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REALLY ignorant question: where shaving soap comes in its own bowl (as in those sold by Trumper -- http://www.trumpers.com/product_detail.cfm?ProductID=111547320), does one simply need to add water or a wet brush, mix and apply?
In other words, does the soap need to be extracted from the bowl or any other preparation before mixing a lather?
Also, after use, does the bowl or soap need to be cleaned to some extent or can you just replace the lid until the next time?
Sincerest thanks for any help.
It is often a good idea to load the brush in the storage bowl and then use a separate bowl to lather, unless you lather directly on your face. The bowl where the soap come is is not intended for lathering in it (the dimensions are not optimal anyway). With soaps like Trumpers or similar (known as milled), it helps to add a bit of warm water on top to soften it before you actually load the brush. I normally remove the excess of water on the wood and allow the bowl to dry. Overtime, depending on exposure to water, etc. these bowls can discolor or degrade a little bit. And yes, I keep the soap in the storage bowl at "all" times.
Al raz.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DerekW
+1 to what Al raz said and I usually wait for the soap to dry before I put the lid back on. Personally I feel I get a superior lather using a bowl rather than face lathering but try it both ways and see what you prefer.
Hello, DerekW:
These gentlemen do it right: the soap stays in the bowl.
I used to make lather directly onto my face, but I have switched to making lather in a pewter bowl I keep strictly for lathering, whether using creams or soaps.
On the way to the shower, I fill the lather bowl with hot water (not boiling) and put my brush in it to soak up the warm water. Also, I pour a little hot water in my soap mug (I use a dozen different ones, each containing a different soap), just to cover the soap. (This need not be done when using creams. I put a small dollop of cream into the shave mug and begin lathering.)
Out of the shower and ready to shave, I dump the water from the soap mug, give my brush three gentle shakes, swirl the brush in the soap mug to load it and then lather in the lather mug. If I feel the lather needs a little additional water, I feed it several drops of water.
Regards,
Obie
Save yourself alot of money and buy the soap refill for the wooden bowl. If you notice, the refill is much cheaper without buying the wooden bowl. Find you a ceramic shaving mug that you like, and plop the refill in the bottom of it. I always lather in the bowl and then just make sure I drain off any excess water from the bowl when I'm done. Soap stays in the bowl.
So, if you use two mugs/bowls, you load some soap from the soap bowl onto the brush, then work it into a lather in the mug with just warm water? Does the soap come as a solid unit?
Thanks for clarifying!
Hello again, Derek:Quote:
Originally Posted by DerekW
Please take a look at my post again for the lathering process, as I am not sure about your question.
Soap refills come in individual pucks. Just put the soap in a shave mug (use a latte mug, if you like) and keep it there. When you shake the water from your brush, swirl the brush in mug holding the soap and then begin lathering in an empty bowl. As you keep swirling the brush in the lather bowl to make lather, add a few drops of water if you fee it needs it.
You can obtain more information on lather in the Wiki. If you need more help, please drop me a personal message. Many thanks.
Regards,
Obie
Regards,
Obie
With all due respect, it is advised that new users refrain from lathering in the same bowl that contains the soap, whether it is the container bowl or other. This is often leads to generating dry lather as you would continue to load soap onto your brush. Dry lather is not good for wet shaving. This does not mean that it is not possible to form good lather this way but it is certainly harder. Unless you have a very good feel for your system (brush, soap, etc) it is better to simplify the process and just change one variable,at the time in this case, the amount of water that is added to the soap already loaded on your brush, known as the ratio.
Yes, that is essentially correct and as lumberjack correctly points out, the refill is a lot less expensive than the bowl. Some people use a variety of containers and often go through a lot trying to fit their pucks by grating them and pressing them into them. However, as I said before, the lathering part becomes a lot easier when it takes place in a separate bowl (or the face ;-) ). Yes, the puck is like a soap bar, but round most of the times. Yes, you make the lather in 3 steps:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lumberjack
1) load the brush; typically for 3 to 5 seconds, gently swirling the brush on top of the puck
2) build the lather: swirling the brush and adding water 3 to 5 drops at the time until no more lather can be produced (known as finding the peak of the soap). Addition of water should be little bi little because it is much easier to add water than to remove it (especially when you are new at this).
3) hydrate the lather adding an additional small amount of water, around 5 drops after the peak of the soap has been found.
