Lathering up nancy boy

[jbasl]

For all you lovers of nancy boy. I just got a tub of the stuff. Smells great, but I can't quite get it to lather right. Should I be using more of it with less lather (since its supposed to be brushless or should I just expect a different consistency in the final product. The shaves i've gotten with it so far are mediocre so I could use the help with the lather to get the most out of this cream.

Thanks.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Try using less water. If that doesn't work try using more cream and less water. NB doesn't seem to want to hold that much water and it is a bit tricky to figure out but you should be able to get quality lather from it. Also, I am not sure how hard your water is and that could also be the problem but try that first.

Chris

 

[Jim]

These gentleman have it figured out I think

 

[Tinzien]

It's heathen I know, but sometimes I just spread it right on my face out of the tub and get an amazing shave.

 

[castlecraver]

I had the same issue this morning -- can't say I'm really impressed by it as much as I expected from all the rave reviews. Gave me a good shave nonetheless.

 

[Scotto]

use more cream and less water. I also find that avoiding my usual mug warmer slows down the destabilization process.

 

[zachster]

I experimented with NB all last week. Best method I found was to wet the brush, shake it out, and swirl it lightly in the tub to just coat the bristles. Meanwhile, I had a bowl sitting full of hot water. Dumped the water out, and swirled the coated brush around in the bowl 3-4 times, then lathered up on my face. Works great, and gives a great shave, but I'm not thrilled with the extra step. As a face-lathering man, I found it did not work that well without the intermediary bowl step...

 

[designwise1]

...the name of this thread kills me.

I've noticed that several have sold their NB shortly after they got it. Doesn't look like I'll ever try it. The blogger likes it; that's all I needed to know.

 

[jbasl]

I actually have now gotten a decent shave out of the stuff. However, the lather isn't as profuse as when I use the englishman. I think I'll use nancyboy when I want a one pass or two pass shave and then use my english creams for my 4 pass shaves.

In any case I'll be keeping the tub.

 

[rusirius]

It just so happens I used NB this morning. I had no problems getting it to lather up. I don't know if this applies, but one of the things I found with my english creams. Early on I was using hot tap water for my brush, bowl, etc... I always seemed to get mediocre lathers at best. Then I went and bought a cordless electric kettle. MAN what a difference. The first day I used that HOT! water (approx 180-190 degrees) my lather just exploded into something fantastic. Having a REALLY hot bowl, and REALLY hot brush/water seems to make a huge difference... Perhaps this explains my positive results with NB as well?

 

[jbasl]

I've heard not to use boiling water. I have a kettle I often use, but it gets the water really really hot and I'm worried for my brush. The water isn't bubbling when it comes out of the kettle but it can't be touched.

Do you think this will hurt my brush? I'm less worried about my c&e best and more worried about the shavemac custom i'm ordering.

 

[rusirius]

I've heard not to use boiling water. I have a kettle I often use, but it gets the water really really hot and I'm worried for my brush. The water isn't bubbling when it comes out of the kettle but it can't be touched.

Do you think this will hurt my brush? I'm less worried about my c&e best and more worried about the shavemac custom i'm ordering.

I don't use "boiling" water. If you threw your brush in boiling water then I'm sure it would have issues, but what I do is this... I always throw my kettle on BEFORE I get in the shower. The instant the water comes to a boil, the kettle shuts itself off. By the time I'm done showering, it's already cooled slightly. By the time I fill my bowl up, then pour it over my towel (that's about to go on my face), CAREFULLY wring out the towel, etc. the water in my bowl is typically about 180-190 degrees max, usually a little cooler. You don't want to stick your finger in it but it's not gonna hurt the brush. If in doubt, the first few times stick a cooking thermometer in it to test until you get an idea of how long it takes for it to cool, but it doesn't take as long as you'd think.

 

[jbasl]

I do the pre shower boil too so maybe mine has been cool enough the whole time. I'll just add a bit of cold water to be sure its cooled down enough.

Still not getting great lather with nancy but I'm using it for single pass shaves.

 

[TimmyBoston]

I find Nancy Boy to be the easiest of my creams to lather, I have a boar brush and I just run it under the water for a couple of minutes and dump the water out of the lather bowl. I run my fingers down the brush once to get most of the water out dip it into the tub of Nancy Boy and lather away.

 

[rtaylor61]

Nancy Boy is actually a BRUSHLESS cream. You will need to use a bit extra, but not to extremes. Keep working at it. You'll find it is a fantastic cream to use with a brush!

Randy