give me a few tips on making soap lather...

[AndyPrice44]

B&Bers,
I have been DE shaving for a couple of years now. I purchased some DR Harris Arlington soap when I first started. I never could make a good lather from it. I have been using creams for the past two years. I decided to re-visit the soap again yesterday. I read through the shave wiki and gathered as much info as I could there. Then I attempted my first shave with soap in a long time. I followed the instructions in the wiki on how to make lather with soap. I have the arlington soap in the wooden bowl. I started by putting about a teaspoon of water on top of the soap. I soaked my brush while in the shower. I squeezed excess water out of my brush which was a shavemac D-01 2-band 24mm x 48mm. I then began loading my brush. Swirls and plunger motions, even on the sides. I then added about a teaspoon of water to my bowl and began lathering. I made ALOT of lather with no air bubbles in it. It looked like good lather but, When I began applying it to my face it just seems to dry out too quick. It is not a slick as a cream either. I thought I could solve this by adding more water but it still wouldn't build up much on the face. I would need to put lather on the face and then go back to the bowl and get more lather. By the time I was satisfied with the way it looked, some parts on my face had dried out. So, I added more water. This time it became a bit runny with air bubbles in it. I just wasn't very happy with it. I never could get it to be as slick as arlington cream. The razor just didn't glide like with a cream. It wanted to skip along. You guys who use creams and soaps, would you say you use more water to make lather with a soap versus a cream or vice versa. I just cant get the hang of this stuff. Any pointers would be great.


Andy

 

[oscar11]

Andy have you checked this out? http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/21136-How-to-make-great-lather-from-a-soap-Tutorial

 

[john parker]

Andy, I usually start out with just a couple drops of water on the puck, leaving it sit while I soak my brush. Then I wring out the brush and commence whirling it on the soap. When it looks like I have the brush coated well, I start to face lather. When I have runny/thin lather it seems usually to be because my brush still has too much water in it, at least down deep. If the lather on my face seems to dry, I put a little water just on the tip of my brush and continue. Have only been using soap for about two years, so I certainly don't have this all down to a pat science, but it seems to work for me. To recap, my soap lathering disappointments have always seemed to be the result of too wet a brush. Hope this helps.

 

[SiBurning]

Harris has a large percentage of palm or other vegetable oil, so it ends up rather fluffier than some other brands. Like most soaps, it also lacks some of the stuff in creams that bind to water and give that slick feeling. You can get a pretty wet yet fluffy lather, or go for something very dense. Unlike other tallow soaps, I can't make a sloppy wet lather out of Harris without it becoming too thin or airy. Either way, start off with a few drops of water at a time, not a whole teaspoon. Wait until it's well incorporated before adding more water slowly, a few drops at a time. A fluffier lather will dry out faster, or just feel dry because it's full of air, or maybe palm just feels lighter and drier than other soaps. If you can't get it to work, perhaps trying with another tallow soap will be easier to learn. Palmolive (tallow) sticks or Tabac are good choices, but not Arko which is closer to Harris. And like the tutorial and previous posters mention, really get rid of the water in the brush before starting. I shake mine hard in the shower a couple of times.

 

[njpaddy]

I actually prefer using a wetter brush with Harris soaps. Sometimes I'll give the brush 2-3 light shakes before I swirl and sometimes I don't shake any water out. It depends on the brush. I give it about 100-120 swirls on the puck, dipping the tips halfway through if it appears too dry. Yes, sometimes lather does get flung around a bit with a wet brush, but I get my best shaves face lathering with Harris Arlington and Lavender soaps.

 

[fccexpert]

1) Wet brush
2) Apply wet brush to soap and pick up soap on brush
3) Apply soapy brush to face and lather

If lather is too thick, go back to 1) and add more water
If lather is too thin, go back to 2) and add more soap

Works every time. Any soap. any water, any temperature (though why you would want to use anything but hot water is a mystery to me).

 

[ackvil]

Pay less attention to how the lather looks and more to how it performs. Steve, above, has given some good advice.

Or you may want to try Ubderlather which combines the advantages of soap and cream.

 

[nomoore]

When I tried Italian soft soaps recently I had to learn to be patient. For me, they don't seem to whip up a good lather as quickly and easily as my AoS cream. But when I got it right I found out just how great a soap can be. Perhaps the DR Harris soap is similar. Here's how I had to change:

My method with lathering my cream was as follows:
Soak brush while showering. Shake it out a bit and smear almond size cream on brush. Start whipping brush in mug (I'm a mug latherer). Whip for about 15secs. Add a few drops of water. Whip another 15secs. Add more water. Whip more, etc, until I have a nice explosion of lather. It was easy and quick.

