Thread: I'm doing something wrong!

Originally Posted by GeauxLSU

Come on, guys! I was making a bit of a sarcastic joke! I'm not bleeding, so something must be wrong! Jordan, you got it, I think.

eeeehr.. mist the joke... did like the lathering tips though...

When I first started I hated face lathering. I could never get it right. But now that I have good porcelin scuttle, good soap, and good everyting I feel like it would be a shame to have to use my plastic shave bowl. So I started to face lather and now i love it. For me it feels like the way it was ment to be, but it is sometimes a little difficult to get the right amount of water into the lather.
I think I just need more practice.

Originally Posted by mlangstr

eeeehr.. mist the joke... did like the lathering tips though...

I'm glad for the tips, too. Thanks, everyone! I plan to try some of them today.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Building a proper lather is a three step process. The step I think your missing is the hydration step.

You build lather by:

1) Charging the brush

2) Building the lather

3) Hydrating the lather

After, and I stress after the lather is built up and created you need to add more water to the lather to hydrate it. If you try to do this first it won't hold the water well enough.

So, try adding water after you've created a good lather. Take the hydration to the point of nearly breaking down the lather with too much water.

The usual mistake is thinking that getting the water ratio for the lather right is something done when you are building up the lather.

Very well put! I whip up my lather and it looks great, but it feels too thick to my brush. I add about a tsp of hot water to the lather and whip it. If the lather gets a slick, creamy feel to it, it's ready, otherwise, I add another tsp of hot water and repeat if necessary.

Sorry, Nick, I won't be tossing my mug down the street; I paid $2 for it! I was a face latherer for many years, but now prefer to build my lather in a mug. I do like to spend a lot of time working the lather into my beard though.

Likewise, I'll keep my Rooney silvertip brush.

We all have different faces and beards and there is more than one way to shave the cat. Many people prefer face lathering and many prefer to use a mug. After investing $2, I just have to use that mug.

Whether you bowl or face lather you might try putting a few drops of lotion or moisturizer in the soap/creme. I have found that if I put a few drops of my wife's leg creme in my shaving bowl right on top of the soap it will make a longer lasting lather. It will be slicker or smoother while you are shaving too.

If the lather dries out on your face, it may be that your face is too dry at the start. Do you wash your face before shaving, either in the shower or otherwise? Washing the face with soap and water removes some of the oil from the skin and hare, allowing for better hydration of both.

If you do wash your face before shaving, do you dry it with a towel before applying the lather? This of course removes considerable moisture.

Finally, there are some soaps that just tend to dry out quickly, no matter how much you hydrate, what soap/creme are you using?

Originally Posted by Raudrive

Whether you bowl or face lather you might try putting a few drops of lotion or moisturizer in the soap/creme. I have found that if I put a few drops of my wife's leg creme in my shaving bowl right on top of the soap it will make a longer lasting lather. It will be slicker or smoother while you are shaving too.

I recently bought a number of soaps at a community fair type thing. One of the soaps was a goats milk soap. I grated each of these soaps so that I could mould them into the shape of my scuttle. But the goats milk soap was too hard to be easily squashed into the mould. So to fix this I mixed it with some palmolive moisturising cream and them moulding the soap into the scuttle. I am hoping that it will lather well, but I have yet to try it out.