Thread: Making a slicker lather

Originally Posted by JimmyWetshaver

My lather has to be thinner with my straights as opposed to my de, se & injectors. The thinner lather makes all the difference, I use more water when I lather for a straight shave.

Yeah I've read that some like thinner lather with straights. I think it depends on your water quality and of course the soap or cream you're using. My water is not soft so too much water can be a bad thing.

I agree with the face lathering comment. Definitely improved my shaves. +1 on the glycerine too. Start it in a bowl. Don't use scalding hot water just yet, it evaporates fast and may you may not be quick enough at shaving to beat the dry down.

Ruckin, not to derail the thread to much but we are scheduling a meet-up in Seattle over the weekend of Sept 14th. Thread here http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...-location.html
We also have a local "group" forming here for local mentoring and such here Groups - Straight Razor Place Forum

One day of meeting with people and getting hands on help is worth 6 months of trying to figure it out yourself.

Matt

Cousin Cletus swears by used motor oil. Just slather it on your face and you'll think you had ball bearings under your razor.

Originally Posted by MattCB

Ruckin, not to derail the thread to much but we are scheduling a meet-up in Seattle over the weekend of Sept 14th. Thread here http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...-location.html
We also have a local "group" forming here for local mentoring and such here Groups - Straight Razor Place Forum

One day of meeting with people and getting hands on help is worth 6 months of trying to figure it out yourself.

Matt

Thanks Matt, I will try to attend if I am an town that day.

And to answer a couple of other questions: I bowl lather, I tried to face lather but I think I am doing it all wrong and the one time I tried to hand lather I think I mostly just made a big mess. I would consider my water temperature to be warm (but not hot). I will be out of my initial tub of cream after tomorrow so I will try a different soap and compare. I will need to stop at the store and pick up a small bottle of glycerin.

Thanks.

.ps - when using used mortor oil... does it matter if it is dyno or does synthetic work better? It would sure be convenient to be able to shave and put a light coat of oil on the blade at the same time

ruckin, +1 to what Matt said, I attended the last one in Yakima and it was awesome. As a new str8 shaver these get-togethers are the best for learning all the details that are hard to communicate via the internet, do make it if at all possible.
I learned how to make great uber lather at the last meet-up and it goes like this. One pump of a product called (Kiss my face) inexpensive @ Rite-aid or a dab of your fav. cream in bowl or scuttle then 4 drops glycerin, then any good quality soap, for me makes a very slick and wet lather that doesn't run down the blade and has plenty of cushion. It can take an average performing soap up a couple of notches.

Another thing that can cause skipping is if your blade angle isn't correct. If the blade is scraping along, it has the tendency to dig in a bit and release itself.....skipping. Tightening up the angle can help as well. I find that lighter razors are less forgiving when it comes to the angle. I big wedge will not skip as much but the poor angle may leave you a bit raw. Getting the angle right is not only comfortable but it can help with the skipping. This of course only applies if lather wasn't your only problem.

I've got to give a special thanks to BobH for his face lathering comment. Before today I had only face lathered when traveling and using Arko and a DE. While lather is important with a DE, it's much more important for me with a SR. My last 3 shaves before today had been OK, but not pleasant. I had been thinking it was my razors, since I was lathering the same old way in a scuttle with the hot towel treatment.

After reading BobH's comment yesterday, I pulled out a tube of Poraso Blue which I hadn't used before, smeared some on my face and went to work with my boar brush, dipping in a mug of hot water when the brush needed water. When I went to do my second pass, I just used the cream that remained in the brush with more water and managed to build a decent 2d lathering...thinner, but easier to see problem areas with. All in all I got a nice even smooth lather twice and proceeded to have the best shave of the week!

I think I've found a new trick that I'm going to use for a while.

Harold

Really happy my face lathering comment helped you out a bit. Good to know it works for others too.

Bob

One more thing to add -- if you take a long time on a pass and your lather is drying out you can apply lather to a smaller portion of your face. When that part is done wet and lather another part, and so on until you've shaved everything.