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shaving lather on ark instead of oil?

Ok, I just decided to try it out and see.

The reason for oil on an ark is that arks are so dense that water would just run off. But a thick lather should stay...

Proraso Red with a Simpsons brush, if that makes any difference. I don't see how the type of soap or brush would matter. Just make the lather thick, not runny. Same as on my face.

It seemed to work just fine. The blade slid along nice and smooth, perhaps even more smooth feeling than the water/ballistol I normally use.

And I enjoyed the same visual tells that the white ballistol gives. I could see the edge slide under the white lather. I could see that I was keeping the toe down as I finished the upstroke. The latter point is the part that I have to remember to focus on.

Forty x strokes with the stone held in the air at forty five degrees, light pressure.

After honing, it was nice that the soap washed off stone and razor so easily.

Then leather then shaved.

Seemed to work just fine.

The top two photos are before the hone, the bottom one is after.

aloha








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I’ve done it. And I’ve seen similar threads to this one where people asked about it and did experiments. In my opinion it’s much better than water, and if you’re dead set against oil it works all right. But I find it much easier and more consistent to just use oil myself
 
That’s similar to how I use my Arkies, except I usually just “draw” a few lines/squiggles on the stone with a soap bar (which has glycerin in it, as most do) add some water and hone. I like the feedback better with this than with a full lather. The undercut with this method is more telling in my hands too.

Best,

Brian


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've been using less than half a drop of Dawn dish washing liquid on a dry ark then rubbing water on the stone with my finger, adding more water as needed. Not a lot of foam but you can see the water ride up on the edge of the razor well enough.
I like the edges I'm getting and I just don't like using oil.
I do the same with my Thuringians when not using a slurry.
 
I made up a solution of glycerine and water, with a tiny amount of dishsoap.
Beauty of doing it this way is you can adjust the viscosity to suit you preference.
 
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