I admit it freely - I'm a canned foam dude, have been for a long time and it works for me.
In starting this DE adventure, I picked up what would appear to be a low cost favorite (ARKO) and an Omega brush and attempted to use it. Didn't go so hot, and I suspect it's because I was impatient on trying lather on my face. So on to trial numero 2, where I smashed the ARKO stick into a denture cup so it wouldn't be a mess. That worked well, and when I tried to lather in that little bowl with the soap in it, again it was so-so, but not terribly good (or as good as my canned foam anyway). After doing some reading on here about the Walmart/Dollarstore salsa bowl, I went over and got one.
In doing more reading/research, I found that most folks seemed to "rough up" the inside of the bowl, either by using a knife to score the inside or some low grit sandpaper. I liked the idea of the knife, but didn't think the little bit of scoring would make a difference, especially after pulling up pics of some of the dedicated lather bowls from various manufacturers. So I busted out a soldering iron and put an old, messed up tip on it and went to town making large #'s all over the bowl's insides. Not too deep as to go through the bowl, but deep enough to put permanent ridges all over the surface.
Fast forward to this morning, I soaked the Omega brush in the salsa bowl with hot water while I showered, then dumped the bowl and loaded the brush with some ARKO from the denture cup. It started to foam in the denture cup, so I moved over to the salsa bowl and let 'er rip.
Holy cow did it make some lather, and it only took a minute or two! I had a TON - more than I knew what to do with easily, I could rip out a 3 pass and still had foam in the dish for minor touch ups. Cleaned up easy, not worried if I drop it, and holds all the gear well. Salsa bowl is solid!! Frugal shaving approved from this guy!
Now to find a B&BW that has COBigelo so I can try some cream in it. The one near by only has the canned foam, no creams.
In starting this DE adventure, I picked up what would appear to be a low cost favorite (ARKO) and an Omega brush and attempted to use it. Didn't go so hot, and I suspect it's because I was impatient on trying lather on my face. So on to trial numero 2, where I smashed the ARKO stick into a denture cup so it wouldn't be a mess. That worked well, and when I tried to lather in that little bowl with the soap in it, again it was so-so, but not terribly good (or as good as my canned foam anyway). After doing some reading on here about the Walmart/Dollarstore salsa bowl, I went over and got one.
In doing more reading/research, I found that most folks seemed to "rough up" the inside of the bowl, either by using a knife to score the inside or some low grit sandpaper. I liked the idea of the knife, but didn't think the little bit of scoring would make a difference, especially after pulling up pics of some of the dedicated lather bowls from various manufacturers. So I busted out a soldering iron and put an old, messed up tip on it and went to town making large #'s all over the bowl's insides. Not too deep as to go through the bowl, but deep enough to put permanent ridges all over the surface.
Fast forward to this morning, I soaked the Omega brush in the salsa bowl with hot water while I showered, then dumped the bowl and loaded the brush with some ARKO from the denture cup. It started to foam in the denture cup, so I moved over to the salsa bowl and let 'er rip.
Holy cow did it make some lather, and it only took a minute or two! I had a TON - more than I knew what to do with easily, I could rip out a 3 pass and still had foam in the dish for minor touch ups. Cleaned up easy, not worried if I drop it, and holds all the gear well. Salsa bowl is solid!! Frugal shaving approved from this guy!
Now to find a B&BW that has COBigelo so I can try some cream in it. The one near by only has the canned foam, no creams.
