Face Lather, or Bowl?

[Atlantic59]

Face lathering is practical and fast, less paraphernalia to mess with and clean up. With practice, you will get consistent results.

Bowl lathering is fun once in a while. Perhaps more useful if you get "brush burn" or for shaving someone else.

 

[old_school]

Think of it as, “am I loading the brush” or “am I lathering the soap”.

So, for soaps I'll load my brush directly from the tub, then move to the bowl, slowly adding dribbles of water until I get it to my prefered consistency of yogurt like lather with soft peaks and a nice sheen. Then I move to my face where I take my time working the lather into my beard for a couple minutes.

Until recently always loaded off the puck. After participating in a pass around thought there were some advantages to scooping and loading the brush in a separate bowl vs off the puck. The big one is I don't have to air dry a wet puck before putting the lid back on and since water never touches the soap might shelf life and scent be preserved a wee bit better. Either way I load on soap then make and further hydrated lather on my face.

I might try loading the CBL Beta in the Old Spice Mug and further whipping up suds (haha) in a bowl just to check it out. Never seemed to make sense to lather a bowl, but if you have sensitive skin it sure does!

 

[njpaddy]

I struggled for several years trying, unsuccessfully, to get a decent or consistent lather from a bowl or scuttle with my well water. Switching to face lathering made a world of difference, and bowls and scuttle were banished to the box in the basement forever.

 

[Badgerstate36]

Face lather for me. Why add the step of lathering in a bowl when you can just build the lather on your face?

 

[razorhead63]

I do face lathering.
Why complicate things with an extra step or item in the process?

 

[RigelDust]

Both really.
I start in the bowl but quickly move on to the face. I’ve never used a cream so?

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Face-lathering is a great way to do it! It takes a little work to get it right but way more feedback than bowl-lathering for me. A shave stick / face-lather combo is the bees-knees.

I do it a little different. I like my brush soppy wet, just on the edge of puking all its water out once I touch it to my face, very Marco-ish. Then I either face-lather the shave stick film or go to a dry puck for 30 swirls or so, depending on the soap. I advise against soaking pucks, it just makes them wear out and drown quicker. If you have a soppy wet brush, that's most of the water you will need for the entire process. You can add a little more water if you need it and voila, you are shaving!

 

[Nik]

I tend to palm lather, Puck in palm. By the time the brush is loaded, there is enough lather in my hand to rub on my face, then hot towel, then use brush for real shaving lather, enough lather in my semogue boar for two passes and touch up.

 

[camoloc]

I find using a bowl allows me to focus on making sure I have a good quality lather before applying it to my face. So, for soaps I'll load my brush directly from the tub, then move to the bowl, slowly adding dribbles of water until I get it to my prefered consistency of yogurt like lather with soft peaks and a nice sheen. Then I move to my face where I take my time working the lather into my beard for a couple minutes. I finish by painting a thick layer of lather on before picking up the razor. I do have sensitive skin and find that if I spend too much time working the lather on my face, it feels a little irritated. For creams I just scoop out an almond sized dollop and put it in the bottom of the bowl with a few dribbles of water to start and then do the same thing as I do with soaps. So, for all these reasons I prefer bowl lathering. It's worked for me for about 4 years.

agreed.

kinda what I said......but with additional elaboration.

camo

 

[Ron R]

I use both methods and prefer the lather bowl for great lather, when travelling I like to face lather with stick soap more often with reasonable good results. There are small advantages to lathering in a bowl, I just load the bowl not the brush with soap or croap & cream and stir with brush to start the lather process with a wet brush instead of irritating my skin with scrubbing the soap on face with a brush to get the lather properties I seek. I can also warm the bowl up to keep the lather warm and brush and adjust lather with dipping the brush tips in warm water.
If you have a large soap selection you can just scrap what is needed and place it in the bowl with out weakening the base soap or possibly getting mold from not letting it dry out properly before putting the lid back on IMO. I do not load brush from the original soap container it comes with.
After done lathering I like to leave the lather in the bowl that gives the bathroom usually a nice fragrance.
When all said either way will work and pick what is best for yourself or mix it up every once in a while.

Have some great shaves!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

 

[Fukushima Daiichi]

I have always bowl lathered, but this thread has convinced me to try a face lather. Does it work with large synthetic brushes (Yaqi 24 mm or Silver Tip Fibre 25 mm)?

24-26mm brushes IMHO are great all around brushes. You can use them for face lathering or bowl. YMMV

 

[Tomo]

I have switched to bowl lathering as I find it has the following benefits.

1. Easier on the skin resulting in less irritation.
2. Allows you to make lots of lather up front for multiple passes. No more wringing out the brush for touch ups.
3. Lather stays warm. Kind of nice.
4. Allows you to buy more shaving stuff!

Will still whip up a quick face lather now and then but it’s getting less and less.

 

[ajkel64]

I face lather soaps Monday to Friday. I bowl lather creams on Saturday and Sunday. I have more time on the weekends and I like to put a squirt of cream out of a tube in my lather bowl and build the lather up from there. Trying to load a brush with soap and then go to the lather bowl just does not work for me.

 

[Demolition]

I started as a face-latherer because that's the way my Dad taught me. Four decades later, I'm still a face-latherer.

 

[GaryTha]

I do it a little different. I like my brush soppy wet, just on the edge of puking all its water out once I touch it to my face, very Marco-ish. Then I either face-lather the shave stick film or go to a dry puck for 30 swirls or so, depending on the soap. I advise against soaking pucks, it just makes them wear out and drown quicker. If you have a soppy wet brush, that's most of the water you will need for the entire process. You can add a little more water if you need it and voila, you are shaving!

During the last six weeks or so, I've been face-lathering this way. Before that, I used less water. Initially, some of the wet lather drips off my face and into the sink. As I work it for about a minute, it turns into great lather with both super-slickness and cushion.

I use a Cremo horsehair brush and Williams soap exclusively.

 

[Yukonmark]

I face lather with an Arko Stick on most days, I bowl lather a couple of days a week just to use up a puck of Arko I bought in a tub. I find that face lathering is not only quicker but I get a much better lather too

 

[BigJ]

Great question!

After a fair bit of experimenting I converted to face-lathering almost 100%! I just like the feel of a nice brush whipping up a great lather on the old puss!!

 

[RayClem]

My face is pretty sensitive. If I try to face lather, I get irritation from the brush contact. Thus, I bowl lather and paint on the lather to minimize the contact time. If your face is not sensitive, either method works fine. You can also build a "proto" lather in a bowl and then finish off the lather on your face. Do whatever seems best for you.

 

[RigelDust]

My face is pretty sensitive. If I try to face lather, I get irritation from the brush contact. Thus, I bowl lather and paint on the lather to minimize the contact time. If your face is not sensitive, either method works fine. You can also build a "proto" lather in a bowl and then finish off the lather on your face. Do whatever seems best for you.

You’re such a softie.