Disappearing lather

Any advice on how to make lather last longer? The lather I make always seems to disintegrate on my face within 30-60 seconds. Tried 3 brands of soap and 2 brands of cream. Also tried distilled water and it didn't make much difference. I also have trouble just getting the lather on my face. Seems to cling to the brush pretty tightly. Tried a badger and a boar brush. Tried both face and bowl lathering. Tried a little water and a lot of water. Tried various kinds of motions with the brush. Tried lathering for 30 seconds all the way up to 5 minutes. After 2 1/2 months of near daily shaving, I still can't seem to make lather that lasts longer than 60 seconds. Any suggestions?

What are the soaps and creams you have been using? I hope this helps.

Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zESTQWDuw

You could need more product to the amount of water?

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Originally Posted by Razorrookie01

You could need more product to the amount of water?

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This would be my guess for a solution...

One thing that I found was that my soap bowl was too small. It was one that came in a kit. You need to whip the soap and then whip it some more. It needs to look like whip cream. The are several good videos on the correct procedure. Good Luck!

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Originally Posted by LexTac

One thing that I found was that my soap bowl was too small. It was one that came in a kit. You need to whip the soap and then whip it some more. It needs to look like whip cream. The are several good videos on the correct procedure. Good Luck!

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With him trying face lathering unless he was just doing it totally wrong wouldn't that have solved this issue?

I was having trouble building lather with the soap that I got from SRD in my kit. Took it out of the plastic tub it came in and placed it in the bottom of my skuttle yesterday.

The lather was thick and creamy. Took just a minute to build up. When I tried to do it with the soap still in the tub and then building it up in my skuttle it only gave me soap bubbles.

Not sure if that's the right way or not but it sure worked well.

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Originally Posted by Razorrookie01

With him trying face lathering unless he was just doing it totally wrong wouldn't that have solved this issue?

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At the time I was using a soap puck and face lathering didn't work well for me, a large bowl and more whipping action along with the addition of a little more water worked well for me. I have found that face lathering works great with creams, but not so much with my "cheap" soap puck. YMMV

Are you soaking the brush long enough?

I use the sandalwood soap from SRD and get great lather. I leave the soap in the plastic container with the screw on lid. I soak my brush and then shake the excess water out and start to build lather. I may add just a few drops of water as I go. the lather continues to build even when I apply it the face. The better you make your lather the better the shave. I would suggest to take a little more time with the lather and enjoy the time spent.

I've always used a cream directly onto the brush tips from the container then face lathered. Never used a scuttle. Never had a problem. Try more cream on the brush.

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Originally Posted by Razorrookie01

Are you soaking the brush long enough?

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You know I never soak my brushes, boar, badger or synthetic, just swirl in the sink water, shake and load the brush. Everyone has a different way of loading a brush and building a lather. That is what makes it hard to advise someone having trouble lathering. I can be a little confusing for the person having trouble too. It's all good though and you have to just try different things to see what works for you.

I have to agree with the posters that think maybe not enough product is being loaded before lathering.

As you build the lather and add water as you go you get to the point where the lather on your face gets a sort of sheen to it. That is where I stop as it seems to indicate there is enough water in the lather not to dry out too quickly. Got to get the right balance of enough product and enough water which can be tricky to do.

Bob

I had the exact same problem. I kept having a nice lather for 40 seconds. Unfortunately with inexperience it took way longer then 40 seconds to shave my whole face. Still does because I don't rush it. First thing I noticed is you need to add water or nothing will lather. Second thing is the brush but you've already said you've got more then 1. I had a $2 boar that shed like a dog so after I upgraded so did my shaves. Third thing is how many times you swirl it around in the bowl or on your face. I was blown away with how long it actually took the first time I watched a video. Like anything in the sport you just gotta keep at it until you get it. I got faith in you brother.

P.S. It took me 3 months and an AHA! Moment to get a decent lather

Thank you for the video, BobH. Haven't tried that dry brush method. I'm gonna give that a try today. Maybe I've been using too much water and not enough soap. He did seem to load the brush with soap a lot longer in the video than I have. I've used Van der Hagen, Col Conk, and Mystic Water soap and TOBS and Coates cream. I should mention that I can manage to build a creamy, long lasting lather with the Coates cream, but it just doesn't feel right. Instead of slick and lubricating, it has that squeaky, soap scummy feel. Would adding some glycerin help with that? Thank you for all the advice everyone. The consensus seems to be that I'm not using enough product, so I'll load the brush up more and see what happens. Maybe I'll also try a softer soap.

