Lather vanishing problem

Hello everybody!
I've been reading quite a while this forum and wiki and would like to thank you all because you have helped me a lot starting shaving with straights.

My biggest problem at the moment is lathering I hope you can help me with that too. Or actually I think that the lathering is not a problem but after I have lathered my col. conk's soap in a bowl it starts quite soon to vanish from my face and from bowl also. I'm not able to put so much lather on my face that there would still be something left before I'm finished shaving.

I'm not sure what is happening to lather but it seems to be drying up. But adding water doesn't seem to help. Lather is not stable how mother how much water I add. And I'm pretty sure that I have also dried lather which is too dry. I'm pretty much out of ideas with this. Does anyone have any ideas what I could be doing wrong?

I do not recall Col Conk soap being one of the better latherers out there, but what I do is put hot water onto the soap and soak the brush. Then I squeeze out all the water from the brush. I use pressure to gather up lots of soap and then add a little water until I get an explosion of self supporting lather. I think your not getting the right amount of soap, mixed in with the right amount of water. Then I think you might also not be airing it up right with the brush.

For me the entire affair is a little violent. Try being a little more forceful about the whole thing.

Hey Smark,
I have used Col. Conk, in the past and there are a couple things i think you can do to improve the lifespan of your lather...
If ya think you have the soap/water ratios worked out, then as mentioned soaking your brush works well, adding glycerine really helps as well as possibly using filtered water...maybe there is something in your water that is reacting with the soap?

Thanks,

Mac

Thank you so far! I've been soaking my brush and also tried to squeeze it really dry after that so I've have got lot of soap and just a little water. And then added few drops of water at once. I think I've been able to produce a pretty thick and nice looking lather but it doesn't survive long enough to shave even one pass with it. Although it's hard for me to say anything about quality of lather because pictures and videos is all I've seen besides the one I've made. I'm not sure if I have right relation of water and soap but I've had too much and too little water and neither seems to work.

Is it normal to have short lifespan of lather if it is too dry and also if it is too wet?

Tap water quality here in Finland is really good and hardness in my area is between soft and semi hard. I don't think that is a problem but could always test some bottled water. Glycerin helps also with lathering? How much should I add?

Oh and one more question. I usually wash my face or take a shower before lathering. But my face is usually dry when I'm ready to put some lather on it. So should I spill some water to my face just before I put some lather on it?

I always have my face wet before lathering.
Have you tried shaving creams? I find the ladder from cream just great and long lasting. Try Proraso or C.O. Bigelow (made by the same company I believe)

I haven't used Col Conk soap, but whenever I use any shave soap I make sure that I " mash " the brush on the soap when I'm charging it. I make a motion like I'm using a plunger on a sink hole to get the soap well and truly into the brush. When I move the brush to a bowl I whisk the brush around the sides of the bowl to generate lather, avoiding the bottom of the bowl initially.

Are you using a bowl just to generate the lather, or are you lathering directly on the soap?

My best man uses Col Conk soaps, and swears by them. I can attest to the fact that one can build rather decent lather with them. Speaking of which, TonyJ and gugi have provided all the information on building lather from soap you might ever need: Making basic soap lather - Straight Razor Place Wiki.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

Regards,
Robin

^^+1

usually if your lather is dissapearing it means not enough water or not enough soap.

Does your lather have a bunch of tiny air bubbles/holes? you may need to add more soap, try swirling your brush on the soap upside down it can help work the soap deeper into the knot that way (if that makes sense)

you said you already tried adding water slowly. Did you keep doing it till you went from to dry to perfect to runny soapy water? It can take 1-3 minutes to make a good lather sometimes. Sometimes what you think is great lather is really too dry if you add more water and mix another minute or so the lather will explode in your bowl.

Good luck let us know how you progress and if you find out what the problem was!

I use col conk soap, it can build a good lather but there is some tricks to make the most of it. Soak the brush and get it wet, I usually only shake out one swish of water out of the brush. If you have a soft brush hold the brush hair and load the brush about ten or so circles, then hold the handle and piston the brush up and down, while doing another 10 or so circles, that will load the soap deep into the brush.
Now slowly add water to your bowl, or add water onto the brush if you face lather.

