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Soap loading time is irrelevant in terms of judging if enough soap is loaded

Maybe this thread is more suitable to be posted in "Shaving Soaps" section but I feel it's an important issue that needs to be addressed.

I have been following this forum for couple of years. First couple of years as a lurker, now as semi active poster :) and I've noticed a big surge of using "loading time" as judging factor if load is good or not. I believe that this is irrelevant factor. There is so much variables when loading a brush, that just loading time can't be deciding factor.

Brush bristles are made out of different materials, mostly badger, brush and synthetic. Each material has their own specifics, some eat lather, some don't, some retain a lot of water and again some don't.
Brush knots...where do I even begin. Soft, stiff, big, small and everything in between. All of that directly influences loading.
Soap...soft soap, croap, triple milled, all load differently. Is soap used regularly or is it sitting in a rotation? Was the soap bloomed beforehand and for how long? Bloomed soap loads faster for example, so do soft soaps.
Actual loading! How much pressure do you use? How fast are you swirling? How much water is in the brush? I prefer to start on a bit dry side and add droplets to load more soap if needed.

Personally I prefer to use weight of my brush as a measure of loading. I realize it is not the most exact measurement but for me it works and I feel you can better judge if load is good or not. So what I do I load until brush feels almost as heavy as when it's full of water.

I am not saying we should abandon loading time, I believe is a good metric for when we measure "ease of loading" but for proper amount of soap loaded weight is better option.
 

EclipseRedRing

I smell like a Christmas pudding
I have never once considered loading time although I would expect to load more soap with more swirls, and therefore to create more lather. I simply swirl a few times then start face lathering and dip the tips in water as I go until I achieve the desired hydration; if I need more soap then I go back to the puck. My only consideration is using less water and soap for my synth brush when compared to my badger brushes. That said, I like a fairly thin lather but I am not too fussy, as long as the lather is stable and I can shave with it then it is good enough. Creating lather is, for me anyway, a process that could not be more simple.
 
Yup. Just look at two hard pucks. PdP takes only a few seconds while RR's wtp soaps take a full minute.

Hard Williams takes 30 seconds which is the same as a softer Stirling soap. After a while you'll learn to judge by the look of the lather building on the brush/puck surface.
 
I am a load and go kinda guy. Most days I simply don’t have to play around in the bathroom timing my lather distribution on my brush. I even face lather without a brush some days…a rebellious shaver for sure 😆😂
 

musicman1951

three-tu-tu, three-tu-tu
I agree that it varies hugely from shaver to shaver for all the reasons you listed. But I usually use it for MdC so I don't end up with a ridiculous amount of lather. 6 seconds works for my water/brushes/technique and swirling speed. But I do realize that my number doesn't mean anything to anyone else.
 

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
I agree that it varies hugely from shaver to shaver for all the reasons you listed. But I usually use it for MdC so I don't end up with a ridiculous amount of lather. 6 seconds works for my water/brushes/technique and swirling speed. But I do realize that my number doesn't mean anything to anyone else.
I load MdC for only a few seconds myself. I once tried twenty, just for grins. It made way too much lather for three passes, and the texture was not notably different.
 
I agree that the time is irrelevant. Once you’ve been doing this for awhile you know when your brush of choice is loaded with your soap of choice. Lots of personal variables involved.
Indeed once you use brush or soap more times you get a feeling for it.
But for using a soap/brush that you don't know I argue that observing weight of the brush helps significantly more than observing time.
 
It seems that is the metric people ask for so I try to give what’s asked. Personally, I know how much water any one of my brushes need to pick up the amount of soap I want and leave the puck mostly dry. In this way I have found attempting to over load is nearly impossible, it just stops. Except with boar brushes, the things get sloppy!
 
I am imagining one youtubers making one of their "lather porn" softserve on a cone shots and then taking that right to their face! :facep:
:lol:
I also see a lot of this on B&B daily use pics🤣 but hey what happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom just like in Las Vegas.
 
I also see a lot of this on B&B daily use pics🤣 but hey what happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom just like in Las Vegas.
That's really the appropriate motto for Las Vegas; "What happens in the bathroom, stays in the bathroom!"™️
But my mind wasn't thinking about after the buffet though... :ihih:
 
I don't think too hard about it, whether I'm bowl lathering or face lathering. If I need more soap I load more. If I get too much, I make a mental note not to load as much next time. Soap is cheap.
 
I'm always bewildered when I read, especially on reddit, posts about this "loading method", or some other pseudo-scientific clap trap about how to put soap on your face.

I get that people really dig the hobby, and that tends to breed a desire for complex understanding and systemic thinking about it, but lathering? Really?

Wet your brush. Mush it on the soap. Scrub it around your mug. Shave. Profit. If you want to insert a bowl or scuttle into the process, knock yourself out.

Now, I'm off to write a 500 word treatise on "how to wash your underarms using the precision loading method." Remember to upvote, like and subscribe!
 
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