Keep us posted on how you make out.

Bob

Take a look at the this Lather | Library Section. Four or five drops of Glycerin makes the Überlather.

I am also wondering about the water in your area. If you have hard water, you may try making your lather with distilled water instead of tap water.

Starting off with wet shaving in general, there's a lot to consider. I found myself with all this new kit, in front of the sink, looking into the mirror and thinking to myself "okay, I think I know what to do... now what do I do"?

Just a suggestion, from one newbie to another, which shuffled me past that first hurdle... keep things simple. Forget about faces and bowls, and focus on what happens in the soap tub.

Too dry a brush going into the tub will grind the soap into the brush, without any payoff. Try getting the brush thoroughly wet, and shake once just enough to stop the water from running off of it. Then, with bristles at the edge of drippng, take it straight to the tub. Doing so seems to remove the "not enough soap" angle from the lathering equation. Use just enough pressure on the brush to rub into the surface of the soap. Keeping contact, circle the tub for about 30 seconds. If you have a light, bubbly foam, keep going at it. If you have a thicker, soapy slurry that doesn't appear to be doing much, add a few drops (3-5) of water to the tub with your fingertips or make a quick pass of the brush under a light stream of tap water. Back to the tub for more of the same. I've noticed that it's wet bubbly foam before it's thick cushiony meringue-like lather. If you got foam, keep going.

You'll probably make a mess, sure, but learning how the soap reacts to agitation, and the gradual addition of water really helps. Then moving to bowl or face lathering seems more straightforward.

Just keep after it. Add more soap, or more water, or more mix time or more shaves....eventually, you will figure out what works best for you. I think that's the most important thing (and one a lot of people seem to lose sight of) is that this is all for you, the shaver. Enjoy the process and the questions at least as much as the destinations and answers and you will expand your enjoyment of this hobby/necessity all the more :)

It almost sounds like there is not enough soap getting loaded from a soap (since the cream seems to make lather). I put water on my soap puck while the brush is soaking. This makes a layer of thick watery soap by the time I am ready to use it and it loads on the brush fast and fully. Try this and see if you get more soap lather.

It certainly sounds like a case of not loading enough soap. Here are some things to try:

1) Load your brush until you think you have enough loaded, then load it for 30 s more.

2) If your brush is too dry, you will not be able to pick up enough soap. Add a few drops of water to the top of the soap while loading.

3) Conversely, if you have too much water you'll generate a lot of airy lather that is no good, so if your brush is too wet, you should shake it dry a bit.

4) Once your brush is properly loaded, build your lather by the addition of a little water at a time until you see the sheen of a properly hydrated lather.

Hope this helps.

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

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

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

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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.

I found a massive difference with the amount of water need between badger and boar on the same soap. I really like Razorock soap as it seems to be quite good quality. It's really about trying to find the happy medium with each soap, IME each soap has different requirements for getting a good lather YMMV however.

Every time I lather up Le Pere Luciene, the lather vanishes. I have become frustrated with it. I love MdC, but just cannot get along with the wonderfully fragranced but nearly latherless LPL.

When a soap dissolved in water emulsifies grease it loses its capacity to foam. So if the soap in your lather starts to emulsify grease on your face or in your brush you will no longer get a good lather however hard you try. So why not clean your brush with alcohol and/or wipe your face with alcohol before you lather up? And make sure the scuttle you use is clean.

It's the water ratio ,, as the OP said he keeps adding water , and it will dry out just as fast with too much water as it will without enough, Load your brush and only add water a drop at a time ,,shaving soap is cheap,,, Practice making lather! I use to Palm lather in my free time years ago , this accomplishes a couple things, one it builds a great lather and as your building your squeezing it out of the brush at times to see how it's forming . In all this you will find out how long it takes to get it the right consistency and how little water it takes. Also how it feels when it's right. Tc

Damp Brush and as they say "load it like you hate it " swirl plaster like soap on face, dip tips in water swirl on face again, dip swirl, dip swirl you will know when to stop when shiny beautiful soap beard is achieved. Enjoy the lather.

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Originally Posted by BernardBoy

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.

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PM me with your address and if you are still having difficulty I'll send you some soap I know you can rely on.