Brush Quality and Lather Quality

[sinik]

Hello fellow cut throats! (I can say that now that I have 2 shaves under my belt with one of Larry's sight unseens right!?)

I know how much more important a proper quality lather is for straight razor shaving than it is for disposable cartridge shaving so I pose the following questions to you, the knowledgeable community:

This is the brush I currently use (and have been using for nearly 2 years I think?):
http://www.theartofshaving.com/Blac...=1&cgid=shaving-brushes&navid=shaving-brushes

how much of a difference will I notice if I moved up to a Fine brush from the Pure above? and if I moved up to a Silvertip? I've heard some say it makes no difference, and some say that it makes all the difference.

Also I'm nearly done with my Art of Shaving Lavender Essential Oil cream and am considering not buying another because I can't get a very thick lather without it drying out very quickly, if I add a few drops of water it starts to just drip and run, there doesn't seem to be a middle ground..

last time I tried a soap was this:
http://www.theartofshaving.com/Shav...ving-soap&navid=shaving-products-shaving-soap

and I found it too drying (skin wasn't lubed up enough so the blade caught) and THAT was with a disposable..

so..suggestions?

 

[wherndon]

I can't remember the soap I use, I think Van Der Haggen, or something like that. Bought it at the grocery store. No scent, and it works really well. I have a sample of AOS Sandlewood, and my wifey loves the scent. I have no problem with that shave creame, either.
I also have a very nice, handmade, silvertip, but personally I prefer my, fairly cheap, Semoge Boar bristle brush...
Just depends on your preference.
Regards,
Bil

 

[wherndon]

Oh, I also use pre-shave oil. That might help you.

 

[sinik]

I use AoS pre-shave oil and I think that may be part of the problem..it's pretty thick and hard to truly spread nicely across the shave area..

 

[suits123]

My experience is I get better lather with my silver tip because I actually enjoy it on my face. I have a brush similar to the one you posted and I can get a good lather with it, but usually at the cost of irritated skin, which doesn't help to getting a good shave.
I use Mitchell's wool fat and it works great. I use Straight razor designs lavender soap for travel which is pretty nice too. If you don't like the soap/cream I suggest going to a different brand.

 

[Kentos]

Not a lot can beat a well broken in boar's hair brush IMO.

 

[FlyingGuillotine]

I would keep your brush its more than fine. You can work on trying different soaps until you find one that works well.

From my experience you will not find a large difference between entry level and mid-high end brushes.

 

[Fish Slayer]

I think I would work on trying different shave creams and soaps before trying different brushes. I guess it is all about what YOU want to get out of this. Some just want an efficient system for shaving, others want to turn it into a hobby and explore all the different variables.

 

[sinik]

I just bought Mitchell's Wool Fat, keeping my brush. May upgrade to a silvertip at some point in the future but I see no need now.

I think it's the AoS cream that I don't like and only noticed now that I started shaving with a straight because you can get away with a poorer lather when using a disposable, which you can't really with the former.

 

[mycarver]

I believe you are correct. There are many soaps I can use ,, or rather had used, with a DE that just don't perform well with my straights. The only AoS I have is the Sandalwood and it seem to dry out early. I adjust for this during the shave by adding a bit of water to the brush and picking up the lather to wet it a bit. I live with it because it was a gift , and I like the aroma.

Some love it , some don't but when I'm testing blades ( lots of 'em with two pucks on hand) my go to soap is Tabac. I don't care about lather ( which it does nicely) or scent ( a bit powdery but I happen to like it) but what I like is the lubricity of the soap. To me that's the only thing that really counts. You can have a half inch of lather and everything above your skin doesn't matter. A beautiful pile of foam a half inch away from your skin ( looking like a white beard ) doesn't do a single thing to help your shave but look nice in the mirror or a pretty picture in the bowl. If you could have a transparent film of monkey snot on your face and it allowed the blade to glide smooth,, well that would be the ticket for me. I've also read that Americans are in love with lather , foam and lots of bubbles. It doesn't do anything,,but we love it and want to see it.
Another thing I've noticed with the soaps I really like to use is when you rinse your face it takes some time to remove the slippery film from your skin. Soaps that don't work well for me seem to rinse off easily. Soaps that work well take a few more rinses to remove. To me that means you have a slippery film next to your skin that seems to work well with straights.
Pile on all the foam , bubbles and lather you want. Give me something slippery next to my skin and I'm a happy guy. I just found some organic tub of I don't know what. It smells organic, meaning dirt. But man does it work. And no lather to speak of. Lather seems to function only as a guide to where you razor has been. Same thing with Stephans. An old standby in barber shops, cheap . smells like you're laying on a beach at the islands with suntan lotion all over you ( heavy on the coconut and palm oil smells, think Hawaiian Tropic) no lather to speak of, but it's slipperier than wet ice.
Just my .02.

