Thread: Suds (and not the beer type) Question

I'm having a heck of a time trying to create a good lather for my face. I'm using a Van Der Hagen set up that I got off of Amazon right now, but I can't seem to get enough suds to do the job. Any tips that you'd be willing to share on how to get the best suds for my shave?

Thanks in advance,

Natz

Get another soap.

VDH is an entry level soap and though you can get suds to do the job you have to balance the amount of soap with the water and that takes experimentation and the brush you are using also plays a role. Also your water quality can make a difference.

Get a good English Soap like Trumpers or maybe Mitchells Wool fat. It's easier and you will,get a far better result.

My first suggestion is to get a bottle of glycerin, which you can find at WalMart in the foot care area. I think 6 oz is less than $4. That adds cushion and slickness, and is my first "Band-Aid" of choice if my lather isn't doing the job.

Second suggestion is to soak the puck in hot water a couple of minutes before attempting to lather.

Third suggestion is experiment with lathering at a time you're not about to shave. Finding out what works best with the kind of water you have (soft or hard) is trial and error. Hard water is the most difficult for lathering. If you have the Van Der Hagen setup you have a boar brush, which generally speaking isn't absorbent as a good badger brush.

Fourth suggestion is to try another soap. The one that lathers best for me is Cella.

Once you gain experience, you'll be able to adapt to whatever soap, brush, and water you have. My first impression from the description is that you don't have enough soap on your brush, which means you may need to press the brush down harder while lathering or perhaps soak it in hot water a couple of minutes.

Stick with it, it will work out.

Great Shaving Lather, Fast and Easy

Try that link. I followed those instructions using a boar brush and I can get a decent lather out of VDH soap. I figure if I can get a decent lather out of the cheap stuff, when money is less tight life just becomes that much easier.

I switched to the Palmolive shaving cream that comes in a tube an absolutely think it is the greatest. I use the menthol version which has a nice smell to it. For me it just worked a lot better than the pucks. Just might be me, but find it easier to work with. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

My first suggestion is to get a bottle of glycerin, which you can find at WalMart in the foot care area. I think 6 oz is less than $4. That adds cushion and slickness, and is my first "Band-Aid" of choice if my lather isn't doing the job.

Second suggestion is to soak the puck in hot water a couple of minutes before attempting to lather.

Third suggestion is experiment with lathering at a time you're not about to shave. Finding out what works best with the kind of water you have (soft or hard) is trial and error. Hard water is the most difficult for lathering. If you have the Van Der Hagen setup you have a boar brush, which generally speaking isn't absorbent as a good badger brush.

Fourth suggestion is to try another soap. The one that lathers best for me is Cella.

Once you gain experience, you'll be able to adapt to whatever soap, brush, and water you have. My first impression from the description is that you don't have enough soap on your brush, which means you may need to press the brush down harder while lathering or perhaps soak it in hot water a couple of minutes.

Stick with it, it will work out.

This is very, very sound advice... Personally, I'm using the VDH soap as well, and have found that it softens over time to produce a good lather. I also add glycerine and vitamin e oil to mine. you definitely want to add a bit of hot water for a minute or two before loading your brush to soften it. Trust me, you can get good lather from it, it just takes a break-in period.

Lots of good advice here from the previous posters!
I use the VDH with a little glygerin and a few drops of oil added to it.
The nice thing about the VDH is that you can easily melt it in the microwave in around 20 seconds. Then it will pour into the shaving cup and set up after cooling.
I found, when traveling, that the tap water you use makes a huge difference in how well it will produce lather.
I haven't needed to try it, but maybe use warm tap water on the surface of the soap for a few minutes, pour it off, and then use bottled water to wet the brush with and to add a few drops to keep the lather wet enough.
I can get a stiff whip cream consistency but I find that although comforatable, it drys out quite fast. For the second go around I wet the lather considerably.
Also I use a medium length badger brush and that seems to help a lot as well.