Thread: Lathering issue

Hey Guys,

I've tried a few shaves now with my SR and I must say while it is very smooth ( even just WTG ) I'm still terrible at it
One thing however I've noticed is that I might be lathering wrong.

I bought some Edwin Jagger shaving soap and a badger brush.
I work up the lather in a simple bowl ( nothing fancy ) and I think I get some nice suds. ( although not very much )

As part of the exercise I'm just shaving my dominant hand side with the SR and finishing up with my old cartridge razor.
What I've noticed doing that is that the lather that I have on my face doesnt work with the cartridge razor, it just doesnt glide.
When I use the old "out of the can"-gel my old one glides like nothing.

I'm almost at the point that I wanna commit blasphemy and try shaving with a SR but with the canned shaving gel.

Anybody got an idea what I might be doing wrong? Bad soap? Bad "working up" technique? or something completely else?
Any help is welcome cause its annoying the crap out of me.. somehow I doubt my SR shave is as smooth as can be with a lather that doesn't really help it glide..

Making the perfect lather is harder than you might think! It is rather sensitive to the amount of water added and in time you'll get a feeling for just how much is needed to get that perfect lather. My girlfriend's father uses a puck of Vergulde Hand soap and a cartridge razor (I'll never convert him ) and evidently it works for him.

A counter-intuitive thing is this: wetter lather tends to dry out faster, probably because it is thinner/contains less soap and bubbles. Have you tried watching some lathering videos? Just yesterday I shaved with Edwin Jagger lather from a puck and it lacked a bit of water, which made it harder for my razor to glide over my face. A small amount of water solved the problem and I finished comfortably.

An indication of how thick your lather should be is the tufts of lather standing upright from your brush. Once they get saggy, you are at or just past the right amount of water.

JMHO, YMMV, IME, ETC.

While everything about this sport/hobby is characterized by YMMV I don't hesitate to say that lathering with a puck/cream brush is superior to canned goo. I'm sure that is the general consensus among our membership. What soap or cream are you using ? What brush ?

I'd recommend watching some videos on lathering. I've had problems with lathering certain soaps to this day and I've been at it awhile. Your water can have a definite impact on the quality of your lather as well. If you have hard water it is that much more difficult and some guys go to bottled water in that case.

I let water sit on the puck for five minutes and then dump it into the lather bowl. Shake out the excess water from my brush, load and lather in the bowl. I've had better luck with bowl lathering than with face lathering but here again, YMMV.

Originally Posted by dirkr

Hey Guys,

I've tried a few shaves now with my SR and I must say while it is very smooth ( even just WTG ) I'm still terrible at it
One thing however I've noticed is that I might be lathering wrong.

I bought some Edwin Jagger shaving soap and a badger brush.
I work up the lather in a simple bowl ( nothing fancy ) and I think I get some nice suds. ( although not very much )

As part of the exercise I'm just shaving my dominant hand side with the SR and finishing up with my old cartridge razor.
What I've noticed doing that is that the lather that I have on my face doesnt work with the cartridge razor, it just doesnt glide.
When I use the old "out of the can"-gel my old one glides like nothing.

I'm almost at the point that I wanna commit blasphemy and try shaving with a SR but with the canned shaving gel.

Anybody got an idea what I might be doing wrong? Bad soap? Bad "working up" technique? or something completely else?
Any help is welcome cause its annoying the crap out of me.. somehow I doubt my SR shave is as smooth as can be with a lather that doesn't really help it glide..

Sounds a little dry to me. What kind of consistency are you getting out of it?

In my opinion (and this is MY opinion only) use that EJ puck to shower with and move on to DR Harris. I could NOT for the life of me get a decent lather out of EJ. Yeah, you'd get a lather but it always seemed weak and slightly dry. Then I'd add a dribble of water and the whole thing would fall apart. I live in the Chicago area so I don't have water issues. Bu EJ just did not do it for me. I finally gave up on it but I really liked the scent. My advice is to try again with another soap. My overall preference is DR Harris. It lathers nicely and gives a good protective cushion. Or if you want bang for the buck, try a stick of Arko ($2) or a tube or Proraso ($10). All of these deliver a lather that far outperforms any canned garbage. EJ though? I couldn't make any use of it.

Watching some good videos is helpful. But, one thing to remember. They always make it look easier than it actually is, just like the honing videos. You think you are doing the exact same thing and wallaah; not the same results.

So, think of the video as a starting place only. For me, the difference was starting out a bit drier and gradually adding a little water at a time and putting MUSCLE into the brush when building up the lather. Fast circles or movements if done lightly are usually are a waste of energy but when you put a little downward force into the picture then the lather seems to magically come out- just like the videos.

A good lather should work equally well with any type razor so I suspect your lather is not up to par. Try swirling your brush in the water, give it a few shakes to get rid of the excess water. Then take your semi dry brush and load the soap onto your brush for a minute or longer, you are not creating lather at this point just loading the brush. Dip just the tips of the brush in water, a quick flick to get rid of the excess water and load some more. Once the brush is loaded go to your bowl and start building the lather adding water a bit at a time by dipping the brush tips in water till you get the lather you want. Try practicing working up a lather till you get it reasonable. Yea, lathering is not as easy as it looks.

Bob

Make sure you're loading your brush enough. I have both sea buckthorn and limes and pom by EJ. I put some water on top of the puck to soften it overnight so that I can load my brush really well.

It’s probably your water, try some bottled water.

Doesn’t matter that you live in a city, it’s where the water comes from. I live in Orange County, California and our water comes from an aquifer, it is very hard water. Glycerin will make lather even with hard water, 2-3 drops.

What I would do is practice making lather . Start with a very wet brush and put a little pressure on the soap as you initially twirl for a few seconds then let up on the pressure and continue twirling for 30 seconds or so. if that doesn't work play with the water amount until you get it right.

if you have a quality soap and don't have hard water issues, lather problems are usually traced back to the amount of water used.