Thread: Trouble keeping my face wet during shaving.

Silly question most likely, but I cant seem to keep a good wet lather going on my entire beard while Im shaving. Would it ruin the beard prep if I just lathered up a section at a time? Or should I just re wet at the start of every section?

i rinse my face with hot water between every pass. keeps the skin warm and the lather slick. when you first start there is nothing wrong with lathering only portions of your face and taking a little extra time, but it is important to keep the skin warm or the pores will close which can cause irritation depending on your skin.

just make sure you don't rush through the shave because things are starting to dry up.

There's a deeper issue here. You should fix the root cause rather than figure out a workaround (lathering portions at a time). Something is wrong with the consistency of your lather. Are you using soap or cream? What brush? Face lathering or bowl? Does your area have hard water?

I use a bowl, with Col. Conk Bay Rum soap. As for the brush its a pure, not super or anything like that, just getting the baseline materials for now. And as for the hard water goes, Im in Iraq right now so I should say the water is pretty harsh.

Originally Posted by SneeveeBee

I use a bowl, with Col. Conk Bay Rum soap. As for the brush its a pure, not super or anything like that, just getting the baseline materials for now. And as for the hard water goes, Im in Iraq right now so I should say the water is pretty harsh.

Try loading up more soap with a slightly drier brush and then adding water until it is very slick and creamy looking. My guess is that you aren't using enough soap. It's a very common problem people have with soaps, I think it's especially bad with hard water (as I have). If I don't use enough soap, my lather dries out very fast. I had this problem for a while. But with enough soap, and the proper amount of water, my lather now lasts for several minutes, at least (never tried much longer!)

Try the suggestions I had here and get back to us! This post was for face lathering, which you can try, but even for bowl lathering, the important part is loading up a ton of soap with a relatively dry brush, then adding water as you go. Over time you can reduce the amount of soap as you get used to what it takes to make the proper amount of lather for you. When I bowl lather I do everything the same as face, only instead of my face, it's a bowl Another tip that helped me is to make practice lathers. It may seem like a waste of soap and a waste of time, but it really does help. Do it when you aren't going to be shaving and you have plenty of time. Do it just for fun. Take the lather from obviously too dry (not enough water) to obviously too wet (sudsy and watery) and keep an eye on it throughout. When it is the creamiest and slickest, that's where you want it.

And as everyone says, you're lather will improve over time, no worries!

Originally Posted by SneeveeBee

Im in Iraq right now so I should say the water is pretty harsh.

Is it hard or soft though? The water here is REALLY hard because it passes through so many minerals, I would imagine the water in iraq to be quite soft, but I guess it depends on where you are and the water source.

If your lather is drying up, then relather, even if you're doing something a little 'wrong' if you're drying up then you need to relather. Over time you will figure out what's right for you, probably just by chance.

There is NO rule that says your lather, after only one application, must remain moist and shaveable throughout an entire shave, and there is NO shame in relathering areas that are drying out. I think some people figure that with a nice brush and a good soap you will get some magical lather that never dries out. This is simply not the case. Often technique is blamed for lather drying out; sometimes this is true, especially if your lather is gone within a couple minutes. Usually environmental factors are at play - dry air, water quality etc. If you find your lather is drying up on certain areas of the face just take the 10 seconds and "freshen" it up a bit and you're good to go.

Originally Posted by SneeveeBee

I use a bowl, with Col. Conk Bay Rum soap. As for the brush its a pure, not super or anything like that, just getting the baseline materials for now. And as for the hard water goes, Im in Iraq right now so I should say the water is pretty harsh.

I use Col. Conk as well, with a pure badger brush (not best or super). My first few "lathers" were runny, and would dry up on my skin. I dialed back the water big time, now Col. Conk lathers up rich and creamy, and stays on my face without drying up. Here's my routine:

Note, I use Col Conk puck in a the bottom of a mug. I lather up on top of the puck in this mug (I don't use a separate lather bowl)

1) Put my brush in a different mug (without the puck) in really hot water
2) Put about 1 teaspoon of hot water on top of the Col Conk puck in the lather mug
3) Take a shower
4) Strop
5) Take out the brush, and *squeeze* all of the water out of it (but I don't shake it out)
6) Work the brush into the puck really good, then start to whip it up. In a few minutes I have a good amount of rich creamy later
7) After the first pass, rinse face in hot water
8) Dribble just a bit of hot water on the brush (warms up the lather), and whip up just a bit more lather for the next pass

Happy shaving,

Chief

Thanks for all the great tips. I took everything in, and tried some things on my last shave. Still a little aprehenive about doing my neck with the razor. Not quite there yet, dont think Ive got the technique for that area yet. I started to lather in sections today, but even that seemed to dry out. So I scratched that lather and tried again. I think Ive almost got the lather where I want it. Whipped cream consistency like some of you said. Worked like a charm. But I know the drill, practice practice practice.

Do you find that the lather has a drying/tightening affect on your skin?
If so, try keeping your whole face wet with water while applying lather to just the area you are about to shave.
If the lather doesn't have a drying effect, just keep reapplying it.

You will probably find the problem goes away as you get better at making the lather and shave a bit quicker. I'm a painfully slow shaver but I don't have this problem any more. Good lather lasts a remarkably long time. Once the mix has enough substance it seems to form a barrier that stops it from drying out.