Thread: lather trouble

Well, I did my first shave the other day and it went surprisingly well. The only problem was that I was having a lot of trouble trying to get a thick lather from my soap (col. conks) and a boar bristle brush (part of the vdh wet shave kit). I filled my dish with hot water and after soaking the brush I strained the water out of the brush and swirled it on the soap. Then I swirled the brush with the soap in the dish of water but it only resulted in a very thin, mostly liquid lather? What am I doing wrong?

Too much water.

I use Conk soap and a VDH brush. I use just enough water to get some soap on the brush and then lather it onto the face. If it's too thick when it's going on the face, I dip the brush about half an inch into hot water and go back to the face to see if it gets the lather just right...if not, get a touch more water.

Sounds like not enough soap on the brush and way too much water in the bowl.

Here are links to a few of Mantic's videos (when it comes to lather, seeing is so much easier than trying picture a verbal description) that might help:

Although he uses cream in this one, this video specifically demonstrates the a lather that is too dry, then just right, then too wet:

video one