Am I getting the right lather?

[MarioFan]

Hi guys so I bought the shaving brush and soap from dollar tree and I am getting a thick leather imo, but when I shave I feel like the blade is rougher than it is when I use barbasol.
What I'm wondering really is that normal for all traditional shaving soaps and creams? Below is the soap.

 

[NotBloomingAL]

The first blade I used felt rough on my face, like sandpaper. It was a Derby Premium. What you could do is carefully strope the blade on your jeans to knock down the coating on each edge of the blade. This should smooth the blade out. Finding the right blade for your face may take time. But when you do, it'll be an "ah-ha" moment. Probably the smoothest blade I found for my face is the Gillette Silver Blue. But that smoothness only lasts the first shave.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Most people starting out with this don't use enough water in the lather. You have to have plenty of water to make it really slick. Usually, the water needs to mixed in stages two or three times.

The second common problem is not loading enough soap. If you are used to creams, you may have to load about twice as long. Keep loading until the tips of your brush are saturated with soap. With practice, this will become almost automatic.

Your lather would ideally be almost but not quite runny without a bunch of air bubbles in it. Don't aim for that meringue looking kind of lather. That is just for photos, but doesn't shave very well.

Remember,

plenty of soap + plenty of water = plenty of lather

soap is cheap, they'll make more if you run low

 

[mikhou]

Your lather would ideally be almost but not quite runny without a bunch of air bubbles in it. Don't aim for that meringue looking kind of lather. That is just for photos, but doesn't shave very well.

Agreed. And I don't mind it a touch (and just a smidge) runny.

 

[BanjoCowboyMartaTobes]

Don’t admire the thick lather on youtube.
Check out the beautiful pictures of lather around B&B. Few bubbles are ok, I like thinner lather and if it’s falling on the sink off your face after first stroke, it might be too wet. Play with it and practice.
Perhaps even take it simple with 1.5 minutes loading, 2 minutes whipping and add several drops 3x in that 2 minutes and see where you are. Share pictures of your lather and I even took a pic of my lathered face once. Great advice here, best of luck!!
Lastly a stick of Arko is cheap and very easy to face lather. Main thing is small successes while enjoying the learning curve. Cheers.

 

[taffy]

Agree with the above posts, I think when we all started off you want to get a really thick cream, but as you progress you find you don't actually require a heavy thick cream.

 

[NotBloomingAL]

Just stumbled on two beginner givaways:

GIVEAWAY! - Beginner starter kit.

Gillette King C razor Cella red AoS brush Pinaud aftershave All either new or barely used. Would love to see this go to a noob who wants his start at wet shaving. I will of course throw blades in as well. Pick a number between 1 and 20. First person to guess the number gets it.

www.badgerandblade.com

GIVEAWAY! - Beginner starter kit 2.0

This is a fantastic trifecta. Merkur 34c, Barrister & Mann Lavanille, RV Moon Java brush. This deserves to go to somebody that wants to get into the world of wet shaving. Pick a number between 1 and 20 and the first person to get it right, gets it.

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[BigJ]

I go for slickness (lots of water) rather than the thick ‘yogurt’ often shown in videos!

 

[DrStrange]

Most people starting out with this don't use enough water in the lather. You have to have plenty of water to make it really slick. Usually, the water needs to mixed in stages two or three times.

The second common problem is not loading enough soap. If you are used to creams, you may have to load about twice as long. Keep loading until the tips of your brush are saturated with soap. With practice, this will become almost automatic.

Your lather would ideally be almost but not quite runny without a bunch of air bubbles in it. Don't aim for that meringue looking kind of lather. That is just for photos, but doesn't shave very well.

Remember,

plenty of soap + plenty of water = plenty of lather

soap is cheap, they'll make more if you run low

I shave well with meringue looking lather.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

There’s nothing wrong with Barbasol, as it’s hard to do it wrong and it does a good job.

I spent years making lather with a brush using soaps and creams. It takes effort to dial it in. I got tired of the variability and use Barbasol most days as it’s less drama and does the job.

