Thread: I broke my shaivng bowl, so I'm building lather with a sock.

Originally Posted by sharked

I usually shave with a straight razor, but I might give the barehands method a try. I'll film it if I get any success with it.

A couple of points - and sorry for the delayed response;

1.) When I do hand lathering, I always do DE shaves, not straight razors. I'm right handed, so I like my left hand to hold lather between shaves for a 2nd application, and my right hand (my dominant hand) to do all the shaving work. I can't do this efficently with a straight razor. However, any of us that have been wet shaving for decades can easily do a total face shave via a DE with the dominant hand without any worry. Especially with a mild DE razor like a Jagger DE89 or a Merkur 34c.

2.) As time went on with rushed mornings and hand lathering, I migrated toward using Cremo almost exclusively for hand lathering. Now this gets tricky. We are programed as wet shavers to "build big lather with peaks" for a close and comfortable shave. You won't do this with Cremo. Not even in a bowl with a brush. Cremo is a different animal. It's super slick and protective, yet it is designed to build perhaps 1/2 the lather of conventional shaving cream. Still, I can get a highly superior shave with Cremo, especially with a DE when I'm in a hurry, even with low-lather content on my face. That's what the product is designed for.

Again, thinking back to my super busy career weeks and months, I had no time to worry about building a rich thick lather. Building big lather may be important for some creams and most soaps, but not with a product like Cremo that is designed to give superior protection with little lather generation. I remember my bare-bones shaves were a Merker 34c razor, Cremo (usually Cremo Cooling Menthol), and 50 percent Wintergreen Alcohol from Walmart used as an aftershave. Sometimes I'd treat myself and do an aftershave balm like Nivea Sensitive if I had a spare 30 seconds in the morning (rarely).

And honestly, for me, pairing Cremo hand lathering with a Merkur 34c razor and a Feather blade gave me incredibly comfortable and close shaves in record time every morning.