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Using a water mister to improve your lather!

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
As a further commitment towards this method, I just bought a G20 GP scuttle. One thing about this method I didn't like was cold lather. I've been wanting to try a scuttle for years anyway, just needed a little push.
What I like to do in the winter months is take my ceramic bowl and with tap running on hot water just turn it upside down with soap inside and soak the heat into the ceramic bowl for a least 20 seconds and then start to make the lather. Making the lather first and then heating the bowl does not work very well from my experience when testing years ago.
The heat from the bowl raises the temperature of the lather nicely and when applying it gives a warm feeling. With the mister you could still heat the bowl and use warm water( some of fancy atomizers use a bladder & with hot water can damage the mister is my understanding) and try that method.
I take SOTD photo and I lose a a few minutes of time, but the lather is still warm usually and is a treat for my shave!
A scuttle would work better and give a person time to do other things while getting ready for your shave.
(This is a old archive photo I took years ago on the benefits of using porcelain or ceramic bowls, they retain heat longer than plastic bowls IMO.)
Shaving bowl 3 (2).jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
FWIW, I got my hands on a mister bottle. Haven't tried it on lather, yet, but it's great for my stones when honing.

The whole venture got me exploring the world of spray bottles, to see if there was another thing better than the 3M bottles I'd settled on. And yes, there is. There are actual very well-made spray bottles out there.

They are made by a company called Pressol. I doubt many will be surprised when I say that this company is in Germany. Even better, there is a guy who started a garage supplies business growing out of his OCD obsession with garage things, and he is SERIOUS about spray bottles.

If you doubt that, read this. It barely bothers to tout the product he's selling. Instead, it talks about how he hopes you will help him test it and give feedback and make improvements. Yes, he considers this sprayer a Beta product, a mere test bed for things to come.


I got a couple of them, and wow. As it comes, it fires a hard straight spray. But cranked down all the way, it does a nice mist. More water than the mister bottles, but a good amount, and you have good control. I like it a lot.

Do I like the Pressol sprayer or the mister better? Eh, I don't know. I'm experimenting. They're both pretty great in different ways.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
I got this in the mail recently and thought it would be a good mister for making lather or hydrating the lather on the face sometimes. You pay for what you get as the old saying and this one is a little more $ but it sure mists nicely and it bumped up my lather generating yet another notch IMO. It produces a finer mist with good volume quickly, 2 squirts gives approximately 12 droplets squirted into a small funnel to gauge output of this mister.
When you pull the lever it will mist and as the lever goes back it will also mist on the return stroke. I have never seen or used a mister or atomizer of this quality and it has helped make great lather also. Reasonably priced IMO.
Atomizer sprayer!.jpg

Have some great shaves!
 
We do some pretty weird things in the search for a better shave - facial gurning, shimming razors, buying scuttles, using soaps that look like congealed vomit but have “great post-shave feel”. I will try most things but I absolutely draw the line at using a water mister. Traditional shaving ought to at least slightly seem like a manly pursuit. This just isn’t. Regardless of results it would utterly emasculate the shaving ritual for me. And if I cannot bear to look at myself in the mirror I cannot shave well.
 
I've found that, when I load up a brush to bowl lather, adding too much water, or even 'just the right' amount into the bowl all at once often results in a mediocre lather. Too much water dumped in all at once can cause the suds to collapse. I had to buy a 3 pack of mist sprayers for use buffing out my headlights, and use of one of the spares to mist in a little water at a time into my bowl. it makes a great improvement over just dribbling in a few drops of water.
 
After I started using my scuttle, using a mister while building the lather just seemed like a no brainer. After that I get to enjoy a nice warm lather throughout the whole shave. I guess I'm more into the gentlemanly way to approach shaving versus less refined methods. :pipe: Pass the Grey Poupon please.
 
It will take a few 1-2 minutes more time but it is worth the effort I believe if time allows.

Anyone else using a mister or other techniques.
I use a mister of distilled water for a final rinse of my clean (but still wet) razors sometimes to prevent water marks and limescale. It leaves a lovely raindrop effect and they eventually dry out spotlessly.

Creating a lather takes me about 30s from unscrewing the lid of the shaving cream so I can't imagine adding 1-2 minutes to that. I'll have to experiment.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
If the mister works for you, terrific. IMO, it's superfluous.
You could be right that ("superflous"> I had to look that up:confused1) is not necessary for some folks but the final lather results consistently indicate better results with less bubbles of air trapped in lather + creamier is my conclusion!
I will still dip my brush tips in regular town water but more carefully now to reach better desired lather quality. Mister(Atomizer) works the best is my conclusion but there are other effective methods also.
To make my lather takes from 1-2 minutes and no more because the extra time is minimal beneficiary for my desired soap lather & there is those challenging soaps that just lather different than main stream soaps & creams that test my lather making skills regardless of water applying method I use. If a mister is handy 1st I will grab it before other methods I have used, a few drips from the hand is 2nd best for my self and then brush tip dipping method is 3rd I have found from making bowl lather 98% of my daily lathering needs over the last 5 years.
Like you mentioned use what method works the best!
 

Eben Stone

Staff member
Can anyone recommend a specific make/model?

I searched for "water mister" on Amazon. I scanned through the first page of search results (approx 60 items) and noticed most looked similar. Same thing with the second page. I didn't go any further. I know Amazon intentionally repeats its search results, but without going through and looking at each item, I think its fair to say there are over 120 clones of the "original" Flairosol model.

Not sure if Flairosol is really the original, but I did notice in a photo of one of the clones, you can clearly see "Flairosol" on the pump mechanism. You would think they would be smart enough to photoshop that out.

At least one clone didn't even have a real photo of the product. All the photos were fake photoshopped images.

I wouldn't mind spending a few bucks to try a water mister to see if it improves my lather, but I don't want to invest any money into cheaply made imported plastic junk clones that wont last.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
@Eben Stone , when ordering off Amazon I use a few indicators to zero in on a reasonable product are the amount of reviews and if the positive ratings for 5,4,3 are over 90% it indicates a positive product experience for those individuals. If the response is only a few hundred reviews it is either a new product or it could be hyped up a little so I will shy from that product possibly.
If it is only a low priced item the risk is not high so the person can also take a chance. Seems to work out mostly for me when buying on line, when I buy I will also do a review to help out possibly next buyers who are wondering is it worth it.
Marketing of items online has also brought different shady techniques that might not be so accurate, so using a large amount of reviews it becomes harder to distort market buyers IMO.
I also use distilled water in my mister and I can buy a jug for $1.60 and last almost a year or more. I do not soak my brush in distilled water, I just use town tap water for brush soaking. Soap Mfg's all use distilled water when making soaps and creams is from my limited research.
 
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