Time taken to lather
- Thread starter Roy
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That's why I bowl lather.
I bowl lather then follow that by face lathering. You're right, sufficient lathering does make a luxurious creamy lather. I use Mitchell's Wool Fat & Haslingers and get similar results.
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All one needs is to paint a thin film of wet soap on the skin to sit for couple of minutes to get a great shave. What matters is for the lather not to be dry and sitting on top of your face instead of sticking to your skin. The thick Santa beard with amazing wet elastic peaks and high density is purely for show.
I whip up a storm
- Thread starter
- #6
I don't mean the lather becomes lije you say, just much better
Shaving lather is a thixotropic emulsion. That means that the more sheer you impart to the emulsion, the less viscous it becomes. That sheer, which is imparted by the shaving brush breaks down larger air bubbles in the initial frothy lather to very tiny bubbles. That can only be achieved when you have the right ratio of soap to water. frothy lather does not provide a great shave.
I generally bowl lather as my face is too sensitive to withstand face lathering, except with the softest of brushes. My criteria for a good soap is that I should be able to achieve a lather free of larger bubbles in less than 60 seconds of vigorous agitation in the bowl. I have found that some harder soaps take more than 60 seconds, a few even more than two minutes. I won't use a soap that cannot produce a great lather in two minutes. I do not have the patience to use a soap that takes more than two minutes to produce a great lather.
There is one video on YouTube of a guy who spent twelve minutes lathering Williams Mug Soap. He probably did not need to go quite that long, but Williams does take longer to lather than nearly any other soap.
I generally bowl lather as my face is too sensitive to withstand face lathering, except with the softest of brushes. My criteria for a good soap is that I should be able to achieve a lather free of larger bubbles in less than 60 seconds of vigorous agitation in the bowl. I have found that some harder soaps take more than 60 seconds, a few even more than two minutes. I won't use a soap that cannot produce a great lather in two minutes. I do not have the patience to use a soap that takes more than two minutes to produce a great lather.
There is one video on YouTube of a guy who spent twelve minutes lathering Williams Mug Soap. He probably did not need to go quite that long, but Williams does take longer to lather than nearly any other soap.
I bowl lather as well, and after some trial and error, I usually get a very decent "tight bubble" creamy lather within 45-60 seconds. I had trouble initially, but that turned out to be because of my hard water situation and using natural bristle brushes. When I switched to synthetic, it was like "pop"! I also pretty much use only tallow soaps.
Oh, and one other trick I learned was when I take my shower I put the brush in hot water and put about a palms worth of hot water on my soap to bloom. BUT, when I get out of the shower and get ready to lather, I pour out the water in my bowl and take the remaining "soapy" water from the bloom and pour that tiny amount into the bottom of my bowl to use as a starter when I make my lather. It's amazing how much such a tiny thing like that made such a huge difference.
I also don't use a standard lathering bowl or scuttle. I use a large stoneware bowl I bought at WalMart that I took and sanded out the bottom to create a bit more friction for when I make my lather. It's slightly larger and deeper than a standard cereal bowl and is deep enough that my lather does not spill out. I have to make a good deal of lather as I head shave as well.
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I enjoy face lathering!!
Depending on the soap this takes me 2-5 minutes (once I dial in the proper water ratio).
Depending on the soap this takes me 2-5 minutes (once I dial in the proper water ratio).
I face lather and it takes me 3-5 minutes to work up a good lather. Yesterday, I was in a rush and I tried to lather in one minute. I got a dry pasty lather that led to couple of weepers. I need to take my time to moisturize the lather.
I bowl lather. Ever since I stopped using shaving cream from a can. I don't do face or palm.
This. I can get by with ok lather with a DE. It has to be like this for straights or my face will suffer.
Very often, a passable lather will turn into a good one witha little more work. And a good one into a great one as well.
And yes. I do spend enough time to make the lather right each time. I'm a night shaver, so there's more margin for that.
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And yes. I do spend enough time to make the lather right each time. I'm a night shaver, so there's more margin for that.
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I agree that a perfectly usable lather almost always improves with a little more time. MdC is my soap with the shortest time between hitting the bowl and perfection.
AimlessWanderer
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Time taken varies according to the brush being used, but loading the brush, face lathering, and starting to shave, is typically well under a minute for me. With a well conditioned cake of Mitchell's or similar, it may be under 30 seconds. I can get the appropriate slickness in that time (which is all I want from a lather) without the dreaded so called "protection" or excessive lather density which impares awareness of the shave. I'd rather have a bubbly lather than that every time, so long as the lubrication is there.
I have spent longer trying to work lathers, and found it often ruined it. This was most noticable with creams, where it was almost impossible to achieve the slickness without far too much density in the lather, muffling the feel of the razor, an increasing the potential for nicks cuts and abrasions through impaired shaving sensation.
I have spent longer trying to work lathers, and found it often ruined it. This was most noticable with creams, where it was almost impossible to achieve the slickness without far too much density in the lather, muffling the feel of the razor, an increasing the potential for nicks cuts and abrasions through impaired shaving sensation.
Your method sounds a lot like the one I use for lathering. It works on all but the most difficult soaps.
Yep, more than likely - though I haven't found a soap 'yet' that I haven't been able to lather using this method. Except of course for the natural bristles in my ultra hard water here in Florida.
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- #18
I could bowl lather for hours.
I almost always face lather. With really dense creams, it doesn't take me more than 20 seconds to get the lather I want. With Tabac, it pretty much lathers itself; so that works pretty quickly too. Shave sticks take me about 1:30 to get the lather I want. I've bowl lathered before and gotten the results I wanted too.
