Thread: Bowls

As most of you are aware,I'm rather new to this site,so be patient with me.(Notice,i said be patient,not be gentle.It's not like I'm loosing my virginity.)
I've gotten the impression that the difference between the purposes of mugs and bowls is that bowls are larger,and meant to handle wider pucks of soap.So far,so good.Not everybody uses Williams soap.
Now,almost all of the mugs I've seen are made of ceramic materials.
Is the any advantage to using bowls made out of wood,metal,and/or ceramic materials?For some reason(and this is just me),I've gotten some sort of feeling that plastic and glass aren't just quite right fow a bowl.
your input in this matter will be appreciated genuinely.

Most ceramic bowls...have ridges on the bottom of them that allow for a nicer production of lather. I have a friend that will make lather in just about anything...minus plastic. I think plastic would be much to slick not allowing for a great production of lather.

I think people make too much out of this. I have bowls made from pewter, ceramic, natural stone and wood and find no difference as far as lather building goes. You know, if you have a drivers license that means you should be able to drive any car. If you know how to lather you should be able to get good lather on any medium and you don't need a license.

I would tend to agree with you on that one.

I was using a stainless steel bowl for mixing lather from my creams, but I found it hard to keep the lather warm by the time it hit my face. Plus the material just didn't quite feel right to me, so I went back to ceramic which I soak with my brush in hot water to get the desired lather temperature. I think it's more about preference and what suits your ritual than anything else. I might move to clay and see what that feels like.

X

I use an Ayar's bowl. I find that it works well, but i wish it were a bit deeper. I find that the lather is always trying to get out of the bowl when im making my lather.

Most things bowl/mug related seemed tied to a couple things. Is it big enough to make lather? For a cream, you gotta do a lot of whipping, so something a bit bigger can be nice.

Will it hold a nice temperature? For that yummy warm lather. In that case, clay and ceramics definitely have the edge, then there's wood, not bad, but metal, unless it's good and thick, not so much. There's a lot of guys who will flood the sink with warm water though and put the bowl/mug in that to keep it warm, and then metal makes perfect sense.

As long as you can make good lather, and at a temperature you like (not everyone has to have that warm lather), it's a good lather-making/holding-device, lol.

I tend to use a couple of old empty containers that I got some crappy soap in long ago. They're plastic, but there's slats that kept the puck in place, and they help make great lather. I fill the top with warm water, and make lather in the bottom, and set it in the warm water of the top. Works good for me .

So basically there's nothing truly right or wrong, just personal preference. As long as you're happy... then good!

Originally Posted by Hans

As most of you are aware,I'm rather new to this site,so be patient with me.(Notice,i said be patient,not be gentle.It's not like I'm loosing my virginity.)
I've gotten the impression that the difference between the purposes of mugs and bowls is that bowls are larger,and meant to handle wider pucks of soap.So far,so good.Not everybody uses Williams soap.
Now,almost all of the mugs I've seen are made of ceramic materials.
Is the any advantage to using bowls made out of wood,metal,and/or ceramic materials?For some reason(and this is just me),I've gotten some sort of feeling that plastic and glass aren't just quite right fow a bowl.
your input in this matter will be appreciated genuinely.

I'm not really a soap guy, but as far as I know most people don't use the bowl/mug where the soap is stored to lather in. At least what I've seen people usually swirl and/or mash the brush into the soap to get soap into the brush hair, and then leave the soap and the container the soap is in to lather somewhere else, a lathering bowl, in the hand, or right on the face.

Since I use creams I really can't lather up in the container the cream is in. I have bowl I use for lathering. I've tried glass, ceramics and plastic, and found that they all work just fine. And looking at what other people post you can use wood and stainless steel (or similar) as well.

As bgertz says, it's all about personal preference (like so very very much in shaving is). I am happy with the thing I use as a lathering bowl right now, this. Although I might try a deeper bowl at some point, perhaps one of Oscar's mugs, or perhaps even one of his scuttles.



Oh, you might want to check out Mantic's nice videos on youtube here. Check out his video on lathering