 

[dpetrzelka]

I'll be interested to hear if the Mitchell's Wool Fat works well for you - I tried some from my sample this evening and decided to switch back to TOBS mid-way through the shave. Maybe the Fat needs more water than I usually mix with the TOBS? Just didn't seem as slick.

Save your brush money for soap ad shave cream samples - seems they have much greater impact.

 

[mycarver]

I'm sure the post was directed at the OP. But Ironically I just used MWF for tonight's shave. For me it was ,, well,, OK I guess. This one goes farther and farther back in my rotation. Smells nice.. not a bad lather ( who cares?) but it just doesn't protect. Liked it so - so with my DEs... but with my straights? I'd chose Arko or Palmolive sticks and some others first. I think it's headed towards becoming a shower soap. Won't replace it. I bought it because of the hype you always read about it.

 

[sinik]

like this mycarver?
http://www.amazon.com/Original-Maurer-Wirtz-Shaving-Ounces/dp/B000GHYXG4

 

[dpetrzelka]

sinik - you might try Garry's Sample shop to try a few creams and soaps. Both Proraso and TOBS have worked very well, lather well with almost any brush you put to them, and the TOBS, for me, provides a very nice shave.

mycarver - I saw that sinik just picked up some MWF and wanted to share my experience with it performance, you seem to have had a similar experience. Lathers fine, but didn't give me the protection either.

 

[sinik]

Thankfully due to the financial nature of a straight razor (plus the fact that I'll be getting my next ones from my uncle; belonged to my grandfather) I'm fine spending on soaps until I find what I like so I can write off MWF without too much regret if I happen to not like it. Will look at Garry's though going forward until I find something I like, thanks deptrzelka!

 

[mycarver]

like this mycarver?
http://www.amazon.com/Original-Maurer-Wirtz-Shaving-Ounces/dp/B000GHYXG4

Sure, that's it. If you get the refill pucks you'll save $7.00 as long as you have something to put it in. I grabbed a stack of containers with resealable lids for my pucks and they work great. I had a thread around here at one point that got all kinds of mileage about using them.
But again, lather? What does it really do? Nothing. It just sits all piled up over your face and has no bearing on the contact between the edge and your skin. Looks nice but has nothing to do with protecting your face or letting the edge glide over your skin. It's too far away to have anything to do with anything in my opinion. Would 2 inches of lather help your shave more than a half inch or something that had no lather?
What if spraying your face with CRC silicone spray allowed the blade to slide effortlessly across your face ( I'm being facetious) and had no lather. Vs piles of foam on your face with a soap that didn't work ? What benefit is the lather?
A quick example. Go-Jo has no lather but as a hand cleaner it will remove most anything dirty. Now I'm talking just cleaning properties , not as a shaving soap. But here again people will believe that a pile of lather will work better.
Reminds me of the test of vacuum cleaners. They provided some that were nearly silent, and cleaned very well. And some that made all kinds of noise and didn't clean at all. The results of the test proved that the noisy vacuums cleaned better in the eyes of every consumer. Although they didn't.

 

[sinik]

I believe you!

Going to give the MWF a chance. I imagine I'll like it more than AoS and I can just try out the Tabac and always have the MWF as a back-up. We'll see.

 

[mycarver]

Oh sure, you have to give them a shot. YMMV as they say. That's what makes it fun.

 

[Firewalker]

So far, I use a pea sized dab of Kiss my Face and 3 seconds on the Arko puck (I press the stick into t bowl) for a nice lather, very slippery and the lather shows you that you have something on your face. The bubbles show me that I have moisture on my face, as that begin to fade, I know I need more moisture.

I have tried samples of Wool Fat, Poraso, Tabac, Van Der Hagen, Conk, Williams and a few hand made soaps but none have given me the same slickness this combo has. YMMV

 

[sinik]

Something occurred to me about the AoS Lavender..I should have taken it as a sign to the quality of the lather that it was relatively difficult to rinse off my straight after a few small passes..could potentially be due to the pre-shave oil (I think it's too thick and that I'll get a better shave without it, or with a different one, I think it prevents the blade from moving smoothly in tight areas)...