Too much face-lathering love these days

[Go West Young Man]

So I'm going on record as saying that I've switched to bowl lathering and I'm loving it!

The same amount of soap seems to produce 3 times as much lather in a bowl, and it's of noticeably better quality. The lather stays nice and warm while with the bowl floating in the sink. And I get a lot less irritation due to brush burn (which, I guess, is technically the fault of a cheap brush, but still counts!)

I'll still pull out the shave stick for variety or while travelling, but right now the bowl is in the lead!

 

[TonyH]

You are correct sir!

 

[christhach]

Agreed, I've noticed I am much more likely to get irritation when I face lather...even with a quality brus and soap.

 

[Beerman]

I face lather soft soaps (don't own any "hard" soaps) and bowl lather creams. Not sure why, but I got some Cella a month or so ago and was unimpressed with it bowl lathered. I e-mailed the vendor I purchased from and he suggested face lathering it. Made a HUGE difference. Went from good to outstanding.

I guess this, like everything else is YMMV.


Beerman

 

[caveman]

For shaving creams (i.e. TOBS, AOS, Proraso etc), I always get more and better quality lather using bowl lathering.

 

[Duckster]

I don't care if I have to use more product. Face-lathering preps the beard and face better than painting on lather from the bowl.

 

[TonyH]

I don't care if I have to use more product. Face-lathering preps the beard and face better than painting on lather from the bowl.

I don't paint. I scrub on the hot lather from my scuttle.

 

[Absolute Mustard]

Space is limited in my bathroom so I go direct to face with everything

No room for a bowl

 

[mretzloff]

I recently switched from bowl lathering to face lathering. I now prefer face lathering because it saves you time on prep and on clean up. YMMV I guess.

 

[kingfisher]

Agree 100%. I don't like face lathering at all. I find it irritating, and I can control the lather better when I build it in the bowl.

 

[talibeard]

The same amount of soap seems to produce 3 times as much lather in a bowl, and it's of noticeably better quality.

YMMV for sure but I found the opposite to be true; I use less product and get a better lather while face lathering. So there seems to be different paths all leading to shave-heaven.....

 

[Den]

The same amount of soap seems to produce 3 times as much lather in a bowl, and it's of noticeably better quality. The lather stays nice and warm while with the bowl floating in the sink.

Exactly what I do. I tried face lathering and it certainly doesn't save time as you're simply spinning the brush around on your face instead of in a bowl. Rinsing the lather out of the bowl afterwards takes seconds.

 

[GDCarrington]

Chris, you are correct. If you have a warm mug the lather stays a nice soothing warm temperature. Welcome aboard!

 

[Pkrankow]

I am on the fence. I like scrubbing my face more with face lathering, but bowl lathering seems to produce nicer lather for the later pass(es). I also notice that face lathering produces more consistant lather for me.

Phil

 

[Slivovitz]

We wouldn't want to see too much love for any method around here. New members might get the idea that there's only one right way to do things, and that dissent would be ruthlessly crushed. When starting out with the whole brush and soap method, it's useful to try both face lathering and bowl lathering. I did, and face lathering won, but that's just me.

For that matter, every now and then someone will speak up for hand lathering. Whatever works.

 

[rajagra]

I don't mind face lathering. It has its advantages. But recently my bathroom has been as low as 3°C according to a min/max thermometer. Frozen pucks and face lathering are not a good combination.

 

[MaxJ]

Funny, I've been moving in a face lathering direction lately. I found it better suited to the Italian soft soaps and have just been running with it. It seems a lot easier to keep the lather going if you do a lot of passes if you're working on the face.

 

[ItsMrBrooks]

I am still a bit of a rookie but I've been dabbling with face lathering recently. I would say that I still prefer lathering in a bowl since I tend to get a bit more mileage out of my lather and it's a bit easier to re-wet if I decide to take longer to shave.

 

[Duckster]

I don't paint. I scrub on the hot lather from my scuttle.

I haven't bowl-lathered in a couple years, so I'm going to do it tonight. Gonna use my Semogue 620 since the brush doesn't hold water well when face-lathering.

 

[vikingvic]

The "right" brush, hot water, hard soap right on the face .. hmmm just lovely...