Post Your Shave Stick Lathering Techniques

[gdavila]

This post was pretty helpful. Just received my first shaving sticks in the mail (Palmolive, Arko and La Toja) and wasn't sure how to lather them up. Will give a few techniques I read here a try.

 

[Pepin]

1. I used my TOBS Sandalwood shave stick this morning. Always amazed at how lather I get from it.
   
   
   
   
2. Fill bowl with hot tap water and soak my brush in it.
3. Get face nice and soaking wet
4. Rub the shave stick aggressively against/with the grain, all over the face.
5. Shake out brush well (otherwise water flies all over the place)
6. Start working that soap into lather.
7. As needed, wet bristle tips with water, then keep working the face until lather begins to form.
8. Do my first pass.
9. Wet face, and apply more lather for next pass. There is lots on the brush.
10. Repeat for touch ups (Or third pass)
11. For head shavers repeat steps 2 to 9
12. Rinse, dry and apply AS.

 

[spitzbrg]

1. Turn on hot water faucet in sink and wait for water to get hottest.

2. Throw dry brush into sink and let sink fill with hot water.

3. Take my 10 minute warm-hot shower.

4. Come out of steam shower with my pores wide open.

5. Run stick all over face like a roll-on deodorant.

6. Take brush out of sink, and depending on which stick I'm using, I either then face lather with the brush soaking wet or let some of the water fall out of it, but never shake out any water.

7. Lather up and shave

 

[something better]

shave in the shower. wet hair and face then shave stick. then apply liberal amounts of soap from stick to my face and shave. lots of times i don't even lather it with a brush, if it applies a nice protective layer on my skin like palmolive does. Then repeat. done. with Muhle R41 i can get by with a 2 pass shave and a little touch up. Do the same thing with a EJ puck where i treat it like a stick, except use a brush to lather it.

 

[shave/brush]

It took me several tries to get the hang of shave sticks. Now I love them. I use to just bowl lather now I mostly use a shave stick and face lather. This is how I mastered the stick:

How to use a Shave Soap Stick​

​

1. Wet your face.
2. If the soap has a wrapper, peel off about a ½ inch of it.
3. Rub the soap all over your beard area. Put it on heavy so that you can see a white paste on your face.
4. Then take a wet brush and give it one good snap of the wrist and a couple of downward thrust to shake off excess water. Then start using circular motions on your face to make lather. (I find a wet brush works better than a damp one.)
5. Add water to the brush as needed by dipping the tips of your brush into some water, about a ¼ inch, or let some water drip into the center of the brush off your other hand.
[FONT=&quot] 6. Just keep doing this until you have fantastic lather. You should have enough lather built in the brush to do 3 more applications[/FONT]

 

[Porgy Tirebiter]

Thanks, Ron, for rebooting this thread. A terrific look into the formative years of B&B and it's filled with amazing discoveries.
Sticks weren't that popular.
The Cult of Arko wasn't a cult...there seemed to be more mentions of something called QED...a Google search led me to their homepage. Are QED products still a "thing"?
Bowl lathering after the initial face lathering is do-able...and something worth a try.
The brush has to soak in really, really hot water...so much for cold water shaves, I guess.

Finally, a tip of the hat to many of the names in the early posts. Many are unknown among current members, but "way back when", they were the pioneers of B&B. And then there's Saint Sue.

If you're reading my dopey post first, do yourself a world of good and go to the very first post right now and get a proper lesson.

 

[shave/brush]

This is a useful thread because many guys have a hard time getting the hang of using a shave stick. The steps I outlined in post #65 worked great for me. This is just useful information. Everyone should be able to enjoy convenience of shave sticks. There are so many good sticks to choose from.

 

[shave/brush]

One thing I would like to add. Some guys seem to have a problem making a good lather for their second pass. The brush should have plenty of lather in it already if you loaded your face enough with the stick when you started.

So for your second pass just keep brushing your face using the painting stroke method. After about 3 passes around your face with the brush you should see a nice thick film of lather on your face.

I then dip the tips of my brush into water and add water. You should be able to make great lather no problem. Don't give up!

 

[Porgy Tirebiter]

I tried the face-lathering followed by bowl-lathering idea that was suggested in one of the earlier posts. When I started face-lathering several months ago with Arko, I never considered whipping the remaining lather on the brush in a bowl for the following passes. Well, it worked like a charm this morning and I didn't even use more product (Speick stick). The lather lasted through three passes with more to spare.

 

[shave/brush]

I tried the face-lathering followed by bowl-lathering idea that was suggested in one of the earlier posts. When I started face-lathering several months ago with Arko, I never considered whipping the remaining lather on the brush in a bowl for the following passes. Well, it worked like a charm this morning and I didn't even use more product (Speick stick). The lather lasted through three passes with more to spare.

There should be enough lather in the brush to just apply to your face. No need for a bowl or more soap.

 

[radmit]

Hi All,

I love shave sticks. My dad used to use a shave stick, so that's probably why. I currently rotate Arko, La Toja, Speick, Tabac, Palmolive and Wilkinson Sword.

I always shower first.

