I use the green Proraso cream (tube of course). I wet my brush (just a cheap hog hair for now), flick a bit of water out, add about a pea sized amount onto the brush and the lather my face. I haven't tried mixing it in a bowl, but perhaps I will tomorrow to see the difference. I do find that my lather dries out rather quickly and I'm almost positive that it's because of the poor water retention of the brush. Because of this, I find that I have to lather my face in sections while I shave, ie, lather side of face, shave side of face, lather chin, shave chin, and so forth. I will admit that I am quite new to wet shaving so I'm still probably getting the hang of mixing up a proper lather. I do enjoy it, although I haven't had the opportunity to try anything else, especially compared to the aerosol can crap. I also use their pre shave cream before, and usually after, a shave.