Thread: Help an old guy out with lathering

I primarily use MWF I put the puck in the MWF container. Fill it with hot water completely covering the puck and let it sit over night. I do this as many times as it takes to get the puck to swell up enough to keep it from spinning in the container when I load the brush.

Once it is expanded into place my procedure goes like this: I always shave in the am before work (kind of a zen thing). I submerge the brush, halfway up the handle, in a rock glass of hot water. Fill the soap container w/hot water covering the puck. Take a shower. Dump out the soap water and brush water. Refill the rock glass with hot water. I dip the brush in the hot water and wet my face first. Shake the brush once or twice. Then I load the brush w/soap. I do not rinse my face between passes and usually don't rinse the brush out between passes either. Once the brush is loaded I also do not wet my face again before lathering.

I lather right on my face and add water as needed. I have tried scuttles, lathering in my hand, lathering in the bowl, etc. I have found lathering on my face to produce the best lather possible.

If I find I need more water then I dip the brush into the hot water up to where the bristles meet the handle. At this point the brush is loaded up so the amount of water I think I need determines how long I keep the brush in the hot water. This took some time for me to figure out because I noticed the brush didn't soak up as much water when it was loaded so I had to keep it in the water longer if that makes sense. If I need a lot of water then I give the brush a few small twists while in the water.

Again, the above method is for MWF. I also use Tabac, Ogallala, TOB, Kramperts frostbite, and a few others including a few cremes. With those, including the cremes, I do not soak the soap with water. I use it "dry" and find I can still get a great "cool whip" like lather. If I decide I want to use water with the soap I drip enough water to cover just the top of the puck.

I have recently been trying the MWF procedure on a puck of Ogallala but it doesn't seem to soak up as much water as a puck of MWF.

I struggled for sometime trying to get the type of lather you are seeking. Watching youtube vids, reading posts, whatever. I feel the biggest difference for me has been lathering directly on my face. I am now using a puck of Ogallala and I don't put any water on it at all - completely dry. I always soak the brush in hot water, use hot water to wet my face first, shake the brush of excess water, then load and lather.

I use a Simpson Beaufort brush that is now about 4 years old.

The reason I use hot water is because I always remember my grandmother telling me as a child that cold water would get rid of soap suds in the sink faster than hot water (or something like that). I've used cold water in the past and sure enough I noticed that for me it didn't help create better lather.

Hope this helps.