beginish's lathering journal

[beginish]

As a devotee of the 3017 philosophy of pick a soap or cream and use it exclusively until it's done, I figured I'd set up a journal to allow a peek inside that process and talk about the nuances of coaxing the best performance out of soaps and creams, all while messing around with all manner of brushes. When it comes to my shaves, I'm a pretty simple guy, sticking with the same hardware set up for weeks or months on end, and the same goes for my choice of AS, typically using the same one until the bottle is empty. The only thing that really changes is the brush, and I'm sitting on a pile of badgers, boars, horses, unicorns and synthetics. So without further ado, let's get started:

Having just finished a puck of Saint Charles Shave's excellent New Spice soap, I am kicking off anywhere from 6-12 weeks with Provence Sante's Green Tea shave soap. Like most French soaps, this is a veggie soap that relies on shea butter to enhance it's performance. PS has made shave soap for quite awhile with it's "Verlaine" scent, and developed the Green Tea scent at the urging of West Coast Shaving and another vendor several years ago. You can get the soap there, along with many other vendors at this point. Prior to today, I have lathered it about 5 times, and it has delivered very good lathers without much tinkering.

I loaded an Old Spice mug with the soap, and today's lather is brought to you by the Semogue 1305, the first boar brush I ever used, and still one of my favorites. I like it even better now that the fake badger stripe is really fading! After soaking both the brush and soap in water during my shower, I poured the water off of the puck and shook out the brush. I proceeded to load the brush for about 45 seconds, and developed a nice, rich protolather on top. I transferred that protolather from the soap to the brush and then face lathered, going back to the sink 5 or 6 times to add more water. I had no problem getting lather, but it had a very interesting character compared to all of the other soaps I have used. Specifically, the appearance of the lather is very dry and powder, with a matte finish, rather than the shiny finish I get from all of the other soaps I've used. No amount of water really changed that, so after about a minute of face lathering, I proceeded with the shave. The lather was slick and cushioning, though it had a bit of an airy feel. Nevertheless, I got a very close shave after my usual two passes. After rinsing, the face feel was very smooth, and my face felt great. Topped off with DR Harris's excellent Aftershave Milk, my face was smooth and ready for the first blast of cold air that fall has had to offer in my neck of the woods.

I plan to post updates regularly, and will include the odd picture now and again.

 

[Lmarkow]

Odd pictures are cool. Looking forward to following along.

 

[StubbleTrouble]

Thanks Bob for thinking of this refreshing idea for a journal. The more I've shaved, the more I've shifted my attention to the lather. I'm looking forward to reading on!

 

[beginish]

Yesterday's shave was a repeat of Thursday, with a nice face lather. The soap has great slickness this way, and superb postshave feel.

Today, I broke out the bowl for lathering, which I rarely do anymore, even with creams. I again soaked the Semogue 1305 and soap during the shower, shook out the boar and loaded for 45 seconds. I then went to the bowl and worked he lather for two minutes, adding more water about 5 times. The lather developed into a big bowlful, but I found that in use, it was not slick at all, and I found the shave subpar, with the Slim Adjustable skipping. I did this partly to see whether I could add enough water to give the lather a shiny appearance, but it never changed from the matte look. I'll conclude that this is just a characteristic of the soap, and that more water is not a good thing for performance. I'll try and take some pics tomorrow.

 

[gash]

I'm enjoying this journal already, as I'm a lather fanatic. I think it will be very informative. Thanks for starting it.

I had Provence Sante Verlaine, and while it seemed very moisturizing, I had trouble getting enough slickness. I ended up using it in the shower. I'm glad you're getting slickness.

 

[beginish]

I'm enjoying this journal already, as I'm a lather fanatic. I think it will be very informative. Thanks for starting it.

I had Provence Sante Verlaine, and while it seemed very moisturizing, I had trouble getting enough slickness. I ended up using it in the shower. I'm glad you're getting slickness.

How did the lather look, if you recall? Did it have a shiny look, or kind of powdery?

 

[gash]

How did the lather look, if you recall? Did it have a shiny look, or kind of powdery?

I don't remember exactly what it looked like, I'm afraid. It wasn't miles away from being slick enough, but my straights demand superior slickness. I recall that another member found it not to be slick enough for him. I remember enjoying the scent because it was sweet and not overpowering.

