This should be sticky. Works like a charm.
Foolproof Lather Discovery Process (TM) for any soap
- Thread starter JCinPA
- Start date
Well done!
This guide was a phenomenal read and EXACTLY what I could've used when I first got into wet shaving 6 months ago. My lathers have dramatically improved after studying the Marco method and very adamant attention to guys on YouTube like Brandon Shaves and their method... but as you mentioned, it will never be perfect and you can always improve. I have learned how the lather is the most crucial part to the entire shave imo.
Very well done, very comprehensive and detailed. This is gold and I am going to save it for future reference for sure!
@JCinPA I have what may be a trivial/stupid question, but those of us that like to just go straight to face lathering and not tinker around with a bowl, even for a minute, does any of this change? Do you just lather the thick/gumminess from the brush and add a dramatic amount of water at first until it starts to get away from the gumminess and it starts to get hydrated and gain body then slowly slowly add/paint from there? Also, can you explain the role of agitating with the brush on your face and what it does? I have noticed I only really agitate for two water additions and then go straight to painting and wonder if I should be agitating a lot more than I do and for longer periods of time.
Thank you so much for this article and any advice you can give!
Very well done, very comprehensive and detailed. This is gold and I am going to save it for future reference for sure!
@JCinPA I have what may be a trivial/stupid question, but those of us that like to just go straight to face lathering and not tinker around with a bowl, even for a minute, does any of this change? Do you just lather the thick/gumminess from the brush and add a dramatic amount of water at first until it starts to get away from the gumminess and it starts to get hydrated and gain body then slowly slowly add/paint from there? Also, can you explain the role of agitating with the brush on your face and what it does? I have noticed I only really agitate for two water additions and then go straight to painting and wonder if I should be agitating a lot more than I do and for longer periods of time.
Thank you so much for this article and any advice you can give!
Yeah, this is basically what I do, too. Though, while loading, if my brush starts to stick, I'm dip it and keep loading.
Most people with crap lather, even if they don't realize it's crap lather, have crap lather simply because they don't load long enough.
Most people with crap lather, even if they don't realize it's crap lather, have crap lather simply because they don't load long enough.
Yeah, this is basically what I do, too. Though, while loading, if my brush starts to stick, I'm dip it and keep loading. I also load longer than 30 seconds, as I like dense lather that will take a lot of water, but methodology of the same. That's what is cool about this method. It's universal with only duration modifications to work for any person with any soap.
Most people with crap lather, even if they don't realize it's crap lather, have crap lather simple because they don't load long enough.
Most people with crap lather, even if they don't realize it's crap lather, have crap lather simple because they don't load long enough.
Load it like you hate it and want rid of it!
Edit: Of course without being extremely wasteful with soap and time.
Edit: Of course without being extremely wasteful with soap and time.
- Thread starter
- #87
Thanks for the comments, I'm gratified people are still finding this helpful so long after I wrote it. @Well_Groomed_Yeti I'm answering your question, but hoping others find it helpful as well. But first let me remind you and everyone else ...
This was not intended to be a "method", but a "process".
I did not intend to set forth a lathering method, per se, but a way to discover how to lather a soap you are having problems with. IIRC @ylekot was having some issues lathering an older Barrister & Mann base (I could be misremembering), and I had found it difficult to lather, as well. It was a very thirsty soap and many users had trouble figuring it out.
Different soaps need more product, some less. Some need more water, some less. Some have a wider hydration window and will not break down easily as you add water, others less so, and you can pass through from good lather to useless with just a little bit of water. My process is designed to tease this out in a soap which is new to you, not to be the method to lather everything. But if you are having trouble lathering something, start drier and load more product, then creep up on a good lather adding water slowly, and experiment a couple times, add water until it breaks down so you discover how wide its hydration window is, and discover how it behaves.
Once that journey of discovery ends, however, and you understand the soap, you should be able to dial it in very quickly, and eventually I, and ylekot and others were getting great lather with that old B&M base, but it took a while. Once I understood it however, I stopped with the dry loading and adding water slowly. I knew if I bloomed the soap and left about a teaspoon of water on it in the tub and took a wet but not dripping brush to it I'd get a pretty good lather after a bit of work, and I also learned the difference between a high-structure lather and a low-structure lather. High structure lathers leave thick, stiff peaks when it is ready to use, low-structure lathers don't peak as much perhaps, but create a wonderfully slick lather very shiny but not very stiff, and they shave wonderfully. You have to get to know the product.
