lathering up trouble

I recently (1 week ago) started using a proper brush and try making actual lather. I try building the lather on my hand but never seem to get it right.

When making lather, I first soak my brush in semi-warm water. After a couple of minutes I take it out and gently squeeze the excess water out (no shaking, just enough that it doesn't drip to much).
I twist the soaked brush around for 9 seconds on a soapbar with only the tip of the brush touching the soap.
Then I try making the lather on my wet hand.

Now the problem is that most of the time I have to repeat this ritual three times, the first two having all my soap disappear like running water. I don't do It any different from the describtion in the library and when I succeed, I'm never sure if I have proper lather.

Could you guys tell me how you make lather and what I might be doing wrong?

P.s. I use a glycerine-based soap bar.

I'll tell ya what. I struggled for months with my lather. For me it was the hardest part of wet shaving. You need to load your brush (swirl it on the soap) for longer. Shoot for a minute or so while learning. After loading try bringing the brush right to your face and building your lather on there while occasionally dipping the tips of the brush in water to get the right consistency. It takes a while to get the hang of it. Don't over do it on the water either...

YouTube lather making there are tons of videos that will be eye opening..

On top of that, you may want to try bowl lathering for a while until you get the hang of it, then move to palm lathering.

What soap are you using? It could be major factor as well. Some soaps just dont lather well.

I run the brush under hot water for about a minute. Shake out excess water (do not squeeze it out). I run the brush around the mug clock wise then press down a little to spread the bristles. Rotate it clockwise and counter clockwise to load it up while slowly releasing the pressure and raising the brush out of the mug. Now I have a brush full of hot lather and apply it to the face in small circles occasionally putting a small amount of water on the tip of the brush to help create moist lather.

I make my lather in a bowl.
Like Bouschie I load the brush by (after soaking in hot water for a minute) rotating it and whilst rotating releasing pressure.
i use a medium size bowl which I keep hot with the hottest water the faucet gives just up till the moment I come in with the brush. I quickly discard the hot water, which leaves me with a wet and hot bowl.
At first there;s always the big frothy bubbles, but after a while it always turns into a creamy lather. No mather what soap I use. Just dont give up quickly. There's a lot of differenece between the soaps.
I find Mitchell's Woolfat Soap give a lot of arge bubbles at first, and TOBS (the cream) turn almost immediately in a perfect thick lather.
Grating the soap can help, but I personally never really had to do this (except fot giving it a try).

Just keep at it. You'll get there eventually, I'm sure.
The path to creating the perfect lather is almost just as much fun as the way to perfect a straigh razor shave.

Remember, endure and have fun. It's not work, so enjoy the proces.

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Originally Posted by technonine

I recently (1 week ago) started using a proper brush and try making actual lather. I try building the lather on my hand but never seem to get it right.

When making lather, I first soak my brush in semi-warm water. After a couple of minutes I take it out and gently squeeze the excess water out (no shaking, just enough that it doesn't drip to much).try leaving it wetter
I twist the soaked brush around for 9 seconds on a soapbar with only the tip of the brush touching the soap.i usually count thenumber of swirls, lus use a little pressure, i also find that a bigger bowl makes it easier as you can get a decent spin on the brush, i go for about 50 swirls.
Then I try making the lather on my wet hand.use a bowl.

Now the problem is that most of the time I have to repeat this ritual three times, the first two having all my soap disappear like running water. I don't do It any different from the describtion in the library and when I succeed, I'm never sure if I have proper lather.use more soap on your brush in the first place and a little more action whisking it, think of whipping cream or egg whites

Could you guys tell me how you make lather and what I might be doing wrong?

P.s. I use a glycerine-based soap baris it shaving soap or hand soap, they are formulated differently as far as i know to produce different results..

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see comments in red

The best advice I found on how much soap was, "load the brush like you are mad at it." Never had a problem getting plenty of lather after that.

Many variables in play. First I'd consider Hard Water. This keeps soap from lathering, instead makes something called scum. It's easy to eliminate this variable by trying distilled water. Your brush, the motion you use to load, the amount of soap you gather into the brush, the bowl or mug having texture inside, or the amount of stubble if you face lather.
As a new shaver reducing these many options to doing the same thing, but changing ONE THING may help you figure out what is causing the problem. If you have several issues it will take you more experimenting. See if there is a video of someone making lather of your particular brand of soap.

You say you are using a glycerine based soap bar, is it a shaving soap?

