How do you build your lather with a cream?

[TinyT]

I've just had a very nice shave with TOBS Coconut. However, I had a bit of trouble making my lather. First, I should mention that this was my first time using a cream. I scooped out about a cm's worth of cream and applied it to a well shaken brush. I discovered that I should've used at least double, but even after adding the same again, the lather never did that thing when I use a soap, where it just starts to grow and grow. Every small addition of water just seemed to thin the lather. Should I expect the same quality of lather from a cream as with a soap? In the end I shaved with a thin paste which was a very thin film for the second pass. I actually managed to get an above average shave but there was very little slickness throughout.

Shave 37

View attachment 1060759

Made in England Tech
New USA Personna Blue (Lab?)
Semogue 1438
TOBS Coconut


This was my first ever shave using a cream. After soaking my brush for a minute or two, I gave it a good shake, scooped out a small amount of the cream and applied it to the tips of the brush with my finger. After about 30 seconds of trying to get the lather going in my bowl, it became obvious that I was short of product. I scooped out the same again and carried on. A little better but it didn't look great. I wet my face with my left hand and got going anyway. The smell was very pleasant, quite sweet but nicely so. I dipped the tips and the lather thinned out, no slickness at all as I moved the brush around my face. I added a bit more cream, directly to my face this time. Each addition of water just thinned the lather out. I must have been face lathering for a good five minutes by this time but despite this, that slight irritation and tingling I've mentioned when using Cella, Proraso Red and Rasozero, was completely absent. I finally decided that I'd just have to make the best out of a bad job and picked up the razor.

First pass, WTG, right ear. Very little slickness, the feel was very different when I've used soap but, the blade cut through my stubble like a knife through butter. It didn't make any sense. I shaved all the way to the left side of my face, chin and lower lip included, on one side of the blade without dipping the razor in the sink. It didn't tug or struggle to get through the bristles once. The lather on my upper lip looked very dry. I shaved it anyway, and in complete comfort too. This blade is sharp. I did my neck and rinsed off.

Accepting that I'd already made a bodge job of lathering tonight, I made do with what I had in the brush for the second pass. I said that last shaves second pass was with thinnest layer I'd ever used. This one wasn't even a layer. It was a film, an extremely thin film of soap. Here goes, first stroke, XTG and no slickness but....no problemo. I winced as I changed the angle for the E-W stroke at the front of my chin but it shaved fine. No issues at all. The left side first stroke was slightly noisy but felt OK. However, there was no way I could shave my neck. It was dry as a bone. I contemplated leaving it but you learn nothing from giving up, so I dipped my brush in the sink, gave it a few shakes, applied a smear of cream on my neck and....got a watery mess. Deep breath. Don't get wound up. I rinsed my neck off, dipped my brush again, shook all the water out, but a small dab of cream on the tips, a few swirls in the bowl and I lathered my neck well enough to finish the shave. Phew.

After a cold water a rinse I had a check in the mirror. No redness or irritation. No even a smidgen. A very strange shave. Yes, it was rather frustrating, but it was also, generally speaking, enormously successful. The TOBS liked my skin fine. The scent was most agreeable, in fact, by the end of the shave, lovely. The Personna Blue (it doesn't say For Hospital Use on it, so I'm assuming it's a Lab rather than a Med prep) was great. The post shave is nothing short of remarkable. No dryness at all, not even that slightly tight feeling I often get with soaps. My skin feels supple, smooth and moisturised. It could have been closer, certainly, especially on my neck and jawline where I even have some stubble towards my ears but I'm not worried about that. Now, if I can just figure out how to lather a cream properly.....

What methods do others have for using creams? Do I just need to use more product as with soap? How much would be too much? Is the classic almond sized blob the best?

Any and all contributions welcomed.

 

[JayFromBrooklyn]

creams already have water in them, that's what makes them so soft and creamy. you don't need much water to lather them up, just a slightly damp brush should do it.

bowl tip - try smearing your cream around the sides and bottom of your bowl in addition to / or instead of onto the brush. really smear it around good, so it's stuck to the sides, more surface area to get agitated by the swirls of the brush tips, ...not just a plop that will just be swooshed around in circles or sucked into the middle of the brush.

face-lathering tip - same principle as above, smear the cream around your face and into your beard with your hands instead of just plopping it onto the brush. then work it with a damp brush

also i always like to use a synth brush when trying a new soap or cream. my boars and badgers may feel way nicer and more luxurious on my face, but my cheap razorock monster synth will out lather them by leaps and bounds any day of the week, like unbelievably ridiculously better & easier at lathering.

 

[Atlantic59]

Several ways, variations on face lathering or bowl lathering. Remember the ingredients in a cream are usually very similar to a soap, except the cream has more water in it. This is intended to make it easier to lather than a soap, but you don't need to add as much water when building the lather.

