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Foolproof Lather Method (TM) - any soap - any brush

Lefonque

Even more clueless than you
A really good thread. As someone who enjoys lathering up I am enjoying reading tutorial and responses. I was taught to lather by my grandmother. Her stepdad had a barber shop in London back in the early 1900s. As a young girl it was her job to prepare lather pots every day. She showed me how to lather so that I would not pick up what she called my Grandfather’s bad habits. It has stood me in good stead. Even to this day when I prepare my lather I think of her.
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
Graduate lesson, Part II comes tomorrow!

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@ylekot
 
I was taught to lather by my grandmother. Her stepdad had a barber shop in London back in the early 1900s. As a young girl it was her job to prepare lather pots every day. She showed me how to lather so that I would not pick up what she called my Grandfather’s bad habits. It has stood me in good stead. Even to this day when I prepare my lather I think of her.
This sounds like quite the story and potentially a great starting point for another how to lather tutorial thread! The “Lefonque London Lather Pot Method” perhaps…

@JCinPA thanks for a great tutorial. Very nicely written
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
School is in session! Part 2 is up. LOVE the Rodney Dangerfield gif! :lol:

 
A really good thread. As someone who enjoys lathering up I am enjoying reading tutorial and responses. I was taught to lather by my grandmother. Her stepdad had a barber shop in London back in the early 1900s. As a young girl it was her job to prepare lather pots every day. She showed me how to lather so that I would not pick up what she called my Grandfather’s bad habits. It has stood me in good stead. Even to this day when I prepare my lather I think of her.
What a great story @Lefonque 😍

So, what's the secret method? How did she do it?
 
This is exactly what I do with every lather and have been doing for years.
The method, as far as I know, was actually first explained in detail by a guy on a different forum who went by the handle 'Merkur man.' For the life of me i can't remember what his real name was. He was a dentist.... I remember that.
Anyway, his lathers always looked the best in his posts, so people asked him how he did it, and his explanation was precisely the same as the tutorial in this thread.
I was already using a substantially similar method at the time. I recommended it many times on this forum, especially to people who were struggling with getting a good lather out of Mystic Water, which was one of my favorite soaps. In fact, the verbiage on the Mystic Water website about how to lather the soap is largely mine, taken from one of my posts on this forum (with my permission).

I would add just a couple of thoughts. If you want your lather to be more dense and less airy, slow down your brush movements and use circular motions. Make sure each new addition of water is fully incorporated before adding more water.
On the other hand if you are using one of the famously low structure soaps and you would like to add a bit more volume (read 'air') to your lather, consider speeding up the brush motions and doing more up and down motions like a chef uses when making mayo from scratch with a whisk.

In my opinion people generally make three mistakes most commonly:
1) they don't load enough soap into the brush,
2) they swirl way too quickly and too vigorously, which introduces too much air into the lather too quickly, and
3) they don't take enough time. Most soaps will make a protolather that looks pretty darned good in about half the time it really requires to get the best lather the soap is capable of delivering.
 

Marco

B&B's Man in Italy
School is in session! Part 2 is up. LOVE the Rodney Dangerfield gif! :lol:


Well, well, well... What do I see there? A dashing Gentleman in a new grey suit... He is said to be a diplomatic, a new Ambassador to be precise. And he is said to be a great friend of the Italian Ambassador. :wink2:

@JCinPA Dear John, my warmest welcome to the B&B Team!! :thumbup1:
 
I used this on Williams Mug soap today. I kind of went hard adding water to it so it was ridiculously close to being over-saturated but provided a very nice shave. It seemed to be as thin ( on the face ) as I typically seem to experience with Williams, but it avoided the early disappearing act I see from it sometimes. It was also stupid-slick so that was a bonus. I probably ended up with enough lather for two shaves, but I don't really worry about wasting Williams.

I think this method has encouraged me to add more water than I typically do and I'm enjoying the results.
 
These two threads have helped me immensely and I have been lathering soap since 2003. Today I lathered B&M Reserve Fern for the first time using this method. Bloomed the soap, dumped the water in my bowl and started with a damp brush. Dipping the tips in water and working it in my bowl, I ended up with a slick lather that had great residual slickness. I had a great shave 9.5/10. Thanks for taking the time to write these up. Last time I tried Reserve I pushed it too far. This makes all the difference. Used way too much product, but, that is what dialing in is for.
 
John,

Just wanted to say a personal thank you. I've been using a DE razor for about 4 months and improving daily. As a daily shaver I prefer creams over soap because I just can't seem to get the protection I need. I tried soap again with your suggestions and it made a world of difference. Some many of the folks here offer up suggestions that really are refinements on a well established technique. What you offered up is a simple method that is easy to remember and ultimately master. There are so many variables that get in the way of a close irritation free shave for a beginner. You just made it slightly simpler and more enjoyable.

Thanks again.
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
I am so gratified to read comments about people being helped by this! :blushing: That feels so good, to know the effort was worth it.

Just a reminder, I should have probably called this a "process" rather than a "method", I regret that mistake. This is not meant to be "The Way" or "The Method", it is just a process to use if one is having difficulty getting a good lather, or if one is usually doing fine but it having trouble dialing in a new product.

Once you figure it out, you abandon this and go to right below where the proper hydration level is and start much closer. This is really kind of a temporary waypoint along the way to lathering a product. For example, this morning I just looked at a new-to-me soap, read the ingredients, pressed it with my finger, and pretty much nailed the perfect lather with a damper brush and less loading.

But when I was learning to dial in Barrister & Man, I started with this process and worked my way around it for about a week. This process is really about getting out of a lather rut for new latherers or for experienced guys trying out a perplexing new product. It's not meant to be doctrinaire in any way, or the way you should lather. It's a remedial process, basically.

But thank you all for your kind comments, they make my day! :love-struck:
 
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