BEST way to add water?

[Chard52142]

Don’t know about you guys, but nothing ruins my shave more than when I end up adding TOO much water when trying to build a lather, making it a lightweight mess (I prefer my lathers on the THICK side! )

Tried dribbling water from the faucet, quickly placing the brush under the faucet, dribbling water from my hands, etc, and results are INCONSISTENT.

Was thinking of getting a dropper of sorts, or maybe a squeeze bottle.

Wadaya guys think? What method do YOU use to incorporate water into your soap, in order to create a GREAT, thick lather?

Chard always makes a great lather. Have a word with him. I think he has sold his soul in order to make a great lather of perfect consistency.

Lol! Poor @Chard52142 . We kid because we love, brother! And because we’re jealous of your legendary lathering skills.

Ahahahaha...thanks, guys...I am humbled. Like some of the members here mentioned, I am just repeating it...nothing new.
Enough soap/cream (not necessary a lot), start swirling with most water removed from the brush, add water slowly via dripping fingers (either to bowl or to brush if face lathering)...I find I can control better compare to dipping. Be patient...keep swirling in the bowl or working it on the face and voila...it will come to a thick rich creamy goodness. Can add a bit more drops of water for a yogurty lather. It's good to know your soaps/cream's quality and there's a difference between synthetics, boar, 2 band badger, and dense silvertip brush. Too much water at the start is always a bummer and it'll be foamy...anyway...those are my methods...no secrets ice-cream machine Just enjoy...hahaha

 

[BigJ]

First thing in the AM, I am too tired to measure things. I load my damp brush (more heavily, the longer I have been doing this ’hobby’), then a few drops of water at a time until I am happy with my lather!!

 

[cryhavoc]

Lazy face latherer here. I dip the brush tips in the sink. Always good enough. Have over hydrated a handful of times in 10+ years of daily shaving.

And agree with everything Toothpick said above. It’s always recoverable.

+1

 

[yeastyarmadillo]

Lately I've been dribbling some water on the tub of soap and then quickly swirl my brush to pick it up. It seems like it picks the water up in a way that brushes on to my face more evenly. Maybe a more wasteful approach, and potentially bogus altogether

 

[Lefonque]

Lol! Poor @Chard52142 . We kid because we love, brother! And because we’re jealous of your legendary lathering skills.

Agree

 

[lgmedler]

I keep my lathers on the dry side then apply it to my face somewhat pasty. Then I dip my brush in water and paint the water thinly over the pasty lather. Then I build the lather on my face. Works every time.

 

[DrStrange]

If you need to control the amount of water fairly closely, one of these you may have around the house already...

View attachment 1296440
or if you got one of these from a dental visit:

View attachment 1296441

I actually do use a spray bottle something like that one.

 

[deminimis]

To suggest a different approach, I bowl lather and add water with one of these spoons, which allows me to add either 0.5 mL or 2 mL of water at a time depending on which side I use.

Overpriced? Yes, but super convenient.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

I start with too little water and drip more in from my fingers. I'm not used to my boat brush yet, so it takes me awhile longer than I'm used to to get the right amount of water. Drips for daaaaays!

I could probably start off with more water in the bowl, but too much water is way more of a bummer than too little water.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Don’t know about you guys, but nothing ruins my shave more than when I end up adding TOO much water when trying to build a lather, making it a lightweight mess (I prefer my lathers on the THICK side! )

Tried dribbling water from the faucet, quickly placing the brush under the faucet, dribbling water from my hands, etc, and results are INCONSISTENT.

Was thinking of getting a dropper of sorts, or maybe a squeeze bottle.

Wadaya guys think? What method do YOU use to incorporate water into your soap, in order to create a GREAT, thick lather?

I wet the fingers of my left hand in my shave water and dab droplets onto the tips of my brush. I rarely have to do it twice.

 

[emwolf]

Lazy face latherer here. I dip the brush tips in the sink. Always good enough. Have over hydrated a handful of times in 10+ years of daily shaving.

And agree with everything Toothpick said above. It’s always recoverable.

I am a bowl latherer and I do the same.

 

[Rosseforp]

I just dip the tips of my brush in the water mug I soak my brush in.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I keep my lathers on the dry side then apply it to my face somewhat pasty. Then I dip my brush in water and paint the water thinly over the pasty lather. Then I build the lather on my face. Works every time.

⬆ This!

I then hydrate my lather to the point of near collapse. If I rinse my razor in my mug, and the soap clumps rather than instantly dissolves, my lather was too dry.

Rich, dense, "protective" lathers, or however else you want to describe them, completely ruin my shaves. However, that's with mild razors, and pressure free shaving. That said, I would never consider choosing a more aggressive razor, nor applying pressure with a razor to my face, in order to compensate for what I consider to be a poor performing lather.

Whenever I see folks recommending "load more soap", I know their shaves are going to be very different to mine.

 

[JCinPA]

I dip my straightened fingers into the sink then let them drip over the lather bowl. About halfway to where I want it I start to face lather, then carefully dip just the very tips of the brush into the sink water and continue until I have what I want.

 

[karacha]

Dripping from the fingers usually works very well.

 

[DBC1971]

the little 35 cent spray bottle (15ml?) at Maggards is excellent for this

 

[Quaznoid]

I soak brush in sink and pour water into bowl with soap scraps. Pour water out of bowl and give brush 3 hard shakes. Work up lather in 15 seconds or so. Apply to wet face. Shave.

 

[Aendir]

More often than not, the root cause of thin lather is not enough soap/cream, aka too short brush loading time.

Adding more product almost always leads to richer, creamier, denser, thicker, more voluptuous lather.

So, I'd start there.

As for adding water, it makes no difference how you add it, as long as you don't add too much too quickly.

Good luck

That made all the difference to me.

I am having more control since then, and the results are great all the time even if I prefer bowl lathering.

 

[Duracellttu]

I literally get the tips of my fingers wet, then let one or two drops of water fall into the bowl. Then I'll lather, check thickness of the soap and repeat until I get the consistency I'm looking for.