Cream "wetness" question . . . GFT

[Judge Kemp]

So, for the most part lately my creams and soaps alike have given me good "slick" lather. I haven't had lather-building issues since week one.

Last night, I made up some GFT Sandalwood for my shave and ended up with a good dollop of sandalwood cream in there. I added a ton of water (in my mind), got a ton of lather, but had trouble with "slickness."

On my face, it felt almost like the head of the razor (not the blade itself) was "grabbing" because the lather was 'sticky'/lacking slickness. Also, the third pass gave me the same issues and a pretty thin lather on the face

So, was this a too dry / too wet issue? If so, which one?

Much appreciated!

 

[Vlad]

Sounds like it was too wet to me. You may have gone over-board and thinned the cream out with too much water. Did you have a lot of bubbles?

 

[jakespoppy]

You say you had a ton of lather, but what did it's consistency look like? Was it like yogurt? Or like whipped cream? Lather that looks like whipped cream looks really nice, but can be too dry to apply and hold enough water on your face. I like the lather to look very wet, with a yogurt like consistncy that clearly is delivering a lot of water to my face. I also like to use my fingers to smear the lather around as I apply it and during each pass, to make sure there's plenty of wetness worked in to my whiskers.

You might try experimenting, when you are not shaving, by making some lather and continually adding a few drops of water at a time while you continue to whip it up until it gets so watery you just wash it away. This will give you a good idea of how to recognize when you've added enough water to shave with, and when to stop adding water.

 

[Shavely Manden]

So, for the most part lately my creams and soaps alike have given me good "slick" lather. I haven't had lather-building issues since week one.

Last night, I made up some GFT Sandalwood for my shave and ended up with a good dollop of sandalwood cream in there. I added a ton of water (in my mind), got a ton of lather, but had trouble with "slickness."

On my face, it felt almost like the head of the razor (not the blade itself) was "grabbing" because the lather was 'sticky'/lacking slickness. Also, the third pass gave me the same issues and a pretty thin lather on the face

So, was this a too dry / too wet issue? If so, which one?

Much appreciated!

Was the lather foamy, with lots of bubbles? That usually indicates lather that's too wet. Dry lather is pretty noticeable -- it'll look and feel more like soap than lather, especially on your face.

 

[Judge Kemp]

Was the lather foamy, with lots of bubbles? That usually indicates lather that's too wet. Dry lather is pretty noticeable -- it'll look and feel more like soap than lather, especially on your face.

the lather looked good--not too many bubbles at all. I did do a lot of "whipping" as it took quite a bit of small water additions to get that slickness feeling between my fingers I'm used to.

Once I got there, I stopped and applied. The lather was its normal consistency. I haven't experienced this with the other GFT creams I've tried.

It looked like "whipped cream" and felt like a bath-soap lather on the face. Almost "drying" the skin during the shave.

 

[Vlad]

I'm still thinking it was foamy rather than creamy. I add a little water at a time until I see it get a shine. That's usually when I've hit my sweet spot.

 

[Judge Kemp]

thanks for the input folks. I do think my water/cream balance was off. I used way more cream than is usual and it threw off my "instincts" on adding water. I think regardless of whether it ended up wet or dry it was just formulated incorrectly all-around and wasn't going to get the right consistency for me.