MWF/Williams - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - A guide to better lather!
- Thread starter Luc
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Until my first DE razor arrives, I have been concentrating on good prep. Even with an old cart, my shave are much better and irritation free. I don't miss the canned crap.
Charge your brush more!
I did it, and it worked! I lathered Williams! It was amazing, like rubbing clouds made of angels' breath on my face.
The lather was so good, in fact, I worked up enough courage to try my first DE shave tonight. I was overly cautious, and my first pass did basically nothing. Then I increased the angle of attack a bit, and boy did that beard get reduced. It was like I could hear every hair being sliced off.
One weird thing I noticed was that the head of the razor had a tendency to stick to my wet skin rather than slide across. Not the blade or safety edges, but the rounded top piece. Any other Merkur owners or otherwise have that issue? Recommendations?
Your skin will become tacky if you go over the same area without re-lathering.
I use short strokes slightly overlapped. Then I re-lather and go a different direction. The fastest way to get cut is starting a stroke on tacky skin that has no soap left on it.
I use short strokes slightly overlapped. Then I re-lather and go a different direction. The fastest way to get cut is starting a stroke on tacky skin that has no soap left on it.
Granado makes good and nice smelling lather. Of course it won´t lather like crazy, as Godrej Shaving Round, you´ll have to work on it, but once you did, it is more than satisfactory. Btw. I wouldn´t call Granado soap widely available. Aside from Granado pharmacy on Haddock Lobo, I was unable to find it anywhere. Granado´' after-shave balm is a true winner, if you haven´t tried it yet.
Here's a tip for using Williams.. if you like Proraso.. Load your brush with Williams. Then apply a tiny dab of Proraso (I'm sure this would work with other creams) into the heart of the brush, and then face-lather. I tell you I've been getting the best shaves in years with this combo. Plenty in the brush for 3 passes and touch ups. Give it a shot. Actually I did the same thing with VDH Deluxe and Godrej and got awesome results as well..
Great post! As a newcomer to wet shaving, I didn't realize until now that I was doing it incorrectly. I loved the pictures showing the common mistakes.
I tried lathering Williams a little more than a month ago when I started wetshaving and failed miserably. I tried this a few mintues ago and achieved a luscious lather.
Thank you for the lather tutorials Luc. Invaluable help for novices.
Thank you for the lather tutorials Luc. Invaluable help for novices.
I think Bruce from Bruce on Shaving.com sums up MWF well with this quote:
The thing about MWF is that it doesnt do what other soaps do, it acts almost as if it is a living thing. Use it on consecutive days and it gets better and better, as if it appreciates the attention. Leave it for a week and it will have a sulk and try and give you a bad time. Left for a while it becomes a loner, forming a hard skin round itself. Too long and cracks appear in the surface as it displays its displeasure.
I've been using MWF when I started wetshaving at the end of May and have been using it regularly since and, indeed, it does get better and better.
The thing about MWF is that it doesnt do what other soaps do, it acts almost as if it is a living thing. Use it on consecutive days and it gets better and better, as if it appreciates the attention. Leave it for a week and it will have a sulk and try and give you a bad time. Left for a while it becomes a loner, forming a hard skin round itself. Too long and cracks appear in the surface as it displays its displeasure.
I've been using MWF when I started wetshaving at the end of May and have been using it regularly since and, indeed, it does get better and better.
Did anyone pass this tip on to Michiganlover?
Pictures are gone. Any way to get them back? Otherwise this is a waste of a link from the wiki page.
Thank's for all the tips, but from my personal experience i dont have any difficulty to built great lather whit either MWF or WMS. Maybe i'm just lucky but i use the same tech for both soaps and it work just fine, both of those soaps need Water to perform at there best.I will try to show what Good, Bad and Ugly lather looks like using MWF and Williams. This thread is not intended to be a tutorial on how to make lather. All the tutorials are currently available here: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Lathers
This thread should help you diagnose how to make better lather and recognize bad lather. Keep in mind that I'm no expert in the lather department but I usually get decent lather.
