Building Lather on the Soap?

Hello- I'm relatively new to straight razor shaving, but I've been DE shaving for a number of years. When I started DE shaving I started using a brush/soap. Since I didn't do as much research on DE shaving as I have with straight, I think I may have started a bad habit when I build my lather.

I've always only purchased the replacement puck (without wooden bowl, etc) and dropped it in my shaving bowl/mug. I then build the later directly on top of the soap (normally Klar Rasierseife) in the mug. I get a lot more lather than I probably need, but are there other disadvantages? I feel like I get a good cushion from the lather, but I'm a big believer in doing things the 'best way'. Anyone else out there do this or have a good reason not to? Thanks, Troy

Don't worry a lot of us back in the 60-70s did the same thing with our old spice shave mug. But I soon went to face lathering, and notice my soap did last a lot longer cause I wasn't just adding soap the whole time I was building the lather. It ain't so much as wrong but not nessecary. Whatever works and it's your soap. The soap I use now after that many swirls would make enough lather to shave 100 guys! So try to just load your brush a few swirls and then build your lather in another bowl or your face, adding a little but if water at a time till you get the consistency you like. Tc

This is not how I started to build lather. But it is how I do it now. To me, its the absolute best way to create lather. I leave one or two tablespoons of water on the puck and then begin whipping up my lather. It eliminates any issue of under loading then brush or not adding enough water. You simply whip it up until its right and you're on your way. Plus, I insist on a rich and abundant lather. If you are concerned about wasting soap, squeeze the lather from your brush and let it dry on the puck. It can be whipped back to lather next time with no worries. Every soap I have resides in its own cereal bowl or latte mug. Nothing I've found works as well.

I use mostly refill puck hard soaps and face lather. I "load" my brush with soap on the puck and "build" my lather on my face. I use a more dry brush than a lot of others do. I don't soak my brushes before loading the soap. Here is a good vid describing a couple of ways of doing it. There are many variations on how to lather up so use a method that works for you.

Bob

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

Back in the 70's when I first began wet shaving I used Aramis soap exclusively. You describe exactly how I used to build lather. Still not a bad way to do things today really. Soap can be pretty inexpensive so I don't worry about how much I use. But then I'm not buying the $25-$30 soaps either

I use a shaving scuttle to lather my soaps now. It's a bit of a luxury but I love it. I can load my brush from a puck and lather in the scuttle or more often then not I squeeze a little Proraso cream in the scuttle and lather away. The lather and brush stay warm and it feels great - especially in the winter in NH.

I don't think there is a "best" way, but there are a lot of "different" ways. Try a bunch of the suggestions on how other people do it and see what you like. I think it's a matter of preference more than anything else. You already know what a good lather that cushions your shave feels like so that's the main thing. Try some different techniques and see if they improve or degrade your current process.

Adam

Thanks! I really want to try a scuttle. Mostly for the opportunity to try out new equipment. I like the idea of a hot lather. I think I need to experiment a little with technique and see what works best. Appreciate the input, Troy

Thomptd65:

If this works for you, then do it. There are many different ways, and it depends on the characteristics of the particular soap. I lather my Klar right in the steel can it came in. I bring my Mitchell's Wool Fat to a mug to build more lather. I face lather Tabac and Proraso, but store the brush in a scuttle, sometimes whipping up more lather in the scuttle. There's lots of variables, for example the type of brush, how much water you put in, how hard/soft the water is, the temperature of the water, etc. There's no right or wrong way, just tips & ideas people can give you. Experiment to find out what works best to get the most out of your soap. :)

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Originally Posted by Thomptd65

I've always only purchased the replacement puck (without wooden bowl, etc) and dropped it in my shaving bowl/mug. I then build the later directly on top of the soap (normally Klar Rasierseife) in the mug. I get a lot more lather than I probably need, but are there other disadvantages?

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I did it that way for over 20 years before finding SRP and learning of an alternative.

