Thread: Lather, 1 bowl 2 bowl?

Hi,

I have a query. Space is an issue for me, so my idea was to make my lather in the bowl that my soap is in, I've read that some people do this. I have also read about the art that is making a nice creamy lather and wondered if the presence of this soap puck at the bottom of my bowl effects the process. Does this lead to an inferior lather and soap wastage? I don't want to bring another bowl in to the bathroom, but I also don't want to waste my soap or suffer an inferior lather. I've never made a lather before (i'm a complete newbie) and I'd like to get the system right from the beginning.

From the youtube vids I've seen it looks as if you can spend a bit of time working up to a nice lather. To me it sounds logical that going over the soap as you try to build your lather would make it too soapy or require lots of water.

Anyway.. any thoughts and expertise would be a great help.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Sahay, and welcome to SRP!

You're correct about the potential for waste. I think for learning you'll want to load your brush in one bowl then make up the lather in a second. That way, as you experiment, you'll have a sense of how much water you've added to a fixed amount of soap. You can bring in a cereal bowl from the kitchen to make your lather, so it doesn't need to actually live in your bathroom.

Many people load their brush then work up the lather entirely on their face (it's called Face Lathering). I prefer bowl lathering, myself, because I enjoy watching the frothy mess turn to beautiful silky stuff. Also, I use a few different soaps or creams and each one takes a slightly different amount of water.

I slightly lift my brush out of the bowl as I mix my lather, so it impacts once on each stroke. That whips in a little more air. I usually add more water as I go, as much as I can get away with before the lather turns runny. If it turns runny I correct with more soap/cream and remix. The lather should be firm enough to hold whatever shape you've whipped it into, like whipping cream will do, and it should be as moist as yoghurt. In my opinion, anyway.

My shaving has become such a leisurely activity that I can't tell you how long it takes to whip up a good lather. A couple of minutes doesn't seem like too long, but I never time it. Whatever they say in the videos. If you have consistent trouble, it may be your tap water--you can try some distilled or reverse osmosis water instead. Some soaps/creams are better with hard water than others, but I don't know which ones those are.

I shave at night, so there's not the time pressure to get out of the house.

Best wishes to you

Thanks for your reply roughkype.

I shave at night also, I'm just not all there in the morning. I'll keep your technique in mind when I'm working on my first lather!

I use a single bowl, but I use cream (Taylor of old Bond st. Sandalwood). I soak the brush in steaming hot water while I shower, then empty out all but a smidgen at the bottom. I then get a dollop of old bond from the tub on my finger then flick it off my finger with the brush into the bowl before whipping up a nice lather.

BTW, Smidgens and dollops are imperial units.

Hi,
Sorry for what will probably be a long post :-)
I read the other day that making a lather on top of the soap puck is problematic as it constantly changes the soap/water ratio (i.e. as you agitate the brush on the soap you constantly add soap to the water in the brush. If you 'load' the brush with soap and then build the lather in a separate bowl you can control the soap/water ration better. I prefer 'Überlather'; a mix of soap, cream and glycerin. I won't go into the details, it's covered in the Wiki. I highly recommend it, even if just to experiment mixing the scents of a soap and a cream; they (and glycerin), combined are greater than the sum of their parts. If not making Überlather I prefer cream over soap. Though I prefer the look of a cream in a bowl, I'm now finding creams in tubes are very much easier to use. It was almost a hassle each morning scooping up the cream with my little finger and scraping it off into a bowl; a tube is much easier. With a tube of nice cream (like Taylor of Old Bond Street Eton College) and a bowl you have less of a space problem or you could put the soap in a scuttle (there's an idea). I find creams (for me at this early stage (10 or so weeks) offer more of a cushioning effect than soaps, but Überlather is more forgiving and fun; though I've only got two soaps and 5 creams.

You can also soak your soap into your bowl and face Lather.
With some skill you get the same creamy soap that you would make in a bowl

Thanks for the comprehensive replies. I might just suck it up and use two vessels.. or a cream, a cream would solve the problem too.

I never thought i'd make such a "thing" out of shaving. hah.