Beauty Strokes H.I.S. Brush Lather Question

[joshmv]

Hey guys,

I just got the H.I.S. brush yesterday after reading a lot of good reviews here and after poor lathers with the parker synthetic brush. Please keep in mind that I'm a complete beginner as you read this.

I soaked the brush in my cup for a minute while I put pre-shave on, then I emptied the cup and shook out most of the water from the brush. I used a normal amount of Proraso green and expected tons of lather from what I'd read. I whipped it up for a minute and there was barely anything at the bottom of the cup and very little on the brush. It was almost like it had disappeared. I was a little confused but I squeezed the brush and tons of good lather came from hidden in the middle of the bristles.

The lather kept inside the brush was actually really impressive even though it was quite thick and I'll definitely have to add more water next time I shave to thin it out. Is it possible that I just need to use way more water than I did with the smaller parker brush? I'd rather not have to squeeze the brush every time I need some lather and I'm sure it was my mistake either with too little water or maybe soaking the whole brush in hot water?

Has anybody else experienced this?

 

[sgtd]

Yes I experienced the same thing. The lather seemed to stay inside the brush towards the knot. Try mashing it a little in your bowl and give it some time, maybe 10-15 lathers and it should work itself out.

 

[Loric]

Its a bigger brush, use more product and quite possibly some extra water and you should have gobs of lather in no time. Mine is quite efficient in terms of time to lather and product needed.

 

[BladeDE40]

Try giving the brush a gentle squeeze (leaving a fair amount of water in the brush) v. shaking out all the water, followed by a 1 minute load of the brush...you should get a result somewhere similar to this...

 

[GDCarrington]

Hey guys,

I just got the H.I.S. brush yesterday after reading a lot of good reviews here and after poor lathers with the parker synthetic brush. Please keep in mind that I'm a complete beginner as you read this.

I soaked the brush in my cup for a minute while I put pre-shave on, then I emptied the cup and shook out most of the water from the brush. I used a normal amount of Proraso green and expected tons of lather from what I'd read. I whipped it up for a minute and there was barely anything at the bottom of the cup and very little on the brush. It was almost like it had disappeared. I was a little confused but I squeezed the brush and tons of good lather came from hidden in the middle of the bristles.

The lather kept inside the brush was actually really impressive even though it was quite thick and I'll definitely have to add more water next time I shave to thin it out. Is it possible that I just need to use way more water than I did with the smaller parker brush? I'd rather not have to squeeze the brush every time I need some lather and I'm sure it was my mistake either with too little water or maybe soaking the whole brush in hot water?

Has anybody else experienced this?

I will tell you what I have told a lot of people, you have to change up your methods with a synthetic (any synthetic) the way you would with any other brush type (Badger, Horse, and Boar are different as well). Don't be afraid to test out some things. Example, when I face lather with the H.I.S. I will slip the knot half way in water then shake it off, lather with the soap applied to my face to prevent having too much water. If I need more water I dip the end of the brush in water and keep lathering. That allows me to have an excellent face lather.

Good fortune.

 

[MilkyLee]

The thing I have noticed with mine is that even though you give it a gentle squeeze there is still a lot of water in the middle of the knot. So now I squeeze pretty good a couple of times to get a large majority of the water out and then load it up. If I don't do that, then when I start to face lather there is water dripping down my arm! Also, this way I can load and use much less soap than I ever did with a boar or badger, they are very efficient brushes.

 

[Go Forth]

...poor lathers with the parker synthetic brush.

I have a Parker synthetic brush and it lathers superbly! It is an amazing brush, a bargain at $22, and I have felt no need to get anything else. It may be that your water to soap ratio is not correct.

 

[joshmv]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll be trying it again in a few hours with some T&H and your tips so I'll let you know how it goes. I may even make a few test runs with Proraso and a different shaving bowl to see if I can get it right so I don't waste one of my T&H samples.

 

[joshmv]

The thing I have noticed with mine is that even though you give it a gentle squeeze there is still a lot of water in the middle of the knot. So now I squeeze pretty good a couple of times to get a large majority of the water out and then load it up. If I don't do that, then when I start to face lather there is water dripping down my arm! Also, this way I can load and use much less soap than I ever did with a boar or badger, they are very efficient brushes.

The efficiency is one of the big reasons I went with this brush so I could feel better about buying expensive creams. I just did a few test lathers, and I still found a lot stuck in the middle but I think it will be easy to deal with now that I know it's there. Mashing it down a few times while building lather helps a little bit and then I'll just squeeze it out like you mentioned and put that excess lather on my face or in the bowl and it will be good to go from there.

It is making a lot more (and better looking) lather than my parker brush, I guess it's just a learning curve with the bigger brush. I definitely needed more water in the bowl. With the parker I tried a few times and it would leave it watered down but this thing eats it up.

 

[neilz4]

I got the H.I.S. as my first brush and I've gotta say it's still my favorite, even after trying 5~ others.

As far as lather hiding within, I'd recommend you really mash that brush down and splay out the fibers as you build your lather in the bowl. It's a very well built synthetic and has taken unnecessarily heavy abuse from my test lathering and not shed one hair. The only down side to mashing it on your face (though it works fine) is that it will cover just about your whole cheek and neck when fully splayed, but I imagine that being the best way to release the inner lather. Like GD said, you gotta adjust your technique a little bit. Just test lather over and over again, it can take it and it'll be dry in three hours anyway!