Face v Bowl Lathering

[Enclave68]

Hi all,

Until the past week or so I have primarily been bowl lathering (I mainly use shaving soaps rather than creams, and accompanied by a synthetic brush), but the past 2 shaves I have tried to face lather.

My experience is that the lather I whip up in a bowl 'looks' better/more aesthetically pleasing on the eye, but when applied to the face doesn't seem as thick or protective as the face lather I have made? Not sure if that makes any sense, hence me asking on the forum.

It is hard to explain but regardless of how well I make a bowl lather, when I apply it to my face it doesn't go on as thick as when I make a face lather.

Any thoughts on this?

Many thanks

 

[Dovo1695]

Hi all,

Until the past week or so I have primarily been bowl lathering (I mainly use shaving soaps rather than creams, and accompanied by a synthetic brush), but the past 2 shaves I have tried to face lather.

My experience is that the lather I whip up in a bowl 'looks' better/more aesthetically pleasing on the eye, but when applied to the face doesn't seem as thick or protective as the face lather I have made? Not sure if that makes any sense, hence me asking on the forum.

It is hard to explain but regardless of how well I make a bowl lather, when I apply it to my face it doesn't go on as thick as when I make a face lather.

Any thoughts on this?

Many thanks

In my experience, the worse my lather looks, the better it performs. Only the 0.1mm film between your skin and the razor is relevant to the shave. If the lather were 20cm thick, would it improve your shave? Nope. Lather is bubbles, bubbles are air, and air is not a particularly effective lubricant. The thinner the lather, the better the ratio of water to air, and the slicker the lather is.

The only time thick lather has any utility is if a shaving pass takes you several minutes, because the layer of foam keeps the thin, slick film on your skin from dehydrating. Some folks take 15 minutes for a single shaving pass, (new straight razor shavers for example), and thin uber-slick lather dries out before they've even done their side-burns. The downside to thick "yogurt like" lather is that it isn't as slick, the upside is it maintains a reasonable level of slickness for a very long time. Lather is always a trade-off between slickness & longevity, and is best determined by the how long a single shaving pass takes for you.

Here is a helpful chart from the Academy of Tonsorial Science to illustrate the trade-off between slickness and time. Put succinctly, "if you want it slick, you've got to be quick".

That's my 2 cents anyway. YMMV.

 

[musicman1951]

Yes, it's much easier to add water to the bowl than the face. If you want thicker lather from your bowl use less water.

Lather is really pretty simple: start with enough product (too much is better than not enough) and slowly add water until you get what you want.

You might want to consider changing your visual cues to what lather should look like. Don't base it on the ridiculous pictures of giant piles of lather overflowing the bowl - you're only shaving one face. Avoid "show us your lather" posts for two months.

 

[thombrogan]

It sounds like your bowl lathers have too much air whipped into them if they look better and perform worse.

Possible solutions for continued bowl-lathering:

Same amount of soap or cream and added water and less whipping/stirring. You’re making a potion that lets the razor slide over the skin while softening and bloating your follicles for a smoother shave.

Same amount of whipping/stirring and more water and soap.

Avoid "show us your lather" posts for two months.

Definitely. Though there’s this in-shave lather shot from @Matt O that looks both functional and photogenic:

 

[BigJ]

I face lather almost exclusively.

For me the key is slickness as indicated by a ‘sheen’ in the lather. In other words, lots of water!


This is in marked contrast to the much more photogenic lathers often shown by bowl lathering folks.

 

[pwheeler]

I always bowl lather, but refine by face lathering. After whipping up what I want in the bowl, I apply to my face with both a scrubbing action followed by a painting action. Drops of water added as necessary. I mainly straight razor shave, so I don't care for billowing mounds of lather on my face and much prefer it to me more moist and slick. I bowl lather because I won't load a brush off the puck. I keep my soaps clean and just scrape or scoop out what I need into the lather bowl.

 

[SharpieB]

I keep a bowl of hot water by the sink that I dip the brush in between passes if the lather on my face is too dry/thick. Works for me.

 

[Atlantic59]

This does not have to be either/or. There are hybrid techniques you can use.

The Loading Bowl - take a small amount of soap out of the container with a spoon or spatula. Press the soap into the bottom of a lathering bowl. Load your damp brush with this, add a bit of water to get a thick soap paste. Paint the soap paste onto the face and finish building the lather on the face.

The Staged Approach - similar to the previous technique, except develop more of the lather in the bowl, adding water as necessary. Finish the lather on the face, adding the last small amount of water to get the final consistency.

 

[JPO]

For me the bowl is only used to prime the brush i.e. to get the party started.
Also, if to much soap is loaded it can be cumbersome to manage on your face, a bowl is good to reduce the amount of lather on your face.

