Thread: Need help making lather

I need some help in making lather. I have been using Institute Karite. I have been watching videos of Mantic59 and reading the Wiki, but am still having problems. All these make it look to easy. I soak the brush and then squeeze and shake the brush. I then swirl the brush on the soap and start mixing in the bowl and start adding water. I tried to load the soap for up to a minute. There looks like plenty of soap on the brush, but I can't seem to make a lot of lather. I keep adding water and eventually it will just fall apart. Appreciate help.

Thanks

This is one of the recurring topics in the forum: how to make good lather. Loading your brush for one minute is often excessive unless you have a water problem or you are purposely making a ton of lather. This is one of the most common mistakes that people make. Perhaps my posts on this thread may help you:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/pre-s...lathering.html

Al raz.

Originally Posted by binder

I need some help in making lather. I have been using Institute Karite. I have been watching videos of Mantic59 and reading the Wiki, but am still having problems. All these make it look to easy. I soak the brush and then squeeze and shake the brush. I then swirl the brush on the soap and start mixing in the bowl and start adding water. I tried to load the soap for up to a minute. There looks like plenty of soap on the brush, but I can't seem to make a lot of lather. I keep adding water and eventually it will just fall apart. Appreciate help.

Thanks

Hey binder,

Water here in Alberta tends to lean toward the hard side. Most soaps and creams seem to work well, but you might get a brand that just doesn't want to play nice. Institute Karite may just be one of those brands. I haven't tried it myself, but a recent thread on IK shows that opinions are very mixed.

Because of differences in water hardness, and the way soaps react with that, and the different lathering capabilities of differing brushes, there is no cookie cutter, "Do this and your lather will be perfect," method.

One simply needs to experiment. If the lather dries up too fast, use more water or load up less soap. If it is runny, use less water. If it doesn't last, use more soap and water. Just play around. Make some with one method, see how it feels on yoru face, then wipe it off and try a different method. Do this for an evening and I guarantee you will be making great lather.

Binder,

Creams are easier to make the initial lathers, as you can add a repeatable, quantitative amount of cream and see the lather it produces.

The old adage of a dollop the size of an almond is not far off

Loading a brush with soap is much less repeatable in the early days of lather production, and it is easy to have too little or too much !

Have fun !

regards

Russ

I Think part of the problem was not having enough water in the brush. I left a little more water in and the lather worked better, and there was a better paste when I swirled the brush on the soap. The problem is getting the amount of water right. Too much is a problem as well.