Can you explain to a blind person how to apply lather?

[parham]

Hi all! My name is Parham, I'm new to wet shaving (been learning for 3 months!) and I'm also completely blind.
I have been trying to learn how to improve my shave, and B&B has been a wonderful help because people mostly explain in text and rarely share images.
However, applying the lather you've built in a bowl to your face with a brush isn't something I've seen explained anywhere.
So, a bit of an explanation of what I have and what I know. I'm going to do this in excruciating detail, so that there are no misunderstandings, but also, so that I can give you a glimpse into my world, how I perceive things like lather, and how you can explain things to me:
I'm using a Henson medium. I have a muhle silvertip fiber, a Proraso White, Speick, and Castle Forbes. I've been experimenting on building a lather with them.
So far, building in the bowl is the best for me since I can feel the resistance of my brush moving in the lather. When I feel the resistance increase, and in the case of Castle Forbes, when my brush can almost stand up in the bowl by itself, I go for applying it.
For making the lather, the Marco method has been the best for me — it makes the cream very watery in the beginning, which means I can feel the quality of the lather as it hardens. So thanks @Marco for the extraordinary amount of written detail!
Now the problem I have.
I don't know if I'm applying the lather to my face correctly. English isn't my first language, so I'm not sure if I'm understanding the words like "swirling" or "splaying" and so on, so let me explain what I'm doing in very simple terms.

1. I put my brush in the same bowl I use for building my lather, fill it up with warm water, and let my brush soak for a minute, just for it to absorb water
2. I take my brush out and put the handle on the sink so the water wouldn't drip out, and dump all the water out from the bowl
3. Then, I put an appropriate amount of shaving cream in the bowl and go in circles with my brush like I'm stirring sugar in tea, or honey in lemon water... you get the point, haha
4. Once in a while I move my brush up and down along the sides, or press the side of my brush against the side of the bowl, before I get back to going in circles
5. I keep going in circles until I hear the sound of my swirling change, and until I feel my brush encountering resistance as I move it around
6. At this point, I take my brush out, and I can feel with my other hand that it has loooots of lather all around it. So, I hold the handle toward the floor, with the tip of the bristles pointing toward the ceiling, and lay the shaft of the bristles against my right cheek. I pull the side of my brush down toward my jaw, and keep doing this top-to-bottom movement until I get to my ear
7. Now, I move the brush to my left hand, and do the same to my left cheek. Note that I haven't turned the brush, so now the side I'm pressing against my face is the opposite side than I've used before
8. Then, I switch to my right hand with the handle to the right and the tips of the bristles to the left, and use one of the remaining two sides of the shaft of the bristles to do the same motion under my chin and all the way to my adam's apple, from side to side, front to back
9. When I get to my lips and the front of my chin, I just move the tips of my brush, left-right-left-right, with the bristles pointing toward me. I press a little bit so that some of the lather in my brush would transfer to my face
10. At this point, I have a whole bunch of lather on my face, and this is where I imagine I'd want to go around and do things like "swirling' or "scrubbing" or "breaking the backbone' and all the confusing terms I'm hearing, to get the brush to lift up the hairs, and for the lather to surround the hairs. However, when I just gently press the tips of my Muhle sipvertip fiber brush to my face, I feel more of a very gentle scrape, not much of a scrub, and not much of a lift

Hope this all makes sense and I've helped you help me!

 

[silverlifter]

Welcome to B&B!

Your approach sounds fine to me. Are you concerned that your lather is not performing well enough? Is it drying during passes, for example?

"Scrubbing" and "splaying" are not necessary; everyone builds their lather differently, and if you are happy with the *results*, then I wouldn't worry. As long as the lather is slick enough for the duration of the pass, you should be good to go.

In terms of language: "swirling" is just making circular motions with the brush on your face. "Splaying" is applying sufficient pressure to force the knot to open up and the tips to spread across a much wider surface area so more of your face is covered at once. Some people don't like to do this too much as they are concerned about creating a "donut hole" in the knot over time. Hope that helps!

 

[euro]

I'm using almost the same method as yours, if it works then it works there is no good or wrong here IMHO. I simply use up and down or left and right strokes on my face to apply the lather.

 

[blethenstrom]

Welcome Parham to Badger and Blade. Good to have you with us here.

