Shaving cream gets pushed up the brush when painting face?

[IAMSPARTACUSRTY]

I noticed when I paint my face, once I get a light coverage on my face the lather doesn't continue to layer on my face, but rather climb up the brush. I will get little mounds resting on the side of the brush. I'll then swipe it back on my face, and paint it on only to find the cream back on the brush.

Does anyone have that problem? Am I doing something wrong?

 

[NorthernSoul]

You can try painting strokes. Go back and forth instead of tight circles. It works well. There is no harm in pulling the knot through your fingers to gather lather and then putting the lather back onto the knot.

 

[Brutus]

As NorthernSoul said; painting strokes are the preferred way to distribute lather according to Simpsons Brushes.

You also can hold many brushes in the palm of you hand and form a ring around the base of the brush fibers with thumb and index finger (just like holding a 1½” / 40 mm pipe). That way you can control how much lather climbs up (as you put it) the brush and you can even squeeze lather back towards the tips by making the ring formed by thumb and index finger tighter.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with loading a brush more than once during a shave.
I have never accepted that a proper shave must be done with a single charge of shaving soap or cream.

After all: My shave - my rules.


B.

 

[IAMSPARTACUSRTY]

Thanks guys! I'll give those a shot.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

You can always reload the brush between passes, and pinch the knot as suggested, but I would use rotational strokes, being sure not to use excessive force and splay. For me, face lathering is a great pleasure and limiting it to painting type strokes is to reduce it to a joyless experience which is not worth the bother. In my opinion the advice given in the Simpson care leaflet to use back and forth strokes only, serves only to protect Simpson brushes from abuse by the ham fisted, and to limit the numbers of warranty claims. Good luck

 

[dotKomo]

As NorthernSoul said; painting strokes are the preferred way to distribute lather according to Simpsons Brushes.

You also can hold many brushes in the palm of you hand and form a ring around the base of the brush fibers with thumb and index finger (just like holding a 1½” / 40 mm pipe). That way you can control how much lather climbs up (as you put it) the brush and you can even squeeze lather back towards the tips by making the ring formed by thumb and index finger tighter.

Besides, there is nothing wrong with loading a brush more than once during a shave.
I have never accepted that a proper shave must be done with a single charge of shaving soap or cream.

After all: My shave - my rules.


B.

I have that problem with soaps too, although it seems more prevalent with creams.

If you watch straight razor videos on the You Tubes of Italian barbers, they palm the handle and hold their fingers about halfway down the brush to keep the soap/cream from creeping up.

 

[Roman Totale XVII]

For me, it only happens with my boar brush. Badger and horse, no problem.

 

[NorthernSoul]

...For me, face lathering is a great pleasure and limiting it to painting type strokes is to reduce it to a joyless experience which is not worth the bother...

This is a persistent myth, back-and-forth strokes work well, they don't ruin your Zen or take away your pleasure! What is so natural about going in circles, anyway? This is just a comfortable habit. Back-and-forth strokes actually do a nice job.

There is no rule against splaying the brush going back and forth, in fact I'd suggest doing it! Of course, it's a bad idea to mash the brush down too hard against the face no matter what technique you use!

 

[EclipseRedRing]

This is a persistent myth, back-and-forth strokes work well, they don't ruin your Zen or take away your pleasure! What is so natural about going in circles, anyway? This is just a comfortable habit. Back-and-forth strokes actually do a nice job.

There is no rule against splaying the brush going back and forth, in fact I'd suggest doing it! Of course, it's a bad idea to mash the brush down too hard against the face no matter what technique you use!

With respect I clearly, and carefully, stated the following:

"For me, face lathering is a great pleasure and limiting it to painting type strokes is to reduce it to a joyless experience which is not worth the bother."

Please note the words in bold "For me". My statement is not a myth, it is one of irrefutable fact borne out by years of trial on my part. Your experience may be different but it does not and cannot negate my own, and it does not make it a myth.

 

[NorthernSoul]

With respect I clearly, and carefully, stated the following:

"For me, face lathering is a great pleasure and limiting it to painting type strokes is to reduce it to a joyless experience which is not worth the bother."

Please note the words in bold "For me". My statement is not a myth, it is one of irrefutable fact borne out by years of trial on my part. Your experience may be different but it does not and cannot negate my own, and it does not make it a myth.

