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Can someone help with my lather please?

I noticed on some youtube videos that when these guys lather - it goes on very thick. When I put my lather on - you can still see some of my skin.

What I do is I soak the brush for 30 secs (omega 10019). I then use my old TOBS tub, leave a little water and put about a pinkies size worth of Proraso blue. I swirl for about 40 secs then apply it.

The thing is it still doesnt appear as "thick" as some of the guys I see in these youtube videos. I can still see my skin O_O. My lather is quite creamy - could it be my brush?
 
Firstly the lather doesnt need to be super thick on your face. There needs to be just enough to let the blade glide across your face. I wouldnt be concerned with how it looked as long as it performs the way you like.
 
If you have hard water, that can effect your lather. You could try using distilled water to see if you get better results.
 
Have you tried face lathering? I find that much easier, especially with creams. Put some of the cream into the brush and apply directly to your face.
 
Like you I do use Proraso Blue. What I do is the case of YMMV.

1. I soak my Omega Pro 48 brush in my Edwin Jagger Shaving Bowl with the hot water while I take shower.
2. I empty the bowl, and give my brush a few shake.
3. I put in about an inch or so of Proraso Blue
4. I swirl it around for 45 times
5. A few drops of cold water *you can use hot water instead*
6. Swirl more for 30 times
7. a few drops again
8. Swirl some more
9. I know it's good to go when there's no bubble, and the cream is saturated enough to flow out of my cup. You couldn't wipe it clean with your brush.

I'm from Denver, Colorado.. So, I have hard water. That's why I prefer to take more prep time to get it well-done before I lather.

It's good enough to lather and re-lather on my face thrice times with real nice lather on it.
 
When you say "a pinkies worth," is that a whole pinkie or the first joint? If the latter, might be too little in proportion to the water. If thick, rich lather is your goal, try uberlather. Its in the wiki here and online. It combines soap, cream and glycerin. Great, great lather. With any ingredients, 40 seconds is only about half what it takes, IMHO.
 
For me, the agitation phase (whipping up the lather) takes at least 1:30, and I'm a face latherer. You have to have the right "fuel-air" mixture!
 

DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
With cream start off with a marble sized amount in your bowl. Add just a few drops of water in your bowl with the cream. Shake out or squeeze your brush to semi-dry. Swirl and pump the brush until you hear a sucking dry sound, then add a few more drops of water and repeat until the lather volume increases to a point of yogurt like consistency.
 
As always with lather issues - especially with creams: use less water and more product

After shaking out our brush a couple of times, add a generous amount of product. Start whipping up the lather (bowl or face) until it becomes thick and pasty. Add a couple of drops of water and continue whipping. Repeat until the lather is to your liking...

So basically be a bit wasteful with your products, until you get it right and know what to look for, then you can adjust the product to water ratio accordingly.
 
That's it. More product, less water. You can add more water as you go but like salt in cooking if you start with too much you're going to have trouble correcting it.
 
I dunno, a pinky size of proraso sounds like a lot already. Almond size should do.
proraso is pretty thirsty, so I'd be generous with water, but gradual...wet brush to start....swirl for 20 secs...add a few more drops, swirl and so on, until you get the desired results.
 
Good advice so far. How long have you been working on it? I know it's never what people want to hear, but it took me about 4 months before I started getting quality lather consistently. A lot of it is just practice.
-Definitely try more product. I have hard water, and I'm a head shaver. I use about 3 times what most people would recommend (the almond size dollop), but that's what it takes for me.
-My lather really started improving about a week after I shifted exclusively to face lathering. I still can't get a lather I'm satisfied with from a bowl.
-Soak the brush a little longer. If it was a badger, then running it under the water for a few seconds would be fine. Boars take a little longer to soak it up.
-Add water slowly. I think this is more important for creams than for soaps. With soaps you can start with a really wet brush (Marco Method) and as long as you load long enough, it should work well. With cream, if I start with my brush too wet everything just gets watery and airy right from the start and I can never seem to recover.
-40 seconds probably isn't long enough to build, especially if your are new and haven't quite figured out the proper water/product ratios yet. When I face lather, it probably takes me a couple of minutes.
 
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