...it very well could be that your city water has changed its composition a bit.

my first thought was water quality. if all else fails more product.