My road to palm lathering.

[blade08]

When I first started out in wet shaving I used to bowl lather mostly creams. Kept on doing this for a year or so but got tired of the extra gear that was needed, a.k.a. a bowl. Furthermore it made the simple act of creating a lather, a bit complicated imho.

Then I discovered face lathering and did that for over 15 years and it worked fine. At some point I started to develop 'brush rash' for no particular reason so I had to find a way to somehow limit my brush-to-face-time.

That's when I discovered palm lathering where you basically build the lather in your palm, clean your hand and apply the lather to your face with the loaded brush using only painting strokes (because you already have a finished lather on the brush).

With this technique I can now make the best lather I've ever made. The big advantage is that you can really fine-tune your lather because you can feel the slickness with you fingers. There's lots of feedback that I never got with either bowl or face lathering. And it doesn't matter whether I use a hard soap or cream, it all works great with the palm lathering technique I described.

So there you have it, my road to palm lathering.

 

[dbeedle]

I started with the combo palm/face lathering because I didn't have a bowl! I now do have one and use it but, as you note, due to extra gear, I palm/face lather while traveling. No need to carry extra stuff. Palm lathering works great! Certainly on par with the bowl.

Ironically, a thread about collapsible bowls caught my eye this morning! That would be handy for travle and, being a gadget geek, I had to consider it. But then again, I think I'll pass!

 

[thombrogan]

@Alum of Potash is another palm-latherer on this forum.

Glad to read it works well for you

 

[PolishDawg]

hybrid lather works good for me...wet brush load up with soap, work brush in bowl...add more water to brush, work in bowl, then squeeze out the big boar knot, smack it on the face...

Why do we get brush burn? Is it the chemicals in the brush or just the exfoilating of the brush it self? I seem to raise the whiskers and hydrate them better using soap on the palm to face.

 

[blade08]

Why do we get brush burn? Is it the chemicals in the brush or just the exfoilating of the brush it self?

I'm fairly sure it's the latter.

 

[Alum of Potash]

What's great about palm-lathering from my perspective is that it allows one to use scritchy and smaller knots for cheap to build the lather in the palm followed by a painterly application onto the face without any irritation. Really, the bridge between bowl- and face-lathering and the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Try cleaning your brush, 5-minute soak in cup of warm water with an ounce of white vinegar, then a dollop of shampoo in the palm and build a lather aggressively in the palm.

Rinse in warm water, working the brush in your hand, dry by tapping on a microfiber.

Depending on the brush and how caked it is, you may need to repeat. The brush should dry in a nice full bloom and lather much easier.

I soak and shampoo my brushes about 3 times a year. Some soaps and creams load up more than others, Martin de Candis and Mitchell’s Wool Fat.

I mostly face lather, to work the lather into the beard and skin. Lather is all about bringing moisture to the beard, slickness is secondary.

 

[Tomo]

I jumped on board with this technique this morning. I’ve been looking at ways to cut my midweek shave time. Ditching the lather bowl saves clean up time. I find palm lathering to be quicker than either bowl or face lathering.

 

[Lockback]

Despite leading a less-than-chaste life, I haven't had yet to shave my palms ...


Oh, never mind.

 

[tysonzach]

Thanks for sharing these insights mate as I found it very much useful and informative to be honest.

 

[blade08]

I jumped on board with this technique this morning. I’ve been looking at ways to cut my midweek shave time. Ditching the lather bowl saves clean up time. I find palm lathering to be quicker than either bowl or face lathering.

It is! To me palm lathering is the fastest way to get a quality lather. Especially when used in combination with a cream. With a cream I can get shave ready lather on my face in under 45 seconds or so. This is (almost) as fast as shaking a can of shaving foam before use! Traditional wet shaving certainly doesn't have to be time consuming.

 

[Gentleman in Japan]

Hi Gents,
I always palm lather. Reason being that I like to use rather large brushes (28 and 30mm knot bases) and I found that my shave bowl is a little too deep so I would frequently clink the sides as I'm not a "swirler", I know.....but I'm on this path cos "swirling" ruined my old brush.
So for now I palm lather, but I do want to look out for a nice large yet shallow bowl to get back into bowl lathering.
Any recommendations would ofcourse be gratefully received.

 

[JPO]

Why do we get brush burn?

In my opinion it's the type of hair and the stiffness of the knot.
I can spend allot more time face lathering with a badger brush then I can with some synthetic brushes.
I also do much better with the better synthetic brushes, like the Mhule a brush. I need to be more careful if I use a yaki brush.
I also have a synthetic brush from Blackland, which is useless for pure face lathering because of brush burn. When I use this brush I generate most of the lather in a bowl or in my palm, before I dial in the hydration on my face. This brush is too stiff and 'springy' for face lathering for me.

