My shaving experience expressed in onomatopoeia

[Rancor16]

My shaving experience with creams is as follows:

Cream: KERPLOWWW !!!!! How bout some lather? HOW BOUT SOME MO LATHER?!?!?!?!! Lather for 8, maybe even 9 passes AHAHAHAhAHAH!@!!!!!

Me: Wow, that sure is a lot of lather. I don't even think I could ever use that much lather in one shave.

Cream: I don't give a crap!!!

Me: Well, alright.... *shaves*

Now, my experience with soap:

Soap: kerplunk..... I'm tired. And sad.

Me: ......Seriously?... I'm pretty sad too now.....*cries*

I can never generate enough lather for more than two passes with one load of soap, and most of the time the lather I do create, for lack of a better term, sucks terribly. I've already seen the tutorial on the forums here, and as far as I know am following it correctly. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I'm using VDH, should I get a higher end soap for better lather?


Edit: Now that I have learned the correct way to make lather from soap, my experience is as follows:

Soap: PPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!1!!!1!!!!!! TEH LATHERS BE HURRRRR!!!!!!

 

[Gruder]

What brush are you using? Are you giving the top of the soap a bit of a soak before using?

 

[Topgumby]

"Holy flypaper, he's stuck on VDH!"

"Yes, Robin, this looks like a task for...nananananananana TabacMan!"

 

[kingfisher]

You don't need a more expensive soap, you just need to learn how to lather soap properly.

VDH is not difficult to lather, but lathering any soap, IME, takes about one minute to maybe two minutes longer to properly lather. If you're not willing to invest the time, you won't get a comparable lather to what you're getting out of your creams.

 

[Kevan]

Soaking the top of thesoap for a bit beforehand, pouring off the water, then swirling the brush on the soap for a good 30 seconds or more, ignoring the bubbly proto-lather that forms first -- all this contributes greatly to successfully lathering a soap. The process from start to finish takes a minute or more.

 

[moonshine44]

And don't be afraid to spend a little extra time working the brush on the soap. After all, there's no time limit, it's your soap, and it's relatively inexpensive. I've also found that once I get a good load of soap in the brush, if I barely dip the tips of the brush in the water in the sink, then face lather, that helps immensely...

 

[Rancor16]

So far, i've been using a Shavemac 21mm Silver tip. I load the brush for about 20-30 seconds, and make the lather in a mug. I add water until the lather looks hydrated, and it's thoroughly saturating the bristles of the brush.

When it's on the brush, it looks great. But for some reason when I scrub it onto my face it's no where near where I'd like it to be. It just doesn't provide a protective lubricant like my creams do for some reason. After I shave it feels like I've washed my face with Tobasco sauce lol. Usually I end up squeezing the remaining lather out of the brush and into the mug, reloading, and then making more lather to finish up the shave.

I've got a best badger from Em's place that's significantly larger. Would more bristles provide more space for the soap to load onto? Thus fixing my lather problems? Thanks in advance

Edit: I also soak the puck for a few minutes with about a tablespoon of water

 

[Gruder]

You've got a great brush there in the shavemac, so that's not the problem. A couple of ideas: 1) If you need to squeeze out your brush to get more lather, you're not using enough soap to start with -- concentrate on adding more soap to the brush (again, soak the top of the soap first); 2) It sounds like you may be adding too much water. Spend a good 15-20 seconds working on lather after each (small) water addition. Overall, taking 15-30 minutes to make some practice lathers should really pay off for you. Practice adding water a tiny bit at a time until you overhydrate the lather. Keep us posted!

 

[Drubbing]

I've got a best badger from Em's place that's significantly larger. Would more bristles provide more space for the soap to load onto? Thus fixing my lather problems? Thanks in advance

It could do, but it appears you're not loading up the brush you have, you're brush is already good - the answer is in your technique, not the tools. I started on soaps with a uber-floppy 19mm knot vulfix. If I can lather soaps with that, you can do it with a fatter shavemac.

Pre wetted puck and a squeezed brush, so it's damp - that's how you get soap well loaded. If you're brush is too wet, it's like trying to lather cream with too much water in the bowl. It's a lot harder.

 

[Rancor16]

Well, I finally got up the courage (and my face healed sufficiently) to try using soaps again. I pre-soaked the puck, shook out the brush etc. Only this time I went at it like it had slapped me in the face, for a good 45 seconds I just scrubbed away at the thing. Made the lather and it worked exponentially better this time. Thanks for the help =)