What's new

Lather Machine

Has anyone ever used one or currently use one ? I see a lot of people using creams as i do and some that use soap.

pros/cons ?
 
Never used one but I believe they were intended for barbers who might use it many times in one day, the maintenance headaches could be many. I thought I read where some have picked one up.
 
My barber used one, probably in the 70s and 80s. It seemed very nice, providing warm lather to shave the back of the neck as part of the end of a hair cut.

I have no idea how it worked or what it would take to maintain it.
 
My barber is still using one for the end-of-haircut, back-of-neck shave. Warm and comfy. I've no idea about maintenance; I'll have to ask him this week.
 
Do you mean the Lather King?
proxy.php


I wanted one because I love the truly warm lather that my barber gets from it to use on the back of my neck. Then I read the reviews...it's awful enough if you're a barber using it all day, and more completely terrible if you use it once a day.

Or do you mean one of the attachments that warms an aerosol foam/gel?
proxy.php


I've had two. One is the one pictured, the other was similar but made to clamp on to the can. I had mixed results with them, never consistently hot lather/gel but if I tried hard I could get lukewarm. I might revisit them someday but I think now if I want hot lather I'll use a scuttle or just a shaving bowl sitting in hot water.
 
Seems like you would need to add a Keg in your home bar before you would need a lather machine in the house. Unless you have yourself and 4-5 shaving age sons that never left home. Hmm.... Yet I'm curious to know more and may now need one...ha ha!
 
Hi,

I use soap pucks for an Oster model 222 Latherservice machine. With a brush.

The machine has a water tank that is heated, and a pump to swirl the water around the soap puck. That makes lather that is then passed out of a porthole.

Other models use liquid soap and some sort of pump. Those might use an air pump. I am not sure. But the hot water tank and lather porthole are also present.

For a barber, this makes sense. Turn it on before opening up, and have hot lather all day. For home use, though, I think it would be more trouble than it is worth.

The vintage Oster soap is nice for use with a brush.

Stan
 
My barber uses the first one pictured to shave the back of the neck at the end of the haircut as well. Agreed that its probably not necessary for home use.
 
I was referring to the Later King. Seems there is after all a bit of mystery behind it .

I'm not trying to discourage normal discourse here on B&B, but take a look at Amazon reviews. There are multiple listings for it, each with multiple reviews that seem to do a decent job describing it. You won't find a lot of experienced opinions here, unfortunately.
 
I have no first hand experience using the barber shop lathering machines, but posters to past threads have seemed to indicate that they are more trouble than they are worth for the home user shaving once or twice per day.
 
The barber ones require frequent use to keep the mechanisms free. Even in a barbershop they are problematic to own.

The barbasol heaters are pretty much all crap. I have tried several and never had one actually work.

Wish I could recommend something, but I think a scuttle of some sort is the way to go.
 
Does anyone remember the Frasier sitcom where Miles took one of the can type lather warmers into the bathroom where it exploded and completly covered him with shaving ceam?
 
My babrber uses one, seems to me that would be a lot of trouble. Not to mention, they all look like they were manufactured in 1963.
 
My babrber uses one, seems to me that would be a lot of trouble. Not to mention, they all look like they were manufactured in 1963.
if you can get one of the metal ones from the 60's it would be worth it. We have one and it's much better than the plastic ones.
 
I don't want one nor do i see any reason to have such an expensive piece around the bathroom, its just my curiosity that got the best of me with this thread.. Maybe if i had a few sons that shaved everyday, that might be a different story, but its just me. my son is only 12
 
Top Bottom