How wrong have i been lathering for 5 months?!

[musicman1951]

Some people prefer bowl lathering and others prefer face lathering. I've been doing both for a while and there is no difference in the lather - assuming you're doing both correctly. I find it much easier to add a little water to the bowl as it virtually instantly mixes with all the lather. The same can be done on the face, of course, but not as efficiently.

Different brushes, different soaps/creams - definitely keep experimenting until you find the perfect lather for you. With my water and MdC that takes less than a minute. If you haven't yet, I'd suggest trying some distilled water - pretty cheap stuff. While I've never had to use it (except in my CPAP), I have read that it was a big help for some people with very hard water.

 

[Tonikallinn]

Some people prefer bowl lathering and others prefer face lathering. I've been doing both for a while and there is no difference in the lather - assuming you're doing both correctly. I find it much easier to add a little water to the bowl as it virtually instantly mixes with all the lather. The same can be done on the face, of course, but not as efficiently.

Different brushes, different soaps/creams - definitely keep experimenting until you find the perfect lather for you. With my water and MdC that takes less than a minute. If you haven't yet, I'd suggest trying some distilled water - pretty cheap stuff. While I've never had to use it (except in my CPAP), I have read that it was a big help for some people with very hard water.

I'm not seeing any distilled water for sale here. Only deionized and sterile.

''Cons'' of having clean water here in Iceland?

But the water hardness isn't that bad here. It's way below the ''medium hardness'', from what i've seen at least

And it does feel like i may not be bowl lathering properly. I have gotten mostly decent lathers with harder soaps/croaps, but it does feel harder with the croap, and especially the creams. I think i just have a hard time gauging the how much water is in the lather. Though i feel like i've made lathers of the same consistency (soft-ish peaks) sometimes there is just no slickness... Maybe too much air?? I have a silicone bowl with ridges, and i may be using the wrong technique, introducing too much air into it. I may have to focus on mixing more, keeping my brush off the ridges at the bottom and swirling around the sides of the bowl. I wonder if the silicone introduces more friction than ceramic/glass/clay(?) bowls

 

[tiberius]

sometimes there is just no slickness...

When you encounter this situation again, try adding a tiny bit of water (you can even try with brush touching water then directly on your face) and repeat. I'm guessing that what you mean by "too much air" is actually not enough water, where it looks dry-ish foam-looking and not flowing in your bowl.

 

[Tonikallinn]

When you encounter this situation again, try adding a tiny bit of water (you can even try with brush touching water then directly on your face) and repeat. I'm guessing that what you mean by "too much air" is actually not enough water, where it looks dry-ish foam-looking and not flowing in your bowl.

That may be. As i say, same consistency lather, sometimes slick sometimes not. Air isn't visible, at least. That's with bowl lathering. Face lathering isn't as bad, it seems

 

[njpaddy]

I didn't start wetshaving until I was in my 60s. I never could get a consistent lather using creams, bowl or scuttle. It wasn't until I switched to face lathering soaps using a drier, mime-like, lather that I found what worked best for me. Those early days were fun. Experiment and enjoy the challenge to find what works best for you.

 

[CutsLikeBrokenGlass]

So, when i had recently started DE shaving, which was in June this year, i started looking up tips and tricks/tutorials for lathering. I took the main pointers that i saw most frequently to mind, such as:

-You want the lather to have a nice shine/sheen to it
-Want to be careful of not having a lot of air bubbles in the lather
-Slowly work up the lather, by adding water, mixing and then agitate a bit . Rinse and repeat

I've had varying results with Proraso, which i gave up on. And then i just tried my first tub of TOBS this morning. There was basically no slickness (after working in just a light sheen to it) and i added more water each pass, and by my last pass, the lather was rapidly dissipating on my face.

I started wondering if cold water was the issue, or if i just need way more product to make a good lather. So i tried using a bit more product for a practice lather after my shave (not my best shave so far, as there was basically no slickness)

I basically did everything like i am used to do, but i tried adding less water and agitating the lather in the bowl much more after adding a bit of water. A LOT more. - And not only did i get an tremendous amount of lather from doing so, it was also incredibly slick - . I would say that the lather had no ''sheen'' and a decent amount of bubbles in the lather (small bubbles) And i saw a huge change in my brush. It was ''expanded'' with soap, so far it always kept around the same size, as it is when damp

For some reason, i seemed to be under that impression that you dont want to agitate the soap too much. I don't know if it's something i read, a video a saw or something. Maybe something about ''expanding the soap too much'' or something along those lines.

While using Proraso, my skin was often very shiny after, even after thoroughly rinsing my face with first warm, then cold water. Does that mean that i just wasn't agitating/breaking the soap down enough?

Just how BADLY have i been lathering with the completely wrong technique? Or is this just TOBS Maybe? I am ashamed it took me this long to realize i might have been doing something wrong!

Mama Bear’s Soap…. and try washing out your brush’s bristles if they’re not fluffy or look like a gap has formed in the middle.

 

[Tonikallinn]

Mama Bear’s Soap…. and try washing out your brush’s bristles if they’re not fluffy or look like a gap has formed in the middle.

Never heard of Mama Bear before... Quick look showed a lot of glycerin based soaps. Are they good? I mainly order proven soaps and other types of gear. Expensive to ship for me

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

Never heard of Mama Bear before... Quick look showed a lot of glycerin based soaps. Are they good? I mainly order proven soaps and other types of gear. Expensive to ship for me

Soap isn't your problem. Don't get a new soap until you figure out why you can develop a decent lather from to top notch soaps: Proraso and TOBS. Not niche, but you should get a superb lather from either.

More soap/cream/croap. It's cheap.

Start with damp, shaken out brush. You can always add water, difficult to remove once you start lathering.

Don't use the bowl for now. Palm lather. Get a tactile sense of what good, slick lather feels like. Practice this.

Shave that way a while...pending your success, then:

Facelathering. Apply cream/croap/soap to face and then build lather on your face, seeking same results of palm lathering.

 

[Tirvine]

As Blind Faith sang, "Do what you like." Lathering runs the gamut from building a load of photograph worthy mounds, taking time and slowly adding water and soap, to my three seconds of swirling a wet brush on the puck and applying the brush to my face, probably a fifteen to thirty second process. I like the lather wet enough that if it were any wetter it would run down my chest. The second and third passes are a bit, but not too much, more dry.

 

[horizon]

I'm like Uncle Robert De Niro... the more the merrier.

 

[Captain Howdy]

I've heard that people want a thicker lather, for ''protection''. The times i've gotten a successfully slick lather, i personally haven't found any difference in thicker lather, or thinner/runnier lather. Except for the thicker lather clogging up my razer quicker.

Otherwise, as long as it's slick, im happy

Some people misinterpreted "protection" via proper lubrication as "cushion" and subsequently assume that thicker less hydrated lather will produce more of this "cushion". The very notion of lather providing cushion is completely irrational as it would be inversely proportional to the closeness of the shave.

In any case, I'd like to advise using the structure of the lather as a gauge of proper hydration rather than sheen, which will vary between different soaps and creams. Go for peaks, but peaks that do NOT hold their shape, as that's not a properly hydrated lather. Go for peaks that bend about half way up the "summit" when you pull the brush away. Again, if you peak the lather and it remains erect, it needs more water.