I've got a bug somewhere in the lathering process, and I'm trying to do a root cause analysis. Hopefully, y'all can help.
I have a pair of pucks of shave soap that I bought from a nice lady at a farmer's market. They smell lovely, but I'm getting a bad lather. I've tried face lathering and mug lathering, both to the same effect. I've adjusted the moisture in the lather, and have gotten it anywhere from foamy to a slick wet lather.
The problem is this, I can get a nice slick lather on my face, it looks exactly right and covers perfectly. However, by the time I put down my brush and pick up the razor, most of it is gone. Not "slid down my face" gone, but "all the bubbles popped and left a nearly clear glaze" gone. It still shaves decently, and there's still enough lather to see where I have shaved v. where I haven't. However, it makes me rush so that there's still some lather left as I near the end. I should mention that I only trim around my beard, so it's not like I'm shaving my entire face or my head in one go.
At first I thought that I wasn't lathering it up enough, and so I tried whipping the heck out of it. I got nice big foamy lather that disappeared in around a minute. I then thought that I had too much moisture, and wrung out my brush more thoroughly. I got a nice thick lather that disappeared in a minute.
Now I'm wondering whether I'm doing something wrong or whether this artisan shave soap is possibly the culprit. Any suggestions for what to try next?
I have a pair of pucks of shave soap that I bought from a nice lady at a farmer's market. They smell lovely, but I'm getting a bad lather. I've tried face lathering and mug lathering, both to the same effect. I've adjusted the moisture in the lather, and have gotten it anywhere from foamy to a slick wet lather.
The problem is this, I can get a nice slick lather on my face, it looks exactly right and covers perfectly. However, by the time I put down my brush and pick up the razor, most of it is gone. Not "slid down my face" gone, but "all the bubbles popped and left a nearly clear glaze" gone. It still shaves decently, and there's still enough lather to see where I have shaved v. where I haven't. However, it makes me rush so that there's still some lather left as I near the end. I should mention that I only trim around my beard, so it's not like I'm shaving my entire face or my head in one go.
At first I thought that I wasn't lathering it up enough, and so I tried whipping the heck out of it. I got nice big foamy lather that disappeared in around a minute. I then thought that I had too much moisture, and wrung out my brush more thoroughly. I got a nice thick lather that disappeared in a minute.
Now I'm wondering whether I'm doing something wrong or whether this artisan shave soap is possibly the culprit. Any suggestions for what to try next?