 

[beginish]

There was a really big difference between face lathered and bowl lathered, so much so that if I hadn't face lathered first, I would probably have a very different view of it right now.

 

[gash]

That's cool. I did some test lathers before putting it in the shower, and I believe I gave it a fair chance but it just wasn't for me. Pre de Provence, though, has performed well for me. Have you tried that one?

 

[beginish]

That's on the list to try, but I don't have it yet. I have toyed with the idea of going French for 2015 with the PS, MdC and PdP. I've considered picking up a tin of Le Perè Lucien as well. I have so much soap, though, I'm having a hard time justifying the purchase.

 

[beginish]

As promised, here are some odd pictures. I'm not much of a photographer, and rely on my phone for this, but it is what it is. I usually switch up brushes every week or so, and after using the scrubby Semogue 1305 boar last week, I switched to the Kent BK8 this morning. The two brushes could not be more different, with the Kent really not being dense at all, but I've always found that "floppy" brushes like this give me great lathers, regardless of the soap or cream. I soaked both brush and soap in warm water during the shower, poured it off or squeezed it out, and then proceeded to load for about 45 seconds. I had to dip the tips of the brush in water once or twice to keep the protolather building, but at the end of the load, the brush looked like this:



I then face lathered for a minute or two, going back and forth to the basin for more water as needed, and the loaded, lathered brush looked like this:



Keep in mind that this is a big brush, so don't let the fact that it's not overflowing with lather fool you. There was plenty to go around, and it once again had this dry character, but the shave was as slick as all get out. After my two passes, I squeezed the brush out and got this:



That kind of looks like the morning after Kukla, Fran and Ollie went on a bender. You can see that there is a lot of high quality, well-hydrated lather there. Don't worry about the larger bubbles, as they only appeared during the squeeze.

 

[Lmarkow]

I haven't thought about Kukla Fran and Ollie in about a million years! I have to admit, a shaving journal may have been the last place I would have thought I'd "run it to them" again. lol

Oh, nice lather, btw.

 

[beginish]

Whenever I see anything resembling a sock puppet I think about Kukla, Fran and Ollie. That last lather shot reminded me of one with rabies.

 

[beginish]

I had a replay of yesterday's lather today. I'm convinced that the look of the lather will remain matte or powdery. Why the heck am I so focused on how the lather looks? It's the performance that matters, and PS did not disappoint. I had another great shave with it. It will be interesting to see how performance and latherability vary with the different brushes that I use, and I'll have to consider spending some time just bowl lathering it so that it performs as well from the bowl as it does with a face lather.

 

[AndroiDad75]

Bob,

I will definitely be keeping an eye on this thread. Thanks for doing it.

 

[Lmarkow]

I look for that shininess in the scuttle too.

 

[beginish]

I have in the past delivered the occasional ode to floppy brushes. They get such a bad rap because of all the hype for dense brushes, and stuck in a box where you can only bowl lather creams with them. Hogwash! Hogwash, I say. I get the best soap lathers from these mops, really well hydrated and whipped up in no time flat. The Kent BK8 is pretty new to the den, but is soft as a cloud and really allows the PS Green Tea to shine.

Pull out that lonely Vulfix from the back of the cabinet and put it to work. You'll thank me later.

 

[beginish]

I went a little more aggressive with the water during my face lathering today, and the lather got to the same point that it did with the bowl lathering....all "foam" and no slickness. This confirms my belief that what we call slickness is, in reality, soap that has been loaded into the brush, but not incorporated into the emulsion we call lather. It tells me that if I have a soap or cream that is not very slick, either use more product and the same amount of water or less, or just use less water. It will always be a balancing act to get the combination of slickness and cushion you're looking for, but at least I know that if I leave more soap behind, I'll get the slickness.

The shave itself was not as good as the others have been, but it turned out fine, with no irritation. Postshave feel is still excellent, though.

 

[Lmarkow]

I have been enjoying soaps and creams with lanolin recently. I find that they are slick regardless of water/product amount, though cushioning is dependent on water/product mix. I just assume this is because it's an oil.

 

[beginish]

I have been enjoying soaps and creams with lanolin recently. I find that they are slick regardless of water/product amount, though cushioning is dependent on water/product mix. I just assume this is because it's an oil.

That's been my experience with the lanolin-containing products too, Larry. The quality of shaves for me coming from MWF, Musgo Real, etc is really as good as it gets.