What is lathering the soap supposed to do? After getting fairly good at working up a thick lather and shaving I also tried wetting the brush, running it around in the soap a bit and daubing it on - I don't perceive a difference in the resulting shave.
Why lather the soap?
- Thread starter Brassplyer
- Start date
Do you mean why lather on the puck? Preference. Personally, I load the brush and lather on my face.
The idea is to mix soap and water together in the right ratio. When the balance between soap and water is good, you will get the best slickness and your lather will stay slick instead of drying out on the face. Water softens the whiskers. Water keeps your razor gliding.
You don't want to whip a lot of air into your lather. You don't need more than a thin layer to shave with. No need for the thick layers of foam like you see in a lot of advertising.
There are shaving creams that don't lather much. They can work, too, if the formula is good.
- Thread starter
- #5
Soap lathering videos I've seen show loading the brush with soap then working up a lather in a separate bowl or mug.
What I'm talking about doing is getting some soap on the wet brush by swirling it around a bit on the puck then daubing/painting it on my face which doesn't create much lather, just a creamy coating. I don't find any difference between doing that and building up a thick lather.
I should note that I first apply a towel wet with tolerably hot water to my face for a minute or so. Lately I've also been putting on a small amount of cocoa butter.
One of the benefits of a creamier lather is that it tends not to dry up as quickly. But if what you're doing is working, it's working. I only spend a fraction of the time working my lather as most youtubers do, and some of my best shaves have been with a rather soupy, low structure lather.
That's face lathering, done badly. Don't take anything you see on youtube too seriously. The number of straight shaving videos made by people with no whiskers is TOO DAMN HIGH!