With that said some guys like a thin transparent layer some like gloopy paste. I like it right in the middle!

 

[FL shaver]

I used Barbasol with an Atra Plus two blade cartridge for years before finding B&B. Barbasol is pretty thick compared to lathers you get from traditional creams and soaps. I used pressure to get the blades to the skin. With traditional lather and a DE razor, light pressure is all that is required to get the blade gliding over the skin, cutting whiskers. On the infrequent shave with canned foam and a DE, I cut the foam with some water to get the closest shave. So I’d say Barbasol is much denser than traditional lathers, which is protective, but prevents a close pass of the blade.

 

[Barbarian80]

You probably need to keep adding more water in small amounts. When the brush glides across your face like ice then you know its done. Another tell tale sign is that you're making a mess and lather is getting everywhere.
Not sure what soap you're using, maybe others on B&B have tried it, but it looks suspect to me and that could also be an issue. Stick to the tried and true.

 

[musicman1951]

No, you're not getting the right lather if the blade is rougher than it is when you use Barbasol.

The "right" lather is the one that works best for you. It's no doubt thinner, but how much thinner? You'll have to experiment. I'd use a little more water every day. My guess is that would produce better shaves until it didn't. Didn't means it's too thin for you. It's not golf (you can learn rocket science), experiment a bit and you'll find the sweet spot soon. If it's too thick you can always add some water to the lather on your face (dip the tip of the brush in water or add a few drops off your fingers for more control).

 

[MarioFan]

I have an update on this today. I got some very helpful advice on what I was doing wrong.. Someone told me not to build the lather on the soap since chances are all i am doing there is loading the brush and to like after the brush is loaded enough move to the bowl to build a lather. I did this and the roughness i was experiencing wasn't there anymore.
Even though I've been wet shaving since 2019, I'm still learning every way possible.

 

[CCS]

I have an update on this today. I got some very helpful advice on what I was doing wrong.. Someone told me not to build the lather on the soap since chances are all i am doing there is loading the brush and to like after the brush is loaded enough move to the bowl to build a lather. I did this and the roughness i was experiencing wasn't there anymore.
Even though I've been wet shaving since 2019, I'm still learning every way possible.

Not for nuthin' but I've been shaving well over 50 years and I still can screw up a lather that "looked" OK but needed more water or product. That first stroke tells you all you need to know. I load soap on the puck and, usually, but not always, lather in the bowl adding water or soap as needed. Cream is always bowl lathered.

Today, I started with a face lather but I could see I was going to need more soap and hydration so I moved it to the bowl and let the poor lather I'd already started with on my face just do some prep for me. I think it's a very good idea to feel your lather with your fingers either before you apply it or once you've lathered your face. I want to, most of all, feel slickness and some thickness (some people call it cushion). Once I'm there, I already know the shave will be excellent unless I stroke out or something...

 

[dotKomo]

Most people starting out with this don't use enough water in the lather. You have to have plenty of water to make it really slick. Usually, the water needs to mixed in stages two or three times.

The second common problem is not loading enough soap. If you are used to creams, you may have to load about twice as long. Keep loading until the tips of your brush are saturated with soap. With practice, this will become almost automatic.

Your lather would ideally be almost but not quite runny without a bunch of air bubbles in it. Don't aim for that meringue looking kind of lather. That is just for photos, but doesn't shave very well.

Remember,

plenty of soap + plenty of water = plenty of lather

soap is cheap, they'll make more if you run low

This.

 

[Brutus]

If you allow me:

Before we start giving lathering tips to a member who joined in 2019 but has only posted a few times since then (meaning: probably not spending too much time thinking about shaving), let me ask the obvious:
Has anybody shaved with the Dollar Tree soap in the OP’s picture?
Is it any good?
Would you recommend it to a beginner using shaving soap?

Someone’s technique might be supreme, but with a lousy shaving soap you cannot expect good results.
So how is this ”b-pure” shaving soap (as the packaging does not instill much confidence in me and I have never come across this soap in my neck of the woods)?
Who has shaved with it and can tell us?