 

[NorthernSoul]

I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to shave as a blind person. The best I can think of is shaving in the shower by feel (which I can do with some practice).

When people talk about splaying and swirling, I think they are usually building the lather directly on the face instead of in a bowl. That's usually what I do, as well. However, if you have already got a bowl of lather ready, applying it should be fairly straightforward. You should start with enough lather in your bowl for two or three passes, depending on your technique.

You don't have to move the brush in circles (or swirls), you can move the brush in straight lines, following the contours of the face. Just press down slightly as you move it and the brush will fan out slightly (you don't need a lot of pressure for this). Imagine you are gently scrubbing the skin in the area you will be shaving. This will get the lather thoroughly applied to the face. Remember, that you don't need a really thick layer of lather, just enough to help the razor glide easily.

 

[parham]

Welcome to B&B!

Thank you!

Your approach sounds fine to me. Are you concerned that your lather is not performing well enough? Is it drying during passes, for example?

So, i'm facing two issues. The first issue is that the blade feels like it's dragging against my skin, even with something that is supposed to have good glide like Speick. I imagine this could also be because I'm making my lather too dry by swirling it too much, but I wanted to make sure that I'm applying it correctly before I go and play around with the lather. If you have any suggestions here based on my steps, do share them!
I get around this first issue by applying Proraso White pre-shave just before every pass.
The second issue is that sometimes I get a burning sensation around the front of my face (my cheeks around my cheekbones and on both sides of my face, plus my lips) which leads to a lot of tiny bumps (I guess this is what 'razor bump' is? )

As long as the lather is slick enough for the duration of the pass, you should be good to go.

I only have the issue of the lather drying off with Speick. I imagine this is because I'm swirling too much? With a brush full of water, i can't imagine it's because of a lack of water in the beginning, LOL.

In terms of language: "swirling" is just making circular motions with the brush on your face. "Splaying" is applying sufficient pressure to force the knot to open up and the tips to spread across a much wider surface area so more of your face is covered at once. Some people don't like to do this too much as they are concerned about creating a "donut hole" in the knot over time. Hope that helps!

Aha! This is super helpful! Should I "swirl" just with the tips of the brush touching my face, or should I press a bit harder? What is the point here, water + friction + cream = more lather?

 

[parham]

I'm using almost the same method as yours

Awesomeness, thanks for the validation! Same question for you – do you just go with the very tips of your brush at a 90 degree angle?

 

[parham]

I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to shave as a blind person. The best I can think of is shaving in the shower by feel (which I can do with some practice).

Yes, a lot of touching involved! I've actually noticed that if I go with faith/memory for my 3 passes I will actually get a much closer shave and less irritation if I touch my face. It's only during the touch-ups (which is pass 4 for me) that I touch my face last week, which has been a lot more comfortable. No wonder why that is, maybe pressing on a foamy lather compresses it and reduces protection?

When people talk about splaying and swirling, I think they are usually building the lather directly on the face instead of in a bowl. That's usually what I do, as well. However, if you have already got a bowl of lather ready, applying it should be fairly straightforward.

Perfect!

You don't have to move the brush in circles (or swirls), you can move the brush in straight lines, following the contours of the face. Just press down slightly as you move it and the brush will fan out slightly (you don't need a lot of pressure for this). Imagine you are gently scrubbing the skin in the area you will be shaving. This will get the lather thoroughly applied to the face. Remember, that you don't need a really thick layer of lather, just enough to help the razor glide easily.

Aha! I'll give this a try instead of my usual way of pressing the side of the brush to my face and going from top to bottom. I'll report back!

 

[blethenstrom]

I only have the issue of the lather drying off with Speick. I imagine this is because I'm swirling too much? With a brush full of water, i can't imagine it's because of a lack of water in the beginning, LOL.

I would imagine one problem for you is to know when you have added enough water to your lather. I have never tried to feel the lather and determine if it is wet enough. Since you are having issues with the lather drying you might not have enough water. You can always add a few drops at a time and see if the feel of the lather changes. More water tend to make the lather slicker, but of course there is a limit to that as well and when it just breaks down.

Have you ever tried to face lather? If not that might be something to experiment with as well.

 

[parham]

Have you ever tried to face lather? If not that might be something to experiment with as well.

