Cream Help

[Flapalms239]

When I first started DE shaving almost a year ago, I bought various cream samples and Proraso soap. I never could get anywhere with the creams so I shifted over and bought some soaps and found them superior in every way.

Today I thought I'd go back to those cream samples and see if I could do anything with them. I tried Jake's shave cream and essentially butchered my face. I re-lathered 3 times trying to get some sort of slickness out of the cream but all I can ever get out of Tobs or Jake's is a light foam with zero protection. I've tried lots of water, I've tried minimal water, bowl lather, face lather it all ends up the same. With soap it take some scrubbing to get all of that soapy goodness off...with cream I can just take a towel and it's as if I had nothing on me.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[ODJ]

Try Geo F. Trumper's Coconut shaving cream in a tub. I have found it virtually impossible to screw up lathering this product, plus it's very slick and protective.

 

[Flapalms239]

So it's not a cream issue but those particular products?

 

[Mick]

How are you making your lather? In a bowl? putting the cream directly on your face and building?

 

[Luc]

Sounds like you did not use enough product. Any information on how you are building your lather with a shave cream generally? What do you do? How much water are you using? How much product are your using? Do you soak your shave brush? For how long? What is it? Boar, horse, badger, other?

 

[eth]

As already asked, we need to know how you are making your lather.

I've been experimenting with creams myself recently, to find the best way to apply them. What works best for me so far is to take "a generous almond" of cream, rub it between wet hands to cover them in shiny white paste, and massage this into my beard for a minute. I clean my hands, and apply a moist badger brush to work up lather, adding water as it is needed. This has worked very well for Proraso and Trumper's creams in tubes.

I can also skip the brush part and just shave with the thick wet paste, as long as it is wet enough. It takes more cleaning of the razor afterwards, but it works well when I cannot use a brush for whatever reason.

 

[Flapalms239]

Generally I use shave soap not cream. I generally face lather with a brush I've soaked. Today I took two almond sized portions and smeared it on my cheeks...took the VDH brush that had been soaking in water and lathered it up on my face. Looked like good lather but there was absolutely no cushion or slickness to it. It literally reminded me of Meringue on a pie. I put more product on my face and lathered again thinking I didn't have enough product...now it had the yogurt consistency but it was still light and airy. Went ahead and just shaved with it. I had nicks all over the place...every time I washed after passes ALL the product came off...no slick residue or anything like I experience with soap.

I realize that cream and soap is different but I'd like to at least be able to use cream as well as soap. Is Jake's not a good cream or something?

 

[Flapalms239]

After I butchered my face I relathered just to see if I could come up with anything better and I couldn't. I spent a good half hour just adding water mixing...analyzing etc...eventually it just turned to wet suds and that was that. It never gave me anything usable.

 

[Flapalms239]

Today I essentially used almost an entire sample I received from Shoeboxshaveshop.com. It was the only way I could get some sort of resemblance of slickness. I could either get really pasty dry lather which was "kind of" slick or add more water and end up with sloppy mess that wiped right off and provided zero cushion or slickness. Could this have been a bad batch of cream or are soaps THIS different from creams that I'm completely lathering incorrectly some how? I see online how people take a little pinch or almond size portion out of the tub and end up with tons of lather...all I get with triple that amount is airy nothing or pasty dry lather that does little to protect. I felt the blade scraping on my face...not an awful shave but for sure nothing enjoyable.

 

[ngai]

I bowl lather creams, but it sound like you're using too much water. If you're just taking a soaking brush and lathering with it, that's too much water. For example, when using soaps, I do two gentle shakes of the brush. When using creams, I do two gentle shakes, followed by two HARD shakes to get some of the water out. I"ll add water later if it's too dry, but it's usually spot on. Of course, YMMV.

 

[Rustonrazor]

seems to me you should get a few samples of the Three T's, generally respected and usually easy lather. See if it is the cream you are using. Could be your water hardness.

 

[Rivguy]

I second the suggestion on samples of the three T's. I have found that some samples that are not in sealed packs from the manufacturer can be dry and not a representative sample of the product. A few of my favorite creams were almost passed over because of bad samples. I have found that TOBS products lather very well and are reasonably priced. You may want to start with a classic like rose or try something like avocado. St. James is a top performer as well. I face lather and find that creams are easy to use once you get the product/water ratio down. As others have suggested, use plenty of product.

Regards,

Doug

 

[California Cajun]

When I first started DE shaving almost a year ago, I bought various cream samples and Proraso soap. I never could get anywhere with the creams so I shifted over and bought some soaps and found them superior in every way.

Today I thought I'd go back to those cream samples and see if I could do anything with them. I tried Jake's shave cream and essentially butchered my face. I re-lathered 3 times trying to get some sort of slickness out of the cream but all I can ever get out of Tobs or Jake's is a light foam with zero protection. I've tried lots of water, I've tried minimal water, bowl lather, face lather it all ends up the same. With soap it take some scrubbing to get all of that soapy goodness off...with cream I can just take a towel and it's as if I had nothing on me.

What am I doing wrong?

I'm like you and use soaps because they're somewhat foolproof. Chances are that with practice you'll find the right combination and be able to use creams effectively.

 

[Flapalms239]

Tried the Oriental Spice sample again today (I don't give up easily). Messed around and looks like I found the golden water/cream ratio finally BBS with an extremely soft face feel that I've never had before...*sigh* where is my Fiance when I need her...;-)

On another note, I'm super stoked to try out TOBS Jermyn Street. Can't wait for it to arrive. If it's anything like this I'll be a very happy camper!