Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
Once I whip up a decent face lather I can’t really see the stubble to tell if it’s raised up.
Lather and brush is just another way to lubricate your face for the shave IMO. I shave after a shower so I've already washed my face, so I don't need the brush and soap to cut oils or hydrate whiskers nearly as much as back in the days when bathing wasn't as frequent and so on, i.e., the days when brushes started being used.If brushes and lather aren’t doing anything, then putting a hot moist towel on your face and then smearing Vaseline over your beard would work. I’m not willing to try that. Maybe some of the lather and brush disbelievers would care to give it a go?
Yeah, I think that a lot of what we think are "facts" around here are actually wishful thinking.Lather and brush is just another way to lubricate your face for the shave IMO. I shave after a shower so I've already washed my face, so I don't need the brush and soap to cut oils or hydrate whiskers nearly as much as back in the days when bathing wasn't as frequent and so on, i.e., the days when brushes started being used.
If I bathed and shaved once a week, then I think the brush would live up to more of its touted properties. I just feel that for the daily or near daily shaver, many of those benefits don't matter or aren't happening. Today I need a brush to make lather and get it onto my face. I don't need exfoliation, hair raising, whisker cleansing...
If I said it, you know it’s true...or at least what I understand as the truth. Perhaps I’m no better than the fake news.Yeah, I think that a lot of what we think are "facts" around here are actually wishful thinking.
Sounds like you're quoting me now. Next week I will undoubtedly type something that is the complete opposite of what I typed earlier. I am without question a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction.If I said it, you know it’s true...or at least what I understand as the truth. Perhaps I’m no better than the fake news.
<said with tongue firmly planted in cheek>
I think the real exfoliating happens with the razor.and blade.I agree with the hair lifting, but the brush does two other things. It exfoliates if it is used to swirl the lather as opposed to painting it on. Secondly, if just feels great.
But you must agree it does feel great.I think the real exfoliating happens with the razor.and blade.
I've always believed this. What the brush probably does is massage in moisture, the soap breaking down the surfaces resistance, allowing the whisker to swell making it less dense and easier to cut. But lift the whisker? Sounds physically impossible. Think about it. Whiskers are not only tough and stiff but very, very short which makes them even stiffer. The higher the loft on a brush the floppier, right? Do you really think when the softer and longer hair of the brush comes up against the shorter, stiffer whiskers that it's the whiskers that's going to give?One oft touted quality of brush with soap is that it raises the stubble or stands the whiskers up. I just don't see it. At least in the event of a daily shaver.
The stubble is so short it probably in all actuality can't be bent and even if lifted, is only done so temporarily and then it snaps back into place. Probably especially true of us older dudes with wire whiskers.
If any of you get noticeable whisker raising, please share how many days of growth and if your whiskers are soft, stiff, whatever.
I would definitely agree with this when my whiskers are longer, 4 or more days. So for the non daily shaver I think brushes help at least place the lather where it needs to be even if the whisker may bend back to whence it came.Interesting thought.
I don't know about the hair raising but what I do know is boars, being stiffer, provide a much better lather than synthetic. I started with a cheap synthetic and then moved to boar and never bothered with synthetic again. I don't even own that synthetic anymore.
However I do suppose it raises the hair somewhat or at least lubricate the bottom part of the hair which I believe might be something synthetic can't achieve.
.....I bowl lather, but I spend a good portion of the shave working that same lather over my face with a brush. I find it relaxing!
.....Secondly, if just feels great.
I concur. Stubble raising and stubble holding by lather peaks is a myth.One oft touted quality of brush with soap is that it raises the stubble or stands the whiskers up. I just don't see it. At least in the event of a daily shaver.
The stubble is so short it probably in all actuality can't be bent and even if lifted, is only done so temporarily and then it snaps back into place. Probably especially true of us older dudes with wire whiskers.
If any of you get noticeable whisker raising, please share how many days of growth and if your whiskers are soft, stiff, whatever.
Great response Dave! I’m slightly annoyed I didn’t think of adding the mechanical lifting via skin pull aspect to my post as well. I will add though, for any who might not know, that pulling the skin to raise the follicles while shaving ATG is a great way to cause in-growns especially if you are prone to them or are of black descent. My only recommendation regarding that is when pulling the skin for an ATG pass, try to just keep the skin just taught enough to prevent bunching up. Good slickness will reduce the need for over pulling the skin.I concur. Stubble raising and stubble holding by lather peaks is a myth.
A grown-up male's facial hair growth is on average between 0.3-0.5mm per 24h. If you shave daily or even just twice/week, hair will still be so short, that there'd be nothing to "maneuver" in any direction, be it up or down.
The only way to "raise" the hair is to stretch the skin in the opposite direction of the hair growth pattern. This way, you physically (mechanically) make the stubble protrude, thus it becomes easier to shaver.