I always just put whatever cheap puck I found at the drugstore into the bottom of a mug and then built my lather with the cheap boar brush I also got at the drugstore. I'd make my lather and shave. I suppose it was somewhere between what we call bowl lathering and face lathering. Anyway, it worked for me and whatever was left on the brush after the shave I "milked" off of it and put it back into the mug--adding it to the residual lather. My pucks lasted between 5 and 7 years.

After finding SRP I learned about lathering in a separate bowl and I liked the idea, so that is what I've been doing since 2007. Because I alternate among the many soaps I have acquired since joining SRP, the puck of soap that I started using a few years earlier is still less than half gone 10 years later.

IMO not all soaps lather the same so not all lathering methods work the same. I focus mostly on desired lather characteristics vs lathering process. I prefer dense, thin and slick lather.

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Originally Posted by Firefighter2

Thomptd65:

If this works for you, then do it. There are many different ways, and it depends on the characteristics of the particular soap. I lather my Klar right in the steel can it came in. I bring my Mitchell's Wool Fat to a mug to build more lather. I face lather Tabac and Proraso, but store the brush in a scuttle, sometimes whipping up more lather in the scuttle. There's lots of variables, for example the type of brush, how much water you put in, how hard/soft the water is, the temperature of the water, etc. There's no right or wrong way, just tips & ideas people can give you. Experiment to find out what works best to get the most out of your soap. :)

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This makes a lot of sense. I've adjusted my technique for the kind of soap (water, time, etc), but I've never changed techniques to get the best results for a particular soap. I think I need to experiment with a couple more techniques and a lot more soaps.

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Originally Posted by Thomptd65

This makes a lot of sense. I've adjusted my technique for the kind of soap (water, time, etc), but I've never changed techniques to get the best results for a particular soap. I think I need to experiment with a couple more techniques and a lot more soaps.

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Yes, every soap/cream reacts differently. Keep experimenting and you'll fine tune the soap to your liking. Good luck!

I don't think anything is wrong with the method you described. For soap picks, that is exactly what I do. Even if it is a little wasteful, your puck will last forever. Using your lather in the mug method will minimize the extra dishes/junk required to shave, I.e. An extra dish.

I don't even think about it anymore. I just wet a brush go right into my soap dish and rub it around until i have something that starts to look like lather and then continue to my face until I like it. I cant seem to get rid of any of my soaps fast enough, I have a dish of Tabac and another of Haslinger which I use regularly and a year later i'm still looking at them. I use these two the most only because they lather real quick and during the week quick is what i'm after. On weekends I break out my fussy soaps and creams because I have the time to play. Don't worry about it being wrong if its working for you its working.

'BUILDING A LATHER' has always sounded kind of discordant to me, a little too he-man for what you are actually doing. I would like to submit a new term: foofing a lather!

How I foof my lather,

I have a cheap Palmolive stick soap in a ceramic mug. I fill the whole thing up to the top with hot water and then drop in the brush. This warms the bowl, wets the soap and soaks the brush all in one. After a couple of minutes, I empty out the water, shake the brush a little and then foof the lather directly on the soap, take the brush to the face and keep foofing until the lather is nice and creamy. I have dry skin so add more water as necessary to keep it nice and moist.

The Palmolive sticks are literally pence and last approximately 273 years. I recently treated myself to some Mitchell's Wool Fat and ceramic bowl and have to admit that it is no better than the Palmolive.

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Originally Posted by Razorfaust

I cant seem to get rid of any of my soaps fast enough, I have a dish of Tabac and another of Haslinger which I use regularly and a year later i'm still looking at them.

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I'm in the same boat. I still have, and continue to use, about half of the puck that I started on in about 2005. After joining SRP in 2007, I bought a couple more soaps and started on the concept of rotating soaps. I've been to about 30 meet-ups and acquired at least one puck from probably half of them. I've bought at least 10 additional pucks over the years due to curiosity caused by enthusiastic praising of various soaps. Finally, because one of those was P160, which is my favorite, I bought 3 1kg bricks of it (that's 6.6 pounds!) and have most of it stashed in my fridge.

