Thread: My first proper lather!

After a couple of weeks of insipid lather attempts I finally cracked it. "Eureka" I screamed out while resisting the urge to run around the house in my underwear. Seriously though nice thick hot lather to shave with for the first time in my life.

As for my shave technique itself? well long way to go there but one thing at the time.

well done mate

Fantastic!

Hello, mav13:
Good work. Take your time and experiment. You'll get there.

Hey I started doing it. Last week what is proper lather supposed to feel like?


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.674233,-82.387036

It's great when it all comes together, isn't it? You get to know little tricks. One I find is that after dribbling a few drops of water from my hand into the bowl, I need to shake my hand, otherwise a small amount of water can drip from my hand into the bowl, and those few extra drops may be too much and ruin the lather. I know that sounds pedantic, but I think one needs to be pedantic with Straight razor shaving. It's also important to make your lather in a separate bowl from the soap if you're using soap.

I find proper lather feels 'bouncy', i.e. has lots of cushion, with really small bubbles. It forms peaks on the brush, like when you make a lemon meringue pie, and doesn't drip or run at all; if you pile it on the brush it should remain in the peak, and not collapse.

[QUOTE=carlmaloschneider;862547]It's great when it all comes together, isn't it? You get to know little tricks. One I find is that after dribbling a few drops of water from my hand into the bowl, I need to shake my hand, otherwise a small amount of water can drip from my hand into the bowl, and those few extra drops may be too much and ruin the lather. I know that sounds pedantic, but I think one needs to be pedantic with Straight razor shaving. It's also important to make your lather in a separate bowl from the soap if you're using soap.

I find proper lather feels 'bouncy', i.e. has lots of cushion, with really small bubbles. It forms peaks on the brush, like when you make a lemon meringue pie, and doesn't drip or run at all; if you pile it on the brush it should remain in the peak, and not collapse.[/QUOTE

Yes I started to use 2 bowls. The bottom one full of hot water and the top one to make my lather in. I am using a soap. I was concerned about getting peaks on the brush as you put it so well using hard Adelaide water. However like I said nice lather. I am using a boar brush, have ordered a badger one so cant wait to see how that goes.

Cheers

Congrats mav.
You will find the badger soaks up more lather than boar & takes more rinsing when finished but that's not a bad thing.

[QUOTE=mav13;862605]

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

It's great when it all comes together, isn't it? You get to know little tricks. One I find is that after dribbling a few drops of water from my hand into the bowl, I need to shake my hand, otherwise a small amount of water can drip from my hand into the bowl, and those few extra drops may be too much and ruin the lather. I know that sounds pedantic, but I think one needs to be pedantic with Straight razor shaving. It's also important to make your lather in a separate bowl from the soap if you're using soap.

I find proper lather feels 'bouncy', i.e. has lots of cushion, with really small bubbles. It forms peaks on the brush, like when you make a lemon meringue pie, and doesn't drip or run at all; if you pile it on the brush it should remain in the peak, and not collapse.[/QUOTE

Yes I started to use 2 bowls. The bottom one full of hot water and the top one to make my lather in. I am using a soap. I was concerned about getting peaks on the brush as you put it so well using hard Adelaide water. However like I said nice lather. I am using a boar brush, have ordered a badger one so cant wait to see how that goes.

Cheers

Hi again. BTW, your quote didn't work properly because you missed out a bracket ']' from the end of the quote :-)

I place a bowl in the sink with hot water in the sink, so the water comes about 1/2 way up the sides. If you put TOO much water in the sink the bowl might tip over. I'm actually talking about not lathering on top of the soap bowl. Most soap comes in a bowl, or else you place the puck in a bowl. Lathing on this is difficult (IME) as it adds soap to the water mix as you agitate the brush. If you load the brush on the soap puck and then actually use another bowl to slowly add water (a few dribbles from your hand at a time), then you are adding water to the soap, and not adding soap as well. I hope this makes sense.

I live in Mt Torrens (near Birdwood, Adelaide hills) so I guess the water is pretty hard up here in the hills too; though maybe not as hard as down there on the plains. I find the water out of the tap fine. Actually, I'm thinking it depends now on where exactly you are in Adelaide, as you may use a different reservoir than I (different treatment). I find when I lived on the plains the water was harder at the end of summer. I've not yet used the tank water for anything but the garden, maybe now is the time to check it out for coffee, tea and lather?

I was actually disappointed when I got my badger brush (from The Shaver Shop, TTP). It was less stiff than the boar brush, and hence not as good on top of a soap puck, and more likely to spread. Speading's not a BAD thing, but it means you can be less precise with the application of the soap (i.e. around my van Dyke thingy). I found I liked to use the boar brush for soap and the badger for cream (until my son commandeered the boar brush).

Hope your shaving venture is going well. I can always let you know where I've found you can buy shaving stuff, it's as rare as hen's teeth in these parts...

Congrats! It really can give a sense of accomplishment when it all comes together, give yourself a pat on the back!!

BTW, I DID run around my house in my underwear when I got my first lather......and got some very strange looks from the family