For example with a PAA CK6 base soap, I have a damp wet but not dripping brush and swirl a dozen times one way, a dozen the opposite way, take it to the bowl and start whipping it up and can add a lot of water along the way and I get a ton of lather. With Cella, it's more like @Keto advice, load it like you hate it and want to get rid of it. It takes a fair amount of product to get that to work. I'll take a damp wet but not dripping brush to it for about 30 seconds letting it drip into my bowl, and I know when it's just right then I start working it.
No two soaps or soap bases (when they have a lot of scents but one base recipe) are exactly alike. My post was about the process of you discovering how to use your particular products in the best way. But once you learned what that was you'd load and lather them all differently, but correctly for each product.
As has been said earlier if you always load with a damp/dryish brush and get a soap to a gummy stage you'll pull bristles out of the middle of it eventually. But if you go in with the right amount of water to start with, you don't need to have a "gummy" stage at all. I know what my PAA CK6 needs, I know what Cella needs, I know what my Stirling needs, I know what my old tallow Tabac needs, and I have used them all enough that I can pick up almost any brush, boar, badger, or synth, and hit them with the right amount of water almost at the start and get a usable lather with maybe one or two dippings of the brush tips in water to hone it in. I'm very close with all my usual products with all my brushes right away because I got familiar with them all by experimenting with them. I don't use what you've described as a lather method at all, the methods are all different!
As to your second question, @Well_Groomed_Yeti I'd ask you WHY are you so anxious to take soap to your face right away without using a bowl? What's driving that goal? I use a hybrid method, starting with the bowl, then when it gets right I take it to my face, and I do work it longer probably than most do. If you're going to face lather, you probably should do it for a fair amount of time.
Take Cella. When I'm loading it up over the bowl, it's dripping in to the bowl, and it leaves some thick stuff on the surface of the soap. I wet my face, rub the thick stuff off the soap directly onto my wet face, then lather it in the bowl for maybe half a minute. This thickens it up quite a bit. Then I take it to my face and probably lather it for maybe a full minute. Sometimes I nailed it 100%, sometimes I dip just the tips of the brush in the water once or twice and work it into the lather on my face. Cella gives me a heavenly shave that way, but if I had the thinner lather in the bowl at the start and took it to my face too early I'd be flinging soap all over the bathroom! I'd say if your product is thick enough to take to your face right away, fine, do that. If it's not, work it in the bowl a bit then take it to your face. I don't understand why you seem to think it's a point of honor to not use a bowl at all.
Relax and enjoy the ride!
B&M has moved on to a newer base that I have not tried yet, but I think this started because folks were having a lot of trouble with their old Reserve base, including me. But what I described is not meant to be the way you make lather. It was designed to help you discover how to make good lather with a particular product and brush.
I don't lather any of my favorite products that way any longer, I know how they behave, and I pretty much nail it right away with all of them now. Rather than try to use what I described as a method, try using one soap daily for a couple weeks, using whatever brushes you like with them for a few days in a row, then you'll begin to understand it and you'll set it up properly right away--bloom the soap or no? Wet brush or not so much? Lots of loading or not much at all? A decent time in the bowl first then the face, or take to the face right away. When I got my first Stirling soap, I used it for about 4 days with my boars, then about 4 days with my badgers, then about 4 days wtih my synthetics. All in a row, no changing product. After a couple weeks, I was expert with it, it's not particularly hard to lather and has a decent hydration window. Now it's hard for me to get a bad lather from it, but I worked with it exclusively for a couple weeks when it was new to me.
Now I can pick up any soap in my den, any brush, and change them daily and hit the perfect lather almost immediately. But that's because I thoroughly understand them. Sorry for the long missive, but I hope that helps. I was always worried that folks would see this as a method, when it is not. It's a process to discover the method that works with that soap and brush. The methods are all different after that.
This was not intended to be a "method", but a "process".