It may be your personal experience, but you obviously cite it to convince others of the same (you said: "...but I would use rotational strokes..."). What is the harm for the OP of at least trying something different? He did ask for suggestions, after all.

I have noticed less tendency for my brushes to form "doughnut holes" since I began experimenting with horizontal strokes. We are not talking about daintily painting watercolors here, BTW. Horizontal movements of the brush, while pressing down slightly to splay the brushes. It works well and my Zen is perfectly intact.

 

[gpjoe]

I think ability of a brush to give up lather is referred to as "flow through", and some perform poorly.

I had the same issue with my only Paladin brush. It was a lovely brush but a lather hog, regardless of the soap or cream, or the water/product ratio. I didn't want to have to pinch or coax the lather out of it (any) brush and quickly sold it.

No regrets.

 

[brucered]

Big swirls to get a base layer of soap on face.

Paint Stokes to even it out.

Fish slapping (Veggie Tales reference) to thicken it up.

All other ways are wrong.

 

[IAMSPARTACUSRTY]

Today was the first time I shaved since I started this thread.

After reading all the replies, I wonder if I am loading the brush correctly. Just the way you guys are using the word has me wonder.

I use a bowl to lather and I get a pretty large amount of foam in my bowl before painting it on my face. I start by taking the foam clumps from the bowl and paint on my face. Then I really scrub it around to lift the hairs. This where the foam can kick up a bit on the face. It doesn't really wipe off the initial layer, but picks it up. Then I go to Geo's figure 8 and painting strokes to even it out.

Today I didn't spend a lot of time building the lather in the bowl. I stopped lathering once I got a decent foam on the sides. Pushed it down, but I didn't scoop it with the brush to put on my face. I just left it there and took whatever was already on the brush.

This time I didn't have as much pick up on the brush. The base layer seemed to stay on and clumps (using the word loosely) that formed I would wipe on the face and go back to paint stokes to smear it. It seemed like it worked.

 

[IAMSPARTACUSRTY]

I think ability of a brush to give up lather is referred to as "flow through", and some perform poorly.

I had the same issue with my only Paladin brush. It was a lovely brush but a lather hog, regardless of the soap or cream, or the water/product ratio. I didn't want to have to pinch or coax the lather out of it (any) brush and quickly sold it.

No regrets.

Does that mean my brush is lower quality? I hope not because it was an expensive gift to me.

 

[IAMSPARTACUSRTY]

I have that problem with soaps too, although it seems more prevalent with creams.

If you watch straight razor videos on the You Tubes of Italian barbers, they palm the handle and hold their fingers about halfway down the brush to keep the soap/cream from creeping up.

Cheers mate. Watched a few just now. Is it me or does it look like most of them use a lot more water than what other YTers suggest? I noticed a lot of soupy and bubbly cream in the face.

 

[IAMSPARTACUSRTY]

I will note that I use Proraso soap from the tube. Picked up on sale for $8.

 

[dotKomo]

Cheers mate. Watched a few just now. Is it me or does it look like most of them use a lot more water than what other YTers suggest? I noticed a lot of soupy and bubbly cream in the face.

I thinner, more watery lather is preferred for straight razor shaving. Many on this forum (myself included) also prefer that consistency as it's a slicker lather. Too many focus on the Santa's beard look.

 

[lasta]

More soap.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Today was the first time I shaved since I started this thread.

After reading all the replies, I wonder if I am loading the brush correctly. Just the way you guys are using the word has me wonder.

A lot of people here prefer to face lather, that is, to build the lather directly on the face. The brush then acts as a reservoir for lather during the rest of the shave.

This has some advantages: it can be faster, you can feel exactly what you are doing when building the lather and also better helps prepare your whiskers for shaving.

A bowl may be used to initially load a soap paste into the brush, but then the lather is still built directly on the face.

 

[gpjoe]

Does that mean my brush is lower quality? I hope not because it was an expensive gift to me.

No, it's just a characteristic of that brush.

My Paladin was a $200 brush and I disliked the way it hogged the lather. I got a lot of the same recommendations that you are getting (squeeze the lather out, pinch the base of the knot, use more water use more soap, use brush strokes, shave in the rain only on Tuesdays...) and nothing worked, so I sold it.

I have $10 brushes that perform better than that Paladin. I'm sure that isn't a popular opinion around here, but it's mine.

Hopefully, you can figure out some way to make your brush work for you...good luck.