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Using a water mister to improve your lather!

Definitely get a Flairosol bottle, they are available from many different retailers with different prints on them. They are extremely handy and produce a more even mist of water. The other thing to do is count how many sprays your lather usually takes and cheat next time by starting some ways under. I start all my soap with 3 sprays from the flairosol, which is probably a lot. With a bowl it will coat the whole inside and then some.

I am on this. I ordered a couple of water ones (one for lather, one for stones) and one for oil, also for stones. But it is the very devil to try to figure out which of the types touted on the actual Flairosol site are being sold. And hard to have confidence that you're being sold the original. There seem to be tons of imitators who want to treat it as a generic term, like Kleenex.
 
And hard to have confidence that you're being sold the original.
I have had good luck with a barber supply, but anything involving professional hair vs consumer is best bet. They also aren't well made, have a bladder within the bottle. Genuine ones make you think you got a fake.
 
I have had good luck with a barber supply, but anything involving professional hair vs consumer is best bet. They also aren't well made, have a bladder within the bottle. Genuine ones make you think you got a fake.
Are there any out there that are well-made? I remember enduring years of bad conventional sprayers until I discovered the 3M ones. Wonder if there are misters built to a high standard.

I find the lather idea intriguing, and I want to try it out, but what really excites me is the honing applications. Too often I've worked up a nice slurry and then I spray water on the stone, and knock half of it over the side, or just add too much water. I could use an eyedropper or something, I guess, but a mister seems perfect.
 
Are there any out there that are well-made?
Not that I am aware of, professionals would be all over them if there were! I spent a bunch of time looking last year and just gave up. I think they must have the patent locked down and aren't interested in retooling for a new process. The problem is the bladder so the only thing that could be done different is make the bottle aluminum so you don't throw out more plastic. It would be nice if they could find a way to make the bladder replaceable. The head is where all the magic is at and needless to say, won't screw on a standard bottle. That said, I have 3 that have held up over a year compared to about a month each in professional use.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
round #2 today. I didn't bother wetting my face with it. I used it to add water to the lather. It works fine, but you have to be very generous with the dosing.
That is what I have been noticing also( I even give the brush a spray or 2) ,I do squeeze most of the water out of the brush to make sure the water is added as needed while tinkering with the mister.(trying to find that happy water starting point before misting will save some time if in a hurry.)
If using a bowl all I do is dunk some warm water in the bowl with the pressed in soap to start with and just dump most of it out and start the lathering until you see the foam to cream starts and just spray as needed. What you will start to get is creamy hydrated soap. Even some of my soaps that are more foamy seem to be hydrated more & more creamer.
Misting is a good way of regulating water also for good soap lathering generating for certain soaps, other soaps hand dripping drops of water into bowl works well also.
I used some Haslinger this morning that is a easy soap to lather regardless what method used, but the lather was of very nice quality, lather on the face was thick and rich and hydrated also peaky.
I wonder what MWF soap would work like?? some folks struggle with lathering it for what ever reason, should be easier for water misting trials(I do not have MFW to tinker with).
SOTD, Oct 28.2, 2021.jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
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Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
I went and bought a water mister at the dollars store $2.50 Canadian that pushes a little more volume. 1 squirt equals sprayed in the palm of the hand is about approximately 6 + drops of water equivalent spread evenly over the soap base. You do not need anything real fancy IMO for a mister. I had some remnants of soap left in the bowl from yesterday and quickly whipped up some great Haslinger Schafmilch lather. ( Still tinkering) Great results if you have a few extra minutes usually, good way to bowl lather if your having lather problems IMO or Newbie trying bowl lathering or just enjoy near perfect hydrated lather. The lather spraying is a good way to make a great rich creamy hydrated, peaked lather fairly quickly for most folks. A different way of making lather from many different methods of bowl lathering.
Misted Haslinger soap.jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
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So far I've tried this method twice. When bowl lathering I feel like I need a third hand, one for holding the bowl, one for the brush and another for the mister. Ended up placing the bowl on a hand towel which would be perfectly fine, if my vanity was higher. I still think this is a good idea, I just need to perfect my set up.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
So far I've tried this method twice. When bowl lathering I feel like I need a third hand, one for holding the bowl, one for the brush and another for the mister. Ended up placing the bowl on a hand towel which would be perfectly fine, if my vanity was higher. I still think this is a good idea, I just need to perfect my set up.
By placing the bowl on a wash cloth on the vanity works good and if you have a breakable bowl it is a great way to protect it.
This has been the way I have been lathering with my ceramic and it is not perfect but has been working great. Copper or plastic would be safer no doubt but my ceramic bowl has this long handle that tapers and it works well for holding.
Lathering with bowl and brush in one hand..jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
I came back to say, I'm a convert. This method appeals to my sense of logic. Spraying distributes water over the entire area which IMO, is better that flicking your brush under a thin stream of water and having to incorporate it into the same area. I'm not saying the lather created this way is superior to other lathering methods, but ...
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
I came back to say, I'm a convert. This method appeals to my sense of logic. Spraying distributes water over the entire area which IMO, is better that flicking your brush under a thin stream of water and having to incorporate it into the same area. I'm not saying the lather created this way is superior to other lathering methods, but ...
I seem to be using this misting a lot lately also and find I look for certain lather characteristics when making lather by misting.
1/ start by pressing in the soap or cream into the bowl and spreading it over a larger area.
2/ start by wetting the bowl when soap has been pressed in first and then dump any excess water.
3/ I just swirl the brush one way and change direction & just go sideways a little until I see the soap go from foam to thick cream and then I just give a 2 sprays(about 12 drops in the palm as a gauge, squirt in palm to figure your mister output you want.) commence to swirling the brush.
4/ Look to see if I enough lather generated & just continue by just spraying 1 or 2 sprays until the lather is like yogurt consistency texture. Some soaps just behave differently and when applied to the wet face & seeing is believing the lather is more dense & hydrated is my conclusion.
5/ Misting atomizer is a nice way of controlling the amount of water more evenly as where dipping the brush tips can be variable depending on the brushes you use in rotation I have concluded. I use natural and synthetic brushes daily.
6/ Just enjoy a different way possibly of making great lather. Hydrated lather is best for shaving slickness IMO.

