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I'm about to give up here.....
I'm using a Merkur Futur (brushed finish if that matters in the least) set to level 1, with an Astra platinum blade in it. I have a Parker Safety Razor. 3 Band Pure badger brush and both TOBS an D.R. Harris shaving cream. To begin with I soak the brush in boiling hot water for as long as it either takes me to take a nice hot shower or wrap a hot towel around my face for several minutes if I cant shower first. I normally give it one good shake then dab it in the cream and work op a respectable lather(not whipped cream but nice and foamy) then I apply it all over my face in. a circular fashion and commence to shaving. Every pass or two I rinse. my razor under hot water and continue shaving WTG and within 3-4 passes my face is sticky and the razor won't glide. I've tried using less water, more water to no avail. Nothing i've tried seems to help the stickiness. Any ideas, this is driving me crazy. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong here..........

Thank you so much
Andy
 

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It sounds like your lather is drying out too much while you're shaving.

After your shower, splash warm water on your face before you take the brush with lather to it. The shaving area needs to be wet. This will help to keep the lather from drying out as fast.

If you start to notice the lather drying during the shave, get a little warm water, not much, on the tip of your brush and re-brush your face like you did at the start of the shave. This will rehydrate the lather and you should be good to go.

In between passes re-wet your face and follow the above.

I hope this helps. Don't give up. A lot of wet shaving is trial and error and putting what you've learned into practice. You will find a method that works for you.
 
Do NOT soak your brush in boiling hot water, you'll damage it. Soak it in warm water instead. Then shake it well (not just once).

Build your lather slowly adding drops of water as you go.

What I can see in the pictures above is that your lather is way too foamy, airy. It's not developed properly and that is why it lacks slickness. You need to build your lather for at least 30 seconds (sometimes more depending on the product) to fully develop it. Good lather will have noticeable sheen on its surface and will feel slick and lubricating when you rub it between your fingers.
 
Looks like not enough cream, not enough water and too much air. Try taking a measured amount of cream out of the jar and spreading it on the bottom of the bowl. The size of an almond more or less. Soak your badger brush for just a minute or two in warm water. Building lather is not like whipping egg whites -- you don't want a bunch of airy froth, so avoid whipping air into it. Start with a damp brush, agitate the cream with the brush while adding a teaspoon of water at a time. It might take two or three teaspoons. Your lather should not have a lot of bubbles. It should have more of a yogurt consistency, and develop a sheen or luster when the amount of water is right.

Your shave prep will probably go better with comfortably warm water, not very hot. Really hot water just makes your skin more sensitive and prone to irritation.
 

EclipseRedRing

I smell like a Christmas pudding
With many lathering problems more product seems often to be the solution. I would certainly not soak my brush in boiling hot water; warm or even cold water is fine. I find it neither necessary nor beneficial to 'soak' a badger brush for any length of time at all, I simply submerge the entire brush in water for a few seconds, squeeze out the excess water, load the brush from the puck and start face lathering. Try some different methods and find what works for you.
 
It sounds like your lather is drying out too much while you're shaving.

After your shower, splash warm water on your face before you take the brush with lather to it. The shaving area needs to be wet. This will help to keep the lather from drying out as fast.

If you start to notice the lather drying during the shave, get a little warm water, not much, on the tip of your brush and re-brush your face like you did at the start of the shave. This will rehydrate the lather and you should be good to go.

In between passes re-wet your face and follow the above.

I hope this helps. Don't give up. A lot of wet shaving is trial and error and putting what you've learned into practice. You will find a method that works for you.

+1! More water! This is called ‘traditional’ WET shaving because having enough water is key! :a29:
 
Thank you all for your replies, I'll switch to warm water and less of it on the brush with more cream. I've been putting the brush in the cream not cream in the bowl so I will try that as well. All of your answers made sense so I'll put some more practice in. Again, Thank you all.

Regards,
Andy
 
You should shoot for yogurt like or cool whip with your lather. You may want to give face lathering a shot.
 

ajkel64

Check Out Chick
Staff member
You have received some great advice above. They only thing that I would ad is that you could use the search bar and search for the Marco Method. Marco‘s method is a pretty good way to start the lathering process.
 