I did not intend to set forth a lathering method, per se, but a way to discover how to lather a soap you are having problems with. IIRC @ylekot was having some issues lathering an older Barrister & Mann base (I could be misremembering), and I had found it difficult to lather, as well. It was a very thirsty soap and many users had trouble figuring it out.
Different soaps need more product, some less. Some need more water, some less. Some have a wider hydration window and will not break down easily as you add water, others less so, and you can pass through from good lather to useless with just a little bit of water. My process is designed to tease this out in a soap which is new to you, not to be the method to lather everything. But if you are having trouble lathering something, start drier and load more product, then creep up on a good lather adding water slowly, and experiment a couple times, add water until it breaks down so you discover how wide its hydration window is, and discover how it behaves.
Once that journey of discovery ends, however, and you understand the soap, you should be able to dial it in very quickly, and eventually I, and ylekot and others were getting great lather with that old B&M base, but it took a while. Once I understood it however, I stopped with the dry loading and adding water slowly. I knew if I bloomed the soap and left about a teaspoon of water on it in the tub and took a wet but not dripping brush to it I'd get a pretty good lather after a bit of work, and I also learned the difference between a high-structure lather and a low-structure lather. High structure lathers leave thick, stiff peaks when it is ready to use, low-structure lathers don't peak as much perhaps, but create a wonderfully slick lather very shiny but not very stiff, and they shave wonderfully. You have to get to know the product.
For example with a PAA CK6 base soap, I have a damp wet but not dripping brush and swirl a dozen times one way, a dozen the opposite way, take it to the bowl and start whipping it up and can add a lot of water along the way and I get a ton of lather. With Cella, it's more like @Keto advice, load it like you hate it and want to get rid of it. It takes a fair amount of product to get that to work. I'll take a damp wet but not dripping brush to it for about 30 seconds letting it drip into my bowl, and I know when it's just right then I start working it.
No two soaps or soap bases (when they have a lot of scents but one base recipe) are exactly alike. My post was about the process of you discovering how to use your particular products in the best way. But once you learned what that was you'd load and lather them all differently, but correctly for each product.
As has been said earlier if you always load with a damp/dryish brush and get a soap to a gummy stage you'll pull bristles out of the middle of it eventually. But if you go in with the right amount of water to start with, you don't need to have a "gummy" stage at all. I know what my PAA CK6 needs, I know what Cella needs, I know what my Stirling needs, I know what my old tallow Tabac needs, and I have used them all enough that I can pick up almost any brush, boar, badger, or synth, and hit them with the right amount of water almost at the start and get a usable lather with maybe one or two dippings of the brush tips in water to hone it in. I'm very close with all my usual products with all my brushes right away because I got familiar with them all by experimenting with them. I don't use what you've described as a lather method at all, the methods are all different!
As to your second question, @Well_Groomed_Yeti I'd ask you WHY are you so anxious to take soap to your face right away without using a bowl? What's driving that goal? I use a hybrid method, starting with the bowl, then when it gets right I take it to my face, and I do work it longer probably than most do. If you're going to face lather, you probably should do it for a fair amount of time.
Take Cella. When I'm loading it up over the bowl, it's dripping in to the bowl, and it leaves some thick stuff on the surface of the soap. I wet my face, rub the thick stuff off the soap directly onto my wet face, then lather it in the bowl for maybe half a minute. This thickens it up quite a bit. Then I take it to my face and probably lather it for maybe a full minute. Sometimes I nailed it 100%, sometimes I dip just the tips of the brush in the water once or twice and work it into the lather on my face. Cella gives me a heavenly shave that way, but if I had the thinner lather in the bowl at the start and took it to my face too early I'd be flinging soap all over the bathroom! I'd say if your product is thick enough to take to your face right away, fine, do that. If it's not, work it in the bowl a bit then take it to your face. I don't understand why you seem to think it's a point of honor to not use a bowl at all.
Relax and enjoy the ride!B&M has moved on to a newer base that I have not tried yet, but I think this started because folks were having a lot of trouble with their old Reserve base, including me. But what I described is not meant to be the way you make lather. It was designed to help you discover how to make good lather with a particular product and brush.
