Im doing a lot of loading- all the way until I start getting actual lather on the soap.
The brush is a finest restored. I'm going to use my pure next time. I like the finest, but have never had as good of luck with lather. What are your thoughts?
My thoughts are that the brush is not the problem. 95% of the time I'm using a restored brush with a finest badger knot and don't have any issues with lathering. I would still encourage you to use more product.
What about your water? Do you know if it's exceptionally hard/high in mineral content? If so, you can try using distilled water (available inexpensively from grocery or drug stores) and see if that makes a difference.