I have wanted to give that a try, but having never had good lather on my face, I have no way of "feeling" the quality of the lather. I've also noticed that if I apply a shaving cream to my face and add water to it afterwards, the irritation around my cheeks increases, no matter which shaving cream I use. i put that down to too much cream in contact with my skin, not sure if that is true though.

 

[silverlifter]

So, i'm facing two issues. The first issue is that the blade feels like it's dragging against my skin, even with something that is supposed to have good glide like Speick. I imagine this could also be because I'm making my lather too dry by swirling it too much, but I wanted to make sure that I'm applying it correctly before I go and play around with the lather. If you have any suggestions here based on my steps, do share them!

It's difficult, because I am accustomed to using visual cues to assess my lather, but I'll try and provide some pointers. More water is always better, except early on. I find it best to start with less, and add gradually so that you can control it. Having said that, slightly overdoing it is not a big concern. I mostly use a straight, so prefer slickness over volume, and if I get it wrong, lather dripping off my face is no cause for panic.

I get around this first issue by applying Proraso White pre-shave just before every pass.
The second issue is that sometimes I get a burning sensation around the front of my face (my cheeks around my cheekbones and on both sides of my face, plus my lips) which leads to a lot of tiny bumps (I guess this is what 'razor bump' is? )

They are two issues: burn and bumps, that can be related. Burn is generally too much pressure, or buffing, or insufficiently slick lather to begin with: make sure you attempt to manage all three.

I only have the issue of the lather drying off with Speick. I imagine this is because I'm swirling too much? With a brush full of water, i can't imagine it's because of a lack of water in the beginning, LOL.

Try sprinking a little water into your bowl once you get to your normal "launch" point, and making the lather a little more watery... Spieck holds water well, so you can experiment with that.

Aha! This is super helpful! Should I "swirl" just with the tips of the brush touching my face, or should I press a bit harder? What is the point here, water + friction + cream = more lather?

Pressure is not necessary. I tend to use it because I like the feel of "scrubbiness", it is part of the ritual, but patience will get you to the same place! Good luck, keep us posted with your progress.

 

[blethenstrom]

I have wanted to give that a try, but having never had good lather on my face, I have no way of "feeling" the quality of the lather. I've also noticed that if I apply a shaving cream to my face and add water to it afterwards, the irritation around my cheeks increases, no matter which shaving cream I use. i put that down to too much cream in contact with my skin, not sure if that is true though.

Yeah when you do not have a good mental picture of what a lather should be I can see that being an issue. You can also add the cream to the brush and then apply it to a wet face. Now for face lathering you do want a bit of splaying and swirling to get the lather to build well. Some face latherers just do it with paint strokes, but I fail at just using those.

Maybe the irritation that you experienced had more to do with the brush on your skin. I know some are more sensitive to the brush being swirled and splayed on your face and the prickliness of the brush.

 

[brucered]

I have wanted to give that a try, but having never had good lather on my face, I have no way of "feeling" the quality of the lather. I've also noticed that if I apply a shaving cream to my face and add water to it afterwards, the irritation around my cheeks increases, no matter which shaving cream I use. i put that down to too much cream in contact with my skin, not sure if that is true though.

If you were anywhere close to me, I'd be glad to come over and lather for you, so you can use that as your baseline. Maybe a forum member could help you out with an in-person tutorial.

A trip to a local barber who lathers with a brush and soap, would be an option.

Face lathering is much easier to tell consistency and control how thick or thin that lather is over bowl lathering. I rarely if ever have to add water. Once you know how wet a brush to start with, it all comes together in one step.

Practice lathering on your hand for reference and feel of the lather. There is no right or wrong consistency, it's whatever consistency works best for you. I prefer thick and creamy, like homemade real whipped cream. Dense, no bubbles, not fluffy and airy.

The irritation you are getting is likely from razor techinique or doing 4 passes, which is 2 too many if you ask me.

 

[ewk]

An inexpensive water spray bottle may be helpful to you. It can be used to spray into your bowl while lathering to add hydration. Also, if the lather is feeling dry or tugging too much after applied on your face during your pass, spray some water on the face and work it in with the brush a little to rehydrate the lather.

 

[spacemonkey42]

Welcome, @parham! Thank you for sharing your experiences, it is great to hear from you!

