Well what do you know, after about 5 years of using shaving soaps I am still learning better ways of lathering. The well known fact of using more product can make a substantial difference as I discovered with Arko. A few months ago, I decided that I had to give this famous soap another shot but I could never really get the kind of stellar shaves everyone seemed to be getting with it. The lather I was getting was thin and underprotective. Then one day, I thought I would just lay it on thick and see what happens. So I loaded my brush with lather and started face lathering, after a while, I loaded some more lather onto my brush and then continued face lathering and finally I loaded one more time and then went back to my face. After that I dipped the tips of my brush in water and then continued face lathering and repeated the process until I was satisfied with the lather consistency. By now I had plastered my face with a thick layer of slick lather and it made a tremendous difference to the shave. I was reticent to do this before because, I found that thick lather would create drag, but the key seems to be to saturate the lather with water to the extent that when you shave, the lather and stubble residue left on my straight tend to run off the blade under its own weight. Arguably this process takes a bit more time but it is very rewarding in terms of lather quality. Frankly, I do not mind because I enjoy the face lathering part nearly as much as the shaving part.
Another thing that has improved my lather is a tip from one of Mantic's videos where he says that the first batch of lather you create, which is not as dense as that you get from thorough mixing can be put to good use to prep your face. Essentially I load my brush and then apply a coat of lather on my face before treating myself to a warm wet towel. By the time you go back to the soap to reload your brush, the extra mixing provides for a more dense and shave worthy lather.
So if you are ever confronted with a soap that everyone raves about but that does not work for you, try laying it on thick, as described above, before giving up on it or writing a negative review on the product.
Another thing that has improved my lather is a tip from one of Mantic's videos where he says that the first batch of lather you create, which is not as dense as that you get from thorough mixing can be put to good use to prep your face. Essentially I load my brush and then apply a coat of lather on my face before treating myself to a warm wet towel. By the time you go back to the soap to reload your brush, the extra mixing provides for a more dense and shave worthy lather.
So if you are ever confronted with a soap that everyone raves about but that does not work for you, try laying it on thick, as described above, before giving up on it or writing a negative review on the product.
