Thread: Face VS bowl lathering

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.....

I face lather for my day to day shave. If something special is happening and I want to really stretch out the prep and shave and really put out my very best shave I bowl lather. It just makes the shave seem more if there is all the extra little steps. My daily shave is almost a minimalist shave.

Always face Lather,always have,always will.

I also always face lather, with ice cold water. It exfoliates my skin, works the lather into the beard and it also feels nice. I feel I get better control over the lather's consistency too.

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.

I bowl-lathered for years, and for me, that was the best place to learn. The bowl is a nice, controlled space to experiment with water and with brush action. For a long time, I couldn't face lather at all, and wondered how anyone could.

Using shave sticks was my breakthrough to face lathering, and I grate most soaps into plastic push-up containers now. But, having learned to face lather, I can do it pretty well from a puck too now.

I too learnt by bowl lathering and I'm glad I did. Helped me to understand how to build a lather etc. I now excclusively face lather and love it. I did treat myself to a brush scuttle for warm lather in the winter for multiple passes.
My brush of choice is 2 band or Manchurian.

Here's me being lathered by a true legend.

You know, I never saw anyone bowl lather or heard of bowl lathering till I jointed this forum a couple of years ago.

Bob

Originally Posted by jodypress

I too learnt by bowl lathering and I'm glad I did. Helped me to understand how to build a lather etc. I now excclusively face lather and love it. I did treat myself to a brush scuttle for warm lather in the winter for multiple passes.
My brush of choice is 2 band or Manchurian.

Here's me being lathered by a true legend.

Those are some really great pictures in your photo bucket. I would love to find a shaving bowl/stand setup like that which I could afford someday.