Esox

I didnt know
Staff member
I'm about to give up here.....
I'm using a Merkur Futur (brushed finish if that matters in the least) set to level 1, with an Astra platinum blade in it. I have a Parker Safety Razor. 3 Band Pure badger brush and both TOBS an D.R. Harris shaving cream. To begin with I soak the brush in boiling hot water for as long as it either takes me to take a nice hot shower or wrap a hot towel around my face for several minutes if I cant shower first. I normally give it one good shake then dab it in the cream and work op a respectable lather(not whipped cream but nice and foamy) then I apply it all over my face in. a circular fashion and commence to shaving. Every pass or two I rinse. my razor under hot water and continue shaving WTG and within 3-4 passes my face is sticky and the razor won't glide. I've tried using less water, more water to no avail. Nothing i've tried seems to help the stickiness. Any ideas, this is driving me crazy. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong here..........

Thank you so much
Andy

Looking at the pictures you've attached, the lather is foamy and thin, not rich and thick. Different soaps/creams need more or less water for the amount of product loaded.

My advice is to load more. Load heavily, apply to face, add water a little at a time until the desired performance is reached. Load too heavily and it will be thick, dry and pasty. Dip the tips of the brush and work that little amount of water in as needed.

You can always add more water, but its hard to take it away. If you add more water to not enough product, in my experience, I end up with what you describe.

This much Captains Choice cream on the tips..

IMG_2191.jpg


Give me this much lather. Notice the consistency of the lather.

IMG_2175.JPG


IMG_2173.JPG


Rich. Not too thick, not too thin.
 
Also, are you reapplying lather between passes? If you're relying solely on one lather application at the beginning of your shave, that could be a cause of your problem. Even if you don't reapply lather before subsequent passes, you might want to consider applying some water for residual slickness.
 
...then I apply it all over my face in. a circular fashion and commence to shaving. Every pass or two I rinse. my razor under hot water and continue shaving WTG and within 3-4 passes my face is sticky and the razor won't glide.

I am confused about your use of the term "pass" in your description of your shave.

There was a thread a couple days ago, about Pass vs Stroke ( PASS Vs. STROKE debate - are they one and the same... or NOT? | Badger & Blade (badgerandblade.com) and I said I had never seen the term confused before. But here I wonder if you mean stroke when you say pass. And if so, then if you are making 3 or 4 strokes over the same spot without lather, then yes, your razor won't glide.
 
I am confused about your use of the term "pass" in your description of your shave.

There was a thread a couple days ago, about Pass vs Stroke ( PASS Vs. STROKE debate - are they one and the same... or NOT? | Badger & Blade (badgerandblade.com) and I said I had never seen the term confused before. But here I wonder if you mean stroke when you say pass. And if so, then if you are making 3 or 4 strokes over the same spot without lather, then yes, your razor won't glide.

I only shave the same area once without re-lathering, I don't repeatedly go over the same spot. I then regather for shaving in the next direction.


I'm sorry for the delay in responding, I somehow managed to get that nasty virus thats out there ruining our lives and haven't felt well. Better now though so... :)
 
Looking at the pictures you've attached, the lather is foamy and thin, not rich and thick. Different soaps/creams need more or less water for the amount of product loaded.

My advice is to load more. Load heavily, apply to face, add water a little at a time until the desired performance is reached. Load too heavily and it will be thick, dry and pasty. Dip the tips of the brush and work that little amount of water in as needed.

You can always add more water, but its hard to take it away. If you add more water to not enough product, in my experience, I end up with what you describe.

This much Captains Choice cream on the tips..

View attachment 1248516

Give me this much lather. Notice the consistency of the lather.

View attachment 1248515

View attachment 1248514

Rich. Not too thick, not too thin.


That looks nice, I'll load up my brush more and use less water. That definitely looks different than what I'm producing. Thank you.
 
You have received some great advice above. They only thing that I would ad is that you could use the search bar and search for the Marco Method. Marco‘s method is a pretty good way to start the lathering process.
Where do i find Marco's method
 
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