riddle me a good bowl-lathering brush

[canadave]

I forget the name of the Edwin Jagger brush I have--it's the one that was/is sold through Crabtree and Evelyn. It's a great brush for holding lather. What's happening is that I can't make a decent bowl lather; nor can I get any good lather from the brush onto my face when I try to apply it. But if I squeeze the bristles, enormous gobs of great lather come out. So the lather's "in there", it just isn't easily coming out onto my face. I don't think it's my technique--I've been doing this a few years now, and have tried all sorts of things (less water, more water, less brush action, more brush action, gentle pressure, heavy pressure, etc etc etc)--it's always the same result: lots of lather IN the brush, but not in the bowl or on my face. Yes, I could squeeze it out and lather it onto my face from my hand, but I'd rather not do that.

So I'd like to try a different brush. Ideally, this brush will take the shaving cream and make a nice peaky bowl lather, and then I can just brush the lather onto my face and have it be nice and thick and peaky. Can anyone recommend such an animal? Budget would be around $30-$50 if possible, but if spending $100 is the only way to achieve this, then so be it.

 

[Mick]

Kent BK8. Been my top bowl/cream brush for a long time now

EDIT * * * * Sorry did not see your $30-50 budget so disregard the BK8 which would be a major budget buster for you...

You can get a BK4 for $81.xx including shipping http://www.feelunique.com/p/Kent-Mens-Travel-Shaving-Brush

 

[rockviper]

I like my Berkeley for both bowl and face lathering, but the Colonel seems to be the direction to go for bowl lathering due to its longer handle.

 

[lt114]

Colonel would be a good choice. It's a good face lathering brush also.
You can pick one up from WCS for about $65.

 

[Vlad]

The brush is fine, you just need lots more product. Eventually the brush will fill.

 

[Le Buzz]

The brush is fine, you just need lots more product. Eventually the brush will fill.

I agree, more product needed. You might have more lather left over after your shave going down the drain, but who cares?

 

[dpm802]

can you be a little more specific about the brush you're using now? All of C&E's brushes are OEM by Edwin Jagger, so you need to narrow it down a bit more for clarity.

There's nothing wrong with either your brush or your technique, and if you add more product, that will just mean more lather that gets stuck in the breach of the knot. That's the way a lot of brushes work, and I find that my higher-priced brushes are even more subject to hogging lather inside the knot than my lower-end brushes.

Just go ahead and squeeze it out when you need it. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[canadave]

can you be a little more specific about the brush you're using now? All of C&E's brushes are OEM by Edwin Jagger, so you need to narrow it down a bit more for clarity.

Sorry, I'm really not quite sure which it is. I asked about brushes here when starting out three years ago, and a number of people recommended this EJ brush that could hold lots of lather--it was a "consensus pick" at the time. It's a best badger brush, not silvertip--I think it was in the $50 range. They were definitely not wrong about it holding lather! It holds too much

There's nothing wrong with either your brush or your technique, and if you add more product, that will just mean more lather that gets stuck in the breach of the knot. That's the way a lot of brushes work, and I find that my higher-priced brushes are even more subject to hogging lather inside the knot than my lower-end brushes.

Just go ahead and squeeze it out when you need it. Nothing wrong with that.

I know there's nothing "wrong" with it, but it bugs me that I can't just stir up a lather in the bowl, apply my brush to my face, and get a lather. In mantic's video on the subject, he seems to have no trouble getting a nice peaky lather without having to squeeze the brush and extract lather from it.

With my Proraso cream, if I want to, I can get enough lather in the bowl that I can indeed brush it onto my face, via sheer "brute force"/"strength in numbers" method. By this I mean I put huge amounts of cream into the bowl and mix it; I think what happens at that point is that the brush simply can't hold any more lather, and the excess stays on it and can be used directly on my face. But this is impractical and inefficient, since we're talking massive amounts of cream here.

It seems simple enough in the mantic video. He uses a small amount of AoS shaving cream, mixes it in a bowl, applies directly to his face, and winds up with great lather. I now have some AoS shaving cream, and I'll give it a try with my current brush. But assuming it doesn't work, it'll be nice to have some alternative brush options.

I guess if it does work, then I'll know it was the cream, not the brush, that was the problem That seems unlikely to me though.

 

[canadave]

The brush is fine, you just need lots more product. Eventually the brush will fill.

The brush filling isn't the problem When I squeeze it, gobs of lather come out into my hand--more than enough for several passes. The problem is that I can't get it onto my face without having to squeeze the brush with my hands

 

[Vlad]

The brush filling isn't the problem When I squeeze it, gobs of lather come out into my hand--more than enough for several passes. The problem is that I can't get it onto my face without having to squeeze the brush with my hands

We all squeeze the badger...it's ok

 

[edgerunner]

I always press the knot from the base up sidewards like a painting brush against my face to release the lather and push it towards the tips for the second and subsequent passes. This works for me.

 

[brucered]

We all squeeze the badger...it's ok

you know what they say: if you do that too much....

my semogue boars are all great for bowl lathering (SOC, 1305, LE2) as well as the Colonel was a good bowl lathering brush and my current favorite M&F L7

as for releasing lather..i bowl lather, then face lather it on for 15-20sec or so, then i do paint strokes for another 15-20sec.

 

[Kaladin22]

rooney 2/1 wouldn't be a bad bowl latherer in my opinion. i have a 3/1 and it just needs to be a tad bigger to not be so messy. Plus it's right around your top-end budget

http://www.vintagebladesllc.com/vshop/xcart/home.php?cat=157

Tell me the faux horn doesn't look beautiful!