Best ways to lather your face without using a brush?

[SimpleClean]

I personally use shaving foam and prefer it over shaving gel. I've used a brush and cream/soap before - both with a bowl and directly face lathering - but I prefer the simplicity of lathering without a brush.

I think I read somewhere you can rub shaving cream directly on your face with your hand...? Does anyone have a good experience doing this? Does it take significantly more time than doing the same thing with shaving gel?

Lastly, what are your favorite shaving products for lathering without a brush?

 

[silverlifter]

I've done it from time to time while traveling, with Weleda cream. It can be done, but it is not as effective as a brush, in my experience. You get decent slickness, but adding water and air for structure is hit and (mostly) miss.

 

[Dogrescuer]

I think I read somewhere you can rub shaving cream directly on your face with your hand...?

When you say this do you mean from a puk or tub? So I'm sure that you know that they sell creams in tubes that you can use for example Proraso .

Does anyone have a good experience doing this? Does it take significantly more time than doing the same thing with shaving gel?

Yes I've done this before successfully, taking no more time.

Lastly, what are your favorite shaving products for lathering without a brush?

As mentioned I like Proraso.

 

[thombrogan]

You can rub a shaving stick against your whiskers, wet your hands, and go to town. Or squeeze a snurdle of shaving cream in one of your hands, rub on whiskers, and do the same.

 

[Viko]

Cremo in the tube rubbed in with your hands will give a thin but relatively slick lather.
i watched my father make a lather in his hands from bar soap. With his shaving skill using a Gillette safety razor, it was good enough!

 

[SimpleClean]

I've done it from time to time while traveling, with Weleda cream. It can be done, but it is not as effective as a brush, in my experience. You get decent slickness, but adding water and air for structure is hit and (mostly) miss.

Yeah, I thought as much.

You can rub a shaving stick against your whiskers, wet your hands, and go to town. Or squeeze a snurdle of shaving cream in one of your hands, rub on whiskers, and do the same.

Cremo in the tube rubbed in with your hands will give a thin but relatively slick lather.
i watched my father make a lather in his hands from bar soap. With his shaving skill using a Gillette safety razor, it was good enough!

@thombrogan @Viko Do you find these methods to be superior or inferior to using shaving foam/gel?





I'd guess that using a tube of shaving cream without a brush is more cost effective than shaving foam, but like @silverlifter said, it probably doesn't provide as nice a shave?

 

[Dogrescuer]

Do you find these methods to be superior or inferior to using shaving foam/gel?

Superior

I'd guess that using a tube of shaving cream without a brush is more cost effective than shaving foam, but like @silverlifter said, it probably doesn't provide as nice a shave?

Agreed
YMMV

 

[silverlifter]

I'd guess that using a tube of shaving cream without a brush is more cost effective than shaving foam, but like @silverlifter said, it probably doesn't provide as nice a shave?

Well, there are people here that shave with Arko every day, or use the same blade for 100 shaves... There is no accounting for taste!

 

[SimpleClean]

Superior

Agreed
YMMV

What do you find superior? I think there may have been some miscommunication along the way, so just want to be sure.

 

[thombrogan]

Do you find these methods to be superior or inferior to using shaving foam/gel?

Neither. It’s about having enough soap/cream/gel/shave butter/shave oil* and water on the face during the shave and that amount varies per product. Shaving foam puts a lot of air into the mix and that can make it trickier to figure out, but they’re all pretty much equal if you use enough product and add enough water. If you have sensitivity to particular ingredients, that can complicate things, but that’s another subject and why I can’t use my favorite smelling soaps and creams (other than ARKO!, thankfully).

* With shave oils, it’s 1-3 drops and a lot of water. If you think you’ve used ‘enough,’ you’ve used at least five times too much and need to wash it off your skin or your razor will clog and be gross.

 

[Dogrescuer]

What do you find superior? I think there may have been some miscommunication along the way, so just want to be sure.

I get confused just rolling out of the bed in morning. The method of using a brush on my face I find superior, but that's me.

 

[sarimento1]

Welcome to B&B, Sir SimpleClean!
I feel confident that, with a little time and experience, you'll gravitate to using and enjoying your brush!!
Meanwhile, as for a brushless cream, there are many to choose from, this is only one...

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

I have shaved with soaps creams gels foams you name it. The easiest way by far without using a brush is smearing a blob of canned foam all over my face and and then adding a few drops of water to my hand and mixing it up real nice. This combined with a good twin blade disposable are my summer staples without fail.

In the winter I like a nice Tabac shave with a boar brush and my warm scuttle. Yet despite the Tabac being slicker, the canned foam works just as well it not better at giving me a close shave. It’s not as slick yet comfy and effective.

Nivea Sensitive canned foam is by far the best foam I’ve ever used. Skin food ingredients and a fresh scent, very hard to beat!

 

[jason2]

Finger applier here. But keep in mind I'm also a shower shaver.

Cremo works great. It's my favorite to use. Seems like this may work best for shower shavers.

