What's new

Getting a great lather out of any soap

I know much of this has been covered before, but wanted to share my experience. When I started out wet shaving I had a floppy Parker best badger brush I hated and some TOBS cream. Even with such an easy lathering cream I couldn't get that meringue like lather I always saw in pics. After getting a boar brush things became much easier with both soaps and creams. But bowl lathering still did not do it for me. After discovering face lathering I never looked back. Still, I never quite got the consistent lather I was looking for with a variety of soaps/creams.

Recently on a Semogue acquisition binge, I needed to bowl lather again to leave the brushes lathered overnight to help break them in quicker. Something happened between face lathering for so long and going back to the bowl. I now can get what I need out of ANY quality soap. Two of my favorites soaps now are some that have received complaints here. Lothantique le collectionneur, and Crabtree & Evelyn West Indian Lime. Both I believe are triple milled, which may explain some of the problems folks have had with lather and slickness? I get loads of both and appreciate the subtle scents and face feel after.

So what is different now? I think 4 things:

1. After soaking the brush and puck at least 5 minutes, I squeeze out more water than I used to. Drier is easy to make wetter if you need to. I pour water off my fingers into the brush as needed. It has to go beyond the initial sticky meringue and just start to get smooth/slick, whether on the face or bowl. I still prefer face lathering by a mile. Nickshaves has some great videos on face lathering too.

2. Now I load enough soap, and get the right paste like consistency before I face or bowl lather. Usually 30 seconds or more on the puck.

3. I understand that all soaps are different. That's why starting dry and slowly adding water is essential to getting it just right. I've found the triple milled soaps are a lot more thirsty, and need more loading time and water. This extra work is now an enjoyable process (only 10-20 seconds more), and I can get comparable lather/slickness to a tallow soap.

4. Having a quality boar brush with good backbone was key for me. I think it is so much easier. You just have to be patient and wait for those tips to get soft. Now that I've used one for years, I'm able to do well with a 2 band badger with some backbone too.

Hoping this helps save some time for newcomers instead of taking 6 years to sink in like myself ;-) Best- E
 
Good write up and good points.

What I recommend to new shavers is to run to the store and grab an $8 tube of KMF unscented. A tiny drop mixed in with your soap will make things happen without any effort at all. I use unscented KMF with soaps I like the scent of but just are the pits for lather (such as C&E Nomad... LOVE the scent..... HATE the performance. Drop of KMF + C&E = lather nirvana)

KMF store locator (yes there is one right down the street from you): http://www.kissmyface.com/store

These are amazing creams and one of the easiest to lather. They are sold as "brushless" but stick a brush to it and you will have a lava flow of slick, luxurious, lather to use.

proxy.php
 
Very good advice, although YMMV on your brush selection. I have used both Badger and Boar, but nowadays I exclusively use a good Synthetic for all creams and soaps, including the triple-milled soaps.
 
Spot on and I can vouch for boar brushes with a good back bone. I sure can whip up nice lather especially since its well broken in.
 
Do we really want to shave with a thick meringue?

I concede it "looks good" and is seductive, but I get my better shaves with a lighter whipped lather, applied slightly thin on the face.

A thick meringue lather somewhat reminds me of canned goo, and such a concoction generates a lot of razor rinsing during the shave.

YMMV of course.
 
Last edited:
I have about 20 lathers on my Semogue 1305. I can get a nice, slick lather with pretty much every soap I have tried. The Semogue just eats a lot more of it than the synthetic does.

Cad is stupid slick. Deja Fougere is slick, LPV is slick. Tobs Sandalwood has a very fine thresehold between as slick as it will get and too much water. Not nearly as slick as Razorock or any of the other soaps I have. The smell is friggin' awesome though.


Sorry for the derail.
 
Mostly agree, but I, too, greatly prefer synthetic brushes, to the point that I almost never use my natural brushes anymore.
 
Any soap or cream that balks at producing good lather will bow before my Shavemac Variable Loft Brush. It's huge and soft fully extended, but a massive scrubber when completely retracted. The only down side to this brush is its weight. I wish Bernie had gone for a non-stainless steel mechanism, but it does let you know you're holding onto a serious brush. I don't know if he's still making the VLB or not. It makes for a nice change of pace from my other brushes.
 
Top Bottom