Starting with a wet face helps a lot too :)

Crom

How long do you spend loading the Conk on to the brush?

Ten circles, then ten circles, grip change, equals 25 secs or so, but that just me.

Crom

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Originally Posted by smark

Hello everybody!
I've been reading quite a while this forum and wiki and would like to thank you all because you have helped me a lot starting shaving with straights.

My biggest problem at the moment is lathering I hope you can help me with that too. Or actually I think that the lathering is not a problem but after I have lathered my col. conk's soap in a bowl it starts quite soon to vanish from my face and from bowl also. I'm not able to put so much lather on my face that there would still be something left before I'm finished shaving.

I'm not sure what is happening to lather but it seems to be drying up. But adding water doesn't seem to help. Lather is not stable how mother how much water I add. And I'm pretty sure that I have also dried lather which is too dry. I'm pretty much out of ideas with this. Does anyone have any ideas what I could be doing wrong?

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Try using more pressure at the beginning as Alan suggested. Really press the damp brush down into the soap and get as much soap into the brush as possible. This should produce a rather thick, almost paste consistency, "lather." Build up this "paste" lather until the brush is full and some of the paste is coming up the sides of your mug, or bowl. Then add your water a little at a time until you get the lather you want. Don't over do the water or you'll have to start over. Then make sure to wet your face first before applying the lather.

Thank you for all the replies. I've managed to take a huge step with my lathering capability. Actually today I didn't have any problem with my lather at all (or should I say I was very happy with it).

I think two major issues were water/soap ratio and too dry face when applying lather. I think my lather was too dry earlier. So now my wet shaving is really much more wetter.

Now I'm not drying my brush anymore after soaking it, just shaking the most excessive water out of it. After swirling it the soap I also use up and down movement and more pressure than before. For some reason I thought that it would be best to get the soap to just in the tip of the hair. I'm pretty sure I've read something like that from this site but maybe that was for creams or I messed up something.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smark

For some reason I thought that it would be best to get the soap to just in the tip of the hair. I'm pretty sure I've read something like that from this site but maybe that was for creams or I messed up something.

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I found this from the wiki page which was linked here earlier but it was for face lathering. Is face lathering really so different because at least for me (and my equipment) it seems to be much easier when mushing and mashing my brush against soap? I've soap in a mug and then lathering in a separate bowl.

Yea, its from this site. You have to be careful about what you read, even here and also how you interpret something. For example, I tried that same approach only to discover that it works, but takes 5 times longer to make a lather, which is far inferior to what I was already making.

So, what works, and what works best; and then what additional caveats are required to make something work that are left out of the descriiption, are always problems we face here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smark

Oh and one more question. I usually wash my face or take a shower before lathering. But my face is usually dry when I'm ready to put some lather on it. So should I spill some water to my face just before I put some lather on it?

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What you could do is soak your towel into hot water and wring out excess water. Wrap your face with towel for couple minutes. I usually end up drying my face when I get out of shower. I find that this worked me.

It's easier because it softens your skin and hair making it easier to shave. :beer:

Take care bro

Hi,
Just wanted to add that I use Col Conk soap as well. When I tried to build lather in the mug I did not get that much lathery response, but I switched to face lathering and it works fantastic for me-- I get rich thick creamy lather in no time. Similar to the advice here:

-Soak brush in really hot water
-Put about 1/4 teaspoon of hot water on top of the col conk puck, let it sit for a few minutes
-Squeese out about 90% of the water from the brush
-Load the brush, pressing down pretty hard (15-20 swirls ought to do it)
-Swirl on face to build lather, if too dry drizzle a bit of hot water into the brush (I drizzle it into the base of the brush and let it work its way to the tips, I get nice warm lather that way)

I've also found the hotter the water, the faster I can hit the lather sweet spot. Try it once with boiling hot water and you'll see what I mean.

Good luck!
-Chief

Extra hot water does help- I just moved to Taiwan and there are hot water dispensers everywhere that give near-boiling water on demand. It's great for shaving.

If you use glycerin, just a few drops on the puck (with the hot water, usually) will help. Most glycerin is a synthetic product, but I've been very happy with a vegetable glycerin. (My wife is allergic to many synthetic products, and I'm not allowed to use what she can't.)
J.