Finished- Carnival contest # 2... CALLING ALL LATHERMEISTER'S

Start posting and good luck to all of you.

This contest will run until 10/24


Operation Smile










******Due to USPS Regulations, any alcohol-based prizes are for CONUS only unless the vendor supplying the prize designates otherwise.

I'm in! Thanks guys, this truly made my week. Now I'm off to Operation Smiles to put some of my freshly cashed paycheck to good use.

Now then, technique and tips:

I'm primarily a soap guy now, so I'll focus on soap lathering.

Step 1: Fill electric kettle with water and turn on.
Step 2: Fill Dirty Bird Brush Scuttle base and brush holder with hot tap water, put brush into brush holder, then brush/brush holder into the base.
Step 3: Shower. During this time the brush gets soaked and heated a bit, the scuttle gets pre-heated, and the kettle will boil and start to cool.
Step 4: Dump water from Brush Scuttle, give brush a good shake and set on the counter. Then fill the scuttle with a mix of 1/4 post-boil water from the kettle, and 3/4 hot tap water. Set brush holder into the base of the scuttle, splash my face with hot tap water, then get to work charging my brush on the soap. After brush is thoroughly charged, set in brush holder to heat up while I massage my face with hot tap water.
Step 5: Set the stopper on the bathroom sink and fill sink basin with 1/4 post-boil water and 3/4 hot tap water.
Step 6 (my favorite part): Take the heated, charged brush to my wet face, and start rubbing! Add water to the brush as needed by dipping the tips into hot sink water. Begin the lather building with circular motions, then as lather builds in the brush move to a more painting type stroke.
Step 7: Return the lather-filled brush to the scuttle for more warming, and begin the shave.
Step 8: Relather as needed for multiple passes. As the quantity of lather on the tips wanes, I squeeze the brush in one motion from the base to the tips, which brings any deeply-held lather to the surface without requiring face scrubbing to apply it. If lather thins too much from scuttle heat, return brush to soap puck for a recharge.
Step 9: Enjoy BBS shave.

Ya had to post this after I whipped up a sweet bowl of Nancy Boy this morning with the camera just in the other room didn't you...

Well, I'm a newb without a brush, but here's what I have learned so far. I start with about a quarter's worth in the palm of my hand and add a few drops of water. I massage the lather between my hands until I have a consisten texture then apply to my face. My stubble, I guess you could say, is my current brush. Anyway, I have have had almost no nicks so I guess it works, at least until I can get a decent brush.

My lather process involves the following steps:
1. Pre-heat Dirty Bird scuttle with hot water from tap before shower
2. After shower, empty scuttle and refill with more hot water from tap, (now the heat energy from the second fill up won't be lost to heating the ceramic of the scuttle)
3. I place about a quarter size dollop of cream in the scuttle
4. I take my silver tip brush and run it under hot water from the tap and load it up.
5. After the brush is loaded with water, I let it naturally drip and then do one good shake to get rid of excess water
6. I work up a lather in the scuttle and add more water if necessary (usually not).
7. Shave and enjoy. The scuttle keeps my brush and lather warm for 4+ passes.

The end.

I use a pottery lathering bowl to work up my lather.

1) Soak my shaving brush in warm/hot water while I take a shower. Also soak the lathering bowl in hot water to get it pleasantly warm.
2) Shake out most (but not all) of the water from the brush and bowl.
3) Dip and twist the brush in my pot of shaving cream to get some soap on the brush.
4) In the shaving bowl start lathering clockwise for about 10-15 rotations and then counter clockwise.
5) As the brush takes up lather and the soap starts to look dry add a little warm water to the bowl and repeat at step 4.
6) When the soap is almost lathered up and can form stiff peaks I transfer the lathering to my face and finish the lathering on my face working the soap into my beard

I am without a brush so I have to do the following daily.

1. Strap my Bull Terrier to the sinks edge.
2. Lather my Proraso to her tail.
3. Hold her favorite chew toy just out or her reach.
4. Place protective goggles over my eyes.
5. Lean into reach of her tail and she whips it across my face from the excitement of the chew toy being seen.
6.Quickly make a WTG pass.
7. Hold chew toy closer, but out of reach.
8. Re-lather.
9. Pass XTG,ATG and wash the dog fast.

