Are Shave Sticks the best way to make lather?

[shave/brush]

Everyone has their own favorite way to make lather. I find a shave stick to be the fastest and best for me. It’s compact and easy to use.

My method is, I wet my face, rub the shave stick around my face, then with a wet brush I begin to make lather. The lather is usually too thick for me at this point, so I add a few drops of water to my brush and work in the lather again.

This always produces a great lather. I find it more consistent than any other method. My favorite stick is Nivea and my second choice would be Mistic Water, Bay Rum.
How do you feel about shave sticks and what is your favorite method to make lather?

 

[BigJ]

Shave sticks are great!! My favorite is LaToja, with Speick as a close second, but what do I know??

 

[dotKomo]

I have a regular rotation of sticks I go through with my soaps and creams. I really like them when I'm traveling. They are compact and easy to lather.

 

[silverlifter]

I wouldn't consider them "the best" way to make lather, but they certainly are convenient. Speick stick is one of my automatically replace soaps.

The quality of the soap is more important to me than the form factor. That's why I rate Speick. If it came in a hard puck, I'd buy that.

 

[NorthernSoul]

I like applying the soap directly when face lathering, especially when travelling. It does not have to be shaped as a stick, though. Even a standard round cake of shaving soap can work well this way.

 

[Anchovie666]

Agree with @NorthernSoul - I routinely use my Tabac and other hard pucks as shave sticks. I find it easier than lathering off the puck and wasting a lot of excess soap. The puck then dries really quick.

Current sticks in my rotation are Razorock Green Label, La ToJa, Palmolive, and Arko.

 

[shave/brush]

I feel you can control the outcome of your lather with a stick better than with other methods.

 

[blade08]

I like sticks but I still like classic round pucks better. YMMV.

 

[thombrogan]

Even a standard round cake of shaving soap can work well this way.

Everything’s a shave stick if you’re brave enough

 

[LuckyGlenn]

Arko is the best way to make lather

 

[shave/brush]

Arko is the best way to make lather

I agree. When I first started using sticks, I found Arko to be the easiest to use.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Shave sticks are convenient for travel, and I occasionally use them at home too. I don't find them any better than anything else though, nor any worse. However, not every brush is good for lathering that way, in my experience. I stick to either using synthetics or floppy badgers when using shave sticks.

Most of my shaves are with soap though. I can use any of my brushes with that. A small spoonful of soft soap scooped from a tub, and moulded in a pewter soap dish, will give me about 30 shaves. Then I'll reload it with a spoonful of something else.

I currently have two pewter dishes I use this way, but will drop a whole mug soap in one of them again at some point. I also use the occasional cream.

 

[FullyLoaded]

I use a La Toja stick and a synthetic RazoRock Amici for travel shaves. Talk about easy lather.

One day I’d like to try some of the other sticks people rave about—Palmolive, Speick, Arko, etc.

 

[Legion]

I think I've tried just about every method by this point, and face lathering with a shave stick is my go to, 99% of the time. Pretty hard to go wrong.

I'll also cut soap pucks in half, wrap them in foil, and turn them into "sticks" to use the same way.

 

[brucered]

The reason they work around well is, they make sure enough soap gets on your face.

Moat people don't load long enough, hence so many threads asking how to make better lather or why doesn't X, Y or Z make good lather. The answer is easy.....Use More Product.

Spoiler

It was #6 on my "Top 10 lather tips" from way back.

6) TRY A SHAVE STICK - Shave sticks are lather making machines and great for distributing the lather all over your face. If you don't have a stick but use a puck, pick up the puck and rub it all over your face and neck then face lather it. This aids in getting raw product all over your shaving area and the damp brush will distribute it when you lather it. If you find the soap is clogging up your razor or you are seeing bits and pieces of unlathered soap on your face, it usually means you did not use enough water or lather long enough.

 

[BradWorld]

I use shave sticks for travel and have a variety of them to choose from. They are fast and convenient. They take up less space. And frankly my first arko stick years ago taught me how to face lather properly. But they completely lack in the luxury aspects I love in my shaves. I rarely bowl lather these days. But when I'm home I normally load a brush from a tub of soap and face lather. I much prefer that. And I get a more luxurious experience that way. But for travel, the stick wins.

 

[KW Driver]

Sticks the best? On the road, sure. Off a puck at the house.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Believe it or not, this is actually a very short, wide shave stick...

 

[GR5233]

Shave sticks are great!! My favorite is LaToja, with Speick as a close second, but what do I know??

Two excellent sticks. I’d personally rank them the other way around but that’s just me. Vito’s can be made into an excellent stick as well with one of those generic 2oz screw up tubes (in fact it’s my favorite way to use Vito’s)

These tubes are what I like

 

[Wal59]

Believe it or not, this is actually a very short, wide shave stick...

View attachment 1803552