Thread: Making Lather

That sounds like a great idea....thanks!

Just an FYI, you can only melt glycerine based soaps. A lot of the home made soaps (and some cheaper ones, ie col conk or vdh from walmart) are glycerine based and you can melt them into whatever bowls you want. (Just be careful when removing from the microwave, they melt fast, and literally melt, so don't spill them everywhere when you grab em!)

But don't try to melt triple milled or tallow based soaps, it will ruin them! If you want to get these types of soaps into a bowl, you can use a cheese grater to grate the soap, then pack it into the bowl tightly with your hands.

As others have said, there is no one right way to lather. I actually use different techniques for different soaps.

I have found the method described on ClassicShaving's website to be very effective on some of the softer glycerin soaps like Col Conks. I've copied and pasted it here:

To begin, run the hot water until it gets as hot as possible. Hold your brush perpendicular to the stream of water, rotating it slowly, making sure to fully saturate the brush hair. This will become evident to you by the increased weight of the brush when fully saturated. Once warmed and loaded with all of the water it can hold, remove it from the stream of water and hold the brush “bristles downward” over the sink. Do not shake, tap, flick or otherwise cause it to drop the water. Allow it to drain only the excess water which the bristles are unable to hold. When the steady stream has stopped draining and all that remains is an intermittent drip, move to the soap cake in your mug. Again, be careful not to move too vigorously so that you will drop all of the water from the brush. Swirl about on top of the soap cake using only the tips of the bristles, without pressing down on the brush. Your purpose here is to load the tips of the bristles with soap, not to generate lather in the mug. When you see a lather beginning to develop in the mug it’s a good sign that you have plenty of soap loaded onto the brush. Now for the good part!

At this point your face should still be wet and your brush should be warm and loaded with water and soap. Move the brush to your face and begin a slow deliberate circular motion allowing only the bristle tips to contact the face. Continue the circular motion over the entire area to be shaved. Time spent building lather on your face is time well spent – two minutes is generally about right. Doing so will allow the bristle tips to work the lather deeply into the skin pores and hair follicles providing superior lubrication and protection from the blade, and allowing the moisturizing properties of the soap to work on your skin. It is not necessary to build your lather into mountains that resemble meringue or whipped cream. Remember that any lather not in contact with your beard or skin is useless. What you want is a uniform blanket of lather thick enough that you can't see through it. After sufficient lather is generated you may use the brush in a paintbrush fashion to even out the depth and insure complete coverage. Once finished, don’t rinse your brush – You’ll need it again later. Rest it in the mug to await its next use.


How-To and Why -

The emphasis here is on slow and deliberate circles with the brush, as opposed to the wild and fast egg whisking motions that are shown all over. I haven't had much luck with this method when I'm using a soap that really need to load a LOT of soap on. I have adopted the slow and deliberate motions and found that they make a huge difference. Or course it makes the whole process take a little longer, but also more enjoyable because it makes it seem less frantic. It does to me anyways.

Ahhh... that must mean I have a glycerine based soap. I'm so new I had no idea what I was using, it just works and I love the sent. The grating idea is cool. I'll try it when/if I use milled soap. For now I really like the smell and even use it to wash my face at night becuase it tingles and feels really cool. Heck, if my wife likes the smell of it...so I might just buy a case for dog-house-days.

Usually glycerin are the clearish kind of soap. Triple milled and tallow are the white opaque ones-they look more like everyday soaps like Dove and such