Trying a soap for the first time, need a lil advice.

[Toothpick]

i've been using Bigelow cream since i started and im looking to try a nice soap and bowl combo. something like a GFT in a wooden bowl. my question is i guess how? i know you can soak the brush and swirl on the soap and face lather. but if i wanted to bowl lather with the soap do i just soak the brush and go to town on the soap like i would the cream in a lather bowl? and if so what about clean up? just wipe the excess lather off the soap and bowl? i dont want to make a nice purchase then ruin the soap by leaving it wet or not taking care of it.

thanks!

 

[Gamma]

I highly recommend getting the puck by itself, pass on the wood bowl - and put it into a deeper bowl where you can load the brush more easily.
The wood bowls are nice and all, but not very functional IMO. I use a large Fiesta coffee mug, but there are a million options out there.
Vintage Blades has a nice one that measures 4" across and 3" deep - seems ideal size-wise. I like a big area to load up on and I really don't like lather slopping out all over.
My Fiesta mug is about that size and it works great. I have a number of soaps in their wood bowls too - but nothing works as well as that big mug.
Some like smaller mugs though - I guess it's a matter of preference.

 

[Shave_Rat]

My general process for soaps...
Put a teaspoon or three, depending on the size of the puck, on top of it, let it soak in for 4-5 mins on softer soap (VDH, Tabac), evne up to 20 for really harder, new triple milled guys like T&H. I have the brush soaking at the same time.

I pour off most of the water, but I'll add like a half teaspoon or such into the lather bowl itself (as you get to know each soap, you'll get better at judging the amount, but as always, less is better, you can add more later). I squeeze/shake the brush till it's right for the type of soap I'm attacking (again, start out dry with any new soap you aren't sure of, or as a beginner with soap), then I swirl on the puck to load the brush. I love lots of lather, so I load a brush (overload more like it) for maybe evne a minute. Minimal down pressure on the brush, but you'll want a little bit. You'll be able to tell when it's well loaded, you'll see the cream going about 1/3ish up the bristles of the brush, and the puck will have this wonderful thick heavy cream on top of it as well.

I scoop all that nice cream from the top of the puck and put it in the bowl, or on the brush, then it's just like bowl lathering a cream... since really, it is. What you are really doing is using just a bit of water and the brush action to cream the soap, then the brush, water, and bowl to lather the cream. Once you get to the lathering part, it's the same as you are used to doing, and you are looking for really the same type of lather.

Good luck, we want lather porn pics.

 

[Toothpick]

Good luck, we want lather porn pics.

haha will do! some good tips here

 

[takeshi]

I'd suggest starting with the lathering guide linked in the sticky at the top of this subforum.