What a chore.

Are we talking soaps or creams here?

For cream, I leave the brush soaking in warm water while I shower. Then, when it's time to lather, I remove the brush and give it one good shake. I try to retain most of the water.

Next, I measure out a dollop of cream from the tube by making a small circle about the size of a quarter into the bowl.

Now to start whipping. I lightly press the brush onto the cream and begin to drag it around in a circle. Once the water has mostly come off the brush and is into the mixture, I press a little harder to soak it all back into the brush. Then I start whipping again and let it all run out of the brush.

Once the lather starts really building, I pull the brush out of the bowl a little but keep mixing so that its only really whipping with the tip of the brush. I also keep slight pressure on the sides of the bowl so non of the lather gets stuck up in the brush and is always being pushed out into the lather.

Once it's fluffy and creamy (I figure its done when it covers and has peaks over the brush tips) I apply it to my face in a circular motion until its nice and even. For parts where its lacking I just "paint" some from one part of my face to that part.

Sounds like a lot but it's what really works for me. Before I did it this way it just seemed like I had made something similar to when I cough or sneeze when brushing my teeth and drool toothpaste.

I soak my boar brush in a bowl of hot water (soup bowl with a handle) during my shower. A few drops of warm water on my soap ( VDH)..
Out of shower, I fill up the sink with hot water.

I empty my bowl of water and fling the brush a few times to lose some water.
Then I spin the brush around on the VDH.. Spin spin spin.. Please note I nuked my VDH in a small anchor bowl... I watch the lather build in my soap bowl, then I move the remaining liquid and bubbles from the soap bowl to the soup bowl..

I add a dab of CO Bigelow to the brush. Then I start using a mixing movement similar to beating eggs for a omelet. I add half a palm's worth of water to the mix.. Watching the lather froth.. and there.. Strange smelling super lather.

Then the most important step, the test under the chin with the loaded brush.. I run my hand along it to see if the cushion and slippage is there with my lather that I'm looking for. I like mine thick!!


Step one The brush soak


Step two The soap up


Step three The Transfer


Step four The Green Tube Boost


Step five The Omelet Beating


The Loaded Brush

I'm cheap and lazy. So much so, in fact, that I'm too lazy to stand while I shower (so I take baths) and too lazy to shave when I get out (so I shave in the tub). Here's the rundown:

1) Shampoo and conditioner in one. Once (too lazy to repeat).
2) Take mug with Williams soap (did I mention I was cheap?) and submerge into bathwater (upside down to prevent floating soap cake syndrome).
3) Ensoapen my body (is that even a word?) and rinse off lather. This allows time for the mug and shaving soap to get nice and warm in the water.
4) Drain water from mug.
5) Dip Vulfix silvertip brush into bathwater, shake once and create some lather in the mug.
6) Lather up my face and shove mug back underwater.
7) Shave with a Merkur heavy razor using the distorted steamy reflection of my face in the bathtub faucet (too cheap to get a shower mirror).
8) Repeat steps 4-7 across the grain (I'm not THAT lazy).
9) Rinse face, mug and razor.
10) Towel dry.
11) Rinse out whisker ring around the tub before the wife sees it.

This is my weekday ritual. On weekends I do it right with a proper straight edge while sitting on the toilet.

I use primarily creams, and have tried many variations, but just recently have found that the following gives me the best lather/shave:

1.) Soak brush for a few minutes (or while I shower)
2.) Shake out excess water and give a quick squeeze.
3.) Dip tips of brush into tub of cream. Or, when using cream in a tube (like Proraso), I just squeeze a small dollop right into the center of the brush bristles.
4.) With a wet face (after showering, usually) I begin swirling the brush on my face.
5.) Dip tips of brush into warm water as needed and keep working the brush on my face until the great lather springs to life.


I used to bowl-lather, but found this gives me a MUCH slicker lather and feels great on my face. I noticed it right away after finishing my first pass and rinsing my face. My face felt crazy slick with the lather!

Here's what works for me:

1) Soak brush and mug in hot water while i shower. Also cover soap with hot water to soften it. (i have my soap in a small bowl)

2)After shower, squeeze the water out of brush, and dump a little bit of water from soap(about a tablespoon) into lathering mug. The rest of the soapy water goes down the drain.

