Hi. I'm about 7 months into DE shaving. I have no eyesight, so learning technique has been as much about listening to Youtube vids and reading forums as much as anything else. I've realised that something I need to practice a lot is building lather. It might sound silly but adding a drop of water or measuring soap/cream is actualy quite hard when you can't see.
Anyway, Recently I've got good results with putting my alpha outlaw 26MM synthetic knot brush in a large shaving mug with warm water, then squeezing the brush out and emptying the mug. I swirl the brush on the soap for about 15 seconds, then make rapid circular motions inside the mug until the lather builds.
A good lather to my mind should make the brush splay out, build an almost whipped or squirty cream consistancy of mounds around the inside of the mug and feel slick to the touch.
Of course different soaps lather differently, I've tried quite a few including 'fitjar, #stirling, B&M and oakenlab. I prefer soaps to cream as they're easier for me to control.
Now the point of the post I can build lather in a mug fairly successfully. However, I got myself a heavyweight Captains Choice copper bowl a few months ago and I just cannot seem to get great results from it. The ridges do not work in a way I understand. They're concentric circles rather than spokes on a wheel, so I feel when I swirl my brush in circles it's not generating the same friction for the lather to build. I just can't get a decent bowl of lather compared to the mug, have to work really hard at it. I've tried moving the brush across the diameter of the bowl and whilst I can build some lather in the knot, it's certainly not making mounds all over the place like the mug.
It is possible that lather is shooting out over the side and getting lost in the sink, but I have tried building it more slowly to avoid this. What sort of action should I be making with the brush? people say these bowls are lather making beasts but I've just not experienced that. You could argue and rightly so, why not just stick to the mug? the answer is I absolutely love holding this thing. I just want it to work like a shirt that no longer fits
Anyway, Recently I've got good results with putting my alpha outlaw 26MM synthetic knot brush in a large shaving mug with warm water, then squeezing the brush out and emptying the mug. I swirl the brush on the soap for about 15 seconds, then make rapid circular motions inside the mug until the lather builds.
A good lather to my mind should make the brush splay out, build an almost whipped or squirty cream consistancy of mounds around the inside of the mug and feel slick to the touch.
Of course different soaps lather differently, I've tried quite a few including 'fitjar, #stirling, B&M and oakenlab. I prefer soaps to cream as they're easier for me to control.
Now the point of the post I can build lather in a mug fairly successfully. However, I got myself a heavyweight Captains Choice copper bowl a few months ago and I just cannot seem to get great results from it. The ridges do not work in a way I understand. They're concentric circles rather than spokes on a wheel, so I feel when I swirl my brush in circles it's not generating the same friction for the lather to build. I just can't get a decent bowl of lather compared to the mug, have to work really hard at it. I've tried moving the brush across the diameter of the bowl and whilst I can build some lather in the knot, it's certainly not making mounds all over the place like the mug.
It is possible that lather is shooting out over the side and getting lost in the sink, but I have tried building it more slowly to avoid this. What sort of action should I be making with the brush? people say these bowls are lather making beasts but I've just not experienced that. You could argue and rightly so, why not just stick to the mug? the answer is I absolutely love holding this thing. I just want it to work like a shirt that no longer fits