Being a face-latherer I've got into the habit of loading my brush with 30 to 50 swirls on my soaps. The results have been a thick and full lather on my face which is fun while DE shaving. Recently I've been reading posts from straight razor users who apply a lighter less thick lather as it helps to shave better using a straight or Feathers system. With that in mind I've tried loading my brush with only 10 swirls and applied a lighter and less voluminous lather. IMHO it works better for me as it is easier to shave and I'm using less product. Seems like a win-win situation. Makes me think, are we doing it wrong by applying to much lather?
Using less lather
- Thread starter David in Boston
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I'm with you. Less can be more. An inch layer of lather on my face does nothing for me.
I don't think it's the amount of soap used, but more of a wetter & thinner lather that's a bit slicker than the thicker & less hydrated lather most are accustomed to using. I've always enjoyed a wetter lather and found my soaps; Tabac, Palmolive and Klar Seifen to name a few, had improved slickness & moisturizing after the shave.
My Gawd David in Boston! You've just turned one of our most sacred cows into hamburger and cooked a Big Mac with it. Just look around you at all the images enshrined in the sacred and ancient advertising images. Countless gentlemen are depicted swathed in voluminous, billowy clouds of lather as they smilingly lift the laden brush or guide the glinting steel blade to their vulnerable flesh. There's even a depiction of an infant with well slathered and lathered cheeks. This is the equivalent of Luther nailing his thesis' to the cathedral door. If only the old man on the Cella block or the gent on the Akro tube could speak surely they would cry Treason! Vile Heresy! Off with his head or beard - whatever! Follow this dark wraith that becons you on if you will but please do not lead others down this grim path to perdition. Repent and you yet may be saved. Clutch the sacred brush overflowing and lift it high! Kiss the mug and bowl! Kneel humble before the scuttle! Repent I say and clasp the sacred soap puck to your bosom! There is yet hope! Strive toward the light!
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- Thread starter
- #6
Tabac is in my rotation and using less does not make it less slick.
In fact my DE razor seems to slide across my face even better.
I don't worry about it. A puck the size of TOBS or C&E and last me for a years worth of shaves. And I have a lot of puck!
That being said, you only need a thin layer. It's the lather touching the skin that does the work. The rest is just for looks.
That being said, you only need a thin layer. It's the lather touching the skin that does the work. The rest is just for looks.
I'm with you on this one. I figured-out pretty early on that a wetter and thinner lather made for an easier and closer shave especially with a sharp blade. As a soap user, I find that this is true whether the product be tallow soap or Van der Hagen.
- Thread starter
- #9
That about sums it up.
I find a nice dense lather is very enjoyable to me and the more the better (I don't get real crazy with it). It may be slightly wasteful as far as how much soap or cream I'm actually using, but I'd rather have a little more lather and not really need it than not have enough and have to fiddle with it.
I agree with the concept of this post. However my lather seems to become thinner and slicker by default as I progress through my passes. This I might add is effortlessly accomplished by rinsing my face in between passes. I build my lather by loading my brush, face lathering and dipping my brush ends depending on feel. It may be a little different each day depending on weather I'm using boar or badger and definitely differs on the amount of water shaken off each day. 95 percent of the time though I enjoy the progression of a decending amount of lather from the first pass to the third pass and yes it gets a little thinner and slicker every pass.
I only use Arko, so I only swirl the brush about 5 or 6 times on the soap 
