- Thread starter
- #21
How much long do you load your soap and subsequently build your lather?
- Thread starter Guido75
- Start date
I use bath soap. To the scraps in the bottom of a yogurt container, I add hot water and allow it to sit while I assemble my kit, maybe 20 seconds. I pour out the water, shake out and swirl my brush in it which has soaked in the sink for 30 seconds or so. In about 20 seconds I’ve loaded the brush and applied it to my wet face. After 15-20 seconds or so I’ve built a slick lather and I’m ready to shave. It’s pretty damn easy.
It depends on a few things:
which soap
water
brush
moisture left in the brush
technique (splay, pressure, speed of swirling, etc.)
I would say it really doesn't matter how much time it takes, as long as it produces good results.
I have what I'll call good city water - not terribly soft, but not hard either. I'm currently using Canada Soap and MdC, both extremely easy to load. I shake a lot of the water out of the brush, but not all. I load for about 4-5 seconds on the MdC, about 5-6 seconds on the Canada Soap.
Most of us don't have any control over the quality of water. If it's hard you're going to work harder. My experience is that the drier the brush the longer it takes to load - however, too wet and it quickly switches from loading to building lather and makes a mess on the puck. That's not a big deal, but it's not my ideal. I try to leave enough water in the brush so I don't have to add more when building lather. I almost always fall short of that goal and add more water, which doesn't really surprise or bother me.
I also use a bit of pressure on the puck while loading, causing a bit of splay, and I swirl fairly quickly.
I've never timed it, but I would estimate that it takes me less than a minute to build the lather. If I guess the amount of needed water it's probably considerably less.
But you don't have my water, maybe not my brushes or soap, and you have your own technique. If you feel the need to speed up the process I suggest experimenting with adding a bit more water to the brush, especially when building lather.
which soap
water
brush
moisture left in the brush
technique (splay, pressure, speed of swirling, etc.)
I would say it really doesn't matter how much time it takes, as long as it produces good results.
I have what I'll call good city water - not terribly soft, but not hard either. I'm currently using Canada Soap and MdC, both extremely easy to load. I shake a lot of the water out of the brush, but not all. I load for about 4-5 seconds on the MdC, about 5-6 seconds on the Canada Soap.
Most of us don't have any control over the quality of water. If it's hard you're going to work harder. My experience is that the drier the brush the longer it takes to load - however, too wet and it quickly switches from loading to building lather and makes a mess on the puck. That's not a big deal, but it's not my ideal. I try to leave enough water in the brush so I don't have to add more when building lather. I almost always fall short of that goal and add more water, which doesn't really surprise or bother me.
I also use a bit of pressure on the puck while loading, causing a bit of splay, and I swirl fairly quickly.
I've never timed it, but I would estimate that it takes me less than a minute to build the lather. If I guess the amount of needed water it's probably considerably less.
But you don't have my water, maybe not my brushes or soap, and you have your own technique. If you feel the need to speed up the process I suggest experimenting with adding a bit more water to the brush, especially when building lather.
Don’t over complicate it
I load a fairly dry brush until I have a thick paste at the tips. Then I go to the bowl and add water until I get the consistency I want. I whip up the lather for a fair amount of time. No rush.
For soap in a tube I squeeze out a dollop into a bowl and go from there.
For a stick I rub the stick on my face and take a fairly dry brush to whip up a dense lather and the take it to a bowl and add water going back and forth from bowl to face until I get the lather I want.
I did just that with an Arko stick this morning.
I do the stick to face because Arko lather should be gotten legitimately.
For soap in a tube I squeeze out a dollop into a bowl and go from there.
For a stick I rub the stick on my face and take a fairly dry brush to whip up a dense lather and the take it to a bowl and add water going back and forth from bowl to face until I get the lather I want.
I did just that with an Arko stick this morning.
I do the stick to face because Arko lather should be gotten legitimately.
LOL. I can't believe how complicated folks make this out to be.
