I face lathered for a couple of years before I stopped using cartridges. I started bowl lathering when I started using DEs, just to see if I could make the lather any better. For me, it is a lot easier to control the amount of water using a bowl. I use a round soup bowl that has a flat bottom and a handle. Its a part of the process I actually enjoy for shaving, so even though face lathering is faster, I do use the bowl. Although when I put the lather on my face, I do use the brush to really work it into my whiskers, then paint on a thicker lather. I guess I use kind of a combo of face and bowl lathering, but it works well for me.