I've given away about 10 pucks, but the rest remain in piles and the only one that is even half gone is the one that I started on in 2005.

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Originally Posted by WW243

'BUILDING A LATHER' has always sounded kind of discordant to me, a little too he-man for what you are actually doing. I would like to submit a new term: foofing a lather!

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Shaving is a manly art and the term "building a lather" seems quite appropriate under the circumstances. No need to go "foofing" things up now. :angel: ;)

Bob

Far from Foofing here in farfignoogan land. :nono:

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Originally Posted by FAL

Far from Foofing here in farfignoogan land. :nono:

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:rofl2::roflmao. That's funny I don't care who you are. Tc

In my humble experience, it only takes 10-15 swirl strokes on the soap to load a brush - but 100 subsequent strokes in a bowl to produce the creamiest lather.
If you did 100 strokes on your soap puck, you would have way too much soap - just a mess.
Quit face lathering when I found out how much better bowl lather is.

True That IR1. I'm guilty of using too much soap making lather on the puck, that is the way my Old Dad did it, now I can stop doing that and lather in the bowl or even the face.

I like lather from a puck to feel like a cream, dense, slick. I don't need airy volume and never worry about having leftovers. I puck foof. On face I make circles followed by painting strokes. I'm thinking several paths yield acceptable results.

Water hardness changes everything. It is a bloody gigantic variable.

I've tailored my soaps to my water. Another way to say it, the non water friendly soaps whispered to me, 'don't you have something better to do?'

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Originally Posted by spoken36

Water hardness changes everything. It is a bloody gigantic variable.

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This x's 1000 here in middle Tennessee it might as well be rocks flowing through the faucet.

I'm a big advocate of palm lathering until you find out what works for a particular soap/cream. I like to feel my lather.

So I got this salsa bowl at Wal-Mart for a buck. TC shared this with us. It was pretty good at making lather. However, I thought with just a little more roughness in the bowl, it would create a more creamy and thick lather. I took gorilla glue and put dots in the bottom inside and halfway up. Then when I put water on it, it expanded and I got to tell you it made lather way beyond my expectation. I used the Williams cake soap. With just about 15 swirls on the soap and then with a touch of water into the bowl... Rich lather and lots of it!

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Originally Posted by sumothong

This x's 1000 here in middle Tennessee it might as well be rocks flowing through the faucet.

I'm a big advocate of palm lathering until you find out what works for a particular hsoap/cream. I like to feel my lather.

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Isn't it funny how water changes in such a short distance, here in west Tennessee we have artisan well water that is sweet and soft, lather explodes from it, Tc

oh I can't take credit for the glue dots in the bowl, I can't remember who suggested it, maybe Geezer, but it works, I still have the bowl just in case I want to take a break from face lathering. Tc

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Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Isn't it funny how water changes in such a short distance, here in west Tennessee we have artisan well water that is sweet and soft, lather explodes from it, Tc

oh I can't take credit for the glue dots in the bowl, I can't remember who suggested it, maybe Geezer, but it works, I still have the bowl just in case I want to take a break from face lathering. Tc

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Razorfeld was quite the advocate of modifying plain bowls with glue/ epoxy.

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Originally Posted by Thomptd65

Thanks! I really want to try a scuttle. Mostly for the opportunity to try out new equipment. I like the idea of a hot lather. I think I need to experiment a little with technique and see what works best. Appreciate the input, Troy

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You can make a scuttle with a deep bowl (fill part way with hot water) and a shallow bowl that will sit in the deep bowl but resting on the lip so it doesnt fall right in.
A soup bowl in a noodle bowl works and is a cheap experiment.

Thank you Ed, I had the wrong guy, it was Razorfeld, Tc

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Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Thank you Ed, I had the wrong guy, it was Razorfeld, Tc

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Welcome to pedants corner ☺

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Originally Posted by spoken36

Water hardness changes everything. It is a bloody gigantic variable.