Ed addressed most of your problems, if you read allthe tutorials , it takes time , but I know the library doesn't suggest bath soap for shaving. Tc

Thnx, I'll just start experimenting with attacking the soap. If more soap and youtube can't fix this then I'll look for different solutions. Also water here is 6,4 dH, which is relatively hard, yet also relatively soft depending on which site you are looking at (a site which sells water softeners and a site of an organisation who is responsible for the water) so maybe using distilled water or demi-water is a second solution.

--edit--
according to the most used scaling for water, mine is soft.
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Took me awhile, but not long. Every soap out there acts differently , even the brush you use.
My water is so hard,,, ya have to chew it before ya swallow it. But no problems making good lather with it.
Just practice and learning.
I started bowl lathering, but now I face lather.
Learning to load the brush properly was my biggest problem I found out.
A very easy soap for me.(the one I learned from the quickest) was Vanderhagen luxery soap( green box) and reasonably cheap. If you want to challenge yourself, try Green Mountain or Williams mug soap, their the most difficult that Ive used at this point, but their both excellent soaps. JMHO

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Originally Posted by technonine

Thnx, I'll just start experimenting with attacking the soap. If more soap and youtube can't fix this then I'll look for different solutions. Also water here is 6,4 dH, which is relatively hard, yet also relatively soft depending on which site you are looking at (a site which sells water softeners and a site of an organisation who is responsible for the water) so maybe using distilled water or demi-water is a second solution.

--edit--
according to the most used scaling for water, mine is soft.
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Maybe I missed your answer, What soap are you using? Is it a proper shaving soap? Alternatively is it a face or body bar soap? Unless it's a shaving soap, you're going to have trouble. They are made differently than hand, body or face soaps.

Hope it wasn't a stupid question. But have seen very few "bars" of shaving soap.

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Originally Posted by dmnc

Hope it wasn't a stupid question. But have seen very few "bars" of shaving soap.

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Originally Posted by Haroldg48

Maybe I missed your answer, What soap are you using? Is it a proper shaving soap? Alternatively is it a face or body bar soap? Unless it's a shaving soap, you're going to have trouble. They are made differently than hand, body or face soaps.

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I started out with a soap BAR you'd use for washing your hands, because when I first started all this, I read somewhere you could use a normal bar of soap or even shampoo as a replacement for shaving gell (the canned stuff). Also I went to the city today and found that the supermarket had shaving soap (including a plastic container to function as mug) from "De vergulde hand". I'll try this one out.

on the matter of technique, they say you need to swirl around for 30 seconds with above mentioned shaving soap. after which you can start building lather.

You can use a bar of hand soap, you can also eat bugs, but a good steak is much nicer. If you're doing multiple passes and bowl lathering would go for a minute to start with just to be sure. Not tried that soap, but any real shaving soap will be a huge improvement.

Also a drop of water on the soap while brush soaks helps soften the surface for easier loading.

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Originally Posted by technonine

I started out with a soap BAR you'd use for washing your hands, because when I first started all this, I read somewhere you could use a normal bar of soap or even shampoo as a replacement for shaving gell (the canned stuff). Also I went to the city today and found that the supermarket had shaving soap (including a plastic container to function as mug) from "De vergulde hand". I'll try this one out.

on the matter of technique, they say you need to swirl around for 30 seconds with above mentioned shaving soap. after which you can start building lather.

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Using a bar of bath soap is not a good substitute for a real shave soap, as you have found out. Yes, it can be done but it is a desperation move when you have nothing else and it does not make for a pleasant shave. Two different products meant and formulated for two different purposes.

The DE Vergulde Hand shave you picked up should be very good shave soap if it is anything like the Ver Guldehand shave stick soap I have. It should do the job nicely.

Here is a vid on how to make a lather with shave soap. I have found his series of vids very helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zESTQWDuw

Try practice lathering without shaving to get the hang of it. Good luck.

Bob

All I do is wet the brush, pick up the bowl with soap in it. I wisk the soap with the brush (best analogy I got). After about 10 seconds I have a pretty good lather. Only tricks I found is don't use too much pressure and use plenty of water.

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Originally Posted by BobH

Using a bar of bath soap is not a good substitute for a real shave soap, as you have found out. Yes, it can be done but it is a desperation move when you have nothing else and it does not make for a pleasant shave. Two different products meant and formulated for two different purposes.

The DE Vergulde Hand shave you picked up should be very good shave soap if it is anything like the Ver Guldehand shave stick soap I have. It should do the job nicely.

Here is a vid on how to make a lather with shave soap. I have found his series of vids very helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zESTQWDuw

Try practice lathering without shaving to get the hang of it. Good luck.

