The responses to my recent questions put to my fellow BBers about lathering has already paid off dividends. In a nutshell - more product, less water. By extending my brush loading time to 45 seconds (yes, I time it), and by limiting the amount of water I add to half a teaspoon (yes, I measure it), I obtained an extremely dense and protective lather, far more dense than I had been using. The result was a superb shave with a Gillette Silver Blue (its fifth shave!) in a Fatip (quite aggressive).
What was I doing wrong? I'm glad you asked.
Normally, I would load the brush for about 30 seconds and begin face-lathering while I added water, little by little, until I reached that point where the volume of lather balloons or "explodes." This is what I called the soap's "sweet spot." Then I would take my razor to face and begin shaving. Most of the time this provided a very good shave, often excellent.
However, what I believe I learned tonight is that hitting the sweet spot of the soap is too late for obtaining a maximally protective lather. In other words, I should have stopped adding water before that point, i.e., when I usually thought that the lather was too dense. By increasing the amount of product and limiting myself to 1/2 teaspoon of water ( 2 X 1/4 teaspoon) I "caught" the lather where it was more dense, more protective and provided more glide for the razor. In fact, the brush was still loaded with a thick lather for my second pass, rather than the more thin and watery lather to which I was accustomed.
Anyway, I think you guys probably knew this all along, but for someone like me who has been a member since 2007 this has been quite an epiphany! Thanks for listening.
What was I doing wrong? I'm glad you asked.
Normally, I would load the brush for about 30 seconds and begin face-lathering while I added water, little by little, until I reached that point where the volume of lather balloons or "explodes." This is what I called the soap's "sweet spot." Then I would take my razor to face and begin shaving. Most of the time this provided a very good shave, often excellent.
However, what I believe I learned tonight is that hitting the sweet spot of the soap is too late for obtaining a maximally protective lather. In other words, I should have stopped adding water before that point, i.e., when I usually thought that the lather was too dense. By increasing the amount of product and limiting myself to 1/2 teaspoon of water ( 2 X 1/4 teaspoon) I "caught" the lather where it was more dense, more protective and provided more glide for the razor. In fact, the brush was still loaded with a thick lather for my second pass, rather than the more thin and watery lather to which I was accustomed.
Anyway, I think you guys probably knew this all along, but for someone like me who has been a member since 2007 this has been quite an epiphany! Thanks for listening.