There is a pretty good section about this in the wiki: Making basic soap lather - Straight Razor Place Wiki
I think this video may be useful: YouTube - How To Build And Apply Traditional Shaving Lather
Al raz.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DerekW
I got it now. Thanks very much for your patience and thank you for the video!
I'd suggest it take longer than 3-5 seconds to load a brush up, having about 6 soaps in regular use myself. Even Tabac, which is very easy to load and lather takes more than a few swirls, and new soap users can never have too much product on the brush to begin with.
Once proficient with loading and lathering, you can probably cut down the amount of soap you load on the brush, and experience with your own soap and brush will tell you how much is enough.
But to begin with, not getting enough soap on the brush is the most common cause of poor lather for soap newbs. And poor lather = poor shave, irrespective of razor experience and technique.
The easiest way to load up without starting too watery, is fully soak and then squeeze the brush, so it's damp, not wet.
A big +1 on thatQuote:
Originally Posted by Drubbing
I read some post and they say a few seconds is enough, but I love to have a nice comfortable layer of soap and it take for me 10 secs or more.
2nd I like to have the brush a little dry vs too wet, lather should not form while you are swirling the brush.
crom
Hey Derek,
You're in good hands with these guys definitely take their advice, but don't be scared to experiment and find out what works for you. Look through the wiki and watch plenty of videos, then practice and it shouldn't take long after that to get it right. One member mentioned earlier that the pucks themselves are cheaper than buying them in the bowl...that is very true in most cases. Refer to the following thread for some cheap ideas for the containers to use. http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ap-dishes.html
I use the Wal Mart/Anchor Hocking sugar bowls mentioned in the thread; they are usually between $2 and $3 a pop, look great, and are what most of my soaps are in now. What you can do is buy the soap, then use a cheese grater to grate it into the bowl and press it down to form to the inside of the bowl. I took video of the process last week and plan on uploading it sometime soon. I'll post it when I get the chance too (hopefully within the next day or so). You could also melt them in the bowl, but this is really easy to mess up if you don't know what you're doing especially with the harder soaps, so my preferred method is grating.
While its not the prettiest solution, I use two pyrex measuring cups. I like them because they have a handle, a wide mouth that allows you room for a good mixing motion, the thick glass also retains heat.
I fill one with water and microwave it for a couple of minutes while I'm taking my shower. After I get out I pour the water into the other one, leaving me with a hot mug to make the lather in. After I've made my lather I can set it into the other cup with the hot water, which serves as a scuttle, keeping the lather warm.
Don't attempt to melt or microwave hard/milled or tallow soaps - you will bake them and they will die. And stink. He's talking about glycerine soaps here, like Col. Conk. If in doubt, just grate.Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfmanXIII
I use the pyrex 1 cups, which are probably the same as Anchor hocking. I hate to spoil a puck, so I shave a ring off around the edge and most fit snugly in. But T&H was a particularly hard soap that was a real bugger to load up, so I grated that, and it 'loosens' it up for the brush. Grating may help if you're still trying to get enough on the brush.
Thanks for elaborating on this for me. :beer1: I stand by that same opinion, but didn't want to start anything since there are many out there that say you can and apparently do melt hard soaps using a double boiler. IMHO the triple milling is to make sure that the ingredients are all evenly distributed for consistency and make for a harder longer lasting soap. If you melt them you risk screwing that up due to ingredient separation when in liquid form (if that makes any sense to anyone), but if you grate them you don't really risk that. Another thing to keep in mind is the "flash point" of most EO's/FO's, this is why your soap may stink if you melt it, the EO/FO will burn off and you will have no scent left other than the ingredients used to make the soap or the EO/FO can become rancid rather than burning off it all depends upon how hot and how fast you try to melt them. I personally don't even melt "glycerine soaps" just to be on the safe side. Yes, the pyrex are pretty similar, but I think they have a plastic lid where the Anchor Hocking is a little more decorative looking with a glass lid. If you tend to be clumsy or have the extra money pyrex is the way to go. The Anchor Hocking bowls are pretty easy to break as the quality isn't the greatest, although they look nice you drop em once and kiss em goodbye.Quote:
Originally Posted by Drubbing
Here's the video I made...I hope it helps!
YouTube - Shave Soap Grating Method