I've been struggling with dry, tight, and itching skin after WTG pass with a straight razor and decided to take a closer look at my lathering.
I currently use Tabac and Cella.
For Tabac I use bowl lathering and I follow quite precisely the instructions in this tutorial. Now, as per tutorial, the lather starts as a soapy paste in the bowl and I add only few drops of water one or two times only. Then I apply the later to my wetted face, which brings some more water into the equation. I think the lather is still quite paste-like, maybe something like thick but wet paint or something, but that seems to work best for me. So, at best, I get lather that a) doesn't dry that soon (but eventually bit too soon for my taste) and b) doesn't stick into my razor.
The problem with Tabac is, if I try to add any more water, no matter how slowly and in small quantities, the end result is that the lather grows in volume but becomes essentially foamy, like thin, whipped cream or something, and dries up way too quickly and does not seem wet or protective at all (even though I can see that the water indeed is there).
With Cella I use Marco's method and face lather. The lather dries faster than Tabac but otherwise seems ok, though it is easier to mess up. I have no idea how to add more water to it since the lather starts very wet and slowly becomes thicker. If I work it too much, it becomes too thick: dries very fast and also sticks to my razor, which is rather annoying.
Any ideas how I could apply more water into lather while keeping it thick and like "wet paint", little more than paste-like, at the same time? Is that even a goal I should look for? I am not sure if I can explain this very well, but more I work the lather, more foamy and drying it becomes.
I currently use Tabac and Cella.
For Tabac I use bowl lathering and I follow quite precisely the instructions in this tutorial. Now, as per tutorial, the lather starts as a soapy paste in the bowl and I add only few drops of water one or two times only. Then I apply the later to my wetted face, which brings some more water into the equation. I think the lather is still quite paste-like, maybe something like thick but wet paint or something, but that seems to work best for me. So, at best, I get lather that a) doesn't dry that soon (but eventually bit too soon for my taste) and b) doesn't stick into my razor.
The problem with Tabac is, if I try to add any more water, no matter how slowly and in small quantities, the end result is that the lather grows in volume but becomes essentially foamy, like thin, whipped cream or something, and dries up way too quickly and does not seem wet or protective at all (even though I can see that the water indeed is there).
With Cella I use Marco's method and face lather. The lather dries faster than Tabac but otherwise seems ok, though it is easier to mess up. I have no idea how to add more water to it since the lather starts very wet and slowly becomes thicker. If I work it too much, it becomes too thick: dries very fast and also sticks to my razor, which is rather annoying.
Any ideas how I could apply more water into lather while keeping it thick and like "wet paint", little more than paste-like, at the same time? Is that even a goal I should look for? I am not sure if I can explain this very well, but more I work the lather, more foamy and drying it becomes.