Thread: Brush for soap

Hi everyone, I am new to straights, but not to wet shaving. I have been using DE razors together with a shaving cream typically T&H together with a Kent BK8 brush for several years. I have been getting fabulous results.

Since I started using straight razors I read that soaps can offer better glide than creams. I find that my Kent brush is not as good with soap as it is with cream (I have been using D.R. Harris soap).

Is this normal, or do I just need to work on my technique? Would I be better with a stiffer brush? That said I do like the softness on my face. Any suggestions gratefully received.

I have used boar, badger and synthetics with hard soap pucks and all do seem to work if you find the right technique for each type of knot. I'd try different techniques before jumping on a new brush.

I'd try just swirling your brush in water, give it a shake and go to the puck soap. Give it a shake over the puck to get some water on the puck and start loading the soap. go back and just dip the tips in water and load some more till you have a thick gooey proto lather on the brush. With a hard puck like DR Harris don't be afraid to load a long time.

Then go to your bowl or face and start building your lather adding water as you go by just dipping the tips of the knot in water. The idea is to add just a little water at a time till you get the water to soap ratio right.

You just have to experiment a bit.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I will try and see what happens. I have tried leaving the soap in water for a minute or two and that does seem to help.

I have to say that the occasions where I have got a decent lather I haven't really seen a significant difference to my cream. Maybe I should really look at trying different soaps before I look at a different brush too.

I think that perhaps because soft creams are so easy to lather, I am perhaps expecting too much too soon and not spending the time on the puck that I need to.

Yes, hard soaps are different from creams and it does take some getting use to using them. You should be able to get the same slickness/glide from either. Even just in the hard soap group there are some that are finicky to lather and others that seem to lather by just looking at them. I would stay with one soap at a time till you get it working properly before trying another one as they all have slightly different personalities to get used to.

I found this vid useful and he has a string of them that I found good too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zESTQWDuw

Bob

Once I gave up lathering in a bowl and went to face lathering, soaps became just as easy to use as creams. Load your brush, dip the tips in water and brush your face. Dip the tips in water until the lather is the right consistency, only takes a few seconds.

Edit: I use a nice soft Thater brush for most soaps. Some glycerin soaps are tricky to get persistent lather from, so I use an Omega boar brush on those.

I do not agree that soaps can offer better glide than creams. I find Esjberg to be better than most soaps I have tried in terms of glide. Castle Forbes is also cream and works better than many soaps, so does XPEC. Baume Be might be the slickest thing out there and is also a cream. YMMV applies of course.

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I have to confess that when I was DE shaving I was lucky enough to find what worked very quickly and did not change things out much at all.

Now I am worried about all of the acquisition disorders that I am getting already.

I am not sure that all of the creams mentioned here are available in the UK, I know Castle Forbes is and their Extract of Limes has the best scent of anything else I have tried. I will give that one another go and haven't used it in a good while and certainly not with straights.

I will definitely give the face lathering a go too. I tend to use a scuttle, but I really want to try everything now.

When you experiment just try and change on thing at a time so you can see if what you have changed is making a difference, good or bad. Make more than one change at a time and you are never quite sure which change had the effect.

Bob

Originally Posted by Porl

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I have to confess that when I was DE shaving I was lucky enough to find what worked very quickly and did not change things out much at all.

Now I am worried about all of the acquisition disorders that I am getting already.

I am not sure that all of the creams mentioned here are available in the UK, I know Castle Forbes is and their Extract of Limes has the best scent of anything else I have tried. I will give that one another go and haven't used it in a good while and certainly not with straights.

I will definitely give the face lathering a go too. I tend to use a scuttle, but I really want to try everything now.

Baume Be is made in Belgium, Esjberg is Swiss I believe. XPEC is also made in Europe. They should be available in Europe easily.
Here links to some websites that have them
Shop |
XPEC Original Shaving Cream 250 ml
Shaving, Bodycare and Fragrances | Esbjerg

Yep, they are all available to just about anywhere, as close as your mailbox. We live in a connected world. But as was said don't believe everything you hear, soaps creams, what matters is the quality of the products and then the face that looks at you in the mirror does the rest. There are guys like Bobh who could lather mud with a hair brush and still get a usable lather! Tc