Lather may have been wrong for years!

[Roy]

I've been de shaving for a few years, mainly face lathering. The lather was thick and protective. Lately using a bowl and made thinner lather than I've been used to.
However, what great shaves this thinner lather has given. Razor glides over my face, no nicks or irritation, just smooth skin, soft and hydrated. . ....!

 

[Baz4262]

Yeah SR shaves benefit from thinner lather, although it's a little drippy.

 

[Happy Jack]

Indeed. I feel that most advice (and showy pictures) tends to underestimate the amount of water you need for the optimum lather. Advice like "if you add too much water there's no going back". It's surprising how watery the mixture can be and still lather up nicely.

I like a lather that's too wet to sculpt pretty shapes, but not so wet that it drips off.

Lather needs to lubricate your skin. I don't feel it can do that properly if you're just scraping it off in big lumps.

 

[RayClem]

Many people focus too much on trying to produce a head of lather on the brush that looks great in photos. Such lathers may be too dry or too foamy for an ideal shave.

Every soap has its own range of ideal hydration, but I find that a ratio of 10 grams of water per 1 gram of soap is a pretty good place to start. I normally use 15 grams (1 Tablespoon) of water per 1.5 grams (a heaping 1/4 teaspoon) of soap to produce enough lather for 5-6 passes, but most people do not need quite that much.

If you add too much water to a lather, there is nothing wrong with touching the tips of the brush to your soap to pick up a little more soap.

 

[musicman1951]

YMMV. Sorry, that was a gratuitous and totally unnecessary tweak of the poor souls who will go slightly mad at seeing those 4 letters.

Experimentation is a good thing. Change the lather, blade angle, brand of soap, etc.? Might be better, might be worser - you'll never know until you try.

 

[rbscebu]

I found early on in my SR shaving journey that a rather wet lather worked well for me. As my technique improves, I now find that a very moist (not as wet but still wetter than normal) lather works best for me.

I have a feeling that SR shavers may be more fastidious in their lather requirements than others.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I much prefer a thin lather, especially when using a straight or AC, but I also really enjoy face lathering and could never switch to using a bowl. Fortunately making a thin lather by way of face lathering is a simple process, just repeatedly dip the brush tips in water until you get the lather you want.

 

[NorthernSoul]

I've found that lather just short of moving on the face is about the slickest. You don't need a thick coat, either. It might not be photogenic, but it works well.

 

[BigJ]

Congratulations!

It is often worthwhile to try a change in your routine!

 

[DarthHatchet]

Like others, I find a wet lather works best for me. In fact, I use very little soap as compared to some of the whipped creme lathers I see pictured frequently. I tried that once and found it quite lacking!

 

[lasta]

One of these days I'm going to fill the bath tub, hold my breath, and shave underwater.

 

[Happy Jack]

One of these days I'm going to fill the bath tub, hold my breath, and shave underwater.

I wonder if it would work better with hot or cold water, though.

 

[macintoshBR]

This type of thread is very interesting, but at the same time very difficult to learn from, in my opinion. If I may, I'd ask gents to post pictures of what they are writing.

- What is wet lather for you?
- What is a thick coat? Or thin lather?
- Too dry? Too foamy?

I am sure myself and others would benefit from visualizing these otherwise subjective definitions to properly compare with our own lather.

 

[Ravenonrock]

It’s soap and water…don’t overthink it.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

This type of thread is very interesting, but at the same time very difficult to learn from, in my opinion. If I may, I'd ask gents to post pictures of what they are writing.

- What is wet lather for you?
- What is a thick coat? Or thin lather?
- Too dry? Too foamy?

I am sure myself and others would benefit from visualizing these otherwise subjective definitions to properly compare with our own lather.

If it drips off my chin onto my chest, it's too thin. If it's too sticky to rinse off the blade easily, it's too thick. Everywhere in between works okay for me, but I lean toward more water than less most days.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

The easiest way to judge the hydration level of my razor, is when I rinse it. If I dunk my razor in my mug to rinse it, and there are clumps of lather floating like mini icebergs, the lather was too rich. It should instantly dissipate to more of a film of scum.

As to depth of thickness, I should be able to take at least two cheek length swipes per edge before having to rinse the razor, with no lather falling from it. A layer of lather thicker than a day's stubble growth is a complete waste. It's not achieving anything.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Thick and peaky lather looks cool on those weird show-your-lather threads but that’s about it lol

 

[cdnguyen729]

I have been shaving for awhile and still can't find the right amount of water to soap ratio. I tend to think it is better to have more water than less when creating your later.

 

[DrStrange]

One of these days I'm going to fill the bath tub, hold my breath, and shave underwater.

If I'm using a DE, then I shave in the shower.

If I'm using a straight, then I use thick lather for the first two passes
and soapy water for the third.
The hinge pin and the scales never get wet.
I don't use water to clean a straight, I just wipe the blade off with a cloth.

 

[dfs]

Each soap has different water thresholds so you need to be flexible until you learn your soap.
I try with a new soap to go out of my normal routine by trying it once extra watery and once on the thicker creamier side, then hone things in from there. I am often amazed at how well a thin, relatively watery lather works with some soaps but not others.

For example, B&M soaps work great thin and wet, Tabac works medium wet and SV for me works best a bit thicker.

But, YMMV.