Thread: Face VS bowl lathering

Bowl lathered for the longest time. I Love scuttles. Now I start the lather in a bowl but really whip it together on the face.

Face lathered almost the whole 40+ years of shaving with a detour to canned goo many years ago and a try at using a scuttle a couple of years back when I first started in with straight razors. I load my brush, be it boar, badger or synthetic, with soap or cream and build lather on my face. No fuss, no muss, quick and to the point. Feels good to the face as a bonus. Water could be hot or cold, really does not matter to me, but have been using cold water for a few years now.

Bob

Looks like I might be in the minority so far. I've been bowl lathering since day one. I feel like I whip the lather to about the same consistency in the bowl and have more control with it on my face with the brush. I know how I am and if I face lathered I'd probably end up with it on top of my head.

Pete <:-}

I used to do both but now I almost exclusively face lather with a silver tip badger and hard soaps. For me it's cleaner and I don't waste as much water. Hot lather? If I want I can rest the brush in a hot mug in between passes.

I started using a brush in 1973 or so, a badger, and a mug of Old Spice soap. Ran out of that and bought Williams to replace it. Ran out of that and grabbed up the bar of Ivory at that time, and loaded the brush with the soap in my palm, then face lathered. Did that for years, switched to Dove somewhere along the way, still wash with that.

I came to the forums in '06 or thereabouts with the same brush, same habits. Along came more brushes, soaps, creams and bowls and scuttles. I bowl lathered for a time. Liked it because I could generate more lather for more passes, and it seemed to be easier to make better lather at that stage. The high end soaps were a little different to lather with than a bar of bath soap.

I went back to face lathering after a couple of years because I had lost some of my enthusiasm for daily shaving and face lathering still feels good, is less work/effort IMO. Add to that I'm only doing one pass most of the time, maximum two, so I don't need a bowlful to wash down the drain.

If you're going to go for face lathering get a brush with a short loft, 48-50mm. Easier to lather on those hard pucks IME.

on face with cold water, feels better, you massage your face too, get better blod-circulation, get younger

Face lather for me all the way. It's part of my face prep. It exfoliates, deep cleans, rustles up them whiskers, feels good, faster, cleaner, thrifty, did I miss anything ? :<0)

Face lather all the way, for me nothing beats digging into your face with a solid, scritchy brush loaded with your favorite soap of the day.....

It depend for me on what I'm making the lather out of. If it's a cream I bowl lather and for a soap I'm more inclined to do a lot of work of building the lather on the face.

It's interesting I think the progression one takes in learning the art of shaving. Lately (3 months or so) I've started to actually dip the end of the brush in the water to pick up more water. A year or so ago i never would have done that, ALWAYS precisely dribbling water from my hand.

Bowl lather is good for the 1st test of a soap-cream,good for photos
Some more time for swirling,you have enough lather as a reserve,you can control the lather better if you add little bit more water.
Face lather saves you time and gives it all in the swirling for your skin's massage
Needs little more experience because it's easy to stay "out of lather" and if you add more water will overflow to your neck-chest.