downside to hand lather?

[inspectoring]

I recently got serious about soaps...and so far I have been hand lathering except when I use the MDC - which is a whole new story. So - any downside to hand lathering?
Any one hand lathers with chubby 2 best ?

 

[Luc]

Other that you cannot touch anything else with the hand that contain the lather, I don't see any downside.

 

[rand77]

I do sometimes, I don't find it wastes a lot of product as people say. One advantage I find with hand lathering is that you can limit the amount of lather applied during the first pass, such that you don't put too much down right away. By the time you get to a 3rd or 4th pass, you still have decent lather remaining for a luxurious shave.

It can be slightly messy though.

 

[Luc]

Hmmm, so am I to assume that when you guys are hand lathering you are keeping the lather in your hand throughout the shave, almost as if your hand were a bowl?
When I hand lather, I only use my hand to create the lather, get as much as I can on my brush then I rinse it all off my hand and take brush to face.
My brush usually holds enough for a few passes...well, like face lathering!

But maybe I'm misinterpreting the posts.

That's my understanding or hand lathering. Tranferring it to a bowl is not bad or forbidden, it's a different way to do things. If you do that, my "con" then disappear.

 

[djh]

I use both my brush and razor in both hands during a shave. Hand lathering doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[John Von Wuggz]

If I was a bowl lathering person I'd be fine with hand lathering. Since I'm a face lathering person I dislike it for the same reasons I dislike bowl lathering.

 

[cb91710]

I use both my brush and razor in both hands during a shave. Hand lathering doesn't make much sense to me.

Ditto. And both hands are used on all passes given handling the blade and stretching the skin.
Can't stretch the skin with a hand full of slick lather.

Hand-lathering might keep the lather warmer, so I can see an advantage over regular bowl lathering, but a good scuttle takes care of that and keeps the lather warmer than the hand.

 

[brucered]

I use both my brush and razor in both hands during a shave. Hand lathering doesn't make much sense to me.

I never understood it either. I don't see any upsides to it actually.

 

[AABCDS]

Hand lathering makes sense if you have hairy palms.

 

[John Von Wuggz]

Hand lathering makes sense if you have hairy palms.

Nice, made me gag and laugh at the same time.

 

[The Dean]

Downside: One hand gets way cleaner than the other.

Seriously though, I see hand lathering as a way to bowl lather without the bowl.

 

[AABCDS]

Nice, made me gag and laugh at the same time.

Thanks! I'll be here all week.

 

[celestino]

Only to test out and clean a new brush! i don't really understand the point of it, though.
However, if you enjoy it, then keep at it.

 

[VerbaVolant]

I hand lather when travel and use my Muhle synthetic travel brush and creams. With that brush I cannot face lather due to its pointy knot and poking feel when lathering in circular motion.
If one uses a technique long enough and keeps trying, one will find a way to perfect it.
I think hand lathering works well if you have a proper brush and you shave in two passes. My Muhle synthetic will hold enough lather for two passes, so I make the lather in palm and apply it on face. I then scoop and scrape all lather from palm and rest the brush on countertop. Rinse hands thoroughly (10 sec at the most) and now with both hands free of lather I start first pass. When done first pass wet face again and grab the already loaded brush. Apply lather while hands stay clean and proceed with the second pass. Rinse brush at the end.

I see no problem with hand lathering. It also gives you good feedback on new products. It works for me.

 

[The Dean]

Only to test out and clean a new brush! i don't really understand the point of it, though.
However, if you enjoy it, then keep at it.

Only time I do it as well.

 

[ackvil]

I use both my brush and razor in both hands during a shave. Hand lathering doesn't make much sense to me.

Same as me. It would be difficult or messy to stretch your skin when it is holding lather.

 

[TallyShave]

I predominantly face lather, but like to palm lather sometimes as well (especially when I am dialing in new products). People usually cite the need to use two hands during the shave as a downside to palm lathering, but it certainly doesn't have to be. I don't have any lather on my non-razor hand after palm lathering. The lather goes from my palm to the brush (and my hand is then rinsed and dry) and then it goes to my face. I am free to use both hands during the shave just like any other method. I certainly prefer it to bowl lathering.

 

[inspectoring]

Ok ...so to clarify - untill I discovered soaps (long story) I was face lathering. Once I got MDC - continued face lathering but as I bought additional soaps - that became a little difficult.
So what I do now is that I load the brush - rub it against my hand which is self is very relaxed so the fingers are flexed (think the shape of the baseball glove). At this point I generate the lather but all of it stays in the brush and then I take the brush to the face.

 

[mhdena]

I use both my brush and razor in both hands during a shave. Hand lathering doesn't make much sense to me.

I've never understood this either.

 

[Cerbul13]

I've been trying face and hand lathering in search for pros/cons.
With face lathering, is the easiest way possible to create a great lather without the risk of adding too much water. The longer I swirl the more water is taken out of the lather, leaving it in peaks condition in no time. However, it can be face damaging sometimes, and the pure soap applied directly to face can be sometimes annoying/itchy/maybe burning feeling a bit.
Here comes in the hand lathering. You almost can take out the water as fast as on the face, but you save your face for when the lather is actually ready to be applied.
So in other words, you get almost entirely the benefit of face lathering, without destroying your face.
I sometimes like the feeling of the brush warming up my face especially if I didn't shave for more then 1.5 days. But the alkalinity of the soap (I think so) can be itchy on my face, so I avoid face lathering with certain soaps.