I don't lather any of my favorite products that way any longer, I know how they behave, and I pretty much nail it right away with all of them now. Rather than try to use what I described as a method, try using one soap daily for a couple weeks, using whatever brushes you like with them for a few days in a row, then you'll begin to understand it and you'll set it up properly right away--bloom the soap or no? Wet brush or not so much? Lots of loading or not much at all? A decent time in the bowl first then the face, or take to the face right away. When I got my first Stirling soap, I used it for about 4 days with my boars, then about 4 days with my badgers, then about 4 days wtih my synthetics. All in a row, no changing product. After a couple weeks, I was expert with it, it's not particularly hard to lather and has a decent hydration window. Now it's hard for me to get a bad lather from it, but I worked with it exclusively for a couple weeks when it was new to me.
Now I can pick up any soap in my den, any brush, and change them daily and hit the perfect lather almost immediately. But that's because I thoroughly understand them. Sorry for the long missive, but I hope that helps. I was always worried that folks would see this as a method, when it is not. It's a process to discover the method that works with that soap and brush. The methods are all different after that.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #88
I realize I doomed myself with the title of this thread. If I could I'd change it from Foolproof Lather Method to Foolproof Process to discover Lather Method.
I created the confusion by calling it a Method when it's not, it's my own damn fault. This was meant to be a Foolproof way to discover how to lather any product. I really regret that title, but I guess I can't edit it this late.
I created the confusion by calling it a Method when it's not, it's my own damn fault. This was meant to be a Foolproof way to discover how to lather any product. I really regret that title, but I guess I can't edit it this late.
I will try that my next shave. I have been having trouble lately with making lather.
Damp brush and add a little water at a time. check.
Damp brush and add a little water at a time. check.
- Thread starter
- #90
@shave/brush Yes! Whatever product you've been having trouble lathering (you did not say), use it exclusively for at least a week. When you discover how much water it can handle start with a wetter brush and see how fast you can dial it in. That's what this process was supposed to do.
I really regret my title now.
I really regret my title now.
Good process! First I'm reading about it but damp brush and slowly add water has always been the way for me. When you are swirling brush (either face or bowl) - If it feels dry, thick or draggy then slowly add water and keep swirling. Repeat this till you have great slippery lather. This is the essence of the lathering life.
I was having a problem with most of my soaps. Someone brought to my attention that I may have been whipping it up too much. The lather was evaporating on my face for the first pass. I still don't have it tuned in, but today I will try your recommended method.
- Thread starter
- #93
@Well_Groomed_Yeti I found a video for going straight to face lathering without using a bowl. He's using Cella skip to 1:00 where he starts loading with a boar brush. No bowl. He's using the process I describe in here just about exactly.
In addition to that, there is the famous "Marco Method", AKA Italian Barber Method, which uses a bowl and LOTS of water and it works very well. I'ts just too messy and lengthy for my personal tastes, but it makes brilliant lather. Then there's what I do which is a hybrid lather, where I start with a wet (not dripping) brush, load over a bowl, then work it in the bowl for a half or full minute, then go to my face for easily 1-2 minutes. Both this guy and I get to our favored lather very quickly.
Here is a video of someone bowl lathering Cella, which you are not interested in, but it also works well. My point is there are several lathering methods that work for almost all products. my process just helps one get thoroughly familiar with the product so you can get to your favored lather quickly and guaranteed every time. This guy hits his favorite hydration level almost immediately because he i familiar with the product.
Here is a video of a guy using the "Marco Method" on Tabac (original formulation, this is 6 years old).
You can use any of several methods to lather your soap your way and quickly get to the type of lather you like. My process just helps you discover that.
In addition to that, there is the famous "Marco Method", AKA Italian Barber Method, which uses a bowl and LOTS of water and it works very well. I'ts just too messy and lengthy for my personal tastes, but it makes brilliant lather. Then there's what I do which is a hybrid lather, where I start with a wet (not dripping) brush, load over a bowl, then work it in the bowl for a half or full minute, then go to my face for easily 1-2 minutes. Both this guy and I get to our favored lather very quickly.
