- Thread starter
- #21
alrighty, ill give taht a shot
soap lather
- Thread starter newwetsahver
- Start date
@newwetsahver, I think your boar brush should work fine to build your lather. It will just take a little practice, I think. Are you following @Marco thread:
My lathering technique with Italian soft soaps
That's a good one right there! I found it early on when I started traditional wet shaving.
Here is a good resource in the Shave Wiki: Interactive Guide to Lathering
My lathering technique with Italian soft soaps
That's a good one right there! I found it early on when I started traditional wet shaving.
Here is a good resource in the Shave Wiki: Interactive Guide to Lathering
- Thread starter
- #23
yeah, thats the technique im tryin get down. its a work in progress being new to wetshaving
Keep working at it. It's worth it!
I know when I was first trying to get the hang of the Marco Method, the hardest part for me was to keep the pressure on the bristles to the soap very light until the soap solids dissolve into all of that water until the mixture gets drawn up into the knot. My problem was that I just couldn't seem to resist splaying the knot on the soap. All that does is dump that water all at once out of the knot onto the soap and I would end up with a whole lot of water without much soap.
You'll get it!
Try lathering it with bottled spring water just to see if your water is a problem.
Lots of great advice in this thread.
Lots of great advice in this thread.
Not sure if it's been mentioned, but whip that puppy until it's nearly the consistency of yogurt, as you slowly add in water. You want yogurt, not whipped cream. Problem is the canned stuff sort of resembles whipped cream, so some 'assume' that's the proper consistency of their lather.
I've had one or two soaps that if used my Semogue Boar or the old Badger I started with, wouldn't lather worth squat, yet take one of my inexpensive synthetics, and the soap explodes into a rich creamy lather. Honestly, I don't even both with the natural hair brushes, the synthetics seem to whip up lather so much quicker and better. (We have borderline hard water, which might be the reason).
I've had one or two soaps that if used my Semogue Boar or the old Badger I started with, wouldn't lather worth squat, yet take one of my inexpensive synthetics, and the soap explodes into a rich creamy lather. Honestly, I don't even both with the natural hair brushes, the synthetics seem to whip up lather so much quicker and better. (We have borderline hard water, which might be the reason).
- Thread starter
- #27
hmm, maybe a synthetic brush may be the way to go, when i make my lather i kinda look for that pearl sheen to it. thats how ihave been trying to get my lather, still a work in progress
I’m curious about this. Started out with a lot of water in my synthetic this morning - on a different soap (Chiseled Face) but plenty of it - and it bubbled up quick like soap suds. I knew I’d put plenty of soap in the bowl, so upon working it up, everything evened out into a huge, creamy (and yes, even yogurty) lather. But the shave was just ok, so I’m wondering if I compromised the lather up front by hydrating it so quickly? Did I compromise comfort and protection by getting the lather up so fast?
With some soaps, that might be an issue. However. I do not consider CF soaps to be one of them. I tend to bowl lather because my skin gets irritated if I do a full face lather. With a soft soap like CF, I normally load my brush for about 15 seconds to get enough lather for four passes. I add 1 Tablespoon of hot water to my shave bowl and then start building a lather. With all but a few soaps, I can generate a good lather in about 60 seconds and then paint it on my face. If necessary, I will add a little extra water to get the right consistency.
With some hard pucks like WMS and MWF, it takes me longer to build a lather. With them, adding water slowly seems to work better.
+1
@newwetsahver , as a Newbie to wet shaving, I have also had this problem. In fact just last week I had a total failure with Col Conk's Amber, after I rinsed from the first pass and re-lathered it was like shaving dry, worst shave ever since I started in January.
I might add the water here in SoCal is so hard it breaks ice cubes. I have been using synthetic brushes, a White Knight and an Omega S just for this reason but recently tried using a boar brush, a Semogue 1800.
Now to get to the point, I have also read a lot of postings about using distilled water and just blew it off thinking it was too much trouble.
Just for a test I filled up my mug with Reverse Osmosis filtered water from my kitchen sink and put it in the microwave for a minute to give it some heat.
I dipped only the tip of my synthetic Omega S brush in the water and proceeded to load up the brush with What the Puck Orange for a minute and went to the bowl to slowly start building a lather. After a minute I started adding water off the tips of my fingers and after about 5 minutes I had enough thick yogurty lather for 4 passes.
I tried this with my White Knight and got enough for 6 passes.
I also tested this with TOBS, Col Conk's Lime and Mike's Natural Lime.
I have NEVER had this much lather!
The only difference was the water and patience.
Happy Shaves my friend
Prof
- Thread starter
- #31
yeah, im in the socal area as well, the water is hard as nials for sure. im having zero luck with stirlings soap, not sure what im doing wrong, but i can seem to get a decent shave with it. i have been consdiering tryin to use distilled water as well. takes me forever to get a stable lather. i just got a synthetic brush, but this thing is a monster, so im back to sqaure 1 on figuring out the load to water ratio. i got an atomic rocket. im still playing around with getting a decent lather
@newwetsahver , It took me almost 4 months to try using filtered water and now there is no turning back. It made all the difference. Just fill up a coffee mug with distilled/filtered water, pop it in the microwave for a minute, and you have plenty of water to wet your brush and make lather with, a LOT of lather!
Just remember to only wet the tips of your brush in the water and give it 2-3 shakes first.
Prof
- Thread starter
- #33
when you say only wet the tips, do you mean that for synthetics? and if so why only the tips?
Because water will drip from the base of the knot on your hand, elbow, shirt, floor, everywhere. They don't hold it as well as badgers.
+1
Yes, for synthetics.
It also gives the brush more backbone and prevents you from starting with too much water. I was adding too much water too soon.
- Thread starter
- #36
ok i will have to try this out.
Be sure to let us know how things work out for you. BTW, I just used hot water from our Sparklets dispenser and I got a great lather from that also!
It is really so easy I don't know why I haven't tried before.
Prof
- Thread starter
- #38
the only thing i dont like about the synthetic brush is it feels way too soft, my normal brush is a boar brush, the only problem i have with it, is it is too small for the scuttle i have, i think i need to find a boar brush with a bigger handle. ill give the syntehic a few more tries, but i just like the way the boar brush feels. feels like i can even put any pressure on the sythetic brush
I once had a disappearing lather problem with one soap brand. No matter what technique I tried, the lather would start to collapse after a minute or so. I finally tried distilled water and it worked fine. For some reason, this one brand did not play well with my tap water.
- Thread starter
- #40
yeah, maybe i need to try out distilled water, sometimes i run into the collapsing lather problem as well
