Thread: Two unusual problems with applying lather during shaving

Hi all,

Currently I'm predominantly a DE shaver more than a straight shaver but I'm told the pre- and post-shave aspects are the same for both methods of wetshaving.

Problem #1
When I lather my whole face like how geofatboy does it on YouTube, the lather dries up very quickly (it will start to flake at about 2 minutes). I am confident I have got the right consistency of whipped cream.

My questions are:
Am I taking an abnormally long time for 1 pass?
Am I meant to lather the whole face?
Am I missing something in my pre-shave preparation?

Problem #2
When I only lather my face part-by-part, as I shave each section, to get around Problem #1 (of lather drying out too quickly), the lather in my lathering bowl starts to bubble up after a while.

My questions are:
Is the brush putting transferring moisture from the water on my face to the lathering bowl?
Is the lather just bubbling up (and getting thinner) because of the moisture in the air?


Would appreciate any professional opinions regarding these problems, and if they are indeed unusual or common rookie mistakes.
Here are details of my circumstances.

Razor: Merkur Futur DE Razor
Shaving Cream: TOBS Jermyn Street Collection "Shaving Cream for Sensitive Men"
Pre-shave: A shower (Nivea for Men face scrub)

Hey what I can only think is the problem is maybe there isn't enough water on your brush and soap. Use a bit more water in your lather but not too much. When Im creating the lather I like to invert my bowel letting water drip out as needed. The reason why that there is thin bubbles is the water is slowly evaporating leaving less and less water to create the bubble structure and it turns back into soap. Also you can always make more lather as you go...

Matt

No professional here, but my 2 cents sounds like Rubberduckey's advice, it seems like you need to add a bit more water to your lather, and your concern sounds very familar when starting out wet-shaving. It's not a problem, it just adds to the fun of learning what works for you.

I lather my whole face but sometimes one side is starting to dry out by the time I get to it just like you. I just add more lather to my face when I get to that side.

To me it seems better than not lathering at all since your face should still be more moist under that dried lather than if you hadn't put any on at all.

This is also my experience. My solutions:
I uberlather in a scuttle (or bowl), 7 drops of glycerin, dollop of Bigelow cream, dribbles of lather from a mug of soap. The uberlather dries more slowly.
I rehydrate my lather in the scuttle and relather my face frequently as needed.
You may need to only rehydrate your brush and rebrush your face with the lather on it. Keeping the lather moist is important for keeping the beard soft and easy to cut without tugging, and for the razor to glide easily over the skin.

Originally Posted by gcbryan

I lather my whole face but sometimes one side is starting to dry out by the time I get to it just like you. I just add more lather to my face when I get to that side.

I like that advice. I'd also try adding some glycerin - it'll slow down the evaporation of the water from the lather on your face, and generally improve the shave.

. Charles

Your lather should not flake in only 2 mins. Try adding just a tad more water while whipping up your lather and see if that helps. If not, then just relather the parts of your face that seem to be drying quicker..nothing wrong with that.

With soap, in my experience, sometimes it is more difficult to learn the nuances of each specific soap. My advice would be to add a bit of water and whip the soap for a specific amount of time. if you keep the amount of soap and time standard, you'll find the amount of water required easier to determine.
I always keep a tub of AOS non-scented shave cream around and when required I will add a tiny amount to the soap. This is an easy way to make the lather a bit thicker.

Enjoy the journey.

More water will be needed for sure. Have you tried getting sampler packs and finding different soaps to use?

Bubbles in the lather can also be caused by whipping the lather too much. The lather should be creamy without bubbles. If it is too thick, add a bit of water. You want a wet lather not a foamy one. Creams and soaps are each unique. Some lather quickly others don't. Often the problem with hard soap is that too little of the product is on the brush to begin with. I use a damp brush on my hard soaps and try to coat the tips of the bristles with a fair amount of product before I go to the lathering bowl. Practice making a lather until you get the feel of it. You won't use that much soap and you will have a much better shave.