3)Swirl the brush around on the puck of soap for about 20-30 seconds, pushing down to splay the bristles out every few seconds.

4)Move to mug and start swirling brush in the bottom. After some lather starts to form, i add about half a squirt of Kiss My Face moisture shave from a pump bottle.

5)Continue swirling with an occasional pump down for 30-45 seconds.

6)Apply to face with a swirling motion and get ready to shave!

This has always resulted in a good thick lather for me.

Well alright, lets see if a newb can shake it up a little! In order to get the best lather possible I begin my routine by heating some filtered water from my refrigerator in a mug for about a minute and a half in the microwave. I use filtered water, so that the hard materials won't interfere with my ability to whip up some goodness. After I get a nice, piping hot cup-a-water I let my Edwin Jagger, or, as of yesterday, my new Omega Boar hair brush, soak for ten minutes while I shower to get them as soft and hydrated as possible. They may not be the softest or most expensive brushes around, but, dang it, they get the job done. Shower completed, I then proceed to give my brush a little bit of a shake, and maybe a little bit of a wring to get it where I want in terms of water content. Now comes the fun. I pop the top off my Omega Sapone da barba and glide the brush around the tub for about thirty seconds while slowly adding ever more pressure to load every inch of brush. Sometimes if I'm feeling extra frisky for a nice lather I'll turn the tub upside-down to load the brush more effectively. Thanks for that Mantic! Once loaded, the lathering can commence! Scrubbing the brush on one cheek, then all around my neck, then up to the other cheek in order to lift the hairs and exfoliate the skin. Finish it up by painting some broad stokes of lather from the brush to give me that beatiful peaky goodness.

My lathering technique is pretty much the same whether I'm using cream or soap.

1) Spread Noxzema on my face as a preshave
2) If using soap, I'll coat the puck with hot water. I obviously skip this step if using cream.
3) Strop my razor while the puck softens and the Noxzema soaks in.
4) Take my brush and swipe a small amount from a tub or tube of cream. If using soap I'll work the brush all over the puck until it's stiff with soap.
5) Dunk the brush into a sink of hot water, let it drip out and give it a little shake.
6) Take brush directly to face and lather up a storm!
7) Add a little bit of water by dipping the corner of the brush into the sink if need be.

That's it and it yields three passes plus touch ups.
Thanks for reading and this fun contest!

I like to have warm lather, but I don't have a scuttle and I don't have time to boil water, and I don't like floating my bowl in the sink.

So here's what I do.

1) Get the tap water as hot as it will get.
2) Fill up the bowl with the water.
3) Leave the water in the bowl for about 30 seconds, then dump it out. (This gets a lot of heat transferred into the bowl.)
4) Fill it up again with hot water and soak the brush.
5) Shower.
6) Dump it out again, and fill it one more time with HOT water. I let the bowl stayed filled with water while I shake out the brush and load it with soap.
7) Shake out brush, squeeze once.
8) Load with soap until it the brush is fully loaded.
9) Dump out the water in the bowl and begin to build the lather in the bowl.
10) Turn the hot water on at a trickle.
11) Add a tiny bit of water bit by bit with mixing until the lather consistency is right and it shines.
12) Take the brush to the face for about 30 more seconds of lathering.
13) Leave the lather on for at least one minute before shaving.

That's it!

