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What do you guys use here downunder for a shave bowl and where did you get it? Lather Shots included

I steer clear of commercial cosmetics as much as possible. But i do keep in mind its really much much more complicated than simply saying natural vs chemical.. for one all things are made up of elements/chemicals.. and toxicity is about dose not just exposure. Plenty of natural things contain elements that would kill us in sufficient quantities etc etc etc. Still i'd much rather keep it simple, plus i really just don't feel the desire to rub carbomer into my skin..

Those things are in there to make the soap more perfect/never go off and to me they just lose soul. I'd much rather use something from a true crasftsperson.. when its practical to do so of course. I don't need my cars hand built...
Ditto.
And everything in moderation.
Including moderation.
 
I've been on the lookout for a scuttle for some time and that might be exactly what I'm looking for! :001_huh: atleast shipping won't cost and arm and a leg.. Sucks that shipping is so expensive to our little corner of the earth :(
 
Gratuitous lather pic - Friday 25 Aug 2017

Another day with a recently acquired product - Henri et Victoria La Poire Francaise, using my MaCroBs custom black acrylic beehive with Maggard 22mm B&W synthetic knot.



Incorporated some of the tips from the Merkur_man YouTube video that was the topic of discussion yesterday. Followed the process reasonably closely, adding water the same way then going back to the puck and loading more soap, repeat, repeat. Main difference was I used a lather bowl instead of face lathering and didn't spend several minutes whipping up the lather (who has that much spare time every morning?). As a result, I didn't achieve the super-glossy finish Merkur_man aims for but the lather was slightly slicker and creamier than normal. I suspect if I had followed the process to the letter I may have got the same or similar results, but I'm not sure I want to use the amount of soap he must be using spending all that time on the puck. Anyway, had a really great smooth shave, with absolutely no nicks, cuts or irritation. I may stick with this improvement to my lathering technique!
 
Gratuitous lather pic - Friday 25 Aug 2017

Another day with a recently acquired product - Henri et Victoria La Poire Francaise, using my MaCroBs custom black acrylic beehive with Maggard 22mm B&W synthetic knot.



Incorporated some of the tips from the Merkur_man YouTube video that was the topic of discussion yesterday. Followed the process reasonably closely, adding water the same way then going back to the puck and loading more soap, repeat, repeat. Main difference was I used a lather bowl instead of face lathering and didn't spend several minutes whipping up the lather (who has that much spare time every morning?). As a result, I didn't achieve the super-glossy finish Merkur_man aims for but the lather was slightly slicker and creamier than normal. I suspect if I had followed the process to the letter I may have got the same or similar results, but I'm not sure I want to use the amount of soap he must be using spending all that time on the puck. Anyway, had a really great smooth shave, with absolutely no nicks, cuts or irritation. I may stick with this improvement to my lathering technique!
I thought the same about the amount of soap that Merkur_man was using and I wonder how the method translates to a croap, like Proraso White which I have, or a cream.

I did pick up an idea from another video to try on out the Proraso tub. They put a little bit of water in the tub, swirled it around so that the surface was wet and then tipped it out. Will try it tomorrow and see what happens.

PS: Those Scuttles look lovely and Christmas is too far away.
 
I thought the same about the amount of soap that Merkur_man was using and I wonder how the method translates to a croap, like Proraso White which I have, or a cream.
I did pick up an idea from another video to try on out the Proraso tub. They put a little bit of water in the tub, swirled it around so that the surface was wet and then tipped it out. Will try it tomorrow and see what happens.
PS: Those Scuttles look lovely and Christmas is too far away.

I'm not convinced the Merkur_man method would work well with all products. Hard soaps would be no problem and maybe some of the harder croaps (as I found with the Henri et Victoria today), but I think using that method with creams would be impossible.

I often start by adding a little water to the soap tub to wet/warm the soap as you describe. Has to be tipped out though (I use it to wash pre-shave oil off my hands) otherwise it would be too wet when combined with moisture on the brush. It actually helps when loading up the brush with the soap. I've tried all the combinations: water on the soap/croap, water on the brush, water on both, no water on either until starting to lather up, and the one you described works best for me.

Not sure about the scuttles. My current lather bowl is fine - I drop it into hot water to warm up while I shave. It's enough to keep the lather warm unless I have a longer shave, ie with a straight razor, so I'm going to pass on a scuttle.
 
At the moment i'm face lathering and use the bloom water to soften up my beard before applying lather and am pretty much following the merkur man method, starting with a dryish brush and adding water slowly. Its making some thick lathers, in fact i think my last one was to thick and required to much effort get slid through which i didn't think was possible.

I'm still a newb though so this may evolve.
 
You guys are putting out some amazing work.

Here is mine it is Palmolive Men Shave Cream...
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Really nice lather, it would make a good cream if you had to pick up something while traveling. It performed really well.

One odd thing about this Shave Cream is that the lather is a faint green.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You guys are putting out some amazing work.

Here is mine it is Palmolive Men Shave Cream...
proxy.php


Really nice lather, it would make a good cream if you had to pick up something while traveling. It performed really well.

One odd thing about this Shave Cream is that the lather is a faint green.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Isn't the cream bright green to begin with?
 
I often start by adding a little water to the soap tub to wet/warm the soap as you describe. Has to be tipped out though (I use it to wash pre-shave oil off my hands) otherwise it would be too wet when combined with moisture on the brush. It actually helps when loading up the brush with the soap. I've tried all the combinations: water on the soap/croap, water on the brush, water on both, no water on either until starting to lather up, and the one you described works best for me.
It made sense when I saw it and it's good to have it confirmed.
 
It made sense when I saw it and it's good to have it confirmed.

I also thought it was crazy when I first read about it and saw it on video, but there is something about the warm water soaking on top of the soap that triggers the process that changes soap into lather and aids the brush work. Everybody here refers to it as 'blooming'. I'm sure there's a scientific term for it, but that's too much detail to worry about. It works, so I'm good with it.
 
It is yes and wasn't totally unexpected.
It's the only one of my soaps that does this.

I can remember Palmolive cream doing that when I used it many years ago. Didn't seem to do it with the sample I tried from the Travelling Box. Maybe a different formula. The one I used the other week was called Palmolive Regular Lather Cream and was at least partly manufactured in Australia (or India, or was that the Old Spice?). Anyway, green out of the tube but white when worked up into lather.
 
I also thought it was crazy when I first read about it and saw it on video, but there is something about the warm water soaking on top of the soap that triggers the process that changes soap into lather and aids the brush work. Everybody here refers to it as 'blooming'. I'm sure there's a scientific term for it, but that's too much detail to worry about. It works, so I'm good with it.

Yea there is a scientific name for it but I can't remember what it's blooming called ....[emoji854][emoji3][emoji106][emoji1604]


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