I did 3 batches of lather with both soaps.
The first batch is too much water: The Bad
The second batch is too dry: The Ugly
The last batch will be to good lather: The Good.
Let's get started. Tools for today:
- 1x Wilkinson Sword Bristle brush
- 1x Lather bowl (1" deep x 3" diameter)
- 1x MWF Soap (in the German army butter container / Center-bottom)
- 1x Williams soap (in the mug / Middle-right)
Everything was soaked in warm water for 3-5 minutes between each batch. I used the bristle brush as most newbie will use a boar/bristle brush. This is a very cheap brush, less than $5.
MWF - The Bad
Starting with a lot of water
Right away, after a 20 seconds charge on the soap, you can see how big the bubbles are
Even the soap has big bubbles!
The end result after 3 minutes of mixing. The bubbles are still quite big!
The lather won't provide much protection...
MWF - The Ugly
Dry lather is another common problem
The soap and brush are very dry. I squeezed out all the water from the brush before I charged it. The soap was soaked in water and then turned upside down to get rid of the water.
After 1 minute of mixing and it's not coming together...
2 more minutes of mixing, still not good!
The lather seems a bit better than the wet one, very small bubbles however, this is everything, included the lather squeezed out of the brush! Barely enough for 1 pass... It's a very very thick lather.
MWF - The Good
Good batch of MWF
Here, I half squeezed my brush. I left a tiny bit of water in the bowl before I started (1/4 of a teaspoon). I had around 1 tablespoon of hot water poured on top of the soap. It still need to be mixed a bit!
This lather is much better, more dense, more lather, small bubbles!
If I blow some air between my fingers, that stalactite of lather will remain there, it won't break/fall/be blown away!
Williams - The Bad
Too much water again...
Just like MWF, huge bubbles!
As you can see, lot of lather but again, huge bubbles!
Williams - The Ugly
Dry lather
Same than MWF, I made sure that my bowl was dry and I squeezed all the water out of the brush. I charged the brush on a wet soap (poured some water on it and turned it upside down)
Compared to MWF, much more lather, very tiny bubbles but still, not enough lather!
Williams - The Good
Good Williams, good lather!
Here, I tried to capture how much water I have in my bowl, around 1/4 teaspoon, maybe 1/2 teaspoon top.
I still have some bubbles but I need to work it a bit
That lather is better and now look a bit dry
I added a bit more water (a few drops using my fingers) and here's the result!
Again, close up of the lather, if I blow some air between my fingers, the lather doesn't fly away
Tips and tricks!
- Try to make a few bowls of lather when you have time, not when you need it.
- If you can't get the lather right, try to do a batch by using less water and add water little by little. It's easier to fix lather when it's too dry than too wet
- If it's runny or too dry, it might still work, we all have different taste in how we like the lather
- Williams need less water than MWF...
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- #53
This is unfortunate as I do not know where those pictures are. I don't believe there's a way to get them back no...
Any chance on adding new pics?
Nice. That's really intimidating to a new guy.
Keep in mind how lather performs - not looks - is what important. If you load your brush a lot for a ten pass shave, you can make lather that looks like that.
I agree whit you there, but the lather I built whit Williams is very stable and I have no trouble whit it. I probably load my brush to much but for a $1.69 a puck I don’t really care to waste some. Williams is not for everyone but for me it’s a good soap who gave me great results, we all have different opinions and taste and it makes the world go round.
Personally, I don't find that lather pic reassuring at all. Still looks like the typical airy, fluffy lather that modern Williams produces. I wouldn't use that lather for a shave. JMO, YMMV, and all the usual disclaimers.....
After watching a YouTube video of the cream I have begun shaving with, I am beginning to believe each cream has its own body. I think users have a a particular preference too.
Personally, I left the foam type years ago, going toward creams like Nivea and Neutrogena.
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