Step 1: Do you see that brush there? The one that is made of a poor, defenseless badger hair? No! Not the hair brush! The badger brush you bought that was 20 times more expensive! There we go. Place it in the bowl you sneaked from the kitchen, hoping your wife wouldn't find out, and let it soak in hot water while you take your shower.
Step 2: Done with your shower? Fantastic! How was it? Horrible? You fell and cut your leg open? Man up you wimp! We are about to lather; a great manly past time! You remember that bowl full of hot water carefully drain it out. I said carefully! Now look what you did, you burned yourself. No, we are not going to treat it, YOU ARE A MAN! Now fill the bowl again with the same hot water you burned yourself with, and let the brush and bowl soak for about thirty seconds.
Step 3: You done crying, yet? You better be. Empty the bowl again, and make sure you shake out al the excess water from the brush and bowl. No, not that hard! There we go.
Step 4: Great! Now grab the cream, and if you reach for that shaving goo stuff I will pistol-whip you into next Tuesday. Scared? You should be. Now swirl the brush lightly onto the cream for a good 5 seconds to pick up a good amount of cream. No, not with the tube! Squeeze out an almond-sized portion with the tube! Really? You tried to swirl the brush onto the tube's opening? Oh boy. And you dressed yourself last night?
Step 5: Now swirl away, my captain! Swirl away until your heart can't take it anymore! I'm serious, SWIRL AWAY! Well, until the lather is good, which should be around 2-3 minutes of swirling. You will know it's good enough when you don't see a foamy texture, but a creamy texture, with nice peaks. Not Jenna Jameson's nice peaks, you pervert. When you separate the brush from the lather, it should create a nice mountain-type effect. If this is nice and stiff in a way, it's fantastic! Not that nice and stiff in a way, you pervert!


And those are Vulcanus's 5 great steps to building fantastic shaving lather with a cream!

After my shower I fill a tea cup with hot water and place my brush bristles-down in it. Once warmed I empty the cup and squeeze some cream into it, maybe an acorn-sized blob. I use two motions when working up a lather; I spin counter-clockwise for the full diameter of the cup, and I borrow a pattern I observed long ago from our kitchen mixer by using small clockwise spins in a larger counter-clockwise pattern. This mashes and enhances the lather without pushing it ahead of the brush like a plow. If there is a detail of my process that's unique, this is likely the one.

Then I work the lather into my face, paint a final layer to smooth it out, and shave. I use the remaining lather for a second pass.

I use mainly tallow based soaps and this is how I do it most times, with great success:

Soak brush in as hot as I can get from the tap while I am showering.
I give the brush one firm shake to get rid of any water that would be dripping off.
Go to the dry puck and vigorously swirl the brush is a circular pattern until the “slag” produced starts to thicken up and look somewhat like a cream; thin airy bubbles begin to dissipate. Maybe 20-30 seconds.
Scoop as much of the remaining slag as possible off the top of the puck with the loaded brush.
Take it right to my very wet face and scrub it in vigorously all over, again until it becomes very creamy and the bubbles dissipate. If more water is needed, I will lightly dip the tips in hot water and continue face lathering.
When I am happy with the consistency of the lather, I lighten up the pressure and paint it all over the areas to be shaved. There is a ton of lather left for more passes.

Nothing too special about the way I do it. Maybe a little wasteful, and a little wetter than what I’ve read most guys recommend, but it is working for me.

Ok, listen up rook. I hate repeating myself. The goal for shaving lather is to have a slick surface on your skin, not to have a mound of fluffy soap bubbles that you accidentally fling across the bathroom when you're lathering up.

Step one: Fill a mug with the hottest water you can tolerate. Soak your brush.
Alternative: You have no mug? Then just run the hot water over your brush. Really, this is not that hard, puke.

Step two: Empty your mug and put a small dollop of cream into it. What's small? Use your judgement and experiment. Jeesus. Nickel size dollop to start okay? Oh, you don't have a mug, just put it in your spare hand. A mug just wastes space anyways right?

Step three: Take your brush, which should be dripping with hot water from step one right? If not, you're a waste of oxygen and you need to repeat Step one. Ready now? Gently flick the brush, so that excess water isn't dripping from it anymore. You look confused. Just let the brush drip water, until it isn't dripping anymore. Easy right? Then give it a shake, just like your were at the urinal. You following? Then you take that brush and stir it in the cream that is in the mug or your spare hand.

Step four: Keep stirring and mashing around. Now some people like create a huge mound of soap fluff because it looks awesome. Personally I'd rather have less fluff, and a slicker, denser lather. Really if you wanted, you could use baby oil instead of shaving cream and it would do really, really well. Think about that. Anyway stir until you create your ideal mound of lather. Too watery? Then you didn't let enough water out of the brush numbnuts! Add a dab of lather back into the mug/hand. Too thick for your liking? Add a few drops of water. Not that hard.

Step five: wash/dampen your face with hot water. Just do it.

Step six: Now you may dab and lather your face with your expensive dead animal hair brush to your silly delight.