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
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