Help lathering eShave cream

[The Blackadder]

Hi there. I’m learning the basics of DE shaving and I’ve been following the advice the forum provides for newbies. I’ve shaved using exactly the same gear for almost a month, which consists of Henson ++, Nacet blade, Zingari Navigator soap and Zingari Navigator AS balm. I think two weeks ago I started getting good lathers with Zingari, and that’s helped me getting good, irritation free shaves. Today I wanted to try one different gear and grabbed an eShave cream instead of my trusted Zingari. I exclusively bowl lather to avoid irritation. I used a generous amount of cream in the bowl (almost a teaspoon) and followed my usual method of swirling and adding water little by little, until lather explodes. The process was the same and the lather actually exploded, but it felt “fluffy”. I applied it and once I started shaving, there was plenty of tugging. I missed the cushion Zingari provides, and the glide was subpar. Lather dissipated after a few minutes, so I did just 1 1/2 quick passes before irritation kicked in, apparently I managed to quit just in time. It’d been a while since I’ve felt the blade directly in contact with my skin. Any suggestions to lather this cream? Should I use more product? Thanks

PS: In addition, I had just changed to a new Nacet blade and apparently these are a bit rougher in the first shave

 

[gpjoe]

Most problems (not all) with lather are due to not using enough product, or the soap/water ratio. I have not used the soap you are referring to but In this case, it seems to me that a full teaspoon of cream should be ample, if not excessive.

Sorry I don't have any specific advice other than to vary your soap/water ratio until you find the sweet spot for the soap, understanding that ultimately a particular soap (or blade, or razor, or aftershave) may just not work for you. It happens.

 

[The Blackadder]

Most problems (not all) with lather are due to not using enough product, or the soap/water ratio. I have not used the soap you are referring to but In this case, it seems to me that a full teaspoon of cream should be ample, if not excessive.

Sorry I don't have any specific advice other than to vary your soap/water ratio until you find the sweet spot for the soap, understanding that ultimately a particular soap (or blade, or razor, or aftershave) may just not work for you. It happens.

Thanks, I’ll use more cream the next time. I’m used to soaps, probably that’s the problem. It does seem to be a quality cream, even if the lather and shave sucked, I didn’t get irritation and the post feel is pretty nice

 

[Chaucer]

For me, fluffy lather means dry lather—not enough water worked in. Also, I have better luck with face lathering from a wet brush than with bowl lathering. You might try that.

 

[rodrigaj]

Too much cream.

I use three dabs of Musgo Real on my face (I face lather) and that's plenty.

eShave recommends a dab of cream on the face, so I would say Musgo and eShave are about the same in terms of how much to use.

Bowl lathering would probably use slightly more, but a teaspoon is way to too much - of any cream, face or bowl lathering.

 

[The Blackadder]

For me, fluffy lather means dry lather—not enough water worked in. Also, I have better luck with face lathering from a wet brush than with bowl lathering. You might try that.

Thanks, I will try face lathering

Too much cream.

I use three dabs of Musgo Real on my face (I face lather) and that's plenty.

eShave recommends a dab of cream on the face, so I would say Musgo and eShave are about the same in terms of how much to use.

Bowl lathering would probably use slightly more, but a teaspoon is way to too much - of any cream, face or bowl lathering.

I’ve tried adding less product, the result has improved but still lacks slickness. It seems I need to add more water

 

[DrStrange]

Thanks, I will try face lathering


I’ve tried adding less product, the result has improved but still lacks slickness. It seems I need to add more water

Bowl lathering is for soap.

Cream is for face lathering.

Your mileage may not vary.

This is how it is done:

 

[The Blackadder]

Bowl lathering is for soap.

Cream is for face lathering.

Your mileage may not vary.

This is how it is done:

wow! How did he make all that lather with such a small quantity? What did he use at the beginning, some kind of oil?

 

[DrStrange]

wow! How did he make all that lather with such a small quantity? What did he use at the beginning, some kind of oil?

For myself, I just use a little dab of cream like he does.
Whether I use TOBS, Old Spice or anything else makes no difference.
My brush is a Razorock Plissoft.
I dip my brush in a cup of water, a snap of the wrist and I'm ready to go.
And the brush holds enough for a second pass.
I use soapy water for my third pass, so I never tried to get three passes from the brush.


I got the wrist snap down right away, but I experimented.
Not enough wrist snap -> too much water -> cream flies.