Taylor's Rose Cream trial

[zacharydz]

I'm quite new to wetshaving, and today is the first time I got a respectable lather...

My Taylor's Rose cream arrived today, and I experimented with making up some lather. This makes some dense lather - blows away anything from a can with regards to density. Here are some pictures of my lathering it up - I added about 1/2 teaspoon of hot water in between each picture. I'm not quite sure which one is the 'correct' combo of water to lather. I think it would be the 3rd picture, but im not sure.

1- This is dense - the lather retains peaks going horizontally

2- 1/2 teaspoon of water added

3- another 1/2 teaspoon of water added. I think this looks like the correct combo

4- another 1/2 teaspoon of water added

I'm leaning towards the 3rd one, but I'm not sure if the 4th one is 'better'.

Which one do you guys think is the right one to use?

 

[Scotto]

I like it real thick. If you have water on your face before lathering (as you should), it will thin out a bit. I would happily use any of your first three pictures. Good show!

 

[AACJ]

Nice pics!! Welcome to the forum and to wetshaving. You will enjoy it much!

My take on cream/ratio is this. When you get a consistency of the lather being able to stand up on itself, like the little peak in pic 3, it's perfect. If it falls off from TOO much water, it's too wet. I whip it up a lot to get the smallest possible bubbles in it and add water slowly like you did.

Also keep in mind that not all shaving creams have the same density, some need more water, some don't.

Again, nice pics.

 

[Kyle]

I agree with Art. Also, the following post is a very good one for building lather in a bowl: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9

 

[obsessis]

that's nice! i must be doing something wrong. i don't get tons of lather in the bowl, just mostly in the brush. am i doing something wrong?

what type/size of brush are you using? how much cream did you use?

 

[DoubleE]

Nice job!!

 

[zacharydz]

Well, I tried my first real shave with my Merkur HD this morning with the Taylor's Rose cream. All I have to say is wow! I got a Mach3-close shave on my left neck; the right side of my neck was a bit rougher, and the area around my adam's apple is still fairly rough, but that's because I'm still a bit paranoid putting a DE against my adam's apple. But I did 3 passes without a single nick, and thusfar, no razor bumps or irritation. After I got done, I barely felt that I needed any A/S (though I did put some on) - When I shaved with Mach3s, my face would always feel at least a little raw. Though I have a question; I have a fairly pronounced Adam's apple, so what's the best way to shave that area? It took me quite a long time to be able to use Mach3s without nicking my adam's apple on a regular basis - and my 'technique' was merely to shave very lightly on that area and leave it fairly rough, which isn't very satisfactory. I was able to get away with doing that in High School since my hair growth was so light, but I don't think I'll be able to get away with it now. I've tried pulling on my skin to move it to either side of my adams apple to shave it, but that requires quite a bit of pulling and I'm not sure if that's the best idea. Any ideas?

 

[zacharydz]

that's nice! i must be doing something wrong. i don't get tons of lather in the bowl, just mostly in the brush. am i doing something wrong?

what type/size of brush are you using? how much cream did you use?

Obsessis: how hot of water do you use for lathering? I was using a hot pot to get such a lather. Also, if you have hard water, that will really hinder your lather. Also, with my brush I have to mix the lather for a really long time before it looks respectable. It took me at least 3 minutes of hard swilring to get the lather that dense. This is a pic of the brush that I use:

I use about an almond size of cream; maybe a bit less. My brush is tiny; the 'knot' (I know this one is a plug brush, since it actually fell out and I had to super glue it back on...) is about 20 mm or so.

 

[rschul2]

Zachary,
I actually don't think it matters how thick or thin your lather is as long as it gives you adequate protection and a decent shave. I tend to like my lather a little more hydrated in the beginning and prefer it to be more dense on my 2nd or 3rd pass. To each his own. Looking at your pics, I would say that the lather in any of the first three pics would work for me.

 

[zacharydz]

Zachary,
I actually don't think it matters how thick or thin your lather is as long as it gives you adequate protection and a decent shave. I tend to like my lather a little more hydrated in the beginning and prefer it to be more dense on my 2nd or 3rd pass. To each his own. Looking at your pics, I would say that the lather in any of the first three pics would work for me.

Perhaps I need to try out your method of having the lather more hydrated in the beginning. The problem that I'm having now is that it takes so long to whip up the lather intially, that it's luke warm by the first pass. When I try to reheat the lather for the 2nd and 3rd passes, I put my latte mug in my hot pot and whip the lather up again, but this really dries out the lather so it doesn't feel like I am "wet-shaving" by the 2nd pass. If I add hot water directly to the lather, it will be too watery. When I add water to my face, it helps only marginally (heat-wise for the lather), since I can't wet my face directly with scolding hot water. I'm starting to think that a metal mixing bowl would be vastly superior, since it will heat up much faster when I'm whipping up the lather (and also lose the heat faster, but it shouldn't really matter if the bowl cools down after I have applied the lather) Does anyone notice a difference between how fast the lather dries out in a ceramic vs metal bowl?

 

[rschul2]

Don't know, I've only ever used a ceramic bowl. If you want warm lather by the 2nd or third pass, be sure to keep your bowl as hot as can be. Yes the lather will dehydrate, but just add enough hot water back to the bowl to rehydrate your cream. I found that worked for me, but honestly by the end of my shave, I don't find where a hot or cold lather really makes that much of a difference in terms of the quality of the shave I get. Yes, warmer lather feels better on the skin, but I don't find where it provides me with a closer shave than a cooler lather. To each their own though.

 

[Kyle]

Zachary,

Congrats on your first "real" shave (and by now, probably your second and third). Randy has given you some good information in regards to lather. Additionally, the more experience you gain, the faster your shaves will progress. This will naturally mean that your lather will be, at least, somewhat warmer on the final passes than what you are currently experiencing. Keep working at it and keep experimenting. You will eventually hit on the method/technique that is most pleasing (hot pot, cup warmer, etc) for keeping the lather just right.

 

[obsessis]

most people think that everyone has hot/warm lather for all 3 passes. i find this hard to do and not necessarily needed. i think most people just use cold lather.

it is going to end up just warm for the first and cold then on if you don't try to heat it up or keep it warm, it's just how it goes.

i def. think you should invest in a metal bowl. they allow you to keep the lather warmer. it heats up really fast, so you can whip it up in your bowl, then run hot water over the back of the bowl to heat up the lather. this will make it warm again really fast. you can even put your brush right up against the bottom/side of the bowl where the water is hitting and it will warm up also.

i am also setting my metal bowl in a bigger, ceramic bowl. the ceramic bowl, once heated, keeps the heat pretty well. the metal bowl on the inside can get heated up easily by the water inside. i had warm lather the whole shave today.