I have one idea for you to possibly consider. I lather on my face, because I can feel the lather developing better. With bowl lathering sometimes it looks good, but it isn't very slick or protective. This may be too much of a change, but I wanted to share it, just in case it was any help to you. As I was learning how to face lather, I would take my finger and run it along my cheek to feel how slick the lather was at that point. If it was too thick and pasty, I would dip the tips of the brush in water and keep agitating on my face. If it had gone too thin and runny, I'd load more soap onto my brush and agitate that into the mix on my face. Because I was feeling a lot, I thought this might be an option to consider.

Again welcome, happy shaves to you!

 

[NorthernSoul]

Aha! I'll give this a try instead of my usual way of pressing the side of the brush to my face and going from top to bottom. I'll report back!

You can still use the sides of the brush to smooth the lather out just a bit after you have scrubbed the lather onto the face as described above. Like applying icing to a cake.

Do let us know how this is working for you.

 

[euro]

Awesomeness, thanks for the validation! Same question for you – do you just go with the very tips of your brush at a 90 degree angle?

I just push the brush slightly on my cheeks and make the up and down motions, the angle of the brush is somewhat between 90-45 degree. But you also wrote that you got razor burns? It could be the blade itself or maybe the soap itself, some soaps are easy to lather other are kinda harder to lather. Some soaps don't need much water while others need more water. Some soaps dry out quickly while others don't. IMHO the Proraso soaps are super easy to lather, I recently got a 1 kilo block of the Vitos soap and this soap really needs more water compared to the Proraso soaps.

No one can tell you how much water you actually need because this is different for every soap and every person has his own preferences. Too much water and less soap will turn it into a watery lather. Too much soap and less water will make it thicker and usually it dries out quickly. I'm sure that the brush also plays a role into this.

Aha! This is super helpful! Should I "swirl" just with the tips of the brush touching my face, or should I press a bit harder? What is the point here, water + friction + cream = more lather?

The swirls aren't necessary, it's just what some people prefer. I tried this method and I didn't like it at all, I prefer right strokes like up and down, left and right. I'm not sure about the pressure but it's not really needed, just hold the tip of the brush against your skin and make the motions.

You can improve your shaves by simply using olive oil as a preshave oil. It's the best and cheapest pre shaving oil you can get. I used it for a couple years and believe me, your face will like it afterwards. You just apply the olive oil on your face and massage it in your skin, then apply the lather on your face and shave. IMHO it will improve the shave even when the lather is poorly made.

How do you do the 4 passes and how often do you shave? For an example, I always do 3 passes and I always get a BBS but I won't be able to shave for 3 or 4 days. If I shave like after 2 days I will end up with a razor burn and a ruined face.

 

[Honedright]

Have you tried applying lather first with the brush, then rubbing the lather into your beard with your finger tips? This is what barbers do, or at least used to do. After rubbing in, apply another layer of shaving cream with the brush.

Also, I learned to place my fingers and thumb into the brush bristles with the brush handle held in the palm while applying lather. This allows greater control over the brush. For instance you can squeeze the bristles flat when lathering under the nose. Also, this may provide greater tactile feedback for you while lathering.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Welcome Parham.

I have read your opening post, but not the other replies yet, as I don't want to bias my response. However, that might mean I repeat what somebody else has already said, or directly contradict them.

The first thing that springs to mind is your lather building. You stop when you feel resistance. If I were building lather in a bowl, and swirled till I felt resistance, it would be ruined as far as I am concerned. Too much air incorporated, and too stiff a consistency. If you can feel a big cloud of lather around your brush with your other hand, this would confirm it.

So where to start, and where to stop.

I am going to suggest something to try. It might not work for you, but it might help give you a different perspective, and the building blocks to develop your own technique. I am going to suggest adding soap to water, rather than water to soap.

After soaking the brush, lift out the brush vertically, with handle pointing up and bristles pointing down. Listen for the water running out of the brush to stop. Then without shaking the brush, just raise and lower the brush a couple of times, roughly at the same speed that you might raise and lower a glass to your face to drink from. That will dislodge a little extra water, but the brush should still be comfortably full.

Now, keeping that brush in the same position over the sink with one hand, dump the water from the bowl with the other. You should now have an empty bowl, and as much water in the brush as it can comfortably hold. Move the brush over the bowl, and wipe it on the rim, to collect all that water from the brush into the bowl. Your bowl now has the perfect amount of water in it. If you ever change your brush, this will still work.

