Lathering Confusion

[moonl8r]

I guess this is more of a question than a problem. Let's start by saying that I am a bowl/scuttle latherer. Here is what I have going on.

After loading my brush and start making the lather, It seems to go deep into my brush. If I am to squeeze the brush, a bunch of the cream comes to the top. I have trouble getting that great lather that I see so many people gettting. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to continue to try and build the lather? Do i need to "plunge" more?

Not sure if this makes any sense and will try and do a video if that would help.

 

[Nick Danger]

Let's start with a few questions to help us give you the best answers:

What kind of brush do you use?
What soap are you using? How do you load your brush?

Off the top of my head, it sounds like the classic "not enough product / not enough water" issue. But a bit more info from you will help us figure that out.

I had a bit of trouble learning to lather soaps at first. I read all the popular tutorials, and this is the one that helped me the most:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/21136-How-to-make-great-lather-from-a-soap-Tutorial

Nick

 

[moonl8r]

Let's start with a few questions to help us give you the best answers:

What kind of brush do you use?
What soap are you using? How do you load your brush?

Off the top of my head, it sounds like the classic "not enough product / not enough water" issue. But a bit more info from you will help us figure that out.

I had a bit of trouble learning to lather soaps at first. I read all the popular tutorials, and this is the one that helped me the most:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/21136-How-to-make-great-lather-from-a-soap-Tutorial

Nick

As far as the brush I use.....Lijun that I got off ebay...the one that comes in the kit you can get at Wal-Mart...... and a Rudy Vey silvertip...... Seems to do it to each.
I have used different soaps and also creams (AOS, Mike's, MamaBear, and Em's) Seems to happen to both creams and soaps.
When using a soap I load for a min of 30 seconds and would think I would have plenty of product on the brush. It could be not enough water but when I add more it gets quite bubbley.

 

[Memphis]

As far as the brush I use.....Lijun that I got off ebay...the one that comes in the kit you can get at Wal-Mart...... and a Rudy Vey silvertip...... Seems to do it to each.
I have used different soaps and also creams (AOS, Mike's, MamaBear, and Em's) Seems to happen to both creams and soaps.
When using a soap I load for a min of 30 seconds and would think I would have plenty of product on the brush. It could be not enough water but when I add more it gets quite bubbley.

I found when I initially made a lather for the first dozen times I would have the same results. I experimented and found I wasn't using enough water. After reading all the tutorials on here, I became afraid of water. So I just kept adding more as I practiced, and initially it will look very bubbly, but just keep mixing and it will thicken up. Just experiment when you're bored. Try more loading time and more water. I also found that I wasn't using enough pressure on the bottom of the bowl while mixing. by making sure the brush ends were nicely against the bottom I was able to make better lathers. Now I'm not sure if the pressure I'm using is bad for the brush, I guess only time will tell.

 

[Nick Danger]

I don't know about the Lijun brush - I'm not sure if it's boar or badger, so I'm unsure how it lathers. I do know that I had trouble loading enough soap with my silvertip, which is why I moved on to boar brushes like the B&B essential brush and the SOC.

The only soap I've used of the ones you mentioned is Mike's, and here's what I found about that one: to start, it works better with warm water instead of cool. I always put a teaspoon or two of water onto the puck to let it soften for a few minutes. Then I load the heck out of the brush. I'd suggest at least doubling your loading time: try more like 1 minute or even more with the very soft silvertip. I'd also try squeezing most of the water out of your brush after you soak it, as shown in Jim's tutorial. A wetter brush will probably work better with a glycerin soap like Mama Bear, but a drier brush works better for me with Mike's.

I do pump the brush a bit while working the lather, but if I've loaded enough soap and slowly add enough water, I get lather that looks like this from Mike's:





It took quite a few practice lathers with Mike's before my lather started to look like that, but now I get the same results every time.

Nick

 

[hedonist222]

It seems like you've attained the pre-lather lather.

Its the lather that explodes with the lathering motion & droplets of water.

I know that if I load for 45 seconds then lather for 30 seconds, I'll get what you have.

An intensely thick pre-lather deep in the brush. Thats just waiting to explode.

Why are you preventing that? Let it explode.

 

[moonl8r]

It seems like you've attained the pre-lather lather.

Its the lather that explodes with the lathering motion & droplets of water.

I know that if I load for 45 seconds then lather for 30 seconds, I'll get what you have.

An intensely thick pre-lather deep in the brush. Thats just waiting to explode.

Why are you preventing that? Let it explode.

So tell me what I am doing wrong. That is what I am trying to figure out.

 

[Nick Danger]

So tell me what I am doing wrong. That is what I am trying to figure out.

Did you check out the lathering tutorial from my first post? It's really helpful and might show you what you've been doing wrong.

Nick

 

[brybry642]

Why not squeeze the lather out of the brush and re-lather it?

....I thought this is what everyone does. Now you have me questioning my method. haha.

 

[Graybeard57]

The photos people post are very impressive, but take another look and ask yourself if you really need that much lather to shave your face and neck, or even also your scalp. I know that I do not, so I've never actually pushed to make that much. Half the amount could easily give you three good passes, or more. I try to keep things simple, and if the lather I whip up works, but isn't good enough to photograph, then I am still satisfied. With practice, you'll be whipping up plenty of excellent lather, and it will come easily to you. Enjoy your shaves!

 

[hedonist222]

It seems like you've attained the pre-lather lather.

Its the lather that explodes with the lathering motion & droplets of water.

I know that if I load for 45 seconds then lather for 30 seconds, I'll get what you have.

An intensely thick pre-lather deep in the brush. Thats just waiting to explode.

Why are you preventing that? Let it explode.

So tell me what I am doing wrong. That is what I am trying to figure out.

Lather some more.

What you have is a thick creamy almost paste-like substance right?

Thats the premise to lather in my case.

I keep on lathering and dipping my brush every so swiftly in water.

So I'll load the soap for a good 45 seconds and lather for a good two minutes.

Some soaps require up to 3 dips in water and some a single dip (Trumpers for example).

For creams, I'll put a very large almond size dollop.

 

[moonl8r]

Did you check out the lathering tutorial from my first post? It's really helpful and might show you what you've been doing wrong.

Nick

I had watched that video a few times. I do do what the link was saying but where my concern was these 2 steps

8. Now you can build lather on your face or move to a bowl!

9. Add water as needed- a few drips at a time.


This was where I run into my trouble, so I watched this http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_yxkIkSm75A and the explanation was there. How he pumps while building the lather. Here is the lather I built today and this was what I still had after a 3 pass shave.