Thin lather problems

I bought myself the Jermyn Street soap and have been trying to get a good lather with it (using it with my fusion) before attempting with a straight. However, from day 1 I can't get a good lather up anywhere close to http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ving-soap.html

I've tried both lathering in a mug and direct to face but same results. I have a TOBS badger brush and leave it soaking for a few mins in hot water, then shake the excess off and swirl it around the soap about 15-20 times then try to build lather adding a fraction of water to wet the brush after a few minutes. The lather on the brush looks weak and watery and my face has only a thin coating. When I shave, there's barely anything on the brush to even coat one cheek.

Any suggestions what I might be doing wrong? I'll try and take some photos tomorrow morning when I shave (if I remember).

Sounds like too much water to me. Try not soaking the brush. I've never soaked mine and get fine lather every time.

+1 to ace.
I have the TOBS jermyn street soap and cream, they are good, but finiky at best. The only way I have gotten good lathers w/ it were to just wet the brush under the faucet, give a few good shakes, and go from there. If it seems a bit watery, I just keep going until I have added enough air to make it foam up a bit, then add a pea sized amount more, and keep swirling til' I get it where I want it. When it starts to dry out, add a bit of water to your face instead of the brush, mug, or bowl; it will have less of a tendency to get soupy...only way I've got it to work for me atleast.

I've also tried squeezing out the water and using the same amount of soap as above and trying ti build a lather for a good few minutes but still the same. I'm using a normal mug, could it be that it's coating is too slippery? I'll try again and see how it goes.

I use the TOBS Sandalwood and get crazy leather with it. I soak my brush but then shake it off and then to the cream where I both swirl as well as push the hairs a bit into the cream center and gently around the perimeter of the bristlels then to my cup/mug. Once in the cup/mug I use a combination of vigorous swirls as well as up/down, left/right straight plane moves watching as the lather fills to the brush handle. I do that until the consistency is like dense whipped cream.

Could be too much wqter for sure but maybe try more vigorous action with the brush and hang in there a little longer to see what results you get.

What other soaps/creams do you use and what lather do you get from them?
I use TOBS regularly but due to my hard water most of my lathers are thinner then they were when I bothered to use a water softener. Adding a drop or three of glycerin can (but doesn't always) help.
When I use TOBS in good water it often times near overflows my bowl.
With the same ratios (roughly, hard to know exactly how much water is in my brush) I get thin but useable lather with my hard water. Keep trying and mixing soap/water ratios.
For my hard water I have also found that if I do at least 100 swirls after I see my first bits of lather form and scrape them off the brush and back in to the bowl that I have better results. Still a smidge thin but far better than with 50 or so swirls.

Drop a bit of water on top of the puck and then go do something else for five minutes. Pour some of that water, that is on top of the puck, into your lather bowl. Load your pre-soaked brush. Lather until all of the bubbles are out of the mix. Don't worry about how many revolutions or how long it takes. Add a few drops of water while you're lathering if it looks like it needs it.

This morning I let some hot water sit on the puck for a few mins, then started trying to build lather for about 10 mins to see what I could get. After pouring out the water used to heat the mug, didn't add anymore water. Didn't squeeze the water out of the brush, just shook off the excess, but added a few (literal) drops twice during the lather building. True enough, I seemed to be getting a better lather in the mug, much better than before, but still a very sparse covering when on the face.

After loading brush with soap:
Attachment 111668

After 10mins of trying to build a lather:
Attachment 111666

My face after trying to work it well into the stuble and then using the paintbrush method after:
Attachment 111667

Only soap I've tried before this was a Palmolive shave stick, but was only slightly better (provided I have a VERY good covering of soap before using the boar brush I had). Only used it a few times before deciding to get a proper soap puch and a badger brush, didn't like the shave stick.

One other thing you might try is bottled distilled water. You may have hard water coming out of your tap which makes it more difficult to get a good lather. Give it a try and see if it doesn't make a difference.

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Originally Posted by stevieb

I bought myself the Jermyn Street soap and have been trying to get a good lather with it (using it with my fusion) before attempting with a straight. However, from day 1 I can't get a good lather up anywhere close to http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ving-soap.html

I've tried both lathering in a mug and direct to face but same results. I have a TOBS badger brush and leave it soaking for a few mins in hot water, then shake the excess off and swirl it around the soap about 15-20 times then try to build lather adding a fraction of water to wet the brush after a few minutes. The lather on the brush looks weak and watery and my face has only a thin coating. When I shave, there's barely anything on the brush to even coat one cheek.

Any suggestions what I might be doing wrong? I'll try and take some photos tomorrow morning when I shave (if I remember).

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The picture of your lather looks good to me. I want a merangue type lather rather than a whipped cream type lather because it keeps my face hydrated while shaving. What I've learned over time is that I prefer soaps that are "thirsty" because I do better getting the water-lather ratio right. If you can get Cella, I would recommend trying that. That is the "gold standard" for me.

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JimmyHAD:

One other thing you might try is bottled distilled water. You may have hard water coming out of your tap which makes it more difficult to get a good lather. Give it a try and see if it doesn't make a difference.

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I don't live in a hard water area so it shouldn't be that. For other stuff, like the washing machine, etc, there's always loads of suds.

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CaliforniaCajun:

The picture of your lather looks good to me. I want a merangue type lather rather than a whipped cream type lather because it keeps my face hydrated while shaving.

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It looks thicker than it actually was. Merangue type / whipped type, I'm just after something that will completely cover my face before I even try with a STR8. As you'll see from my photo, when applied to my face, I can still see a lot of skin through the covering and there's no way I'm going to put a STR8 to my face like that. Directly lathering to my face gets a slightly better covering, but still not great.

Don't get me wrong, even with this and the fusion, I still get a closer shave than with the canned stuff, but just not good enough for a STR8.

I just found this video on youtube of Lynn building lather using just the bowl the puck is in and nothing else:
Shaving Lather with Badger Brush - YouTube

Will give this a try and see what its like. Even like this, shouldn't soaps last a good time if not shaving daily?

10 minutes! I would be so sad if I spent 10 minutes trying to build lather. =[

Using a combination of all your tips, plus Lynn's video, for the first time, finally got a good thick lather and plenty for a 2nd application.

Thanks for all your help guys, really appreciate it. Now my lather is sorted, ging to buy my first straight for my 30th in a few weeks and follow Lynn's advice for starting slow.