Thread: Disappearing lather

There are some soaps that simply don't perform. Without knowing the soaps it's hard to advise.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

There are some soaps that simply don't perform. Without knowing the soaps it's hard to advise.

True words. Some soaps (for me) will NOT lather...Mystic Waters was one of them. However, they have a huge fan base so I must presume it is not the product, but the user.

Conversely, if you can't get Cella or Proraso to whip up into an excellent lather on a regular basis, I'll suggest the error is not the arrow but rather the Indian.

I can now sometimes manage to get a decent lather from the Van Der Hagen Luxury and the Col Conk. The Mystic Water, not so much. I think Van Der Hagen has the edge, face felt much better afterward. Too bad it doesn't come in the Col Conk scents. Doesn't seem to be any particular technique that gives me the occasional decent lather. Seems to just happen by accident. As for the creams, Coates was much easier to lather, but the TOBS felt better and smelled nicer too, just took a lot more work. Cella is next. Thanks again for all the advice.

Nothing happens by accident when you build a lather. You just have not noticed yet what it is that is starting to making the difference.

Bob

For me it was finding a bowl that had some type of texture in the bottom to give the bristles a better agitation

Something I do may help and that is after you think you have enough lather squeeze the brush between your thumb and fore finger to have the lather load onto your hand. Then appy the lather to the face by dipping the brush into the lather on your hand. This shows that you have the right mix works for me good luck

I don't know about the Mystic stuff but the others are low end soaps and are not known to be great lather producers. I've used the VDH and Conk and they produced kind of light lathers that didn't hang around long. Get yourself a quality soap and you will see the difference.

I found that some brushes need more soap than others to get a nice lather. Somehow I need much less soap when using a synthetic hair brush.

I've found that using water that's too hot will make my lather disappear, seems to hold together better with warm water. Not sure why this is.

I was having similar issues after going through a puck in two weeks because I was soaking the whole thing while I was showering. I switched to a different soap and I'm still experimenting with different processes. I did get good results from a trial packet from Art of Shaving, but theirs is way overpriced. I. Getting better results from putting a small amount of water in the soap and it softens it up and loads up on brush better. I am also a slow shaver, so I only shave half than reapply to other side. Than shave in reverse for second pass. Every little bit helps until everything falls into place.