Face v Bowl Lathering

[rbscebu]

I have been face lathering all my life, except for three shaves where I used canned goo before throwing it out. I didn't know that bowl lathering existed until almost two years ago when I started reading B&B.

I have still never tried bowl lathering as I can't see the point of it.

 

[Whilliam]

I have still never tried bowl lathering as I can't see the point of it.

The whole point is to buy more stuff!

 

[Tomo]

I bowl lather. My face does not appreciate the extra scrubbing.

 

[theklaw]

Just to clarify, when I'm talking about "time" in the chart above, I'm talking about actual "razor on skin" time. It's the time from when lathering stops, to the time the shaving pass is complete. Putting down the brush and picking up the razor starts the stopwatch on how long you have before the lather starts losing slickness via dehydration.

At any rate, I'm a face latherer, and I typically spend the first 20-30 seconds building lather prior to the first pass. Each shaving pass usually takes me about 15-20 seconds of razor on skin time. How long the whole shave takes really depends on the number of passes and the razor in use. Usually, total shave time (lathering + dewhiskering + alum) for a normal 3 pass shave is around 2 minutes. If I'm testing a new soap or razor, I'll do an 8 pass shave with an R41/Feather, and those usually run closer to 8 minutes. That's not a razor that likes to be rushed.

There's obviously no real advantages to shaving quickly for it's own sake, especially if you enjoy shaving as much as I do. It's a worthwhile trade-off for me though, because it's improved the quality of my shaves dramatically and more or less eliminated irritation. YMMV.

2 minutes for the entire process? Wow - you are fast!
May I ask how you load and lather hard triple-milled soaps?

 

[luvmysuper]

If you have sensitive skin I suppose bowl lathering would be an obvious choice.
I love the scrubby, scritchy feel of face lathering, so that's what I do.

 

[Dovo1695]

2 minutes for the entire process? Wow - you are fast!
May I ask how you load and lather hard triple-milled soaps?

I usually use shave sticks and face lather sans brush.

 

[Lord NSIC]

Forget shaving!

I just found a cure for my INSOMNIA!

At the 1:21 minute mark of this video, I knew I was in trouble when I heard “I love bowl lathering… that’s my JAM…..” I let the video run while making some eggs; thankful for the three cups of coffee I’d already had. I regret watching this through completion because I haven’t laughed that hard in a while, which is unfortunate because I had oral surgery Friday afternoon, and now my jaw is hurting like crazy. Going to take some pain meds, put this video on a loop and take a nap.

 

[luvmysuper]

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 made LATHER!!! It's a long VIDEO!!! I dozed off while WATCHING it!!! He likes exclamation POINTS!!!
And CAPITALS!!!



But it is some good lather.

 

[ackvil]

I started off bowl lathering when I first started shaving. My father had a tremendous supply of shaving soap chip-powder so the only way you could use it was in a bowl. When I joined B&B I still bowl lathered but switched to face lathering a few years later. When I started to shave my head I went back to bowl lathering so I could get sufficient lather for my head.

Now what I do is load a damp brush with soap or cream (if the cream is in a tube I put a small amount in the bowl). I take the brush a few times and tap the bowl to add additional soap to it. I then start whipping the lather adding drops of water from my fingertips to the mixture. I then lather my face. I spend a few minutes with various swirls and then paint the lather on my face. I make sufficient lather for a four-pass face shave and two-pass head shave.

For a while. I tried scooping out a small amount of cream or soap and put it in the bowl. However, I found that quite a bit of te soap ended up on the sides of the bowl or center and never was added to the mixture.

 

[dabrock]

He made LATHER!!! It's a long VIDEO!!! I dozed off while WATCHING it!!! He likes exclamation POINTS!!!
And CAPITALS!!!



But it is some good lather.

He was also drinking before he turned on the camera lol.

 

[RicoSuave]

He made LATHER!!! It's a long VIDEO!!! I dozed off while WATCHING it!!! He likes exclamation POINTS!!!
And CAPITALS!!!