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Yes it does, that's why I use Living water from the head of a mountain spring, it is the Only place to get living water, I also use it in making my fuel cells of + or- charged water.

Living water lathers like no other. Look it up. :o Orgone.

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Originally Posted by FAL

Yes it does, that's why I use Living water from the head of a mountain spring, it is the Only place to get living water, I also use it in making my fuel cells of + or- charged water.

Living water lathers like no other. Look it up. :o Orgone.

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What an interesting concept. Sure does make sense and I'm going to conduct more research. Opens up a whole new perspective. Not just about shaving anymore but I like it! I'm going to try to someway that might make living water so to speak.

When working in west Texas the only way to make a decent lather was to use bottled water. Tc

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Originally Posted by edhewitt

You can make a scuttle with a deep bowl (fill part way with hot water) and a shallow bowl that will sit in the deep bowl but resting on the lip so it doesnt fall right in.
A soup bowl in a noodle bowl works and is a cheap experiment.

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This is akin to what I do when I want hot lather. I have a Col Conk ceramic shave bowl, and I discovered it floats. So, I fill the sink with hot water, drop my brush into the sink, then float the bowl while I shower. By the time I'm out, the bowl and brush are nice and warm and makes for a nice lather. Once I've got my face lathered to my liking, I refloat the bowl so it stays warm for the second pass.

The only reason I started to use the above method is my discovery of Captain's Choice Bay Rum shave soap. It's creamy, but really thick. Kind of the same consistency as soft butter. Can't really lather directly on it, so I adapted my plan to put it in the col. conk bowl and used the bowl to foof lather instead. Any other time I just foof lather on top of the puck.

I used to build lather on the soap, now, I find a scuttle my preferred way to go.

From my experience, the soap seems to expand in volume and the scent has a chance to really explode when properly "whipped" up in a warm to hot scuttle. Scalding hot water breaks the soap down, and tends to liquify the soap, which also tends to make lathering with the brush far more messy, get the brush throwing lather all around...water hot enough to wash your hands with is as hot as I go.

Lately, I've been whipping the lather up, and leaving it for a couple of minutes to "brew" in the scuttle, I find it really brings the soap out, and I strop up the razor while it's "brewing".

Sharpton gave a tip awhile ago which I find is a true "trick" to getting great performance from your brush, just wetting the tips of the brush, nothing more, and whipping the lather up will fill the brush with lather, rather than lots of water and lather, also allows much better backbone on the brush, just works great.

Anyhow, just my thoughts on what works for me...now I just want to go and shave....:rofl2:

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Originally Posted by Phrank

I used to build lather on the soap, now, I find a scuttle my preferred way to go.

From my experience, the soap seems to expand in volume and the scent has a chance to really explode when properly "whipped" up in a warm to hot scuttle. Scalding hot water breaks the soap down, and tends to liquify the soap, which also tends to make lathering with the brush far more messy, get the brush throwing lather all around...water hot enough to wash your hands with is as hot as I go.

Lately, I've been whipping the lather up, and leaving it for a couple of minutes to "brew" in the scuttle, I find it really brings the soap out, and I strop up the razor while it's "brewing".

Sharpton gave a tip awhile ago which I find is a true "trick" to getting great performance from your brush, just wetting the tips of the brush, nothing more, and whipping the lather up will fill the brush with lather, rather than lots of water and lather, also allows much better backbone on the brush, just works great.

Anyhow, just my thoughts on what works for me...now I just want to go and shave....:rofl2:

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Thanks for the brush tip. We'll give a go in the morning!!!

I was kinda pull'in your leg all, I do use the Living water for Orgone fuel cells, Look up Joe cells, if it is still up, the oil co's. get ticked at free fuels.

Living water does lather very well. :)

Back to the soap future, the mail just came in with 4 types of Col, Conks soaps, 18$ and change shipped, good stuff, every 2.25oz cake., I figure about two years of shaving...