I've experimented some in the past with adding ingredients to lather, but I was never rigorous in doing so. Now that I've picked up on experimenting again with lather, I need to know the composition of all ingredients (water, soap, etc.) in a lather, so I'm measuring masses and doing simple calculations. The method is approximate and simple, as long as you have the right scale or scales for measuring masses to a fine enough resolution.
Here is my simple method for approximating lather composition:
What makes this method simple and approximate is that all mass measurements can be made well before and well after shaving. Then, mass differences are calculated to find how much approximate water, soap/cream, and other ingredients were used in the lather. These masses are added for a total mass and subsequently divided by the total mass and multiplied by 100 % to find the approximate percentages for each ingredient in the lather.
For example, my lather today involved a calculated 10.1 g water (from a water-in-water-bottle-with-cap mass that shrunk from 168.4 g to 158.3 g) and a calculated 3.6 g soap (from a soap-in-soap-jar-with-cap mass that shrunk from 160.6 g to 157.0 g). This resulted in an approximate total lather mass of 13.7 g being composed of approximately 73.7 % water and 26.3 % soap. Expressed in another way, the water-to-soap ratio is 2.81 in this example.
I started measuring lather mass constituents and calculating lather composition with respect to studying the effect of some added ingredients, but I figured that I should write about this issue first because it deserves its own thread. Approximating lather composition just with respect to the amount of water and soap/cream could be useful in helping others use the "right" amount of water for a particular soap/cream. Videos and pictures fall short of showing us what a good lather actually looks like, and advice to others about how much water to use is almost exclusively qualitative.
Quantitative information can go a long way to help others make better lather. Take me, for example. I started DE shaving with the PAA DOC Satin, and I thought that I was making good lather with different high-quality shaving soaps, but it wasn't until I switched to the EJ Kelvin that I found out, with the help of others here, that my lather was lacking water. I am now making better lather. If I had been given some simple quantitative information on the amount of water to use relative to the amount of soap/cream, then I could have measured masses and figured out a long time ago that I wasn't adding enough water, even though I thought that I was based on numerous videos and commentary on the Internet.
The only thread that I could find that was close to this involved someone measuring masses and asking how to measure the water-to-soap ratio in lather (link), and my simple method accomplishes this goal, I think. The 3017 thread (link) includes members who track mass on an average basis in grams per use, probably with inexpensive 1 g resolution scales like the one that I have, and this information could be easily supplemented with mass measurements of water used.
I'm not saying or advocating that you should measure water and soap/cream masses, but I am saying that it can be pretty easy to approximately measure the water and mass that you're using with the right method and tools. If you use water from a bottle with a good cap, load the brush and build your lathers without losing too much soap/cream, and have an inexpensive 1 g resolution scale, you can simply measure the water and soap/cream masses before and after many shaves and calculate the average approximate water and soap/cream used per shave. You can then calculate the approximate water and soap/cream percentages and/or the water-to-soap/cream ratio in your lathers for a particular soap/cream.
I hope that I have inspired one or some of you to think about measuring the masses of soap and water that you are using. If someone out there is already tracking this information and has reported it, possibly in the 3017 thread, then I apologize for not finding it. Please let us know if you are out there and what you have found. Feedback is appreciated.
Here is my simple method for approximating lather composition:
- Measure initial masses of water bottle with cap, soap/cream container with cap, and any other lather ingredients
- Soaking or blooming of soap is allowed as long as added water is from water bottle only and no water is discarded
- Fully fling out excess water from brush, if brush has been soaked
- Load brush with soap/cream using additions of water from water bottle only. Try to lose as little soap/cream as possible to the outside of the soap/cream container, your hands, etc. Rinsing of soap jar is fine if soap loss is relatively small.
- If bowl lathering, make sure that bowl is dry before building lather
- Build lather using water from water bottle only and any other lather ingredients
- Shave with lather
- After ingredient containers and soap have dried, measure final masses of water bottle with cap, soap/cream container with cap, and any other lather ingredients. Final masses can become initial masses for the next shave.
- Calculate approximate lather composition using mass differences for water, soap/cream, and other lather ingredients
What makes this method simple and approximate is that all mass measurements can be made well before and well after shaving. Then, mass differences are calculated to find how much approximate water, soap/cream, and other ingredients were used in the lather. These masses are added for a total mass and subsequently divided by the total mass and multiplied by 100 % to find the approximate percentages for each ingredient in the lather.
For example, my lather today involved a calculated 10.1 g water (from a water-in-water-bottle-with-cap mass that shrunk from 168.4 g to 158.3 g) and a calculated 3.6 g soap (from a soap-in-soap-jar-with-cap mass that shrunk from 160.6 g to 157.0 g). This resulted in an approximate total lather mass of 13.7 g being composed of approximately 73.7 % water and 26.3 % soap. Expressed in another way, the water-to-soap ratio is 2.81 in this example.
I started measuring lather mass constituents and calculating lather composition with respect to studying the effect of some added ingredients, but I figured that I should write about this issue first because it deserves its own thread. Approximating lather composition just with respect to the amount of water and soap/cream could be useful in helping others use the "right" amount of water for a particular soap/cream. Videos and pictures fall short of showing us what a good lather actually looks like, and advice to others about how much water to use is almost exclusively qualitative.
Quantitative information can go a long way to help others make better lather. Take me, for example. I started DE shaving with the PAA DOC Satin, and I thought that I was making good lather with different high-quality shaving soaps, but it wasn't until I switched to the EJ Kelvin that I found out, with the help of others here, that my lather was lacking water. I am now making better lather. If I had been given some simple quantitative information on the amount of water to use relative to the amount of soap/cream, then I could have measured masses and figured out a long time ago that I wasn't adding enough water, even though I thought that I was based on numerous videos and commentary on the Internet.
The only thread that I could find that was close to this involved someone measuring masses and asking how to measure the water-to-soap ratio in lather (link), and my simple method accomplishes this goal, I think. The 3017 thread (link) includes members who track mass on an average basis in grams per use, probably with inexpensive 1 g resolution scales like the one that I have, and this information could be easily supplemented with mass measurements of water used.
I'm not saying or advocating that you should measure water and soap/cream masses, but I am saying that it can be pretty easy to approximately measure the water and mass that you're using with the right method and tools. If you use water from a bottle with a good cap, load the brush and build your lathers without losing too much soap/cream, and have an inexpensive 1 g resolution scale, you can simply measure the water and soap/cream masses before and after many shaves and calculate the average approximate water and soap/cream used per shave. You can then calculate the approximate water and soap/cream percentages and/or the water-to-soap/cream ratio in your lathers for a particular soap/cream.
I hope that I have inspired one or some of you to think about measuring the masses of soap and water that you are using. If someone out there is already tracking this information and has reported it, possibly in the 3017 thread, then I apologize for not finding it. Please let us know if you are out there and what you have found. Feedback is appreciated.