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What's the Deal with Lather?

I face lather to get a good slick surface. I never understood the need to keep whipping up the cream to get a pile of lather. I usually wipe excess lather off so I can see my face better anyway. What am I missing?
 
You're not missing anything as long as you get a good, close, slick shave. The only part of the lather which has any real effect on the shave is that which is at most a few millimeters above the surface of your face..

Apparently advertisers found at some point that pictures with huge mounds of lather sold product, but that has no effect on shave quality.
 
I've heard it referred to as "lather porn" here. While it looks impressive, I'm happy with the lather I get from face lathering. As long as I don't see any flesh underneath the lather, I'm good with it.
 
Have you been looking at the lather porn thread too? I made a lather like that this morning. It looked great and felt nice but I'm not convinced it performed any better than the unimpressive-looking lathers I usually make. It reminded me a lot of soft serve ice cream so I've been wanting some of that all day.
 
Have you been looking at the lather porn thread too? I made a lather like that this morning. It looked great and felt nice but I'm not convinced it performed any better than the unimpressive-looking lathers I usually make. It reminded me a lot of soft serve ice cream so I've been wanting some of that all day.

Thanks a bunch, now you've got me craving soft serve ice cream.
 
When I was done shaving a few days ago, I told my wife to look. When she looked, I squeezed the excees lather out of my shaving brush. She said it seemed wasteful. I told her it was maybe a fraction of a cent. But anyway, too much lather is indeed wasteful. I just need enough to get the job done.

But maybe just once I'd like to whip up a bowl of heaping soft service ice cream....i mean lather. Now, I want some soft serve too. With chocolate sauce.
 
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What is the deal with lather?
 
As has already been said, you don't need a huge pile of lather. What does seem to be important is to get as much water mixed in with the cream/soap as possible without it being runny.

If what you are doing is providing you with a comfortable shave then you are doing it correctly.
 
I think I'm with you pal. Once I face lather, I use paint brush strokes to apply a thin layer of dense lather. That suits me just fine.
 
I made this tonight! ten minutes later and it's still standing there. no real purpose, I suppose. it's just as easy to shave with the two minute face lather.

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Face latherer here. As long as I can get what looks like a yoghurt like coating on my face and neck then it is fine.

Right now I am 3017'ing a puck of Tabac and so loading up the brush aggressively each morning gives me enough lather in the brush for a two or three pass shave without any need for any fancy lather making. :)
 
I like to use a lot of lather. Mainly for the fact that my soap would never be finished in a thousand years if I was super conservative with it, and I'm always looking forward to trying a new soap!
 
I used my broken in old Burma boar brush this morning and face lathered with a little bit of that bigelow cream this morning. it looked nothing like that last picture but worked great. whatever works!
 
Be sure to really load the brush for at least 30 seconds. Apply the lather, then add drops of water to the brush and relather 3-4 times. You'll get a deep slick lather that'll last 3-4 passes. I have better results with tallow based soaps.
 
I use an Omega 48 boar brush and Proraso white soap. I bowl lather and never get a huge, whipped cream mug full. Most of the lather stays within the brush. I easily have enough lather for 3, sometimes 4, passes. I used to be concerned because my bowl wasn't overflowing, but now I don't care because the lather on my face is slick and doesn't break down. IMHO, a huge mug of lather is a waste of soap.

Cheers!
K
 
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