Lathering VDH in a bowl

[rhmills]

Does anybody have the same problem of VDH not lathering very well at all in a bowl? I have tried every tutorial out there and have loaded my brush different ways and added more and added less water and still can't get a lather that's good. It's either too dry or it bubbles away. I made what looked like a great lather this afternoon (it exploded with lather) and it wasn't bubbling away in the bowl or on the brush, but once I put it on my hand to see how it would do on skin, I could hear it start bubbling as clear as day. I have also tried it with a boar brush and with a badger brush. I wanted to throw my mug against the wall.

 

[cnnc97]

I got some VDH when I first started a few months ago and I don't think I ever had that problem after the first couple of lathers. Maybe practice with it a few times even when you don't need to shave. It's cheap enough.

Are you having problems with other soaps or creams, or just VDH.

 

[michiganlover]

How long are you loading your brush for??

The disappearing lather sounds like an issue of not enough product being loaded into your brush.

Try loading your brush for a full minute, and see if that makes any difference.

 

[Leche]

Ya, sounds like you need more product. Haven't had a problem lathering VDH in a bowl. It's cheap, go heavy.

 

[Deltaboy]

Soak that puck for 3-5 minutes with some hot tap water then she will load up that brush real good.

 

[sanfranciscian]

I agree with above, load er up, i get copious amounts of slick lather and that is why it has become probably my favorite since i started on straights. well maybe i like tabac better, and i am quite fond of PdP. OHHH never mind.

Ian

 

[rhmills]

I have practiced a lot, even when not shaving. So far, it's my only soap, but I have a puck of Col. Conk's, a puck of Tabac, a puck of Edwin Jagger, and two Palmolive sticks coming in. I've tried to load it up and swirled it around for more than a minute. I've read tutorials. Some say to do one thing while others contradict them. What is the best way to load? Really wet brush, or relatively dry brush? Thanks!

Ryan

 

[michiganlover]

Really wet brush, or relatively dry brush? Thanks!

You want to load with a really dry brush. Give it a good squeeze, followed by a couple of shakes.

Starting with a really wet brush, and lathering directly on the puck is called "Zach's Method", and it is extremely wasteful of soap.

 

[cnnc97]

Dry brush, soak the soap like someone mentioned above, then dump the water off it before you load the brush. That seems to work pretty good for me.

 

[rhmills]

I just tried it again and made a creamy lather, but it seemed really dry compared to my C.O. Bigelow. I only added a couple of drops of water and stirred again and it was the same airy disappearing stuff it was before.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Damp brush, I never soak the puck and get really good lather from VDH. Maybe you got a bum puckw00t or something.

 

[rhmills]

Unfortunately, I've had the same results with two different pucks.

Damp brush, I never soak the puck and get really good lather from VDH. Maybe you got a bum puckw00t or something.

 

[Leche]

Try soaking your brush, give it a squeeze and a flick. Work the puck until you have a nice thick pasty consistency on your brush. Get the tips just barely wet and work the puck some more. It will still have a pasty consistency. Move to your bowl and whip away for a bit. You should have some lather build but it will still be dry. Add water slowly and whip it longer than you normally would.

 

[DavyRay]

It sounds as if you are doing it right. Here are a couple of things to try.

1. Someone already said, it takes some time to whip up good lather.
2. Try a larger bowl. I know that sounds stupid. I found out by accident that a larger bowl makes it easier to get the brush working well. It allows back-and-forth action instead of swirling.

My first lather with VDH usually seems too dry. I put it on anyway, then add a couple of drops to what is left in the bowl.

 

[Doug123]

Hey RH,

I'm far from an expert, just wanted to let you know I've seemed to have way too much trouble lathering VDH also.

Last time I tried I had my best result but it still wasn't that fantastic.

I used my tweezerman and followed the sticky about squeezing your brush dry, etc.

Anyway, I used a lot of soap and basically reloaded with every pass I made.
Got pretty decent lather but for all the work I was putting in to it, didn't seem that great.

I'll try my omega boar again sometime soon but I just didn't seem to be doing so great with boar. All I used for 6 months or so was vdh with a vdh boar. Decided to try KMF and was shocked with all the lather. Then I went to CO Bigelow with same results.

I just ordered a new badger, so I'm going to try the vdh with that when I get it. Guess I'll keep trying until I get it...

 

[rhmills]

Thanks everyone! I'll keep at it.

Hey RH,

I'm far from an expert, just wanted to let you know I've seemed to have way too much trouble lathering VDH also.

Last time I tried I had my best result but it still wasn't that fantastic.

I used my tweezerman and followed the sticky about squeezing your brush dry, etc.

Anyway, I used a lot of soap and basically reloaded with every pass I made.
Got pretty decent lather but for all the work I was putting in to it, didn't seem that great.

I'll try my omega boar again sometime soon but I just didn't seem to be doing so great with boar. All I used for 6 months or so was vdh with a vdh boar. Decided to try KMF and was shocked with all the lather. Then I went to CO Bigelow with same results.

