Thread: And then I peeled my face off.

Ok the best way I can describe it is your lather should take on a shiny/glossy look and be the consistency of egg whites beaten to make a merang, you know when these TV chefs hold the bowl upside down over their heads and it stays in the bowl.
I still believe the best way is to practice mixing up a lather adding more and more water but between the addition of water really work the lather in your bowl gathering the excess from around the rim and incorporating it back into the lather at the bottom of the bowl. I still do this with each new soap/cream I get to give me an idea as to how thirsty the soap is
Just rereading your comments, if it's taking you over an hour to complete a shave, and there's nothing wrong with that at the stage your at, the lather will definitely dry on your skin before you get to it. I'd do as others have recommended and lather a small section of your face at a time.
When you apply the lather you should be able to get it to at least 1/4" thick by painting it on and as you shave the lather should roll into the body of the blade without dropping off.
Just keep practicing and you'll soon be producing perfect lather every time.

Yes, it feels to me like I beat the lather out of the brush against the sides of the bowl (whack whack whack), then gently swirl/work that lather back into the tips of the brush. Repeat, repeat, adding water a needed, until it's like Anthony1954's description.

A huge +1 to having some music on. For me classical is great...Requiem by Mozart seems to really get me in a good state of zen. Of course I also enjoy newer orchestra pieces like the Hannibal soundtrack by Zimmer.

And alum is a fantastic incentive not to cut yourself! LOL

Originally Posted by ariwhiteboy

A huge +1 to having some music on. For me classical is great...Requiem by Mozart seems to really get me in a good state of zen. Of course I also enjoy newer orchestra pieces like the Hannibal soundtrack by Zimmer.

And alum is a fantastic incentive not to cut yourself! LOL

I definitely feel you on the classical, I go there or to newer instrumental arrangements quite often. But lately have really been loving the electro swing stuff it's just fun and enjoyable.

Shaving meringue.... got it. Or i thought i did. After a frustrating pass one i washed my lather away and made more. Second time was much better. First time it had the soft peak thing going on but was Foamy, where second time i added less water and stayed at meringue but creamy if that make sense. Hmmm do i want my lather creamy or foamy. Not a question i would have thought i would ever ask a month ago. Also shaving meringue? Based on how things felt on my second pass (both were WTG today) it is a great description. I will have to really focus on getting that same consistency with my lather again next time.

On a related note, put a tiny little nick in my strop today its towards the end so shouldn't be a big issue. Oh well, time to get through another day while waiting to shave again.

Originally Posted by WildeTee

Shaving meringue.... got it. Or i thought i did. After a frustrating pass one i washed my lather away and made more. Second time was much better. First time it had the soft peak thing going on but was Foamy, where second time i added less water and stayed at meringue but creamy if that make sense. Hmmm do i want my lather creamy or foamy. Not a question i would have thought i would ever ask a month ago. Also shaving meringue? Based on how things felt on my second pass (both were WTG today) it is a great description. I will have to really focus on getting that same consistency with my lather again next time.

On a related note, put a tiny little nick in my strop today its towards the end so shouldn't be a big issue. Oh well, time to get through another day while waiting to shave again.

You definitely want creamy, foamy offers little protection and glide. You should not be able to see any bubbles, if you can it requires more mixing until you get to the creamy stage. Sounds like you're nearly there.
The nick in your strop, either glue the flap down or lightly sand it out. If you sand use wet and dry but use it dry, it sheds less grit. Make sure you leave no grit on your strop. Alternatively if it doesn't interfere with your stroping just leave it.

Oops forgot to post after yesterday's shave. So wasn't able to shave directly from the shower last night so tried washing with hot water and applying hot face cloth for about 2 min. I definitely prefer the shave direct from shower. I has some strange issues with lather but I feel I'm maybe thinking too hard about it and need to just trust and go with it. Half way through I rinsed away the proraso and whipped up some William s

Originally Posted by WildeTee

Oops forgot to post after yesterday's shave. So wasn't able to shave directly from the shower last night so tried washing with hot water and applying hot face cloth for about 2 min. I definitely prefer the shave direct from shower. I has some strange issues with lather but I feel I'm maybe thinking too hard about it and need to just trust and go with it. Half way through I rinsed away the proraso and whipped up some William s

Well, that was half of a post if I ever posted one. Anyway what I was saying was rinsed away the proraso, just wasn't happy with it and took a few minutes and worked up some very nice smooth lather with the Williams mug soap. I have been using the Proraso cream but am thinking I may pick it up in soap form and see if I have better luck with it that way. The rest of the Shave was much more comfortable with the better lather. I got a little carried away and did 3 passes on my right cheek and sideburn, and 2 everywhere else.

You know all those posts about don't get overconfident in the 5-10 shave range... yeah.... one small cut, but by far the worst I have had to date. So I think for the next few shaves I am going to go back to probably 2 passes both WTG and really focus on beard direction and good pre-shave prep including nice creamy lather. Really go back to the basics of a shave. Things have been going incredibly well but I can feel I'm at the point where I am pushing myself, so time to take a step back and put the Fun back in Fundamentals.

I am heading out of country for a week this weekend, and thinking I will just take a new single blade disposable the arko and my brush. Of course I may just take a week off from shaving all together and then have an amazing shave when I get back.

I'd certainly recommend the latter!

Oh, so that's what shaving feels like.

Last nights shave was rather lacking not sure why, so today i decided I was just going to slow down and really really focus on each step as i went through it. Nice hot shower, face wash with glycerin based soap, then added shave oil to still wet face out of the shower. So far so good. Then came the lather... oh my goodness the lather. So as said before i am using the proraso cream and even with the shaving meringue description still having issues with it drying out, not just on my face (due to shaving relatively slow) but also in the bowl. So last night i decided to see just how much water i could add before I couldn't work it back into a nice smooth creamy lather, and wow can it take a lot before it goes Foamy and stops holding together. So today's lather was probably the best lather I have shaved with, and I'm sure it could be better. As i am sure you all know having good lather makes for a great shave. Not sure what happened but sliced my strop again today...... this one a little less out of the way... oh well that's why i started with rather inexpensive strops... yup plural haha. Anyway the actual shave went great, probably the smoothest most comfortable shave yet, with the exception of the little slice under the right jaw (oops don't re-stretch the skin with the blade resting on it maybe?) definitely still having a tough time with the chin area but that will come with time and practice. I did get a little obsesive about my chin a bit really really wanting to figure out a grip, angle, and stretch that would work for the area, and the alum let me know hahaha. Anyway all in all that was a Great shave things really came together tonight.