Lather Bowl Design

[slim6596]

Whatever physical design you come up with, tell her to NOT glaze the inner surface. Leave it a semi-rough bisque. Better friction for lather creation.

 

[BobbyB]

The salsa dish is an old but reliable lathering bowl. I currently use plastic food storage containers (5 for $1 USD) from Dollar Tree. I have 3 in my rotation, one each for my Proraso Green, Proraso Red, and Van der Hagen pucks. The picture shows the Proraso Green puck in one.

the empty Progras0 tubs now store loose razor blades.

 

[juno]

i am in se asia and had to be pretty inventive as the artisanal type bowls are not easily available nor affordable to ship.
If it helps, this is what i like about a couple of them.
One of my favourite is a japanese suribachi bowl - for grinding spices, its smaller than most lather bowls and easy to hold. Some have thought the ridges may be a little sharp for brushes but ive never noticed any issues.
Another is a'wavy' ceramic fish bowl - the ridges are not too pronounced and only really offer grip for my hands, i dont believe any lathering benefit - but again the shape and size is great for holding.
Both are small as well so handy when travelling.

In general - smaller than most artisanal options but easy to hold for daily shaves. if i have time and really want to get the lather going, i can use the bigger heavier bowls on the countertop

XRing3 - I do like the epoxy/coins idea - i might have to borrow that one too!

That fish bowl is really neat!

 

[Xring3]

I'm glad I had a little influence with some fellow shavers with lather shaving bowls, I find ceramic bowls are excellent but when dropped on the floor they will disappoint in that respect. I have had a few ceramics for almost 3 yrs and have not broken one yet. The epoxied coins glued in a bowl work very well for slowly letting the soap dissipate into the stirring action of the brush with slowly adding water by brush tips.(works very well IMO)

I like to make a different bowl up every once in a while(3rd one) and I believe ceramic is a great choice to use or maybe stainless, copper metals (ceramic retains a lot of heat longer than metals). Every once in a while my wife goes to a thrift store and this time I was with her, I was looking at this bowl and was thinking is it a Fondo or cereal bowl? No it is going to be a new lather bowl so I purchased it back a few months ago for $1.00 Can.

I used Marine JB weld and this stuff is amazing for strength, it takes thermal shock well from -40 degrees Fahrenheit to + 180 degrees Fahrenheit with no coins coming loose. (tested my other similar bowl for over a year.)
This all the soap you need to bring on a rich lather in 1- 2 minutes easily at most. These are my results almost all the time with these bowls I re-purposed.
Bonus with a handled ceramic bowl. I pour hot water from the tap with the lather inside over the outside to heat up the lather for those cold winter months. The lather is still warm on the last pass if your curious how long it lasts.
Place the soap in the bowl first then heat it up with hot running water finally start the brush lathering process because it heats the lather better & longer lasting IMO from my experiences.
Just started doing this recently and in about 20-30 seconds of hot tap water over the ceramic creating it nice and warm and so I started to spoil my self in the morning shaves. The lather does not see any of the water it seems and it works very well.(it doesn't get much better with warm lather in winter months IMO.)

Some other bowls I have used or improved over the years.
View attachment 1063190
Have some great shaves!

As a side note, Ron, if you run across another one of those stonewave cookers with the lid you may want to pick it up. They work great for fixing eggs. YouTube has videos on this. I fix an egg and toast most every morning this way. It’s one of the few “as seen on tv” gimmicks that actually works.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[chillybase]

This is all great info. I like the creativity.

 

[Le Blaireau]

I keep coming back to this bowl:

Products

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Super cheap, holds heat well, and the shape seems to suit the brush.
I went all out and bought a stack of four.

 

[SlimGem]

As a side note, Ron, if you run across another one of those stonewave cookers with the lid you may want to pick it up. They work great for fixing eggs. YouTube has videos on this. I fix an egg and toast most every morning this way. It’s one of the few “as seen on tv” gimmicks that actually works.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Totally agree! I purchased my stonewave years back for less $20, now is close to $50. After seeing what Ron did, I'm going to keep an eye out for a good deal.

 

[chillybase]

So it looks like, based on these posts, that most bowl-latherers would prefer something low cost rather than something artisanal? Would that be a fair assessment?

There are a lot of great ideas that I think can be combined to create a super bowl. I think the best bowls are found in Colorado.

 

[mr_houston]

Great suggestions here. My input would be dimensions. Approximately 4 by 2 inches plus or minus.

 

[GaryTha]

So it looks like, based on these posts, that most bowl-latherers would prefer something low cost rather than something artisanal? Would that be a fair assessment?

There are a lot of great ideas that I think can be combined to create a super bowl. I think the best bowls are found in Colorado.

We go green in Colorado.

 

[trentr]

So it looks like, based on these posts, that most bowl-latherers would prefer something low cost rather than something artisanal? Would that be a fair assessment?

There are a lot of great ideas that I think can be combined to create a super bowl. I think the best bowls are found in Colorado.

I think you will find a market for both. I really like the idea of using something super cost effective, and I do that alot, but I got a Captains Choice ceramic bowl like pictured earlier in the thread and love it. It works good, it looks good, and when I have it in my hand it just feels special.