EOS I recently tried from Walmart. It's not bad at all. Applies easily with fingers. Not foamy. Not very slick. But works pretty good. Probably better for those that aren't shower shavers.

Lucky Tiger liquid cream shave. This stuff lathers up surprisingly well with hands. Slick but not "slimy" like cremo. Gets a bit runny on my chin by the time I get to it.

So for shower shaving I highly recommend cremo as my top choice. For just finger lathering and you want something more "foamy" Lucky tiger. If our camping and want something easiest to wipe off with a towel then the EOS would be my choice.

 

[kingfisher]

Any quality shave cream in a tube or tub can be smeared month the face with the hands and provide a good shaving experience. Get one that smells good to up your enjoyment.

I'm a big fan of I Coloniali. The soap was discontinued but I think they still make the tube cream.

 

[jason2]

Oh and I found it's important for my face to take the time to really massage the cream into the face/neck. Move that stubble around.

 

[BigJ]

I get confused just rolling out of the bed in morning. The method of using a brush on my face I find superior, but that's me.

+1! Me too!!

 

[SimpleClean]

Neither. It’s about having enough soap/cream/gel/shave butter/shave oil* and water on the face during the shave and that amount varies per product. Shaving foam puts a lot of air into the mix and that can make it trickier to figure out, but they’re all pretty much equal if you use enough product and add enough water. If you have sensitivity to particular ingredients, that can complicate things, but that’s another subject and why I can’t use my favorite smelling soaps and creams (other than ARKO!, thankfully).

* With shave oils, it’s 1-3 drops and a lot of water. If you think you’ve used ‘enough,’ you’ve used at least five times too much and need to wash it off your skin or your razor will clog and be gross.

That was my hypothesis. I like the no hassle approach to foam. I've used a brush/bowl/cream/puck before and switched back to foam. I know I'm the minority here. I've never tried shave oils - seems interesting but I don't think it's easier to use than foam?

Welcome to B&B, Sir SimpleClean!
I feel confident that, with a little time and experience, you'll gravitate to using and enjoying your brush!!
Meanwhile, as for a brushless cream, there are many to choose from, this is only one...

View attachment 1615272

That's an excellent picture and thank you for the welcome! I've used a brush before for years and switched back to foam. For me, I rather use shaving foam > brush + cream > brush + puck > shaving gel. I just wanted to see if I failed to consider any options that's even easier/simpler than foam with nearly as much efficacy. I think it doesn't exist.

By the way, I've searched this forum for the topic of foams and I'm interested in trying the following. Please let me know if there are other foams (not gels) I should check out!

• Barbasol yellow, purple, green shaving cream (it says cream but it's actually foam out of a can)
• Figaro shaving foam
• Proraso shaving foam
• Gillette Foamy
• Gillette Barbershop Fresh
• Nivea sensitive shaving foam

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

By the way, I've searched this forum for the topic of foams and I'm interested in trying the following. Please let me know if there are other foams (not gels) I should check out!

• Barbasol yellow, purple, green shaving cream (it says cream but it's actually foam out of a can)
• Figaro shaving foam
• Proraso shaving foam
• Gillette Foamy
• Gillette Barbershop Fresh
• Nivea sensitive shaving foam

I Mainly use canned foams as well. Here are my thoughts on the ones I’ve tried:

Barbasol:
I’ve used the red, orange, green, blue, and purple cans. They all work but I prefer the red original for the scent and slight edge in performance over the rest. The green smells amazing but works the least well of them all. The orange is nice for the skin food ingredients but some days I don’t like the scent. The purple has a nice scent but was very meh for me overall, not sure why since it has the nicest ingredient list of them all. The blue has a nice cooling effect if you like that, I only do on extremely hot days after a workout.

Gillette:
The Barbershop Fresh is an excellent performing luxurious and strongly scented product that is no longer made. It’s slick and creamy and smells just like Skin Bracer aftershave. I bought 7 cans when they were blowing them out for a buck each. Truly a deal! The foamy red and blue cans were great until Gillette messed with the scents, they smell awful now, so when my Barbershop Fresh cans are gone I will be done with Gillette foams for good.

Nivea:
I recently have been using the Nivea Sensitive Foam in the can and love this stuff too. It smells really fresh and has amazing skin food and healing ingredients. The slickness lies between Barbasol red and the Gillette Barbershop Fresh. It’s a really nice foam. My biggest complaint is it’s so lightly scented that nothing remains once it’s rinsed off.

Haven’t tried the rest of the ones you’ve listed, sorry!

 

[sarimento1]

indeed, i used foam for most of my life, it just began to seem wasteful!

anyway, here are a couple fancy shave foams, just fyi.
and several varieties of Noxzema, modern as well as vintage.
The Noxzema's come both brushless and 'lathering', altho all say they can be used brushless.
The green canned Noxzema comes from Italy and is super thick; some of the other Noxzema's are imported.

are you in the USA?