 

[blade08]

In my opinion it's the type of hair and the stiffness of the knot.
I can spend allot more time face lathering with a badger brush then I can with some synthetic brushes.
I also do much better with the better synthetic brushes, like the Mhule a brush. I need to be more careful if I use a yaki brush.
I also have a synthetic brush from Blackland, which is useless for pure face lathering because of brush burn. When I use this brush I generate most of the lather in a bowl or in my palm, before I dial in the hydration on my face. This brush is too stiff and 'springy' for face lathering for me.

In my experience, brush burn is mostly associated with animal hair, even the highest and supposedly softest animal hair. But I also get it from swirling a soft Mühle STF brush on my face, it only takes longer.

For this reason pure face lathering is something I no longer do. It's palm lathering and then painting strokes to apply the lather. The actual 'face time' is 20 seconds or so, no more.

I could also do bowl lathering but that requires an extra piece of kit and it doesn't give me the feedback palm lathering gives me.

 

[Tomo]

After a couple weeks of experimenting, I’ve really come around to the benefits of palm lathering. It’s a great alternative to bowl lathering and solves many of the problems I had with face lathering.

With face lathering I often end up with extra lather that has no where to go. Palm lathering provides a reservoir for the extra lather as you build it. I often find myself flicking lather around with face lathering but with palm lathering it’s all contained at the sink. It’s much easier to add water to the mix from a faucet that has been set to dribble. I have plenty of lather for three passes because I can mound lather onto the brush after the initial face application. The lather mix is all in one spot so there’s no need to even out different areas.

 

[blade08]

After a couple weeks of experimenting, I’ve really come around to the benefits of palm lathering. It’s a great alternative to bowl lathering and solves many of the problems I had with face lathering.

With face lathering I often end up with extra lather that has no where to go. Palm lathering provides a reservoir for the extra lather as you build it. I often find myself flicking lather around with face lathering but with palm lathering it’s all contained at the sink. It’s much easier to add water to the mix from a faucet that has been set to dribble. I have plenty of lather for three passes because I can mound lather onto the brush after the initial face application. The lather mix is all in one spot so there’s no need to even out different areas.

Great!!! One more benefit is that you can use cheap scratchy brushes with small knots.

Small knots, say up to 21mm, because they make it easier to palm lather.

Scratchy badgers, boars or cheap synths because your actual 'face time' will be very limited. So you don't need the softest brush available. Old friend Brush Rash is not invited to the party with palm lathering.

All of the above means any cheap or vintage brush will do.

 

[Tomo]

Great!!! One more benefit is that you can use cheap scratchy brushes with small knots.

Small knots, say up to 21mm, because they make it easier to palm lather.

Scratchy badgers, boars or cheap synths because your actual 'face time' will be very limited. So you don't need the softest brush available. Old friend Brush Rash is not invited to the party with palm lathering.

All of the above means any cheap or vintage brush will do.

Good point. The cheap scratchy brushes are back on the menu because you can apply with painting strokes only. It might be time to try a Simpson Pure Badger. I’m sure it would rip into hard soaps like nobody’s business.

 

[u56rh]

I’ve been hand lathering a lot over the past two weeks and like it for the reasons you stated. I’m a face latherer, who wasn’t doing very well with a bowl for certain soaps. I like how much more lather I can make in a bowl with thirsty soaps but keep screwing it up.

 

[Chandu]

Great!!! One more benefit is that you can use cheap scratchy brushes with small knots.

Small knots, say up to 21mm, because they make it easier to palm lather.

Scratchy badgers, boars or cheap synths because your actual 'face time' will be very limited. So you don't need the softest brush available. Old friend Brush Rash is not invited to the party with palm lathering.

All of the above means any cheap or vintage brush will do.

I like smaller knots in general. Even though cheap synths have come to see 28 as medium sized, my favorite sized synt would be Muhle STF in 21, 23 is good, 25 was too much for me.

My preference is still Badger > Boar > Synth

One should also remember the original natural knots were likely sized on what was useful. These days the size is based on what is luxurious. Back then they were concerned with getting things done, today it's the day spa.

 

[RAD patient]

Hi Gents,
I always palm lather. Reason being that I like to use rather large brushes (28 and 30mm knot bases) and I found that my shave bowl is a little too deep so I would frequently clink the sides as I'm not a "swirler", I know.....but I'm on this path cos "swirling" ruined my old brush.
So for now I palm lather, but I do want to look out for a nice large yet shallow bowl to get back into bowl lathering.
Any recommendations would ofcourse be gratefully received.

Just get a bowl you like. Being in Japan me thinks that should not be a problem.