I am still a relative noob to this whole wetshaving thing, and today I tried using my TOBS Lavender for the first time! 
I went a bit crazy when starting out, so my first few shaves had a variety of creams, blades, etc. I then read some random thread here, one of the newbie FAQ ones, and it clearly said that I should use a single blade, cream, and razor for a month straight, to get the hang of everything, and then go off and experiment. I had exclusively been using Proraso for the past 2 months now. This evening, I wasn't in the mood for the normal, cooling menthol rush of Proraso, and I figured that I would give my TOBS Lavender a try. So I went again, being sure to start with a fairly wrung out brush, so that I can add enough water as I go on. It took a bit, but then suddenly, when i hit that water sweet spot, HOLY MOTHER OF LATHER BATMAN! 
Oh it was so glorious, I was practically drowning in lather! 
Quite nice, all very dense, thick creamy, I figured that the clouds in heaven must be of a similar consistency. 
I went ahead and put a layer on my face, and went to strop my straight razor as I let it properly coat, hydrate and prepare my beard. (This was only my second straight shave, but I only got one nick!) When I was done stropping, and was looking at how the lather was on my face, I noticed a lot, white, flakey, almost snow like particles floating in the air. I had zero idea as to what it was, but after a bit I realized that some of the thinner parts of lather on my face (such as the bottom of my neck) was drying out, and then flaking off! 
Other parts, like my cheeks etc, were completely fine, maybe just slightly less shiny. Even so, where the lather was thinner, it seemed to dry and crackle slightly. After I finished shaving, I looked into my shave bowl, and noticed the same thing along the rim of it, the same dry, cracked lather. The majority of it was fine, but the edges were just flaking off. I never had this problem with the Proraso cream, I had never seen it dry out and flake off. Was I simply not using enough water? The lather seemed extremely thick, and looked like it was properly hydrated. Hence my confusion. Has anyone else had a similar experience with TOBS?
tl:dr TOBS lather dries out quickly, cracks, and flakes away. Does my lather need more water? Or is this just how the cream is?
I went a bit crazy when starting out, so my first few shaves had a variety of creams, blades, etc. I then read some random thread here, one of the newbie FAQ ones, and it clearly said that I should use a single blade, cream, and razor for a month straight, to get the hang of everything, and then go off and experiment. I had exclusively been using Proraso for the past 2 months now. This evening, I wasn't in the mood for the normal, cooling menthol rush of Proraso, and I figured that I would give my TOBS Lavender a try. So I went again, being sure to start with a fairly wrung out brush, so that I can add enough water as I go on. It took a bit, but then suddenly, when i hit that water sweet spot, HOLY MOTHER OF LATHER BATMAN! Oh it was so glorious, I was practically drowning in lather! Quite nice, all very dense, thick creamy, I figured that the clouds in heaven must be of a similar consistency. I went ahead and put a layer on my face, and went to strop my straight razor as I let it properly coat, hydrate and prepare my beard. (This was only my second straight shave, but I only got one nick!) When I was done stropping, and was looking at how the lather was on my face, I noticed a lot, white, flakey, almost snow like particles floating in the air. I had zero idea as to what it was, but after a bit I realized that some of the thinner parts of lather on my face (such as the bottom of my neck) was drying out, and then flaking off! Other parts, like my cheeks etc, were completely fine, maybe just slightly less shiny. Even so, where the lather was thinner, it seemed to dry and crackle slightly. After I finished shaving, I looked into my shave bowl, and noticed the same thing along the rim of it, the same dry, cracked lather. The majority of it was fine, but the edges were just flaking off. I never had this problem with the Proraso cream, I had never seen it dry out and flake off. Was I simply not using enough water? The lather seemed extremely thick, and looked like it was properly hydrated. Hence my confusion. Has anyone else had a similar experience with TOBS? tl:dr TOBS lather dries out quickly, cracks, and flakes away. Does my lather need more water? Or is this just how the cream is?