I just ordered a new badger, so I'm going to try the vdh with that when I get it. Guess I'll keep trying until I get it...

I'm glad I'm not alone. Like you, I also receive a great lather from creams.

 

[wilsonent]

I love the VDH bowl that came with the soap and brush my wife bought me for father's day 2 years ago. That was my first experience with wet shaving, and I couldn't build a lather worth anything with the VDH soap and their boar brush. Since then, after spending lots of time learning from the B and B members, and Mantic videos, I feel I can make a great lather with just about anything. If you have a chance to get the VDH bowl, I would go for it. I use it just about every day.

Jeff

 

[fluffman86]

I love the VDH bowl that came with the soap and brush my wife bought me for father's day 2 years ago. That was my first experience with wet shaving, and I couldn't build a lather worth anything with the VDH soap and their boar brush. Since then, after spending lots of time learning from the B and B members, and Mantic videos, I feel I can make a great lather with just about anything. If you have a chance to get the VDH bowl, I would go for it. I use it just about every day.

Jeff

I also bought the VDH set. It took a few tries, but I can get a pretty decent bowl lather with both VDH and Williams using either my Tweezerman or Burma or VDH boar in the VDH bowl. Of course, bowl lathering with creams is easier, which is why I usually face lather my williams and VDH soaps. Here's how I do it:

1. Soak brush and puck with hot tap water while showering. Also, at some point, partially fill your sink with hot water.

2. Dump water from soap into water in sink, and remove excess water from brush. This is usually a light flick of the wrist on my boars, or a half-squeeze and a light flick with my Tweezerman. This leaves the brush fairly wet.

3. Hold brush upright and place the soap upside-down over it. (Thanks, Mantic!)

4. Swirl for just 5 seconds, maybe 10, while pressing down with the soap pack to get deep into the bristles. This should also help remove a bit more water from the brush.

5. Set your brush aside. This is the best part: you probably splattered a little bit of soap bubbles into your sink water. Use it to re-wet your face. It's really slick and nice feeling! Also, you've probably got thicker soap bubbles on your hand and around the edges of the puck and blister pack or soap bowl. Scoop that up and massage it into your beard, reminding yourself which direction your beard grows while you do it. I usually get a half-decent lather (think a small amount of canned goop being applied).

6. With the "pre-shave" soap on your face, you can get a really good face lather, or just leave it on and let it do its magic while your work up a bowl lather. Your VHD boar brush should have held just the right amount of water after the quick flick and 5 second soap load, so at first you may look like your just pushing around some dry soap, then some really wet soap. KEEP WORKING IT. Start with swirls, then side to side (as mentioned above), then do some plunger motions, then press really hard and do the above to get that rich soap working in the center of the brush. Remember what Mantic said: all the important mixing happens right in the center. Don't press too hard on your face when you lather or it all comes out. But, when you're in a bowl, be sure to press hard enough to mix it well.

Hope that helps!

 

[jin]

(pre-script: sorry for the long post, but hopefully this might be useful to someone)

I have the VdH Deluxe soap, and the VdH boar brush. I put the puck in a diner coffee mug (Goodwill, two bits), and when I lather on top of it, I can get (what I think is) a pretty decent lather. I know it's wasteful of soap, but VdH doesn't cost that much, so I'm not worried.

The other night I was just fooling around, wasn't even shaving, and I made a great lather! I haven't been able to replicate it yet. About all I can remember is:

1. The soap had been sitting several days and was very dry. Don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.
2. I ran the tap until it was good and hot, and splashed maybe 2 inches on top of the puck and let it sit maybe a minute
3. Grabbed the VdH boar brush and ran it under slowly running hot tap water, just long enough to rotate it around fully maybe twice
4. Dumped out the water from the mug with the soap in it, and started swirling the brush around on top of it. Maybe 30 seconds, seemed less than a minute, but I could be wrong. I do know once I was done, it looked bubbly, like, way too wet, but it was all on the brush, it wasn't heaping lather, just ... bubbly on the brush. I'd been really working the brush against the soap, too, I definitely don't think I was being gentle.
5. Moved to a bowl (actually a wide-mouthed mug, also Goodwill, also 25 cents), and started working the brush. Again, I was just fooling around, wasn't expecting much, but it actually started lathering up pretty well.
6. Splashed in a bit of water, and it really lathered up well. Kept working at it, and it looked good. Left it alone in the bowl for maybe 20 minutes, came back, and it still looked good, looked pretty hydrated, but not overly so.

I didn't actually shave with this lather, so maybe it just looked good without being good. Hopefully I'll be able to replicate it again and see if it actually works.

Again, sorry for the long post

 

[fluffman86]

4. Dumped out the water from the mug with the soap in it, and started swirling the brush around on top of it. Maybe 30 seconds, seemed less than a minute, but I could be wrong. I do know once I was done, it looked bubbly, like, way too wet, but it was all on the brush, it wasn't heaping lather, just ... bubbly on the brush. I'd been really working the brush against the soap, too, I definitely don't think I was being gentle.

Well described, sir! That's what I was attempting to say above, although not quite as well.