But it is some good lather.

Hey, hey…, CAPITALS are a GOOD thing, “Cary,” if used WISELY!

 

[haggis]

I bowl lathered for decades. I tried face lathering after checking back in to B&B last year and now I exclusively face lather. As long as my brush isn't scritchy face lathering feels more like a massage than anything irritating. Nowadays if I attempt to bowl lather I recoil at the sound of the brush handle clattering against the bowl (apparently I'm incapable of not doing that).

I have also found that Hobo Lather is the best lather

 

[SteelSchaben]

He made LATHER!!! It's a long VIDEO!!! I dozed off while WATCHING it!!! He likes exclamation POINTS!!!
And CAPITALS!!!



But it is some good lather.

Loaded that brush like he stole it???? Yes long video.

 

[dabrock]

Loaded that brush like he stole it???? Yes long video.

Stole it x3 lol. He could probably go through a typical artisan soft soap in well under a month of daily use. He uses a ton of soap to get that huge bowl filled.

 

[never-stop-learning]

Used to be close to 50/50 bowl/face.

Lately it's closer to 80/20 bowl/face, maybe more like 90/10. The Captain's Choice Copper Bowl makes it really easy for me to bowl lather.

When I do face lather, I like the Simpson The Duke 2 in Best, Simpson Classic 2 in Best, Opal 100 in Best and the Rudy Vey brushes with the Shavemac Super and D01 knots.

 

[lg4mat]

I enjoy bowl lathering 100% of the time. Takes about 5-8 minutes to get lather just right. It's my favorite part of the wet shaving routine. I also enjoy painting lather it on my face. Really therapeutic and relaxing. I hate to rush it.

 

[Dave himself]

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.

+1

 

[Benzadmiral]

The last time I bowl lathered was the last time I mixed Barbasol Original foam with some TOBS Peppermint cream. It was an excellent lather and gave an excellent shave. But I really prefer face lathering.

 

[Shakey-and-twitchy]

I started off bowl lathering when I first started shaving. My father had a tremendous supply of shaving soap chip-powder so the only way you could use it was in a bowl. When I joined B&B I still bowl lathered but switched to face lathering a few years later. When I started to shave my head I went back to bowl lathering so I could get sufficient lather for my head.

Now what I do is load a damp brush with soap or cream (if the cream is in a tube I put a small amount in the bowl). I take the brush a few times and tap the bowl to add additional soap to it. I then start whipping the lather adding drops of water from my fingertips to the mixture. I then lather my face. I spend a few minutes with various swirls and then paint the lather on my face. I make sufficient lather for a four-pass face shave and two-pass head shave.

For a while. I tried scooping out a small amount of cream or soap and put it in the bowl. However, I found that quite a bit of te soap ended up on the sides of the bowl or center and never was added to the mixture.

Is there a story on why your father had a tremendous supply of shaving Soap chip-powder?

 

[musicman1951]

I've been face lathering a lot this year, as I'm testing a soap and it doesn't handle the heat from the scuttle well. I did try it with lukewarm water and it was fine, but that really misses the whole point for me. The soap will be gone by the time winter rolls around and I'll be back to my nice warm lather.

The amount of time to build lather is about the same either way, although I admit I did not actually use a stop watch. The lather is exactly the same. The shave is exactly the same. It's a little easier to have enough lather for the third pass while still being very neat with the scuttle, but that's hardly important enough to be a determining factor.

So whichever you like is fine. There was quite a while where I virtually never face lathered, and when I tried the lather was not as good, and the colder 2nd pass lather was a bit of a shock. But I have come to believe that whatever you do often you do well, so if you're trying one or the other for the first time expect it to take some practice before you're hitting the sweet spot all the time.

I also believe the brush matters at least a little. I have face lathering brushes and bowl lathering brushes. Yes, you can do either with any brush, but the job is easier and quicker with the right equipment.