I don't get it! A lot of these shaving guides say to wet face before applying lather, and re-wet between passes... I bowl lather, and feel that I'm just ruining the lather that I spent a couple minutes on by applying it to water, ruining the perfect consistency! Am I wrong in drying my face before applying lather and before re-applying for additional passes?
Wet Face?
- Thread starter StephenS
- Start date
I'm curious myself about this. I wet my face before applying lather and sometimes it seems like it just thins the lather out. But for some reason I keep doing it.
I never wet my face, it does make my lather runny. The only time you should wet your face is when you face lather but YMMV.
I typically splash my face and wipe off excess water, but you have a good point.
Interested in this and will experiment.
Interested in this and will experiment.
You're right: an overly wet face will upset the water/soap/air balance of a good lather, BUT a dry face means that your beard probably isn't hydrated enough. Washing the face or doing Kyle's prep before you shave will leave the face moist but not dripping.
Well, I wet my face before I apply face. I would think as you're applying your agitating the lather with the water for a bit and and I generally don't have a problem with runny lather.
I sort of combine bowl lathering with face lathering. I keep my face wet while I'm whipping up the lather and when the lather is just right I start working the brush on my wet beard. I like the feel of a boar brush and I work the lather well into my beard with it. The water on the beard incorporates into and augments the lather and then I finish with brushing strokes to create a smooth layer. That brushing picks up the new lather that the swirling brush made around its edge and spreads it more or less evenly. When I rinse between passes I leave the water on my face and repeat the routine. This may work well because I add glycerin to the bowl when I start to build the lather and glycerin quickly absorbs and holds water. I haven't found that this routine produces runny lather. So I guess MLMV (My Lather May Vary).
i bowl lather, and apply to a dry face. but since i am doing this right after a shower, my face is still well hydrated.
I face lather and I find a wet face helps quite a bit. Face lathering on a dry face leads to a less than smooth shave for me. It seems like the lather starts to dry up or something.
Wet, wet, wet your face before lathering.
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