Bowl Lathering: take a chunk of cream the size of almond (more or less, depending on the cream), place in bowl, add a teaspoon or two of water, swirl with damp brush to build lather, add few more drops of water several times to get right consistency. Paint on face, should have enough lather for 3 passes plus touch-ups.

Face: take a chunk of cream the size of an almond (more or less, depending on the cream), paint dots on your beard in a pleasing pattern, massage the remaining cream into a damp brush, begin building lather on the face with swirls of the brush, add a few more drops of water several times to get right consistency. Should have enough lather in brush for 3 passes plus touch-ups.

 

[Flintstone65]

What I like about creams is the volume of lather I can generate with just a small dab. For new creams I tend to go "heavy" with a squirt that's closer to an inch (2.5 cm). Then as a face latherer, I basically do what @JayFromBrooklyn and @Atlantic59 do: smear some one cheek, some on the other, and whatever's left on my neck/throat. And I do find a slightly damp synthetic does a much better job for me than a boar or badger....and you do not want to get carried away with the water (at least initially). I'd experiment with our various techniques, and you'll absolutely get there. Please keep us posted on how your next try goes.

 

[TinyT]

creams already have water in them, that's what makes them so soft and creamy. you don't need much water to lather them up, just a slightly damp brush should do it.

bowl tip - try smearing your cream around the sides and bottom of your bowl in addition to / or instead of onto the brush. really smear it around good, so it's stuck to the sides, more surface area to get agitated by the swirls of the brush tips, ...not just a plop that will just be swooshed around in circles or sucked into the middle of the brush.

face-lathering tip - same principle as above, smear the cream around your face and into your beard with your hands instead of just plopping it onto the brush. then work it with a damp brush

also i always like to use a synth brush when trying a new soap or cream. my boars and badgers may feel way nicer and more luxurious on my face, but my cheap razorock monster synth will out lather them by leaps and bounds any day of the week, like unbelievably ridiculously better & easier at lathering.

Thanks for the tips. With a soap I normally do a bowl/face hybrid lather. Get it started in the bowl, then move on to my face where I add water untill i'm happy. The smearing round the bowl method seems like a good way to start. I've seen a video of someone doing that yonks back.

Several ways, variations on face lathering or bowl lathering. Remember the ingredients in a cream are usually very similar to a soap, except the cream has more water in it. This is intended to make it easier to lather than a soap, but you don't need to add as much water when building the lather.

Bowl Lathering: take a chunk of cream the size of almond (more or less, depending on the cream), place in bowl, add a teaspoon or two of water, swirl with damp brush to build lather, add few more drops of water several times to get right consistency. Paint on face, should have enough lather for 3 passes plus touch-ups.

Face: take a chunk of cream the size of an almond (more or less, depending on the cream), paint dots on your beard in a pleasing pattern, massage the remaining cream into a damp brush, begin building lather on the face with swirls of the brush, add a few more drops of water several times to get right consistency. Should have enough lather in brush for 3 passes plus touch-ups.

The almond size chunk is what I remember reading before, I'll be careful with how much water I add, thanks.

What I like about creams is the volume of lather I can generate with just a small dab. For new creams I tend to go "heavy" with a squirt that's closer to an inch (2.5 cm). Then as a face latherer, I basically do what @JayFromBrooklyn and @Atlantic59 do: smear some one cheek, some on the other, and whatever's left on my neck/throat. And I do find a slightly damp synthetic does a much better job for me than a boar or badger....and you do not want to get carried away with the water (at least initially). I'd experiment with our various techniques, and you'll absolutely get there. Please keep us posted on how your next try goes.

"Heavy" is how I always load with a soap. I suspect I may have been a bit thrifty with product last night. I'll absolutely keep you posted on how I get on with tomorrows shave.

Thanks all for the helpful advice.

 

[Demolition]

I'm exclusively a face-latherer and use the same basic technique as @Atlantic59. I add a small blob of cream to my brush, dab it on my face a few times, then start swirling. I rarely have problems doing it that way.

However, if it looks like the lather isn't developing properly, I switch to a hand-lather just so I can see what it's doing. When it starts to build properly, I switch back to my face.

 

[Roy]

I put a small amount on the container lid and mash it with a damp brush. I then use the loaded brush to face lather.

 

[TinyT]

A much better effort tonight. I used a bit more cream, a little less water and got a lather closer to what I'm after. A little more practice and I'll get it down.

This is the full shave report.

