Well, I'm fairly new to the world of straight razor shaving. Along with that comes inexperience in making lather. I bought the Van Der Hagen kit with the small bowl, the boar brush and the soap. I wanted to start out with some of the cheapest so that my technique would have to be decent in order to get a decent lather. Since this post is about lather, I'll get right to it.
I've had decent lather and I've also had really awful, suds type lather. I couldn't tell when I'd get on and when I'd get another. So today I decided to try a few different variations to see if I could figure out what was up. First I ran the brush under hot water for about twenty seconds until I was sure it was completely soaked. I shook out the brush with three hard shakes until I was certain most of the water was out. Next, I loaded the brush with swirls around the moistened soap for about three seconds or so. Then I started swirling the brush in the bowl with moderate pressure applied.
The result: Nothing. I got absolutely no lather.
Round 2: This time i tried loading the brush for probably 30 seconds. I still only put the tips into the soap but it was a long loading time.
Result: There was a bit more lather, but it was still very sudsy.
Round 3: This time, I loaded for three seconds and tried lathering on my hand for the first time.
Result: Excellent, thick whipped cream type lather. This was by far the best lather that I have ever conjured up, and it took the least amount of time of any of my other attempts.
Round 4, 5, 6, 7: That's right, I made probably about ten batches of lather today just for kicks. I didn't even shave!
Results: Using same technique, and a little more soap this time, I made quite a bit of lather that was very thick and felt fantastic on my face.
Round 8-10: I decided to try the bowl again. Same amount of loading time, around three seconds.
Results: A lot more lather than I usually get, but it was less than satisfacory in the quality department. I could still see my skin through the lather quite clearly.
Conclusion: Lathering in my hand was extremely successful. Anyone know why it was so much more successful than the bowl? Is the bowl too small? Is the brush too stiff and not able to hold enough water? Am I simply putting off the inevitable by not purchasing a better brush or larger scuttle? I'm going to try my luck with some of CarrieM's lime shave cream and see the difference. Any advice or previous experiences would be appreciated!