If we don’t know, then IMO the first step to help the OP would be to suggest a good shaving soap that we all can agree on works well (and no, it does not have to be Proraso).
In fact, a forgiving, well lubricating, gentle soap without overwhelming menthol blast, but with a good post-shave feel like Haslinger Sheep Milk might be a better soap to start with.


B.

 

[CCS]

If you allow me:

Before we start giving lathering tips to a member who joined in 2019 but has only posted a few times since then (meaning: probably not spending too much time thinking about shaving), let me ask the obvious:
Has anybody shaved with the Dollar Tree soap in the OP’s picture?
Is it any good?
Would you recommend it to a beginner using shaving soap?

Someone’s technique might be supreme, but with a lousy shaving soap you cannot expect good results.
So how is this ”b-pure” shaving soap (as the packaging does not instill much confidence in me and I have never come across this soap in my neck of the woods)?
Who has shaved with it and can tell us?


If we don’t know, then IMO the first step to help the OP would be to suggest a good shaving soap that we all can agree on works well (and no, it does not have to be Proraso).
In fact, a forgiving, well lubricating, gentle soap without overwhelming menthol blast, but with a good post-shave feel like Haslinger Sheep Milk might be a better soap to start with.


B.

The soap answer is so obvious - a puck of ARKO! Otherwise, you made a lot of good points.

 

[timetofly]

If you allow me:

Before we start giving lathering tips to a member who joined in 2019 but has only posted a few times since then (meaning: probably not spending too much time thinking about shaving), let me ask the obvious:
Has anybody shaved with the Dollar Tree soap in the OP’s picture?
Is it any good?
Would you recommend it to a beginner using shaving soap?

Someone’s technique might be supreme, but with a lousy shaving soap you cannot expect good results.
So how is this ”b-pure” shaving soap (as the packaging does not instill much confidence in me and I have never come across this soap in my neck of the woods)?
Who has shaved with it and can tell us?


If we don’t know, then IMO the first step to help the OP would be to suggest a good shaving soap that we all can agree on works well (and no, it does not have to be Proraso).
In fact, a forgiving, well lubricating, gentle soap without overwhelming menthol blast, but with a good post-shave feel like Haslinger Sheep Milk might be a better soap to start with.


B.

My sentiments exactly!

Would personally reccommend a better soap (Arko, etc) and brush (e.g. Omega boar or something along those lines).
OP doesn't mention which razor or blade is being used. Some missing information for anyone to be truly helpful.

 

[Brutus]

My sentiments exactly!

Would personally reccommend a better soap (Arko, etc) and brush (e.g. Omega boar or something along those lines).
OP doesn't mention which razor or blade is being used. Some missing information for anyone to be truly helpful.

I found posts where the OP mentions a van Hagen set that included a shaving brush and he also mentioned Astra blades. Otherwise, he seems to have bought his shaving items from Dollar Tree.

So it is safe to say that he prefers to take the “economy” route and there is nothing wrong with that.
The challenge in that range is to find good products that perform well.

I did not want to recommend any sticks, as when rubbed too hard into the skin they can become uncomfortable.
IMO, it is easier to learn to create lather from shaving soaps than from sticks and many. shaving soaps lubricate better than sticks.
I did not want to recommend high menthol (e.g Proraso) shaving soaps, as the brisk blast of menthol can distract from a (hopefully) pampering post-shave feel.
Arko, because of smell is not everyone’s cup of tea, to say the least.
MWF is not cheap and can be tricky to lather, especially in hard water.

What would work is a reasonably cheap, dependable shaving soap, with mild scent and good post-shave feel that is easy to lather.

Haslinger sprang to mind, the small, orange Cella tub might work as well, or - to think outside the box - some reasonably priced shaving creams that perform well (Palmolive, Nivea, etc.) could work as loading the brush with product is easy.


But I am sure, there are others…


B