Cant make lather in a bowl to save myself!

[kiwimike]

Hey all.
Been traditional wet shaving for a few years now so Ive had a bit of experience but still consider myself to be a bit of a newbie.
I first started out trying to make lather in a bowl and wasnt very successful.
I tried to face lather but my pure badger gave me brush burn so I continued having bad shaves bowl lathering.
Once I invested in a soft TGN Grade A silvertip, I started face lathering again and my lather improved a lot to the point where I dont think it can get much better than it is and I am happy with it.
I really like face lathering as it gives me the best shaves, but every now and again when I see pics of peoples bowl lather, it makes me want to try bowl lathering again but I always fail, miserably!
Ive tried stainless steel bowls and ceramic (smooth soup or cereal type bowls) with no success.
The inside of the bowls seem too smooth and instead of the lather sticking to the bowl, the brush just sucks it up and I just go round and round getting nowhere.
As soon as I use my face or the palm of my hand as the canvas, boom- great, easy lather!
So whats going on here?!
It seems I need the texture and grip of skin to make a successful lather.
Ive read about people using a plastic salsa bowl and scoring grooves into it for their lather bowl but I cant try that as I cant find those bowls in New Zealand.
I only use high quality soaps (Mikes, MWF, Euro palmolive, Tabac etc).
Does anyone else have this bowl lathering issue?
Any help appreciated.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I never get as good lather from a bowl as from face or palm (which is almost cheating it's so easy to lather in), but I get passable lather.

Textured bowls helped. I got a couple from yardsales and antique shops. I considered handmaking a clay bowl with a large scallop shell imprint for the bottom, but never got around to it.

The only other thing is to load absurdly, stupidly heavy. Those pictures of bowls overflowing with lather only get that way because there's enough soap to make that much lather... or about 5-10x as much soap as I typically load when I face lather, and I expect most face latherers are similar (and probably most bowl latherers who aren't taking pictures of their lather).


Beyond that, I'd be as curious as you what regular bowl lathers are doing to get lather even close to on par with what they can get face lathering. Because it truely is an entirely different class of lather for me, even if I can get bowl lather to be pretty reasonable.

 

[nymtber]

Yea, the guys with bowls over-filling with lather are either:

A: showing off with way more loading than they need
B: flush a lot of wasted lather and soap down the drain.

When I bowl lather I don't have near as much, and I always get enough for 3 passes.

Then again, I don't have money to burn!

 

[SilentTuba]

I used to bowl lather all the time, and thought I got acceptable results. Then I had so e trouble with soaps I hadn't tried, so I started face lathering. I now realize my bowl lather was very mediocre, and face lather exclusively. I'm much, much happier with the results.

If face lathering is working for you, don't mess with it!

 

[athair]

I use about the same amount of soap for both face and bowl lathering, and I use a smooth porcelain bowl, so I have no idea what to tell you other than keep doing what works for you. But I agree that if you want a pic-worthy bowl full of lather you need to use WAY more soap or cream than you would normally use to shave.

 

[Lakebound]

I use the bowl to get the lather started. But, the majority of my lathering is done on the face. You're shaving your face, not the bowl so don't be too concerned with having an overflowing bowl of lather. As another here said, most of that goes down the drain anyway.

Frank

 

[Senshi]

Yea, the guys with bowls over-filling with lather are either:

A: showing off with way more loading than they need
B: flush a lot of wasted lather and soap down the drain.

When I bowl lather I don't have near as much, and I always get enough for 3 passes.

+1

I feel the same way.

 

[TacticalPanda]

Using Marco's method should cure what ails ya.

 

[inspectoring]

Thank you - I thought I was the only one.

+1

I feel the same way.

 

[Mick]

Use More Product......

Nuf said....

Try using a shave cream. They are easier to lather in a bowl than soaps (at least until you get the swing of things)

 

[rockviper]

Yea, the guys with bowls over-filling with lather are either:
A: showing off with way more loading than they need
B: flush a lot of wasted lather and soap down the drain.

... makes a GREAT coffee topper for SWMBO in the morning. Just make sure you're not in the same room when she takes a swig though.

 

[shevek]

Use More Product......

Nuf said....

Try using a shave cream. They are easier to lather in a bowl than soaps (at least until you get the swing of things)

Also, a silvertip may require more water than a pure or a boar. You'll have to find the water level that works for your brush and the type of soap. Oh, what soap are you using? Some can be a bit tricky.

Update: I missed the soap list you provided. I'd keep practicing with Tabac...try soaking the brush and soap for a few minutes. Shake the brush out and load soap for 30 seconds. Then switch to the bowl, and kèep swirling and do some paint strokes for at least a minute, adding some water drops every so often. Some times it doesnt look great for the first 20 seconds or so, but after a minute it should be a very nice lather. Hope this helps!

 

[August West]

Try lathering in your palm.

 

[Senshi]

Thank you - I thought I was the only one.

I could load my brush for super long time and get a bowl teeming with lather. Maybe I would do so if I was shaving a three month beard. But for an every day shave, three passes for a DFS (maybe some touch ups) my brush alone holds enough lather. The lather in the bowl, usually a ring around the sides and on the bottom a layer about as thick as what I put on my face, is more than enough.

Don't get me wrong, it looks lovely. A huge bowl filled with lather, but I don't need that much and I would definetly be wasting a lot.

 

[shevek]

I could load my brush for super long time and get a bowl teeming with lather. Maybe I would do so if I was shaving a three month beard. But for an every day shave, three passes for a DFS (maybe some touch ups) my brush alone holds enough lather. The lather in the bowl, usually a ring around the sides and on the bottom a layer about as thick as what I put on my face, is more than enough.

Don't get me wrong, it looks lovely. A huge bowl filled with lather, but I don't need that much and I would definetly be wasting a lot.

I don't think anyone is advocating whipping an overflowing bowl of lather every morning. They just make for nice pics to demonstrate the effectiveness of a brush, a bowl, or the latherability of a soap or cream. And to be honest, some soaps like Tabac, Arko and others explode with lather in a bowl without overloading.

 

[TacticalPanda]

I don't think anyone is advocating whipping an overflowing bowl of lather every morning. They just make for nice pics to demonstrate the effectiveness of a brush, a bowl, or the latherability of a soap or cream. And to be honest, some soaps like Tabac, Arko and others explode with lather in a bowl without overloading.

True, a 15 or 20 second load on the Tabac puck will fill my whole shaving bowl with lather.

 

[Kwikrp]

Try adding some glycerine with your soap it will help make thick full lather

 

[Senshi]

I don't think anyone is advocating whipping an overflowing bowl of lather every morning. They just make for nice pics to demonstrate the effectiveness of a brush, a bowl, or the latherability of a soap or cream. And to be honest, some soaps like Tabac, Arko and others explode with lather in a bowl without overloading.

I agree that sometimes this is a poster's intentions. But I also feel that it can be misleading to newer wet shavers as it set's a visual precedent that can be misleading, when way less lather would be more than enough for a 3-4 pass shave.

P.S. Tabac does do that doen't it

 

[kingfisher]

I bowl lather every day, and I use a smooth cereal bowl. It's not particularly difficult.

 

[kiwimike]

Thanks all for your suggestions.
Just had a very nice shave with some face-lathered MWF.
I really enjoy face lathering- great prep, fast, less to clean up etc.....
It just bugs me that I cant get anywhere near that quality of lather when I bowl lather.
For me Im pretty sure its the texture of the bowl- it needs to be a bit rough rather than very smooth.
I will keep an eye out for a textured bowl of some kind and try again.