This is just how I do my lather by misting and some folks will do it how they want and will more likely come to a nice hydrated lather quality they like to see & use.

I wrote this simple method to show folks who might not know what we are talking about and might want to try this simple method.
Todays misted lather using Lavanda cream. Easy 4 passes of lather volume that was near perfect to my liking.( I mostly do a 2 pass + pickups for daily shaving) ......................................inexpensive water mister or atomizer I bought at dollars store.
Lather misting with a inexpensive water mister or  atomizer..jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
I have been making a reasonable lather for years just by dipping the tips in water and stirring brush in a bowl.
I was watching IAMCDB on Youtube videos and Chris can crank out a nice hydrated lather. So I had a small 50 ml sprayer and it pushes out a fine mist and thought why not and I like to bowl lather.
I was curious and tried the mister and I can tell you it will knock your lather up a notch. The mist smaller droplets hits a larger area of the soap and seems to keep a little less air out of the lather (foam). He is the first person I seen using the mister on his face and he is open about using it with his lather making.
He has around 3 different tutorials on this subject for those lather keeners.
Any ways why not pass it along for folks who have a minute or two to create a nicer rich creamy lather.
All I do is press some soap in my bowl, pour some warm water in the bowl and dump. With a damp brush all I do is what I usally do is stir and as the lather gets a little pasty I just mist instead of dip the tips and repeat about 6-8 times and Walla just nice hydrated lather.
It will take a few 1-2 minutes more time but it is worth the effort I believe if time allows.
I picked Cyril R Salter Indian cream with a Yaqi 2 band badger just for demonstration purposes that any brush will work. This morning used a boar brush with Razorock Don Marco croap and lather was excellent using this little mister. Creams are one of the hardest to mix in a bowl and it was just easier to get a nice lather with it.
Anyone else using a mister or other techniques.

Have some great shaves!

I have been using a mister spray bottle similar to yours for a while now and I totally agree it works great. I mostly face lather and I find it is easier, faster and produces better lathers to use the mister to add hydration by spraying it on my face while lathering then to drip water on my brush or dip the tips of the brush in water. The mister is more precise and spreads the hydration more evenly. I put Reverse Osmosis filtered water in the mister which seems to improve my lathers even more and it also stays fresher than tap water.
 
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