I guess an old dog can learn new tricks. I've been wet shaving the same way for many years ( with a Gillette contraption up until a year ago when I started with a DE--and never going back). And I guess some of my shaves were better than others but never thought that much about it--and the lather I made always seemed pretty good. But just recently I finished evaluating all my blades and ranking them for all of my razors (some of which were acquired after I bought a lot of blades--that's what started this whole thing). My evaluation revealed that my Derby's were not very good with my Super Speed, triangular hole TECH, or Muhle R41. I was just about to put 100 of my Derby's on BST when I accidentally had way too much water on a shave and found that I got a much smoother, closer shave using more water than I usually use. So I figured before I got rid of my Derby's I'd give them another chance using more water for the shave. So, long story short, I tried each of those razors loaded with a Derby, using a lot more water. Whatever the soap was, whether it was my MWF, Tabac, Cella, XXX, I'd let some hot water sit in the soap while I was brushing teeth, etc., and made sure my face was very well hydrated. Wow, what a difference! My Super Speed went from a rating of C to a rating of A+, the TECH went from a B+ to an A+, and the R41 went from a F to a B+. Of course, your YMMV, but had to share this.
Water, water, water
- Thread starter phillylion
- Start date
Finding out what's wrong with your shave is a great feeling isn't it? Glad you realized water was your problem!
I found the same thing to be true. Takes lots more water than I first realized. Like you I swerel some hot water on the puck while I do other things. I mostly use a Shavemac silvertip brush and after soaking it while the puck is softening up I give it one gentle shake and start building lather. I used to give the brush a pretty good shake or 2 but found that more water works better, even with creams like Kiss My Face.
All The Best
All The Best
- Thread starter
- #4
That's what I do now--one gentle shake of my brush. I used to give it a few shakes.
Plenty of hot water, cures everything!!
What all of you are saying is consistent, more or less, with what's been called "Marco's method" (see the threads), which advocates a very wet brush. A lot may depend on the quality of the water and the type of brush. A wetter brush and lots of water in general works best for me, too, but--YMMV--others do great with a merely damp brush.
Congrats on the discovery, I hope your shaves continue to rock! Sometimes it does take some experimenting and an open mind to learn a new or better technique.
I find more water works better for me too. My lather is alot slicker than most would use I guess. I've seen posts & videos about lather building & getting peaks like a meringue but I feel that this lather tends to dry out on my face too much resulting in increased friction when passing the blade over. I now add more water & use I runnier lather which I find helps the razor glide better - works great on the head shaves too
I agree, keeping the face hydrated works perfectly for me
Easy for me.
Lay out the kit. Brush soaking, water on puck if it's a soap day rather than a cream day. Shower. Step out. Don't even dry off just apply my preshave and start lathering. Then it's a good warm rinse between passes, more pre and relather. I even like to dip the tips in and get a wetter lather for second or touch ups.
Melbourne water is pretty soft: so much so that even MWF is a cinch and Arko just goes nuts.
Lay out the kit. Brush soaking, water on puck if it's a soap day rather than a cream day. Shower. Step out. Don't even dry off just apply my preshave and start lathering. Then it's a good warm rinse between passes, more pre and relather. I even like to dip the tips in and get a wetter lather for second or touch ups.
Melbourne water is pretty soft: so much so that even MWF is a cinch and Arko just goes nuts.
Water - That's why it's called Wet Shaving!
I do the same. It's all about getting enough product on your face, then putting as much water in as it will tolerate, while keeping it stiff enough to stay in place. Slickness is king, and that's what more water gets you (assuming sufficient quantity of product).
Yes, water is often the answer. I have been wet shaving for 50+ years and for many of those years liked a very rich, thick lather with less water. And then a few years ago I started using more water. My lather wasn't as thick as some like to show on B&B - but the quality of my shaves improved considerably.
^^^thick lather for show, slick lather for a pro ;-)
I usually soak my brush while I'm in the shower. I put some water on the top of the puck during this time as well. After I get out I put about a pea size of cream in the bowl, shake the brush once, load the soap on the brush, then build lather with the soap/cream in the bowl. I usually end up adding water a few times through out the shave process and have lather the entire time. Keep in mind I lather head, shave WTG, lather head, shave XTG, lather head, shave ATG, lather face, shave WTG, lather face, and shave ATG. I burn through some lather lol
I used a variety of SEs, including Injectors, last week. I carried a lot of razors out of the bathroom for some group photos and those got into here, so far, not in there, yet. My Red Tip has yet to have its colored tip put to rights, so I didn't include it. Looking at it, I decided to give Honeybee's sample of Ye Olde Barber Shop another shot. It hasn't offered a very generous lather so far, but always seems to want to be face-lathered.
My prep was thorough, and this time, I shook the brush about as hard as I could, so it was "dry", like I said, "Opposite Day". I got much more lather in the mug, and still more on my face. Good shave, all in all.
My prep was thorough, and this time, I shook the brush about as hard as I could, so it was "dry", like I said, "Opposite Day". I got much more lather in the mug, and still more on my face. Good shave, all in all.
I'm glad I'm not alone on this, I find this to work for me on both head & face.
I think I'll try this too, my shaves have been pretty good, but I'm always willing to tweak things if I can make it better. Kentucky water is pretty hard, too, but not so much that it makes soaps like MWF unbearably difficult.
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