my ideal lather bowl... it floats

I've been playing around with different bowls for use with soaps. I have found one that gives me great results, so I thought I would mention it here on the soap forum.

I found a ceramic bowl at Target (the Target "Home" brand, made in Thailand, $4.95). This bowl is about 7 inches wide and 2.5 inches high. The ceramic is very porous and light.... and it floats easily.

This ceramic also transmits heat very efficiently.... i.e. low heat capacity and low thermal resistance. Soooo....

I fill the sink with hot water and float the bowl in the sink. The heat from the sink water rapidly heats the dry inside surface of the bowl. As I lather up (I use Honeybee Spa shea butter/glycerin soap) the lather heats up in contact with the bowl surface. The bowl stays quite warm during my half hour shave.

I load my brush as usual..... then I lather sequentially, adding some water and lathering in the bowl, lather the face, add more water and lather in the bowl again and...........then make my first pass.... rinse and repeat. This means there is a thin layer of lather in the bowl at all times... so as I am making a pass, the lather for the next pass is heating up. If the layer of lather was too think, it would not heat up.

I find that this method gives me hot lather for the entire half hour it takes me to shave. Very pleasant.... and I think the heat makes the soap lather better.

Anyone else use the "floating bowl method"?

Sounds like a great idea. If I put too much water in my sink, my bowl/big mug starts to float around, so I only put enough in to keep it from floating..Never though about just letting it float around.

By the way, I was real close to pulling the trigger on honeybee's Frankenscence and Myrrh soap http://tinyurl.com/33zrh9 , do you have any other soaps to compare them too? Thanks in advance.

Steve

pics of this bowl?

What do you do with the floating bowl when you're doing your rinse in between passes?

I tried the same method you described as an alternative to my Moss Scuttle, but I had to take the bowl out every time I rinsed which got a little tedious.

I'm still looking for a method/bowl/scuttle to use when I'm traveling that will give me warm lather.

BDB

BigDawgBarkin said:

What do you do with the floating bowl when you're doing your rinse in between passes?

I tried the same method you described as an alternative to my Moss Scuttle, but I had to take the bowl out every time I rinsed which got a little tedious.

I'm still looking for a method/bowl/scuttle to use when I'm traveling that will give me warm lather.

BDB

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Oh, I don't make a big deal of rinsing my face between passes.... it's more of a pat down with a washcloth. And there is plenty of room in the sink for washing/heating my razor and washing soap off my hands.

I think any fairly wide flat bowl with similar dimensions to mine will work ok. And it's small and light enough to carry with you on trips.

desmoface said:

Sounds like a great idea. If I put too much water in my sink, my bowl/big mug starts to float around, so I only put enough in to keep it from floating..Never though about just letting it float around.

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Yeah, you just need to use a bowl that is wide enough so it won't tip over and light enough to float with your brush sitting in it.

The BIG advantage of floating your bowl is that you can put a lot more hot water in the sink, so there is enough heat to keep your lather bowl hot for half an hour.

By the way, I was real close to pulling the trigger on honeybee's Frankenscence and Myrrh soap http://tinyurl.com/33zrh9 , do you have any other soaps to compare them too? Thanks in advance.
Steve

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Honeybee Spa soaps lather very well.. much better than Classic soaps. I have enough lather for at least 6 passes from one loading of my brush. And the Honeybee Spa soap lasts a long time... I would say about 2-3 months per $3.29 puck.

bigDee said:

pics of this bowl?

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I don't think the bowl is that special.... you just need the same rough shape and a light porous ceramic bowl. Here is my shaving setup, including my Short Sugar soap mug. .... and my floating bowl



And here is a picture of the bottom of the bowl, showing the Target logo. Again, the bowl is 7 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall.

Great thread and idea. I've been looking for a much larger bowl...I'm going to check out Target and see if they have it.

That bowl is SIGNIFICANTLY bigger than what I'm using now. But I think I could live with that!

lol, I think I have the little brother of that bowl. I have the Target black frosted "rice bowl" its around 4.5-5" across the top and 2 1/2' deep. Floats like a charm...

Belegnole said:

lol, I think I have the little brother of that bowl. I have the Target black frosted "rice bowl" its around 4.5-5" across the top and 2 1/2' deep. Floats like a charm...

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I like yours. Very.... zen.

Speaking of what floats your boat: it's nice to hear that y'all found a lather bowl that floats, but you need to consider that battleships floated too. Whatever vessel just needs to displace more water than its weight and it too can float.

Belegnole said:

lol, I think I have the little brother of that bowl. I have the Target black frosted "rice bowl" its around 4.5-5" across the top and 2 1/2' deep. Floats like a charm...

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exactly the bowl I use. I even bought an extra, so I can travel with it.

guitarslinger said:

exactly the bowl I use. I even bought an extra, so I can travel with it.

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Mine too. Target, about $4. Retains heat well, nice when placed in a sink of hot/warm water. Perfect for whipping up shave creams, or 'parking' a shave brush after lathering soap directly on the face.

-- John Gehman

The only problem I have with floating bowls is not having it rip over from the weight of the brush handle on one side. Back when I was a bowl latherer, I used a fairly deep, heavy bowl, and did not fill the sink up too much, so that the bowl would rest on the bottom of the sink. Now, though, I just face lather. I do miss the warm lather, but have I mentioned I like simplicity?

-Mo

Belegnole said:

lol, I think I have the little brother of that bowl. I have the Target black frosted "rice bowl" its around 4.5-5" across the top and 2 1/2' deep. Floats like a charm...

Click to expand...

OMG! I have that bowl too!

Actually, I'd like it a little better if it didn't float, to tell you the truth. But it's a great little bowl for lathering.

BTW, I don't float mine. I rest it in the sink of hot water, but don't use enough water for it to freely float. It picks up enough heat to give good warmth to the brush/lather. Mmmmmm...

-- John Gehman

moses said:

The only problem I have with floating bowls is not having it rip over from the weight of the brush handle on one side. Back when I was a bowl latherer, I used a fairly deep, heavy bowl, and did not fill the sink up too much, so that the bowl would rest on the bottom of the sink. Now, though, I just face lather. I do miss the warm lather, but have I mentioned I like simplicity?
-Mo

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I chose a wider bowl because it doesn't tip over with the weight of the brush. I can use plenty of water without worrying about exactly how much I put in the sink...

simplicity, no?

But whatever you use, warm lather is really nice.

I just saw this thread now for the first time and I had to chuckle at all the people commenting on the bowls and the fact that they have the same ones.

I had both until a few weeks ago. I started with the narrow, deeper one and then moved to the wide, shallow one...then my wife dropped the wide one on accident and I was forced to go back to the narrow deep bowl. Consequently my lather has improved quite a bit.

I usually use a simple teacup (http://www.fishseddy.com/browse.cfm/4,846.htm), but tried a larger Starbucks coffee mug for a little bit... That was waaay too deep for my brush.

I'm back to the teacup. It holds 8oz, but that's fine for what I need...

Very cool.