Face Lathering, how do you "reload" between passes?

[Jobol]

Hey guys,

I decided I want to try face lathering instead of my usual bowl lathering. With my bowl lather, I always put a tiny amount of water in the bowl and "re-work" the lather on the brush with the lather on the bowl between the passes, and this works great.

How would that work with face lathering?

If you have to reload the brush by adding more product and then re-apply to the face, then it seems to me that bowl lather is the more economical way of lathering.

 

[Schwert]

I have enough lather in my brush for the second pass. I do not need to reload at the puck, just go back to my face. Depending on my brush and the soap I usually have enough for a 3-pass shave even though I very rarely do the third.

 

[texbilly]

Factors such as loading time and wetness of the brush come into play but just like Schwert, I rarely need to reload my brush from the puck. However, some of my soaps benefit from a few drops of added water to "activate" it for the second pass and in some cases thin it a bit. Speick is a good example: it generates a wonderful, creamy lather when I load my brush and I rarely have to touch it for my first pass. However, it can be a little dense for the second pass, where a little thinner lather allows my razor to glide easier across my now semi-slick skin.

 

[jkh]

Add a third for not needing to reload or re-work lather after the initial lather creation.

Here is what I do:
1) Load semi-dry brush on soap puck for 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on the soap.
2) Starting creating lather on a fairly wet face. Note: not dripping wet, but there is a good even coat of moisture on the entire beard area.
3) Dips tips of brush in water and re-work lather on face as needed to tweak lather to perfection.
4) Perform first pass.
5) Rinse face.
6) Re-lather. Note: there isn't much re-working of lather, this step is mostly wiping an even coat of lather on the face.
7) Perform second pass.
8) Re-lather the adam's apple
9) Perform another pass on the problematic adam's apple.
10) Trash talk the stubble in the sink.

 

[texbilly]

Add a third for not needing to reload or re-work lather after the initial lather creation.

Here is what I doe:
1) Load semi-dry brush on soap puck for 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on the soap.
2) Starting creating lather on a fairly wet face. Note: not dripping wet, but there is a good even coat of moisture on the entire beard area.
3) Dips tips of brush in water and re-work lather on face as needed to tweak lather to perfection.
4) Perform first pass.
5) Rinse face.
6) Re-lather. Note: there isn't much re-working of lather, this step is mostly wiping an even coat of lather on the face.
7) Perform second pass.
8) Re-lather the adam's apple
9) Perform another pass on the problematic adam's apple.
10) Trash talk the stubble in the sink.

Hey Jeremy, try one of my favorite tips: swallow, hold your breath, then shave your (temporarily) flat adam's apple region. Works like a charm!

 

[Rudy Vey]

Swirling ten or so times over the soap puck, with a not too wet brush and lathering on my wet face normally creates enough lather for at least 3 passes. For the second and third, I just wet the tips of the brush with running water (runs anyway to remove the lather and stubble from the razor) and lather up again in the face. Very rarely I have to go back over the puck to re-load with soap. When using shave sticks, I wet my face well, and then rub the stick all over, then like above face lather with a wet (not dripping wet, though) brush. Gives me also normally enough for three passes.

 

[BurkDarkpatches]

I have enough lather in my brush for the second pass. I do not need to reload at the puck, just go back to my face. Depending on my brush and the soap I usually have enough for a 3-pass shave even though I very rarely do the third.

+1 The water on my face from rinsing gives the lather a boost, or I might dip the brush in water again.

Steve

 

[gollum83]

Honestly, I rarely have reload my brush when face lathering. Doesn't matter what brush I'm using, what product I'm using be it soap or cream or shave stick. Just make sure you load the brush adequately like along the lines of what Jeremy or Rudy suggest and you should be good to go for multiple passes.

 

[charismata]

I've never had a reason to reload the brush during a shave. Just load the brush real well initially. More lather goes down the sink when I rinse my brush than I use in 3 complete passes.

 

[Trendkill]

Load your brush well initially and you should be set. I always have enough for 4 passes if I need that many. I rinse between passes and that can help give my lather a little extra kick if it needs it.

 

[asurjc]

For me, it all depends on the day. Some days I get just the right amount of water followed by just the right amount of soap to keep me going for a solid 3 passes(rinsing in between), sometimes not. There have been quite a few times where I'll be mid lather before the 2nd pass after a mediocre 1st pass and I just rinse my brush entirely and head back to the puck for another go. Sometimes I'll attempt to 'salvage' a botched lathering by adding a few shakes of water off my fingers onto the brush and head straight back to the puck mid lather. I've seemed to get to the point with my everyday soap where I almost know exactly how much water to shake out of my brush, and exactly what I'm looking for as I load it up off the puck. Change my brush, or change my soap and it's back to trial and error again. To me, there's no 'correct' way to load up my brush for face lathering; just a refined ability to realize when things aren't going as they should right from the start.

 

[DFrancis]

I don't often have to go back to the soap, I build up a bunch of lather there and re-wet my face with every pass I have to make.

 

[jkh]

Hey Jeremy, try one of my favorite tips: swallow, hold your breath, then shave your (temporarily) flat adam's apple region. Works like a charm!

What happens when you can't hold you breath any longer in mid stroke? Bye bye adam's apple? I guess it wouldn't be a problem any longer I'll give it whirl.

 

[mblakele]

I rarely need to reload - only when breaking in a new boar brush. Until the bristles have done some splitting, they don't seem to have enough surface area to hold enough lather for more than a couple of passes. The Omega 10066 and 81052 both had this problem when new, but after a month or two of steady use they could both hold enough lather for a full shave.

 

[huntmol]

Hm, never had to reload any of my brushes between passes, even the small ones - and I always face lather.
I guess I just learned early on to use more than enough product, just in case you want to have fun and do 3-4 passes

 

[texbilly]

What happens when you can't hold you breath any longer in mid stroke? Bye bye adam's apple? I guess it wouldn't be a problem any longer I'll give it whirl.

Uh oh, best to have your lung capacity measured if this is the case!

 

[Go West Young Man]

With soap pucks or cream I just load up the brush sufficiently from the get-go to cover my 3 passes. I'm still learning shave-sticks, so sometimes I need to run the stick over my face a time or two before each pass to bump up the lather quality.

 

[fidjit]

I'm a 99% shave stick face latherer and I rarely have to reload for 4 passes even with my smaller Omega 21047.

 

[honed]

10) Trash talk the stubble in the sink.

If the lather on the brush goes somewhat dry, I usually adjust that by leaving my face slightly wetter before the second/third lather application.

 

[WastedResources]

I don't reload. I've usually got enough for two passes, then I squeeze the brush and use the inner cream for the third.