Here is a video of someone bowl lathering Cella, which you are not interested in, but it also works well. My point is there are several lathering methods that work for almost all products. my process just helps one get thoroughly familiar with the product so you can get to your favored lather quickly and guaranteed every time. This guy hits his favorite hydration level almost immediately because he i familiar with the product.
Here is a video of a guy using the "Marco Method" on Tabac (original formulation, this is 6 years old).
You can use any of several methods to lather your soap your way and quickly get to the type of lather you like. My process just helps you discover that.
So, splaying and scrubbing/agitating with the brush on your face adds structure to the lather, I know it adds air, but I am not sure how it contributes to the eventual slickness? I am all about the low structure lathers, thank you for defining those by the way. I prefer a very shiny, wet, super slick lather - I see a lot of guys on youtube that have very pillowy, dense lathers, those have just always yielded less than positive results for me. My best shaves come from the super slick, lather dripping off the razor, those that are best suited for straight razor shaving. Not sure if it is my skin type, hair coarseness, but the results have just always been the best with super hydrated, low structure lathers. Probably helps with the soap brands I do best with as well - B&M, Gentleman's Nod, Ariana & Evans, seems as though those bases are geared towards low structure?Thanks for the comments, I'm gratified people are still finding this helpful so long after I wrote it. @Well_Groomed_Yeti I'm answering your question, but hoping others find it helpful as well. But first let me remind you and everyone else ...
This was not intended to be a "method", but a "process".
I did not intend to set forth a lathering method, per se, but a way to discover how to lather a soap you are having problems with. IIRC @ylekot was having some issues lathering an older Barrister & Mann base (I could be misremembering), and I had found it difficult to lather, as well. It was a very thirsty soap and many users had trouble figuring it out.
Different soaps need more product, some less. Some need more water, some less. Some have a wider hydration window and will not break down easily as you add water, others less so, and you can pass through from good lather to useless with just a little bit of water. My process is designed to tease this out in a soap which is new to you, not to be the method to lather everything. But if you are having trouble lathering something, start drier and load more product, then creep up on a good lather adding water slowly, and experiment a couple times, add water until it breaks down so you discover how wide its hydration window is, and discover how it behaves.
Once that journey of discovery ends, however, and you understand the soap, you should be able to dial it in very quickly, and eventually I, and ylekot and others were getting great lather with that old B&M base, but it took a while. Once I understood it however, I stopped with the dry loading and adding water slowly. I knew if I bloomed the soap and left about a teaspoon of water on it in the tub and took a wet but not dripping brush to it I'd get a pretty good lather after a bit of work, and I also learned the difference between a high-structure lather and a low-structure lather. High structure lathers leave thick, stiff peaks when it is ready to use, low-structure lathers don't peak as much perhaps, but create a wonderfully slick lather very shiny but not very stiff, and they shave wonderfully. You have to get to know the product.
For example with a PAA CK6 base soap, I have a damp wet but not dripping brush and swirl a dozen times one way, a dozen the opposite way, take it to the bowl and start whipping it up and can add a lot of water along the way and I get a ton of lather. With Cella, it's more like @Keto advice, load it like you hate it and want to get rid of it. It takes a fair amount of product to get that to work. I'll take a damp wet but not dripping brush to it for about 30 seconds letting it drip into my bowl, and I know when it's just right then I start working it.
No two soaps or soap bases (when they have a lot of scents but one base recipe) are exactly alike. My post was about the process of you discovering how to use your particular products in the best way. But once you learned what that was you'd load and lather them all differently, but correctly for each product.
As has been said earlier if you always load with a damp/dryish brush and get a soap to a gummy stage you'll pull bristles out of the middle of it eventually. But if you go in with the right amount of water to start with, you don't need to have a "gummy" stage at all. I know what my PAA CK6 needs, I know what Cella needs, I know what my Stirling needs, I know what my old tallow Tabac needs, and I have used them all enough that I can pick up almost any brush, boar, badger, or synth, and hit them with the right amount of water almost at the start and get a usable lather with maybe one or two dippings of the brush tips in water to hone it in. I'm very close with all my usual products with all my brushes right away because I got familiar with them all by experimenting with them. I don't use what you've described as a lather method at all, the methods are all different!
