A Teaspoon, A Squeeze, and 90 Seconds

I wanted to post this in a new thread so's it didn't get missed at the bottom of another one. ;>

Frustrated with making foam, jmreeves recently sighed:

"the biggest issue it seemed was figuring out how much water to leave in the brush."

Although new to straights, I've been wet shaving with brush and mug soap for decades.

Here's your starting recipe for perfect foam, allowing of course that you'll vary it as you get more experience with different soaps, which will react differently depending on what's in them...

1) Soak the brush. (while you shower. You need to get the bristles COMPLETELY saturated because of step two.)

2) Squeeze all the water out of the brush that you can. Yes, actually SQUEEZE THE WATER OUT OF IT.

3) Put 1 teaspoon of hot water in your mug. (The first time you do this, please go get a teaspoon out of your kitchen and measure it. Trust me; you DON'T know what a teaspoon of water in your mug looks like. :)

4) Swirl your brush on your soap about a dozen swirls. This will load enough soap.

5.) Whip the loaded brush into the teaspoon of water in your mug for around 90 seconds to two minutes. When your foam is "right" it will pull away from the bottom of the mug as you lift out your brush. The bottom of your mug should look almost "dry". If you still have a bunch of "foam" in the bottom of the mug you're not there yet. Swirl for another 30 seconds or so.

At some point, as you approach the 90 second mark you're going to have an EXPLOSION of foam. You will go from "This isn't working." to "Holy SH!T! Where'd all this foam come from?!?"

From then on, you're a believer. :)

Looks like great minds think alike. I have come to pretty much the exact same conclusion you have. In addition it is easier to go a little lighter on the water up front and add more if need be rather than starting over.

I definitely agree on starting out drier and adding in water. Water can be added, but you can't take it away. I also find it easier to load up my brush when the brush is drier.

I prefer to add in a few drops of hot water at a time rather than a whole teaspoon at once because different soaps/amounts of soap/brushes/etc will require different amounts of water, but whatever works works.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mbaglio100

You will go from "This isn't working." to "Holy SH!T! Where'd all this foam come from?!?"

From then on, you're a believer. :)

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This was a great primer for anyone starting out. I, however, had a good laugh at the above quote. After a day of listening to my wife bicker and whine I needed a laugh. I also think I need to squirrel some money away and find a good attorney, but that's another thing entirely.

Teaspoon. Tablespoon is a different quantitiy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I definitely agree on starting out drier and adding in water. Water can be added, but you can't take it away. I also find it easier to load up my brush when the brush is drier.

I prefer to add in a few drops of hot water at a time rather than a whole tablespoon at once because different soaps/amounts of soap/brushes/etc will require different amounts of water, but whatever works works.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I definitely agree on starting out drier and adding in water. Water can be added, but you can't take it away. I also find it easier to load up my brush when the brush is drier.

I prefer to add in a few drops of hot water at a time rather than a whole teaspoon at once because different soaps/amounts of soap/brushes/etc will require different amounts of water, but whatever works works.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by jeffegg2

Teaspoon. Tablespoon is a different quantitiy.

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That's what I said :-)

PS quantity. :-)