Different options?
There are different techniques available to the wet shaver to load their
brushes and to make some
lather. Keep in mind that you might have a preference on the technique that you might use (
YMMV).
Loading the brush/Using the product
This section documents different techniques to load the
shaving brush. There are no right/wrong methods, if you have enough product, you will be able to produce enough lather for your shave. From there, you can either proceed to face lather, continue to build the lather on the
shaving soap/cream (uses a lot of product) or use a bowl (bowl lathering).
Directly on the brush
Loading directly in a tub of shaving cream
This must be the most common way to load a shaving brush. The wet shaver would load the brush directly on top of the shaving soap or
shaving cream.
Directly on the area to be shaved (for face lathering)
Applying the shaving cream Spreading the shaving cream
A shaving stick is normally used as applying the product on the area where the lather is desired. The wet shaver would then proceed to building the lather. For this technique, you can use a shaving stick or shaving cream.
Fist Bowl
Using your fist as a bowl
Using a shaving stick, you can load your brush using the Fist Bowl technique.
Building the Lather
Depending on the method, there are advantages and inconveniences on using one method versus another. As an example, face lathering will most likely result in cold lather in the second or third pass. A
Scuttle could be used to fix this issue.
Bowl Lathering
This method to produce lather must be the most common method. It consist of using a bowl, large cappuccino mug or small cereal bowl to create the lather. Using a
Scuttle would be similar to bowl lathering. The advantages of using this technique would be to have a better control on the temperature of the lather. Also, it is very easy to create multiple batches of lather to practice the lather or
test a product before your next shave.
Face Lathering
When a wet shaver face lather (or leg lather), it would be the action of creating the lather directly on the area to be shaved. The advantage or using this method would be to have a better feeling of the product. This allows the wet shaver to know when the lather is ready by seeing it and feeling it. The
main disadvantage would be that the lather can be cold quickly.
Hand Lathering
The action of hand lathering is for the wet shaver to create some lather using their hand as a bowl. The advantage of hand lathering would be similar to Face Lathering. The main inconvenience would be an unusable hand during the shave as it will contain the lather for the shave.