 

[emwolf]

The most visually pleasing lather I've ever made was palm lathering (using an open hand rather than a bowl). I prefer beginning by lathering in a bowl, but then spend a good deal of time lathering on the head, adding more water at that point. There are as many different methods as there are shavers. The important thing is to get a good, slick lather and enjoy the shave.

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

Lately I’ve been experimenting by dipping the brush tips to add water, as if I was going to face lather. I usually add water by dipping my fingers in the water and letting it run off my fingers into the bowl. I’ve only dipped the brush for three days, so it’s too soon to draw a conclusion.

 

[Enclave68]

many thanks all, very helpful. This is probably a question for a new thread, but any advice on how to reduce redness on my neck post shave would be very much appreciated! It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I just can't seem to do a pass on my neck with 'no pressure'. My neck hair pretty much grows sideways into my adams apple on both sides, and stretching my neck to form a flat surface and then gliding the razor across it with zero pressure seems nigh on impossible!! It is frustrating as I think my wider angle/technique is pretty good now, and my shaves on my face are now very good, but the neck is something I just cannot seem to master! Help!!!!

 

[Atlantic59]

many thanks all, very helpful. This is probably a question for a new thread, but any advice on how to reduce redness on my neck post shave would be very much appreciated! It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I just can't seem to do a pass on my neck with 'no pressure'. My neck hair pretty much grows sideways into my adams apple on both sides, and stretching my neck to form a flat surface and then gliding the razor across it with zero pressure seems nigh on impossible!! It is frustrating as I think my wider angle/technique is pretty good now, and my shaves on my face are now very good, but the neck is something I just cannot seem to master! Help!!!!

No pressure really means "as little pressure as possible" not literally zero pressure. Your razor needs to stay in contact with the skin. It's just that when people are new at this, they have bad habits carried over from cartridge razors thinking applying more pressure will get them a closer shave. Instead, it contributes to razor burn.

Almost everybody has trouble with the neck area at first. The whiskers do not always grow in a nice, orderly pattern. Try taking a photo of your face and neck after not shaving for a few days. Observe the direction the whiskers grow. Commit this to memory. You may have whirls, you may have lines where the whiskers suddenly change the direction of growth. Make a note of this.

For now, avoid chasing a BBS shave on the neck. Make it your goal to have an irritation-free shave instead. Avoid going "against the grain". Try to go "with the grain", then "across the grain" in a diagonal direction with respect to the whiskers. Now, stop. Rinse and do your post-shave routine.

Later on, in a few weeks time, you can add an additional "across the grain" pass in another diagonal direction. You can try to "touch up" the areas you missed. But for now, two passes on the neck is enough.

You want to train your muscle memory. This takes time and practice. Overthinking this really won't help you or speed the process along. Just practice getting an irritation-free shave on the neck.

 

[Barbarian80]

Without stretching out your neck too much- try doing a single pass on the neck area around the Adams apple- then leave it be. You don't need a super close shave in the neck area- especially if you're prone to ingrowns and irritation there. One pass with less stretching and done.

 

[ajkel64]

I like to face lather soaps and bowl lather creams. I always was a face latherer for everything but when I tried a Lather Bowl it just made the creams that much better for me.

 

[RayClem]

I have very sensitive skin, so much so that I get brush burn if I try to face lather. Thus, I bowl lather and apply the lather to my face using painting strokes to minimize the brush contact time. That works best for me. However, for those whose skin is not as sensitive as mine, face lathering can be good as well. The most important thing is that in the end you get the proper mix of soap and water. That can be achieved using either method.

Some people recommend adding water slowly. I take the opposite approach. I start off with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of hot water in my bowl. I try to load about 1.5 grams of soap onto my brush by eye. With excellent soaps, I can develop a great lather in the bowl with 30-45 seconds of vigorous agitation. If I load too much soap, I will need to add a few drops of water.

 

[Lefonque]

Bowl lather and slowly add water til you reach your desired thickness.

 

[Roy]

Lately, I've howl slathered creams but 3 days ago I loaded as soap only slightly firmer than a croap. Face lathering the loaded brush with a quality badger brush was really a fabulous experience!

 

[dabrock]

I normally face lather because it's just easier to get the right consistency for a shave for me when I'm face lathering. I did start off as a bowl latherer for the first 2 or 3 years, however. If you want to see an extreme bowl lathering technique you can take a look at this video

Warning, he is very longwinded and boring so you will probably want to play it at high speed and maybe skip a bit.

 

[Dominic]

I normally face lather because it's just easier to get the right consistency for a shave for me when I'm face lathering. I did start off as a bowl latherer for the first 2 or 3 years, however. If you want to see an extreme bowl lathering technique you can take a look at this video

Warning, he is very longwinded and boring so you will probably want to play it at high speed and maybe skip a bit.

He's definitely into recreational lathering.