- Fill sink with some hot water
- Apply stick to face
- I use a synthetic so I only have to wet my brush, no soaking
- Face lather, slowly adding water as required. I look for slickness rather than volume. More "painting" than swirling
- First pass when satisfied with lather slickness
- Rinse
- Quick re-apply of stick to face. Only a little bit
- Face Lather. Again, more "painting" than swirling
- Second Pass
- and so on

I never go to a bowl or scuttle. This method never fails me. The slow addition of water and "painting" the lather seems to be the key. I think my Plisson L'Occitane Synthetic also makes a huge difference. It also takes no time at all.

I can get my sticks as slick as my TOBS, Cella and Proraso. I also love the scents of the Speick and the La Toja, which helps.

Paint paint paint!!!

 

[shave/brush]

Hi All,

I love shave sticks. My dad used to use a shave stick, so that's probably why. I currently rotate Arko, La Toja, Speick, Tabac, Palmolive and Wilkinson Sword.

I always shower first.

- Fill sink with some hot water
- Apply stick to face
- I use a synthetic so I only have to wet my brush, no soaking
- Face lather, slowly adding water as required. I look for slickness rather than volume. More "painting" than swirling
- First pass when satisfied with lather slickness
- Rinse
- Quick re-apply of stick to face. Only a little bit
- Face Lather. Again, more "painting" than swirling
- Second Pass
- and so on

I never go to a bowl or scuttle. This method never fails me. The slow addition of water and "painting" the lather seems to be the key. I think my Plisson L'Occitane Synthetic also makes a huge difference. It also takes no time at all.

I can get my sticks as slick as my TOBS, Cella and Proraso. I also love the scents of the Speick and the La Toja, which helps.

Paint paint paint!!!

You should not need to add more soap if you put enough on when you start. You are right about using the painting strokes on the second pass.
I think La Toja has the best scent of all.

 

[Snargle]

I'm currently using a La Toja stick for face lathering, but the same technique has worked for me with other soap sticks.

1. Soak brush in hot water.
2. Soak face in hot water(!). I usually shave right after getting out of the shower, so all I need to do is splash on a little to get it wet.
3. Wet the end of the shave stick under hot, running water.
4. Rub shave stick all over my face and neck until I see a whitish coating of soap on the face.
5. Shake out the brush, leaving just a small amount of water in the knot.
6. Rub the brush over the face until I see some lather start to develop.
7. Dip brush tips in hot water and continue lathering. Repeat as needed until a thick, creamy lather covers my face (this usually doesn't take very long).
8. Shave.
9. Rinse and repeat, using the residual soap in the brush for the second (and third, if needed) pass.

I can get two full passes plus a bald spot cleanup or touchup with just the initial loading of soap into the brush.

 

[shave/brush]

Sounds like you nailed it Larry. Looks like a good method to me.

 

[Porgy Tirebiter]

There should be enough lather in the brush to just apply to your face. No need for a bowl or more soap.

You're right, there should be enough lather on the brush. But in the admitedly short time of using sticks (maybe six months?), I found that with just face lathering I was getting a good chunk of unlathered goo caught up in my razor and blade, not that I was complaining. I would complain about the lathered brush being drier...and lightly dipping the tips or dripping water onto the lather didn't seem to work. When squeezing out the excess lather from the brush in preparing for the first pass I've found that a "clean" brush that's reapplied to that initial face lather gets at more of the unlathered goo. A quick whip in the bowl for succeeding passes makes for an even better shave. Better than the bowl lathering I get when using pucks or creams, which tend to be too wet at the bottom of the bowl no matter the amount of whipping.
i consider the face/bowl lathering combo to be like the old, "You got peanut butter in my chocolate." "Well you got chocolate in my peanut butter" conundrum. Face lathering followed up by bowl lathering for the next passes shouldn't compliment each other, but...

 

[shave/brush]

You're right, there should be enough lather on the brush. But in the admitedly short time of using sticks (maybe six months?), I found that with just face lathering I was getting a good chunk of unlathered goo caught up in my razor and blade, not that I was complaining. I would complain about the lathered brush being drier...and lightly dipping the tips or dripping water onto the lather didn't seem to work. When squeezing out the excess lather from the brush in preparing for the first pass I've found that a "clean" brush that's reapplied to that initial face lather gets at more of the unlathered goo. A quick whip in the bowl for succeeding passes makes for an even better shave. Better than the bowl lathering I get when using pucks or creams, which tend to be too wet at the bottom of the bowl no matter the amount of whipping.
i consider the face/bowl lathering combo to be like the old, "You got peanut butter in my chocolate." "Well you got chocolate in my peanut butter" conundrum. Face lathering followed up by bowl lathering for the next passes shouldn't compliment each other, but...

Whatever works for you that's all that counts. If you're happy that's good until you find something better. Enjoy.....

 

[Bhugo]

I shave often while camping and at our family cabin. Both do not have hot water so I use cold water. I use a La Toja stick and 40's style super speed when traveling.

1. Wet face with cold water.
2. Rub stick on face where whiskers are heaviest. I do not try and cover every square inch, but I put a decent amount on. It's not even close to 1/8 inch of the stick though.
3. Wet travel brush and squeeze it out.
4. Face lather. I occasionally dip brush tips in water if it's too dry. Enough soap in brush for 2nd pass if needed.
5. Lots of Osage Rub!

I follow the same at home, but use hot water.

I enjoy the convenience of sticks and I always face lather no matter what.

Happy Labor Day!