getting lathered up

[jebbaker]

question about the lather process.

i am using a shaving soap. how long, if at all, do you let your soap soak. i have found it works up a lather a little better if i let is set for a few minutes in a little bit of warm water.

[MickR]

Not sure I fully understand your question, however I put a small amount of water onto my soap before I hit the shower. All up it would wait about 10 minutes before I'm at it with the brush. I've had at it without any soaking and that seems to work well enough too, albeit, just a little slower to get worked up.


Mick

[Annixter]

I don't use much water on top of my soap cake because I find that using less water makes more and better lather. About ten minutes before I shave, I soak my saving brush in the scuttle bowl to prep it for work, but before I let it rest in the water but after I've completely wet it, I brush the top of my shaving cake to where it is obviously damp. I've found that that is all my soap (Bald Frog) needs to soften enough of the top to make the amount of lather I require.

Lynn Abrams has a couple nice videos on making lather on youtube. I know your question is more about whether or not we soak the soap cake, but in the vent you're interested, here's one for using a bowl/scuttle; he has one for lathering on the face too:

[Crzylizard]

I personally only "soak" MWF... and that is a small splash of warm water on the puck. All other soaps/ creams just get a more damp brush.

[ace]

I wet my brush and lather. It takes 20 seconds, and I'm ready to shave.

[Zephyr]

I put about a teaspoon of water on top of the soap an leave it while I'm in the shower, works without as well, just need to load the brush a little more.

[emiglio]

I usually splash a small bit of water onto all my hard soaps before I jump in the shower. I usually dump any left over water into my shave bowl to start up the lather.

[jebbaker]

thank you for your replies.

i am in experimentation mode so i am getting some different results every time.
no water. a little water...so on so forth.

[thebigspendur]

I've never put water on the soap. Just wet the brush, twirl and voila. Some soaps need more water than others but I've never seen a need to soak or add.

[BanjoTom]

Hi Jeb,
I hydrate MWF with distilled water. It works well for me and I easily can get a good lather from a puck of that soap. Some guys mix a touch of creme into the soap and that also works, others add a drop of glycerin and claim great results. The point here is that there is no only one way to do this. Have fun and experiment, see what works best for you. Good luck!!!