Quote Originally Posted by ratchet View Post

General consensus seems to be I'm drying the brush way too much by wringing it out, so I'll stop that.


I've watched a lot of the instructional videos out there, and I wasn't picking up anything new so I thought it was time to bring it up with the experts.
You can load a dry/damp brush with soap if you load for a bit add a bit more water and load a bit more before moving to a bowl or your face. Once at the bowl or face you have to work up the lather adding a bit of water at a time till you get the lather you want.

Using mostly synthetic brushes that is the way I have to do it or have water and soap running out of the brush onto my hands. Generally I can load enough soap to get 4 good lathers for a 4 pass shave. I use a similarly dry/damp brush method with boars and badgers too. It is a matter of having enough soap loaded and then adding enough water to get a good lather.

Some visual cues that help me determine if the lather is good to go are when the rich thick lather leaves peaks when you pull the brush away and generally the lather will get a slight sheen/opalescence to it.

Bob