Next, we want to add the cream. I tend to use one milliliter as a guide. Or one cubic centimetre. I do that visually, but I'll let you determine your best method for discerning that. You didn't specify your appropriate amount, but that's an appropriate amount for me.

When you start to stir them together, they will both be drawn up into the knot of the brush. Not completely, but if you were to put a finger in the bowl after eight to ten stirs, you'll find there's very little there. However, it won't be lather at this point. Wipe the brush against the rim of the bowl again, to get everything back in the bowl, and do another ten stirs. Once more, wipe the brush to empty it into the bowl.

At this point it gets tricky for me, as I do not know how many times you need to repeat this, but take a little pinch of the liquid between finger and thumb, and rub them together. It should be feeling slippery, but you should also be able to gauge it's thickness. If it is like milk, it's not ready. It it's thick and dense like foam from an aerosol can, it is overcooked. You want it to still feel like liquid, but like unwhipped cream.

You should have the right amount of water and cream in the bowl, we are just trying to control air content now. That comes from how much stiring you do, how springy your brush is, and how big the bumps are in your bowl. After drinking up the lather soup twice, and wiping it back into the bowl, I think it should be undercooked. But feel for yourself. Do the stir and wipe a third time, or even a fourth if necessary. Maybe for the first try, go too far on purpose, just so see how many cycles that is.

Now the application.

Stir the brush in the bowl just three of four times. You don't want to collect it all to start with. Paint that lather on, just using the tips of the brush, maybe leaning the bristles over a little. Paint against the grain, and with the grain. You are trying to lather the skin, not lather the stubble, and you want to be certain that the base of each hair has lather all round. Having runnier lather will help, as it will have a little bit of flow to it, but you may wish to lean over the sink. If the brush starts feeling a little dry, collect a little more lather from the bowl with the brush.

Please note Parham, that this will most likely feel very different to the lather you are used to. You may feel the razor more, but that is a good thing, as you do not have overly thick lather muting the feel of what is happening. If you get this right, the cutting resistance will be far less than you are used to. No dryness. No tugging.

Depending on your water chemistry, you might need to start with a little bit more cream than I do. If so, your lather will convert quicker. So if you are trying to build the lather, and it still feels watery rather than creamy, more cream is needed. Too much, and you will go back to having cake icing on your face, and a tuggy shave.

I hope this helps. If there is anything that I have failed to explain, please ask away, and I will answer as soon as I can. The most important thing though, is have fun. Play around with it. Don't limit yourself too much to other people's suggestions. See what a lather feels like to shave with when it is a little too rich and a little too watery. Find your own comfort zone. I think this should get you off to a good start though.

 

[parham]

If you were anywhere close to me, I'd be glad to come over and lather for you, so you can use that as your baseline. Maybe a forum member could help you out with an in-person tutorial.

Ah yes, having no experienced wet shavers close by to get a hnds-on tutorial is definitely not ideal. However, throughout my life, I've had to self-learn almost all the time with the help of others on a forum just like this, from learning programming all the way to being sponsored and immigrating as an expat and becoming a manager and weightlifting and... you get the idea, haha. Maybe I should improve the quality of my social circle!
All of that to say, I've always grown thanks to awesome people like you offering their expertise online even though they don't live close to me. Very grateful to you all.

A trip to a local barber who lathers with a brush and soap, would be an option.

Ah yes, that's what I thought! But the guy then had to stop mid-shave because I was "bleeding all over the place", haha! I'll have to give that another try!

Face lathering is much easier to tell consistency and control how thick or thin that lather is over bowl lathering. I rarely if ever have to add water. Once you know how wet a brush to start with, it all comes together in one step

Any ideas on how to measure the water I'm starting with so I'd get similar results? One thing I've learned is that since I can't visually check things, the best way to get a consistent result at anything is to have a way of measuring, like a spoon, a specific cup I use all the time, ETC.

The irritation you are getting is likely from razor technique or doing 4 passes, which is 2 too many if you ask me.

Probably. As far as I can tell, as my technique has got better, I get more of my beard removed with the same passes. From what I understand, if I get the prep right, I have at least a consistent base that I can build on.