When I tried soap I soaked the soap and brush, poured the water from the soap and shook out the brush. Then I loaded the brush for about 30 secs and proceeded to lather it just like I would the cream. The lather I got looked similar to my cream lathers but it didn't have the cushion and lubricity of my cream. I finally made the following changes and got a much denser but very cushioning and slick lather.

A. I loaded the brush for longer (45secs or a minute)
B. I swirled for longer between my adding water to the lather
C. I stopped adding water before the "explosion of lather" stage

Basically, I learned patience.

This lather that I got looked dry to me. If I made a lather of this consistency with my cream it would dry out on my face before I was done with the pass. But it really wasn't dry. In fact, once I brushed it on it was very thick (almost gooey), very slick, and lasted longer than my cream lathers. It could have held more water but that would have been too much. It had all the water it needed. In fact, maybe I'll try adding a little patience and subtracting a little water from my cream lather and see if that gets better too.

I hope this helps you with your lather.

 

[Luc]

From what I read, I would say you need to charge your brush more, hold the water and add it a few drops at the time. Also, practice! Do not wait for your next shave to make some lather.

 

[vreddy2000]

+1 on trying tabac.
very easy to get perfect lather with it..helps to get a base line on what to aim for with other soaps..
start with a barely wet brush..load for 30 seconds..and then add a few drops of water and lather...
keep adding a few drops of water ..never more than that..and the lather will just keep getting better and better..
you just can't miss..its that easy with tabac.

 

[takeshi]

I then began loading my brush. Swirls and plunger motions, even on the sides. I then added about a teaspoon of water to my bowl and began lathering.

They key for me in all this was learning to identify when my brush was properly loaded using sight and feel. Swirls and time don't really matter to me and can be affected by changes in the brush, water, etc. The link that oscar11 is good but I generally load my brush more. I suspect that my water is harder than whoever drafted that guide. Once you have a properly loaded brush it's really just a matter of adding water and building lather. I find that building lather is a lot easier with face lathering as I get additional feedback from my face.

You guys who use creams and soaps, would you say you use more water to make lather with a soap versus a cream or vice versa.

It really depends on the soap.

I just cant get the hang of this stuff.

It takes time and practice. Don't give up on it.

Harris has a large percentage of palm or other vegetable oil, so it ends up rather fluffier than some other brands. Like most soaps, it also lacks some of the stuff in creams that bind to water and give that slick feeling. You can get a pretty wet yet fluffy lather, or go for something very dense.

DRH is one of my favorites. I'd say I tend to go dense.

 

[mharris127]

+1 on trying tabac.
very easy to get perfect lather with it..helps to get a base line on what to aim for with other soaps..
start with a barely wet brush..load for 30 seconds..and then add a few drops of water and lather...
keep adding a few drops of water ..never more than that..and the lather will just keep getting better and better..
you just can't miss..its that easy with tabac.

Tabac is an easy lathering soap but you do have to make sure you have enough water. The first couple of times I used Tabac (puck) I had lather so thick you could probably patch a wall with it -- and I am not a beginner at this. This may be the opposite of what the OP is dealing with using DR Harris.

 

[pdillon]

I haven't tried Harris, but I have been working with La Toja Manantiales, which has pretty great reviews but I was personally struggling with it. I normally bowl lather like you, but I decided to switch it up and face lather this one. The results have been pretty great. Try face lathering this particular soap.

 

[joel]

All of the above methods should work wonders for you. One long lost, tried and true method that hasn't been mentioned is the hot pot method (a quick search on the site will pull up a bunch of info). Using near boiling water from a cheap $8 hot pot makes the process MUCH easier and by the time you've got your lather built up, your brush/lather aren't hot enough to burn your face, but about, but just barely - which feels really lovely in the morning and does a great job softening your beard growth.

Try 'em all... that's 90% of the fun!

 

[rxonmymind]

Need a good broken in the hairs have split brush. My badger silvertip & Semogue 620 both are well broken in and lathering iz a breeze. The opposite of this is my new SOC that I received and iz very stiff. While I can lather with it it takes a TON of water and twice the work.

 

[AndyPrice44]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. From what I gather here, I think I had a little too much water in my brush to start with. I am needing a shave today so, I will try it again and not use as much water. Thanks again. I might order some tabac and give it a try too.