Does someone take your soap away? If you don't have enough soap, load some more, if you need more water, add some more. Jeesh. Its mostly trial and error and deciding if you prefer bowl lathering or face lathering. (I'm a face latherer).
Does someone take your soap away? If you don't have enough soap, load some more, if you need more water, add some more. Jeesh. Its mostly trial and error and deciding if you prefer bowl lathering or face lathering. (I'm a face latherer).
A good minute loading, another minute working in bowl while adding drips of hot water. Becomes a voluminous shiny lather, avoiding bubbles, good for several passes with no fuss.
About 20 seconds load time for Proraso Sandalwood then about 1 minute building the lather in the scuttle. From there the first lather is working in for about 90 seconds. I have hard water so it takes a little longer to get a good lather.
- Thread starter
- #29
Decided to go with the same brush and repeat some of yesterday’s lathering process minus the overnight soaking. I came a lot closer to breaking the code for this brush. I soaked for some 5-10 minutes (as suggested by @flask28) in my little brush cup, shook the brush and started loading for about 55 counts/swirls (which seems to be in the ballpark of what others reported here before me). I gave it a couple of swirls in the lather bowl and then went straight to my face. This produced a very nice thick lather. Went back to the bowl and added a tiny splash of water, couple of more swirls and back to the face to make the lather more slick. I thought it was excellent and finally I got a glimpse of what a full lather of Mike's actually looks like.
Second pass...and all lather was gone again! I added some water, followed by vigorous swirling in my bowl and I got a lather started again. Much thinner than the first round, but enough to provide the slickness I needed.
I reloaded the brush for an additional 5 count for the third pass and went back to my face. A short dip in the water and I got a similar lather going as in the first round. Excellent base for the ATG pass - I hestitated to actually do a third pass and was planning on doing only my cheeks, but this lather was so nice I wanted to take full advantage of the situation.
Getting closer to where I want it to be. Thanks everyone for your input and tips so far!
Guido.
Second pass...and all lather was gone again! I added some water, followed by vigorous swirling in my bowl and I got a lather started again. Much thinner than the first round, but enough to provide the slickness I needed.
I reloaded the brush for an additional 5 count for the third pass and went back to my face. A short dip in the water and I got a similar lather going as in the first round. Excellent base for the ATG pass - I hestitated to actually do a third pass and was planning on doing only my cheeks, but this lather was so nice I wanted to take full advantage of the situation.
Getting closer to where I want it to be. Thanks everyone for your input and tips so far!
Guido.
I face lather & use badger & boar brushes. The two soaps I use probably 95% of the time, Ethos Lavender & MdC Fougere, both only take approx. 15 seconds of loading. Then I build the lather on my face, adding a little water to the brush multiple times until I have a suitable slightly running lather. That takes time & is one of the truly pleasant relaxing part of my shave. That process of building the lather probably takes a minute or two. If I'm in a hurry I can speed up the process, but I seldom do.
I use a synthetic brush and have very soft city water. As a result, my lather almost builds itself. Thirty seconds is probably the longest I've ever spent loading but it's probably shorter than that most days. Especially with something like MdC for isntance.
The guys working in Gillette's R&D labs believed, for most men, the beard was fully hydrated after 3 minutes lathering but there was a marked plateauing effect that started after 2 minutes. So they recommended lathering for 2 minutes.
I personally find that 3 minutes is better than 2 but lathering for more than 3 minutes is no improvement ao I always lather for 3 minutes. And, yes, I do time it.
I personally find that 3 minutes is better than 2 but lathering for more than 3 minutes is no improvement ao I always lather for 3 minutes. And, yes, I do time it.
As others note, loading time, the ratio of soap to water, how long I build my lather depends on many factors. I also prefer slick, well-hydrated lather with a ‘sheen’ to the thick ‘yogurt’ often shown in photos.
That said, over time I have tended to load more product followed by more water to get precisely what I want!!
That said, over time I have tended to load more product followed by more water to get precisely what I want!!
About loading my brush, it depends of the soap, but never longer than a minute. For building a lather, a bit longer than a minute.
Similar threads
