Brush Technique

[AlanL]

Long ago when I wet-shaved, and recently when I took it up again, I always built up my lather in the same cup the soap sat in, right on top of the puck.

But reading around lately, I've learned that the common technique is to only use the puck to get enough soap onto the brush hairs, and then build up a lather elsewhere (cup/bowl, hand, or directly on the face).

Was my original notion too far afield? Do others do this? Is this the only way to do it when using a scuttle?

 

[danparker77]

I never had much luck squeezing my brush dry then loading the soap. However, on the other hand it is a big waste of soap to build directly on the soap. So....I use the middle ground. Shake out the brush but still leave it wet, then load on the soap till I get a good "proto-lather" going, then move to my face or scuttle. Basically you just have to find what works for you, the soap you use, how hard/soft your water is, ........... You will find people who build lather both ways and all ways in between.

 

[jin]

I don't know how much my input is worth, since I haven't been wet shaving for very long, but I tend to just build the lather right on top of the soap. I don't know if it's my water or my technique, but I've had little luck building a good lather by loading the brush and moving to a separate bowl with soaps. Doing it on top of the soap, I can adjust both the water and the amount of soap in the mix more easily. Add a few drops of water, or dig under the lather to pick up more soap with the brush.

I've read on the boards that this uses too much soap. I did worry about that at first, since I am a very frugal person. However, after about a month of doing that and seeing a relatively small dent in a $3 puck of soap, I'm not worrying about that aspect of things too much.

 

[Luc]

Building on top of the soap isn't bad, it works. The only thing is you will probably use more soap by doing so... Unless you don't rinse the soap at the end and leave the left-over lather there...

 

[jrowen]

I like to build on top of the puck just long enough to "cream" the soap, i.e. get the brush loaded up good with a more of a cream rather than sudsy water or a thick dry paste. I stop just short of what I would consider "real lather", then face lather with that, where the lather really explodes into mounds of nice thick lather.

Some say this is wasteful, but I have not found that to be true, and to which I might also point out that even if it were, its a perfect excuse to try more soaps!! Also, I like to do this in a "mug" (my favorite is an old spice shaving mug, its perfect) with high sides. So, its not as messy for me as I've heard others say it is for them. I leave any left over lather in the cup.

I've found this to be consistent for me than squeezing the brush dry, then adding water as needed or otherwise adjusting. Left too much water in the brush?... pick up more soap! To each his own. This works well for me.

Regards,
Jason

EDIT: ... i just saw my title "I used more product..... and it worked!" How appropriate.

 

[Klarion]

Building lather on top of a puck is fine, if it works for you. Can be wasteful of soap, so I wouldn't recommend doing that on a puck of Art of Shaving or anything! That's the method I had to use to really help develop my technique, especially when switching to straights from a DE (since it definitely wasn't good enough to protect from my crummy shaving technique). I used a nice Pyrex measuring cup and a puck of Mitchell's Wool Fat.

 

[skipnord]

I can't remember the post, but recently there was a link to a video showing picking up soap on the tips of a nearly dry brush - 5 seconds - and then moving to a bowl, adding water as needed to make a great lather. I tried it, and it works very well for me. Definitely uses a lot less soap - don't have to rinse out the soap dish or anything. If someone sees this that can remember the link, please post it.

 

[Maineac]

I used the same shaving cup as the soap container for years to build lather. It was not until I found B&B and Mantic videos that I saw folks using a separate bowl (to say nothing of one's hand and face) to make lather.

I have adopted the separate bowl (large coffee cup) as my preferred method and it works better for me.

The only drawback is that you have another cup to wash out at the end.

 

[ImaWestie]

Not that I can add much, but I'm glad you ask because the method you describe (scrub shaving brush on your puck till you get a lather) is exactly what I've been doing.

I've noticed that more lather is getting washed off the puck than dumped on my face, which probably highlights the futility of the method!

 

[woodfluter]

For many years I used to build lather in a mug, on top of the puck, and didn't know there was another way. The results were kind of inconsistent and I'd often pick up more soap just when the lather was getting about right...so add more water and then its too thin, and soap wasted.

I found out about building lather in a separate bowl or on your face with hard soap by reading accounts on this website and others. Made a huge difference for me. But it's possible that others with better skills could do it on the puck just fine. To me, the separate bowl gives a lot more control.

 

[ackvil]

Building on top of the soap isn't bad, it works. The only thing is you will probably use more soap by doing so... Unless you don't rinse the soap at the end and leave the left-over lather there...

+1. You just waste a lot of soap.

 

[AlanL]

Thanks, everyone.

It turns out that the Van Der Hagan soap I bought last week comes sealed in a plastic container with a flip lid of its own. I just left the soap in that packaging, and now wet the top of it and swirl the brush on it for a few seconds, then build the lather in a bowl-shaped restaurant-style coffee cup, shaped something like this.

Still perfecting the technique, but it's working well so far.