Shave 38

View attachment 1061486

Made in England Tech
New Gillette Platinum
Semogue1438
TOBS Coconut

Cold water, 2 passes

Tonight I smeared what I think was an almond sized amount (it's been a while since I've seen one) of cream in the bottom of my small bowl, shook out all the excess water from my brush and started gently whipping. After a short amount of time I had what I normally see with a soap. I wet my face with my left hand and started lathering. It looked a little thick so I added a touch more water, things were looking fine so I added a bit more but the moment I dipped my brush I feared it was more of a dunk than a dip. I was right. The lather promptly collapsed. I put a pea sized amount (I know exactly what these look like, I eat them often) in the bowl, whipped a little more, added it to my face and just about managed to salvage it.

First pass, WTG and the right side of my face, chin and lower lip, all shaved very nicely. On first impression, this blade is comparable to the 7 O'Clock Yellow and the Perma-Sharp, maybe a touch smoother. No tugging anywhere. The left side of my face was done with equal ease but I had to relather my neck. A pretty comfortable start, I rinsed off.

I seriously doubted whether there would be enough lather in the brush for another pass but I had a go. There might've been, I've probably shaved with thinner but I figured a bit more practice with the cream wouldn't hurt, so I added another small amount to the bowl, (between an almond and a pea) wet the brush, shook it and whipped up another load. This time I ended up with a very nice lather, slick and cushiony. Second pass, XTG and everything went without any trouble at all. Much better. There was more slickness this time round and although I probably could've gotten away with it, I relathered my neck once again before finishing the shave.

After a cold water rinse and a quick check, no redness, a little dryness on the left side of my face and a much closer shave tonight, the jawline especially. Not far off DFS all over but I had a bit of mild irritation tonight, which was gone after about 5 minutes.

Far from perfect, not terrible either.

Nothing to dissimilar to the occasional problem I get when I use a soap. I think, on reflection, that I need to use a bit more product generally and add water a bit more gradually. I live in East Anglia, a very hard water area so I expect that I need to use a little more soap that some can get away with.

 

[karacha]

It's very easy to get a great lather while palm-lathering creams. Damp brush, start swirling (vigorously) on your palm until thick slightly dry yogurty cream forms, add some water to the tips of your brush, swirl some more. Lather up your face with your palm first, smooth out with the brush using painting strokes, and you will have enough left in the brush for two more passes. Easy.

 

[Badgerstate36]

When I use cream, I get out enough to cover the top of my finger, spread it on my neck, kind of rub it around and then lather it up with a damp brush.
It works well and create a big, thick lather. I used to not really be a fan of creams but using this method has really turned me into a believer in creams.

 

[ackvil]

For an excellent tutorial take a look at this:

Comprehensive Guide to Lathering Soaps, Creams, Shavesticks on the face and in a bowl

Hopefully this will go into the big sticky at the top of this sub-forum, or it will get good use from newbies. It's my submission for the Carnival of Smiles, but I think it might be helpful since it's the only post I know of that has most types of lathering in one. I'm missing upside down...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[CigarSmoka]

I put a dollop of cream in a bowl, add a few drops of water then squeeze the water from my brush and begin to build the lather. Usually I add a few more drops but it doesn’t take nearly as much water as when using soap.

 

[2Vu5_T]

For my shave, or head shave, I use my hand.

 

[TinyT]

I made a trial lather today. I think I'm getting the hang of it. I soaked my boar brush as normal, shook off the excess, applied the cream to the tips, dumped the water from the bowl, started the lather off in the bowl and ended lathering my hand as I do my face. This is the brush afterwards.

I made a second hand lather with that....

...then a third with this.

I used more product to start with and added no extra water.

 

[Timeclo]

Creams generally have more water content than soaps so I usually add less water to the lather. Also, synthetics work a lot better with creams than natural hairs. I also use an almond size amount and smear it on the brush.

To sum it up, I scoop an almond sized cream and smear it on my synthetic brush and lather with small amount of water.

 

[TinyT]

Also, synthetics work a lot better with creams than natural hairs.

You're not the first person I've heard say that. Do you think that's because the bristles are non-absorbant? That would explain a lot, especially considering that a cream has more water to start with than a soap. There'd be more for the boar brush to soak up. What about badger hair? Is that non-absorbant too? I think I've read that.

 

[Mark Brandon Read]

I use a small mustard spoon to put the cream into my bowl and use it to add water as needed. Works well for me.

 

[F308gt4]

I use an ice cream stick to scoop up a small almond sized dollop, and smear it onto my neck. Then use my brush to create a nice later, starting neck first, then onto the rest of my face.

 

[James Duval]

Boar, badger and horse hair brushes work great with creams. However the idea of starting with a damp shacken-out brush, starting to lather, and gradually adding water is backwards. You will end up packing dense pasty lather up in between the bristles, where it is harder to work back out.

Spread some cream thinly on your face and hit it with a wet almost dripping brush at the start. It will start out wet, bubbly, and runny before thickening. An almond size dab is on the heavy side. You can always add a little more cream between passes.

Just add water and stir.

 

[steveclarkus]

Play around with it and you will find what you are looking for.