Shave right away or let lather sit on face?

[Shadowsforbars]

I face lather so I guess the lather is on my face for a little while before I start.

 

[dimitrof]

I've recently started letting lather sit on my face for a minute or slightly longer... haven't done it enough yet to be sure, but it seems to improve my shaves!

 

[Sethology]

Depends on your beard. I've done a lot of experimenting here and I can say 2-3 minutes makes little difference for me. 15 minutes makes a huge difference though. If I let my lather sit that long my whiskers are soft and wipe off my face. That makes my shaves comfortable so that's what I do. I know a lot of guys would draw the line at more than 30 seconds of prep but when you have a beard like mine, a comfortable shave is worth the time and freedom from razor burn.

I tried 15 today and despite re applying my lather it really felt like everything was more dried out then usual. Typically I wait 5 min. The shave seemed worse honestly . Reviving a necro thread here lol

 

[Tomo]

Straight into it. Life is short.

 

[Merchant Seaman Z]

Face lather after shower. Since I started D/E shaving in ‘09. Or warm water towel compress if not able to shower, as long as the later is good. I don’t tend to let it sit very long. YMMV

 

[Juanmosey]

It takes about 30 seconds to paint my face then I wait about 15 secs. So the lather is on 45 seconds and that works for me. Now I'm curious and will time it tomorrow.

 

[gpjoe]

I face lather now, so the lather is on my face much longer than when I lathered in a bowl. With the bowl, I applied the lather and shaved immediately. With face lathering the soap is on my beard for several minutes while i generate lather.

Either way, I always shave the sensitive areas last (chin and around upper/lower lip) to allow the lather to do its thing.

It is the only piece of advice from Gillette that I have embraced.

 

[musicman1951]

I think it's totally dependent on the quality of your prep before lathering, relative to your particular needs, of course. If your prep is sufficient it makes no difference how long the lather sits on your face. If your prep was not quite sufficient it could matter quite a bit.

The only way to find out is to experiment.

 

[Sethology]

FYI, if you do this I would advise rinsing the old lather off and applying a new one. I was having some mediocre shaves for weeks as I lather my scalp and face at the same time. I figured letting my beard soak was a good thing. And it was! But rinsing it off resoaks your face. I now get better shaves then ever maybe.

 

[VerbaVolant]

...It is the only piece of advice from Gillette that I have embraced.

View attachment 1634314

From the same era, another great advice, I hope no one embraced:

 

[Roedeer]

I face lather now, so the lather is on my face much longer than when I lathered in a bowl. With the bowl, I applied the lather and shaved immediately. With face lathering the soap is on my beard for several minutes while i generate lather.

Either way, I always shave the sensitive areas last (chin and around upper/lower lip) to allow the lather to do its thing.

It is the only piece of advice from Gillette that I have embraced.

View attachment 1634314

That's interesting.

I like to get the nose and mouth area out of the way first (harder to do properly, so more like "work"), and then enjoy relaxing and doing the easier stuff.