As to your second question, @Well_Groomed_Yeti I'd ask you WHY are you so anxious to take soap to your face right away without using a bowl? What's driving that goal? I use a hybrid method, starting with the bowl, then when it gets right I take it to my face, and I do work it longer probably than most do. If you're going to face lather, you probably should do it for a fair amount of time.
Take Cella. When I'm loading it up over the bowl, it's dripping in to the bowl, and it leaves some thick stuff on the surface of the soap. I wet my face, rub the thick stuff off the soap directly onto my wet face, then lather it in the bowl for maybe half a minute. This thickens it up quite a bit. Then I take it to my face and probably lather it for maybe a full minute. Sometimes I nailed it 100%, sometimes I dip just the tips of the brush in the water once or twice and work it into the lather on my face. Cella gives me a heavenly shave that way, but if I had the thinner lather in the bowl at the start and took it to my face too early I'd be flinging soap all over the bathroom! I'd say if your product is thick enough to take to your face right away, fine, do that. If it's not, work it in the bowl a bit then take it to your face. I don't understand why you seem to think it's a point of honor to not use a bowl at all.
B&M has moved on to a newer base that I have not tried yet, but I think this started because folks were having a lot of trouble with their old Reserve base, including me. But what I described is not meant to be the way you make lather. It was designed to help you discover how to make good lather with a particular product and brush.
I don't lather any of my favorite products that way any longer, I know how they behave, and I pretty much nail it right away with all of them now. Rather than try to use what I described as a method, try using one soap daily for a couple weeks, using whatever brushes you like with them for a few days in a row, then you'll begin to understand it and you'll set it up properly right away--bloom the soap or no? Wet brush or not so much? Lots of loading or not much at all? A decent time in the bowl first then the face, or take to the face right away. When I got my first Stirling soap, I used it for about 4 days with my boars, then about 4 days with my badgers, then about 4 days wtih my synthetics. All in a row, no changing product. After a couple weeks, I was expert with it, it's not particularly hard to lather and has a decent hydration window. Now it's hard for me to get a bad lather from it, but I worked with it exclusively for a couple weeks when it was new to me.
Now I can pick up any soap in my den, any brush, and change them daily and hit the perfect lather almost immediately. But that's because I thoroughly understand them. Sorry for the long missive, but I hope that helps. I was always worried that folks would see this as a method, when it is not. It's a process to discover the method that works with that soap and brush. The methods are all different after that.
As to the avoidance of the bowl, no real anxiety. I actually have one of the Captain's Choice obisidian bowls that is very nice and I use it for samples, but I don't know, my pre-shave process with building the lather I already spend a lot of time on and in the shave, so the bowl to me just adds an extra step. I also have a few very nice badger knots that I feel shine better straight from puck to face, but I am also fairly new (albeit a quick and eager learner) to wet shaving and maybe this is incorrect. It seems my best lathers come from heavy loading like you mentioned, then spraying in water with a spray mister, agitating for two rounds, then just painting water in until I get that shiny, low structure lather. I am certainly not opposed to chasing better methods/trying out other guys' techniques. I saw A&E share on instagram a guy with a wonderful lather, he evidently puts the soap directly into the brush and then sprays water on his face continuously and builds it that way, very intriguing.
Thank you for sharing! I am going to check these out right now!
John shaves on youtube has great lathering videos - 1 for face and another for bowl. Although, I don't take nearly as long to lather, he has an explosion that could shave a whole body of hair. Iamcdb also had a good bowl one.
@shave/brush I have found if you press too hard with the brush, too much air is introduced. I very rarely use hard pressure. I alternate between medium and light pressure in a bowl and then paint it on my face with figure 8 strokes. You can do a little more light swirls while it is on your face (or not) and I am ready to go.
@shave/brush I have found if you press too hard with the brush, too much air is introduced. I very rarely use hard pressure. I alternate between medium and light pressure in a bowl and then paint it on my face with figure 8 strokes. You can do a little more light swirls while it is on your face (or not) and I am ready to go.
I will also say that I believe life is too short for hard to lather soaps. The ones that are easy lathering are also great to shave with so I just go with those. If you can't get a good lather in a minute or two, I would ditch the soap.
