Anyone bowl lather Cella?

[smitty151326]

I tried Cella for the fist time today and did not like it at all. I didn't get a very good lather and I'm assuming it was my fault since I'm still pretty new at this. I tried to bowl lather it and from what I've read (including Marco's method) it seems most people face lather it. I used Marco's method right up to the point of face lathering. Can it be bowl lathered?

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/202709-Bowl-Lathering-With-Cella-!-Oh-Yeah

I found the thread above, it seems this gentleman used the exact same technique as I did (even the same brush) but used a bowl and got great results.

Anyone who bowl lathers Cella please give me some insight as to what I may be doing wrong.

 

[smitty151326]

I also should have mentioned that this is a sample of Cella from the brick, not the red tub.

 

[Oscroft]

I get good bowl-lathering from the red tub Cella (but I haven't tried the big brick). I don't use the Marco method - I start with the brush relatively dry and load it quite heavily with soap, then slowly add water and keep working it until masses of lather appear.

 

[JaxJim]

I have the red tub version and frequently use my scuttle to make lather. I'm a Cella fan-- for me it lathers as well as other soaps.

 

[SIG9]

I can't speak for the brick, but from the tub it bowl lathers fine for me. There are many variables. What was the nature of your displeasure? Was it too thin or ???

I recently moved from creams to soaps in my rotation and the one thing that was different was making sure I put enough soap on the brush. Most suggest swirling the wet brush on the puck anywhere from 30 sec to 2 minutes.

 

[JaxJim]

I get good bowl-lathering from the red tub Cella (but I haven't tried the big brick). I don't use the Marco method - I start with the brush relatively dry and load it quite heavily with soap, then slowly add water and keep working it until masses of lather appear.

+1. I use essentially the same method as Alan.

 

[ackvil]

I bowl lather with it using a modified Marco's method. You can read about how I do it here.

 

[smitty151326]

I can't speak for the brick, but from the tub it bowl lathers fine for me. There are many variables. What was the nature of your displeasure? Was it too thin or ???

I recently moved from creams to soaps in my rotation and the one thing that was different was making sure I put enough soap on the brush. Most suggest swirling the wet brush on the puck anywhere from 30 sec to 2 minutes.

Yes it was too thin. I brushed it on my face anyways and the razor did not glide at all, it skipped across my face so I washed it off and used a different soap.

 

[mikelz777]

I have the brick version and have had great success bowl lathering using the Marco method. I let the soap soak submerged under warm water while I shower before I commence to bowl lathering. I'm not sure because I haven't used it in a while but I seem to recall that it was a fairly thirsty soap. I pumped the brush a few times so I wasn't starting out with a bowl of "soup" and then slowly added tiny bits of water as I needed it. I think I had to work at it for a while but it lathered up very nicely.

 

[Oscroft]

Yes it was too thin. I brushed it on my face anyways and the razor did not glide at all, it skipped across my face so I washed it off and used a different soap.

That makes it sound to me like you needed to load more soap.

 

[Mirrorsaw]

I had the same issue when I first started using soaps. You need to load a lot more soap, don't worry about wasting it now. Load it for a minute or two. Get way way to much soap. That way you will know how much to load. Or you can cut down the load time the next time so you won't be wasting as much. But I load for like a minute, and I have enough lather for 4 or 5 passes with out squeezing the brush.

Also I use a dryer brush and then add water. I also only bowl lather... Haven't tried to face lather yet. Just load a lot more...

 

[smitty151326]

Okay I'll try to load more next time, maybe I was being too stingy since its just a sample.

 

[Danricgro]

I use the Marco method and load for at least a minute. I face lather and get way more than enough for three passes. I don't see why it wouldn't work bowl lathering.

 

[whereisandy]

I also found that when I was lathering from various samples that it was harder to load enough soap on my brush if the container wasn't big enough or the surface area of the sample was small. Often I needed to mash the sample down into my container so that when I loaded my brush I was getting more soap on the brush.

Good luck. I bowl lather with a chunk off my brick and get excellent lather from my Cella.

 

[Marco]

I use the Marco method and load for at least a minute. I face lather and get way more than enough for three passes. I don't see why it wouldn't work bowl lathering.

Dan is hitting the nail on the head. Once you have a fully loaded brush, keep the right water/soap ratio and add some elbow grease the lather is going to explode off the brush, either on face or in a bowl. Maybe the OP could add some pics of his lather for a better evaluation.

 

[Tannhauser]

I use Marco's method for loading the brush, and then I lather in a bowl. It's worked for me very well with both my SOC and my cheap badger brush, regardless of the soap I use.

 

[shakin_jake]

I use the Marco method and load for at least a minute. I face lather and get way more than enough for three passes.

~~~this works for me too (Marco's method), and I prefer to use my Omega #48 (or #49) or even my Proraso Pro boar brush, but the Semogue 830 I have works well too. The only badger brush I use (I have a Parker best badger that sits in a box) is a chubby 3 in best, way too big for Cella's tiny ciotola IMNSHO...the small red tub that holds 150 grams, although I would imagine there are those that probably use the chubby 3 w/Cella and think the world of it, but then I load my brushes from the little red ciotola. Oh!, and I am using pieces of brick Cella in the red tub...I find the brick soap is the same as the soap that came in the tub originally...seems the same to me anyways

I don't see why it wouldn't work bowl lathering.

~~~this gentleman here bowl lathers Cella, in a scuttle, & does a very nice job of it too

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/136249-Chimensch-s-30th-Anniversary-Shaving-Video

I gotta say though....for me and my way of thinking, face lathering seems to be the simplest way to create lather. Maybe it's because I'm lazy but bowl lathering seems like too much work, then it whips too much air (IMO) into the lather. Don't get me wrong, I've bowl lathered and lathered in a scuttle. In fact I have a scuttle (dirty bird 1.5). It sees very little use as I prefer to face lather, but on occasion, I like to break it out and build a lather in it, and usually building the lather using shave cream and not shave soap but I have built shave soap lather in the scuttle and in a bowl, including Cella, many other soaps as well...it's just not my thing

I think it really comes down to what you prefer. What works for me may not work for you, and I might not use the same razor as you. I can appreciate those that like to build bowl lathers. if it makes you happy, why not? Face lathering soap gets it for me. others may have better and different ideas



Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.