Face lathering

[Mike H]

I took a few shots of my face lathering routine. They were taken with an iphone3, so the quality is marginal. YouTube then adjusted the color, apologies in advance.

Tabac, Rudy Vey Beehive with TGN 2 band, BRW with New Improved.

I thought my lather was pretty good, but the 1st pass lather looked kinda weak. Anyway, this how I do it.
Let the comments, critiques, and cringes begin.

 

[drocu]

Very nice walk through! I'm jealous of the equipment you're boasting.

I've never used Tabac before but is that what the lather looks like usually? I also face lather for the most part and usually my lathers tend to be very fluffy and thicker. I usually use Arko but have been using Razorock XXX and Mike's Natural Soaps recently. I find the thicker lather is better for my safety razors.

 

[ackvil]

If you got a good shave with it, congrats and keep doing what you are doing. I would add a tad more water to your mix. Other than that you did just fine.

 

[vreddy2000]

my 2 cents, looks like you are using a paint motion to lather..i guess based on how the brush looks..
try a swirling cirular motion...i load for 10 seconds and get way more lather than that..
the lather you have is good enough to shave with..but you can get more..
the first application i let it sit for min or so while i am loading up the razor..then rinse it off..and then apply again...
i get enough for two more passes..
either with a 830 or the vdh boar brush..

 

[Renato1]

I'm pretty new at this, and a minimalist - so I may be out of kilter with what everyone else finds okay.

I basically lather on face with creams and shave sticks, and get a pasty lather that light doesn't get through. So I make that the standard that I try to achieve when lathering from a puck.

In the pictures of the lather on your face, where the darker stripes are, I think I can almost see through to the skin. That wouldn't happen with the standard of lather I make up.

To achieve my lather, I just put the brush under hot running water for a few seconds till it's hot.
For slightly softer soap pucks like Tabac and Truefitt& Hill, a badger brush gets that lather in close to a minute using the wet brush.

For slightly harder soap pucks like Cade and Durance, I'd be there for way too much time with a badger brush where the lather was too airy from the very start. Instead I use a half wetted boar brush, and make the pasty lather in close to a minute.

That said, I've gotten a reasonable shave from the fairly airy lather produced by Cade using a badger brush, even though I could see through it in parts, somewhat akin to the consistency in your photos.

Regards,
Renato

 

[drathgeb]

You gotta love the tabac for a fine lather. Is it possible to get a bad lather with Tabac?

 

[InHotWater]

Good photos, and nice gear too. The only thing I would do different is: The lather for the first pass would be a bit thicker for me, maybe use more product and, work it a bit longer on the face. The lather for the second pass could be a bit thinner, since I am really looking for slickness. I usually do a 2 pass shave.

 

[Shaving_CHENG]

Looks sharp to me. I think there are so many variables, water being the biggest, that you know best what's achievable and what's not. Maybe I would have added a little water, but the most important thing is you got a good shave.

 

[Neognosis]

my 2 cents, looks like you are using a paint motion to lather..i guess based on how the brush looks..
try a swirling cirular motion...i load for 10 seconds and get way more lather than that..

Make it four cents.

It doesn't look like you are lathering on your face at all.
And a minute is a LONG time to load a brush, imo.

 

[Deltaboy]

Dampen you face more and swirl that brush. The rest your doing right.