Yes, I was just watching his face lathering video the other day. See, whenever I get that kind of volume of lather, his gets very pillowy and dense, I lose like all slickness and that is what I am trying to figure out. He scrubs/agitates the hell out of his and whenever I try that much agitation, I lose a ton of hydration no matter how much water I paint in and then agitate.
- Thread starter
- #99
Here is yet another "method" you can use with Cella, my hybrid method. You have face, bowl lather and Marco's Method above. Cella is very easy to use and I start with the bowl then finish on the face. I don't like videos, I find them insufferably long, I prefer photos and text.
First photo, the tub and bowl after a 20-30 second load. That's a synthetic brush I soaked, then squeezed but did not shake so it's damp wet, not dripping wet. The stuff in the tub is fairly thick, the stuff in the bowl is a bit runny yet. The soap in the tub is not "gummy" enough to cause any long-term brush degradation.
I wet my face, put the stuff i can scrape from the tub on my face, then bowl later the soap for about 30 seconds and get this.
That is thick enough to start face lathering, here it is after about 30 seconds of that.
Now I scraped the brush on the side of the bowl, then dipped the tips of the brush in water and face lathered another 30 seonds. To this.
That's about what I like, I like a lot of hydration and it's slick, but if you lathered it another 30 seconds it would thicken up considerably. Below is what I had left in the bowl for the third pass. Between passes I lather in the bowl for a bit then on the face for a bit again.
For the third pass I just paint it on, it's really hydrated and I don't layer it on too thickly, after all you're not cutting much here, you're cleaning up.
My point is posting this is NOT that this is going to be your favorite lather, it is MY favorite lather with this soap. My point is I nail this very quickly every time I use Cella and add water usually once, maybe twice, but sometimes not at all, I've got it right where I want it for the start.
So my process is not to show you how to lather everything, but how to discover how you like to use a particular product to lather, and believe me you'll find they often lather VERY differently from each other. I'm gratified if the process is still helping people discover how they like to use their products. The toughest products, maybe an artisan soap that is felt to be difficult or persnickety to lather properly, you want to back off to drier and more product and work it up slowly until you understand it. But then do whatever works, the way you like to do it.
First photo, the tub and bowl after a 20-30 second load. That's a synthetic brush I soaked, then squeezed but did not shake so it's damp wet, not dripping wet. The stuff in the tub is fairly thick, the stuff in the bowl is a bit runny yet. The soap in the tub is not "gummy" enough to cause any long-term brush degradation.
I wet my face, put the stuff i can scrape from the tub on my face, then bowl later the soap for about 30 seconds and get this.
That is thick enough to start face lathering, here it is after about 30 seconds of that.
Now I scraped the brush on the side of the bowl, then dipped the tips of the brush in water and face lathered another 30 seonds. To this.
That's about what I like, I like a lot of hydration and it's slick, but if you lathered it another 30 seconds it would thicken up considerably. Below is what I had left in the bowl for the third pass. Between passes I lather in the bowl for a bit then on the face for a bit again.
For the third pass I just paint it on, it's really hydrated and I don't layer it on too thickly, after all you're not cutting much here, you're cleaning up.
My point is posting this is NOT that this is going to be your favorite lather, it is MY favorite lather with this soap. My point is I nail this very quickly every time I use Cella and add water usually once, maybe twice, but sometimes not at all, I've got it right where I want it for the start.
So my process is not to show you how to lather everything, but how to discover how you like to use a particular product to lather, and believe me you'll find they often lather VERY differently from each other. I'm gratified if the process is still helping people discover how they like to use their products. The toughest products, maybe an artisan soap that is felt to be difficult or persnickety to lather properly, you want to back off to drier and more product and work it up slowly until you understand it. But then do whatever works, the way you like to do it.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #100
Then begin the process with a bit more water and see how that works. I could duplicate what he is doing perfectly, no brag, just fact. But I might take a week of shaves to dial it in. Be patient and have an experimental attitude. It took me two weeks of shaving with that B&M Reserve base to figure the damn thing out, but then it became a favorite. I figured Cella out in about 3, maybe 4 shaves. Just be patient and be experimental. You'll figure it out eventually.
