Well chaps, I've been having a rather difficult time with my wide variety of Taylor's creams (everything but the Avocado), since I just can't seem to get a properly lubricating lather from any of them. It can't be my technique in general, since I can get fantastic lather from Coate's, Trumper's, T&H, C&E, and D.R. Harris with no trouble whatsoever, but somehow I'm lacking that special touch with the Taylor's. Any suggestions on how to maximize their creams?
Lathering Taylor's
- Thread starter Xert
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Hi Stephen,
I ran into this problem with Harris Arlington. I just could not get a good lather out of that cream no matter what I tried. After using several different creams and noticing that the optimal water/cream ratio varied not only between brands but between flavors of the same brand I made an adjustment to my technique. Rather than trying to nail the ratio right away I now deliberately shake too much water out of my brush and begin on the dry side. I then simply add water as I mix until I am satisfied. You are not really a newbie so I'm sure you have stumbled upon a similar method of trial and error but this helped me FWIW. My only regret is that I traded away the Harris before stumbling upon this simple correction. Also, none of the other Taylors (or other firsms) creams lubricate as well as the Avocado IMO. The rose is pretty good, the lavender (my favorite scent of theirs) tends to be a bit drying no matter how much water I use. As in all things, YMMV.
Cheers,
Jeff
I ran into this problem with Harris Arlington. I just could not get a good lather out of that cream no matter what I tried. After using several different creams and noticing that the optimal water/cream ratio varied not only between brands but between flavors of the same brand I made an adjustment to my technique. Rather than trying to nail the ratio right away I now deliberately shake too much water out of my brush and begin on the dry side. I then simply add water as I mix until I am satisfied. You are not really a newbie so I'm sure you have stumbled upon a similar method of trial and error but this helped me FWIW. My only regret is that I traded away the Harris before stumbling upon this simple correction. Also, none of the other Taylors (or other firsms) creams lubricate as well as the Avocado IMO. The rose is pretty good, the lavender (my favorite scent of theirs) tends to be a bit drying no matter how much water I use. As in all things, YMMV.
Cheers,
Jeff
In general I've had GREAT luck with Taylors creams, but recently I've been "priming" the brush with KMF olive oil soap (much like the method shaving crowd) to get a super lather... and making it just a little bit wet...
try that maybe.
try that maybe.
I think Jeff's comments are right on. Try a bit more cream/less water and go from there. I think often people don't use enough cream and have lousy shaves. Better to err on too much at first and lower your way down from there.
Steve said:
... I have 5 varieties of the New formulation (Rose, Lavender, Lemon & Lime, Sandalwood, and Avocado) and they all lather well (for me)... So I don't think that this is a case of old vs new...
Scotto & Jeff may have a point here about cream:water ratios... Taylors creams (in my experience) do want a little less water than, say, my T&H; however, they would want more water than KMF. Play with the cream:water ratio a little and see if that helps.
I'll agree with everything said about cream/water ratios. That said, water quality can also play a role in the lather quality.
I think I shook my brush 3 times this morning, when mixing up my Eton cream lather, and got the best lather yet. That learning curve!
Josh
Josh
As with Jeff, I really find that, not having fine tuned the exact amount of water to use with anything yet, I get the best results by starting with too little water and working up....
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