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You would be hard pressed to find a better group of gentlemen.
Again, welcome!
Just grab a bowl out of the cupboard and try that first before buying a fancy bowl to confirm your suspicion of your old bowl that was sand blasted. To rough a bowl surface will thin the tips of you brush over time I found with a Japanese Suribachi bowl my wife found a the local thrift store (not recommended IMO).I might need to find another bowl.. i have a sandblasted metal bowl, and i feel it might introduce too much air, even when not splaying at all.
Welcome to B&B!
This video taught me a lot. Try really loading up the brush, painting on a relatively thick paste, then painting in water bit by bit, like the video demonstrates. That taught me how to make a much better lather. I was using far too little soap Happy shaves to you!
I will try this next. Thank you !
Worked wonders. By looks of it, i used as much as usual. But i had it be more dry on the brush. Meaning more soapWelcome!
Use more soap!
I have found when dealing with hard water issues, it is best to use either bottled or reverse osmosis filtered water. No need for distilled water, just regular bottled water. It only takes a little water to make a huge difference. You also might want to spend more time working the lather, I use a water mug and just dip the tips of my brush in to add water. If in doubt, load your soap heavy, soap is cheap!Does cold water have an effect on slickness
Cheap water and feeding bowls for pets work great, then there is Captain's Choice bowls if you want to go fancy.Just grab a bowl out of the cupboard and try that first before buying a fancy bowl
Stirling Soaps are great! They're tallow based, and they create a really good, creamy lather quite easily. They can take a fair amount of water too, but I add a little at a time, agitate, then a bit more water. Definitely very different to Proraso.Yeah, im waiting on the Stirling. Very excited to try both the Stirling and TOBS cream
Once in a while i get an amazing shave from the Proraso croap. I'm guessing that's when i mix the perfect lather. I try to keep all variables the same, but it seems the Proraso isnt working out. Shame, i really love the smell of the green and like the white as well
Or even more soap and more water. It's better to have enough left for another shave or two rather than suffer a poor shave.Welcome!
Use more soap!
Welcome to the forum. I find that shaving cream rather than soap makes it far easier to get a great lather every time. I've always had good results with TOBS. You can always use up your soaps once you've got a bit more practice.Very excited to try both the Stirling and TOBS cream
Welcome! Little late to the game but always good to see another wet shaver enter the fold.Hello. I started DE shaving in June of this year, after using electric razors for a few years, since cartridge razors didn't really work out for me. I wanted to start using a razor again, and upon some googling, safety razors were mentioned everywhere. Im very happy with the experience so far, it has mainly consisted of a Muhle R89, a silvertip badger from Muhle and Proraso soap (the so called croaps)
My question is, how can i keep a better eye out for the water/soap mix? No matter if i bowl lather, or face lather, i feel like slickness level of the soap is very inconsistent (i use a damp brush on the croap, and try to always get the same amount on the brush). Im not sure if it has to do with my water. The water here in iceland isn't completely soft, but it isnt that hard either.
I will mention that i only do cold water shaves, when i first started DE shaving and using warm/hot water, my skin was extremely red and irritated after shaving. Switching to cold water completely eliminated all irritation from my shaves.
Does cold water have an effect on slickness?
I do kind of feel like the bowl might've had something to do with it. I've gotten another bowl, silicone with ridges. And i do feel like i have more control adding air into the lather. Also, i'd say the sandblasted bowl is just a tad bit too small.Glad to see your issue wasn't the bowl as I think that is what I am getting, also loved reading the responses and help on here as it gives me another thing to remember when I finally get started