Bob

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Thnx, Ill try using this tutorial as example next time, So now for an update:

I did use the shaving soap, copying this guy who is judging it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkH-TMDdam4

I did get a somewhat good lather, seeing your tutorial it seems I had beginners luck as mine was just right, not to sticky or foamy.
I also tried using my handsoap using the same technique on my arm and built what Id consider a pretty decent lather. The lather made with handsoap is a little thinner, but in my case it leaves more of a protective, lubricating layer so so far I find it shave a little nicer. Maybe tomorrow when my face has recovered (seems like I might have a small razor burn with the shaving soap lather) Ill practice lathering and will experiment with it in more debt.

Thnx for all the help, you guys are amazing.

As mentioned before, maybe try a cream. Proraso is good and inexpensive. They tend to be easier. Or an ueberlather using soap and cream. Palm olive cream is available in many supermarkets round me and is also a decent cream.

Cream or soap can both work well with the right temperature range. Everybody that likes hot lather hasn't said just how hot the water is that they use. Almost all soaps/creams do not react well to hot, hot water. Kills the lather. Working with lukewarm water if you like "hot" lather or cold water for room temperature lather can work better for you. I am a cold water shaver. That means water temperature anywhere from lukewarm to cold and I have always had abundant lather, including the oft decried Williams.

I have never met a soap I could not lather. I even lathered Lava pumice bar soap for the fun of it.
Here's how I do it.

I shake out my brush pretty dry and load like mad for 30 sec to a full min. I then smear the pasty soap on my face. It goes on thick, sometimes I need to dip the brush tips in water to get it to spread on my face right. After my face is loaded with soap I dip my brush tips and work the wet brush into the soap paste on my face repeating the water dip until I get a good lather. It takes at most 2 min.

I've done it with bar soap, tallow soap, preshave soap, hotel room bars, even Lava bar soap. I've even done it with new Williams.

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Originally Posted by DduckyMark

I have never met a soap I could not lather. I even lathered Lava pumice bar soap for the fun of it.
Here's how I do it.

I shake out my brush pretty dry and load like mad for 30 sec to a full min. I then smear the pasty soap on my face. It goes on thick, sometimes I need to dip the brush tips in water to get it to spread on my face right. After my face is loaded with soap I dip my brush tips and work the wet brush into the soap paste on my face repeating the water dip until I get a good lather. It takes at most 2 min.

I've done it with bar soap, tallow soap, preshave soap, hotel room bars, even Lava bar soap. I've even done it with new Williams.

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That lava soap has to be h&!! On the razor, but should have a great exfoliation to it. [emoji23]

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Originally Posted by outback

That lava soap has to be h&!! On the razor, but should have a great exfoliation to it. [emoji23]

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I never touched a razor to it. It started out as a joke. That was one of the only soaps I bowl lathered. I was afraid I would exfoliate into meat. I work my brush on my face a lot. I have a picture of it somewhere.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36...151206_006.jpg
And Williams too
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36...151206_005.jpg
both pictures were 15 min after I made the lather. I have one with Proraso too as a control but no one needs to see a Proraso lather.

Latest update:lather problems seem solved, thnx to the many tutorials and the buying of a bowl (cleans easier, used a hand and cheek for reference) I now have an infinite realm of possibilities to experiment in.

A basic succes line for face lathering seems to be loading up for roughly 30 (or more) seconds with a wet brush and spread on face, drip adding water until ready.

For bowl lathering its easiest to use a damp brush (not wet) load it aaggressively for 30 (or more seconds and spread in a bowl, again drip adding water and clopping it like an egg.

Thnx to everyone for the help, now I can finally start on my lathering journey ^^/

I've been having lather issues on and off my whole wetshaving career. I've always been disappointed with MWF, and decided last night I was going to figure it out. I have very hard water, but read threads that said MWF performs in the hardest waters just fine. Well it took some time, and two attempts at loading the brush. Finally figured out the main reason all my lathers were failing. 1) not enough water 2) not building them long enough. Here's my results.

Attachment 221956

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Originally Posted by DduckyMark

I never touched a razor to it. It started out as a joke. That was one of the only soaps I bowl lathered. I was afraid I would exfoliate into meat. I work my brush on my face a lot. I have a picture of it somewhere.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36...151206_006.jpg
And Williams too
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y36...151206_005.jpg
both pictures were 15 min after I made the lather. I have one with Proraso too as a control but no one needs to see a Proraso lather.

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I new you wouldn't shave with it.
Was in a rare mood and made the comment.
I just couldn't help myself.[emoji5]
Have a great christmas as well.

scrubs all the hair off my knuckles!

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Originally Posted by outback

That lava soap has to be h&!! On the razor, but should have a great exfoliation to it. [emoji23]

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