Face vs. bowl lather benefits

[chran]

I use both depending on mood. Lately I'm leaning towards face lather. A quick comparison:

Face lather:
+ lather build up on face = heaven
+ more stubble-lifting & exfolation
+ no bowl = less space
- can be prickly with the wrong brush
- lather cools quicker

Bowl lather:
+ warm lather = heaven
+ less exfoliation is better for sensitive skin
- takes more space

I think I'll face lather for normal shaves and bowl for special ones (when I have more me time or in winter).

 

[auee1977]

I bowl lather for several reasons:

The lather warms up nicely in the hot bowl,

It is easier for me to get the right mix of water and cream to make the best lather, and

I have a closely trimmed mustache and beard so I can apply the lather to my cheeks and neck mainly without a lot of lather to wash off the beard and mustache.

 

[ratcheer]

After reading all of the above, I suppose I am a hybrid guy. I use the bowl to rest my soap and brush between passes, and the bowl keeps everything nice and warm. But I load the brush, then create the actual lather on my face. There is never much lather in the bowl, itself.

I have been wet shaving for three years, now. For the first two of them, I was a bowl latherer. I have developed the above technique over the past year or so.

Tim

 

[13ALPHA]

OK, not as a result of this thread, but very applicable, I had a little experience last night. I had shaved Sat morning, good shave. It was saturday night and I was so excited about smelling a new cream, I went in the bathroom and gave it a smell. That led to me thinking "I am just going to lather and rinse it off" (any one else done this?) so I only grabbed a brush and the cream, filled sink with HOT water, soaked brush for like 20sec. Put pea sized or slightly less amount of cream on the brush and started lather (after a few gentle shakes). It was awesome! The lather stayed pretty warm, almost even hot and was nice and thick! Prior real attempts at face lathering never got me hot lather, so I stuck to the bowl.

So now I have a face of hot lather...like I am not going to shave now?

So I shaved again, only about 12 hours after the last time, not bad at all, only a little irritation on my neck probably due to shaving so soon. But it was enjoyable.

End result? In the time that this thread has been going on, I have been converted to face lathering. My initial post in the thread leans to bowl lathering and interestingly enough from a weird night in the bathroom, now I lean to the other!

 

[Chevyguy]

The hybrid method you use is perfectly fine as long as you can maintain the heat of the bowl, brush and lather.

Cons of face lathering without a container...rapidly cooling lather and brush.

Pros...convenience.

When I face lather I miss the warm lather, but it is faster and you do have less stuff to clean up.

Clayton

 

[hdorne]

I prefer a sort of hybrid method. I whip up the lather in the scuttle, then continue to massage it into my beard before the shave. I have fairly sensitive skin which does not take kindly to over-exfoliation, and I've almost always had irritation when face lathering alone. Besides, you would not catch me dead without my scuttle and warm lather.

 

[_JP_]

The only advantage that I see to bowl lathering is that is better control over the creation of the lather. Especially for those who are new to working with a shaving brush.

I prefer to face lather.

 

[ironbrewer]

From reading the responses to this thread I would think that most people prefer face lathering by a longshot, but I found a recent poll and it is close to 50/50. Right now I only have a boars brush, and I find that a bit rough to face lather with. Since its almost Xmas I have been banned from making any shaving purchases. I'm pretty sure I will be getting a Badger brush from Santa Claus and I can experiment for myself. I'll probably get a nice skuttle from Georgetown or something else though to make it fairer.

 

[Schwert]

Definitely experiment a bit when your Christmas badger arrives.


For me bowl lathering is a bunch of messing about and wasteful of time and soap. A good workup of lather on my face is the way to start the day.

 

[Leon]

Anthony pretty much said it all.

The bowl has seen little action for quite some time now.
Creams, hard soaps, sticks, you name it - I face lather. I have a better prep, the lather is more well built, the scent is great and no lather is wasted in the bowl which I find important too!.

Pros:
You don't need a bowl.
You get instant feedback from your face so you can build the best lather.
Your beard is going to get the most prep from this method.
IMO you get more scent exposure.

Cons:
Ummmmmm?

 

[Wil Dorenbos]

well jim, i'm a solid face lather so here goes.

Pros:
You don't need a bowl.
You get instant feedback from your face so you can build the best lather.
Your beard is going to get the most prep from this method.

+1

 

[TX Shane]

It's personal preference as others have said here. I do find that I definitely like bowl lathering with nice warm lather in the winter. I find I can whip up a ton of lather a little easier with the bowl too. Face lathering is very efficient and easier though.

 

[Dpflaum]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I guess it is mostly a personal preference thing, but now I have different points to think about.

For what it's worth, I do it the same way you do. I build my lather in a bowl and then finish it off on my face. I used a DE for a little over a year then switched to a straight in September and have had great results.

Drew

 

[Yooper]

I bowl lather with creams and face lather with soap cakes. I like to mix it up a bit and have 3-4 shaves each way per week (I shave every day). I find that I can shave more quickly when face lathering, but I also enjoy the hot lather of using a bowl. I like to run in the morning about 4 days a week (which takes time to do before work), so on those days I face lather using soap.

I also have my "go to" tools for whenever I am running late or pressed for time - face lathering with my Tabac soap and C&E best badger brush. With those 2, I get gobs of perfect lather in no time.

 

[SHarris]

CONS...face lathering without a container usually means cold lather.

 

[Iakona]

I've been using a hybrid method like you... I set my bowl in a larger bowl with hot water - get warm lather that way. I then started face lathering - using my soaps as a stick. Lately as it gets colder, I've found that my last pass just sucks. I think that my face/beard is cooling too much and the whiskers are getting too tough to cut smoothly. Becuase of this, I'm thinking of going back to the bowl method.

 

[col conk]

I use a hybrid method . I have scuttle which is filled with boiling water . I load up my brush tips with soap and set the brush in the scuttle which is quite hot . I re -wet my face with hot tap water . The brush and soap are now very warm when I face lather. And the scuttle keeps the lather and brush warm for at least 2 more passes.

 

[bigfoot83]

I've been face lathering since high school (over 30 years). I use a sink of hot water to wet my face prior to the first pass, and rinse the razor as I go. Between passes, simply place your brush into a smaller, heavy mug that sits in the water and you'll have nice warm lather!

Dave

 

[Jack-in-the-Green]

I've been face lathering since high school (over 30 years). I use a sink of hot water to wet my face prior to the first pass, and rinse the razor as I go. Between passes, simply place your brush into a smaller, heavy mug that sits in the water and you'll have nice warm lather!

Dave

This is exactly what I do, too.

The main reason I switched to face lathering is that I found it seems to improve the condition of my skin.

 

[kingfisher]

I prefer the bowl.