First Lathering

Greetings SRP —


Yesterday I kicked the can and picked up the VDH Shave Kit. After carefully reading through the Making Soap Lather tutorial on this site I headed into my john with my brush and bowl in tow. I followed the instructions to a T and didn't deviate for any reason. The lather in the bowl and what was loaded onto my brush looked to be correct but when I went to swirl the concoction onto my mug it was thin. During my prep I did dip back into the soap a bit to pick up some additional soap for my lather to get a bit thicker.


I still was able to shave with the mixture, so I'm not sure if this is a rookie error (probably) or if this kind of soap just seems 'thinner' than the canned crap.


I throw myself to the wolves now for insight.


Cheers
Lowball

there is nothing about this kind of soap that compares to the canned goo, it will be thinner or thicker depending your addition of water ,, it takes time to learn just as anything in this craft ,, but just because its not 2 inches thick on your face doesn't mean its not doing its job,,, practice it will come good luck tc

I always soak my brush then flick all the water back out before I start making later. You really do need very little water and the less you start with the better, because you can always add more as you build it up. However if you start with a watery mess then you're on the path to failure. That being said even a badly made lather is usually better than the crap in a tin.

What they said.

A few drops of water on lathered brush takes soap from stiff to perfect or from perfect to sloshy. A few drops less in the mug takes lather from weedy to wealthy.

Most shavers find critical mass in about three sessions once they go looking for it.

This is a good vid on face lathering but you can apply the ideas to bowl lathing too Lathering Tutorial - How to lather a shaving soap - YouTube . At least it will give you an idea of what the lather should look like. Try practice lathering a bit to get the hang of it.

Bob

I used to top off the mug with hot water and let my brush soak in it. Then after a few minutes dump it all out. Shake out the brush and swirl right on the soap in the mug. Worked great for VDH. I would not do that with more expensive soaps

Is this the VDH premium or luxury shave kit? The luxury will give better results.

It seems as if you're using a soap bowl and a separate lathering mug. You may be thinning the lather on that mug. I find that VDH soap works best with face lathering, instead of lathering in a separate container prior to applying the soap on your face.

I typically soak then flick the brush, instead of squeezing water out of it.
Try swirling around the brush for at least a minute to get a good amount of soap on the brush. Then lather directly on your face.

I am definitely a convert to face lathering after trying it on the recommendation of BobH less than a week ago. Then after I succeeded at it I watched the video above in this thread. Getting the slickest shaves of my short (14 month) SR life. Before I was concentrating on building a nice "whippy" lather in a scuttle or mug. When I next try those tools I think I'll quit earlier and finish with longer lathering on my face to smooth it out.