Thread: OK fellas, what am I doing wrong?

I have found that when using preshave oils and creams my soaps will go flat on my face specially the Cella; I also add a couple of drops of glycerin to the soap mix and take my time building a good thick lather in the bowl. HOG

Originally Posted by dewey81

Lot of good suggestions here, I'll add my experience. I fought lathering for months. At first it was like you, lather was thin and by the time I got done with one side of the face it was gone from the other side. So then I well screw it. I loaded, I mean LOADED the brush with soap before I worked up the lather. What I got was a real thick lather that was still not ideal so I added a few drops of water. Worked the lather. Few drops of water. All of a sudden I was back to too thin. Long story short what I finally realized was that I wasn't working the soap in the bowl near long enough. I went off of a couple youtube videos I seen and worked the lather for just as long as they did. Turns out I needed to go about 30-60 seconds longer. After that it was much much better.

If you use a bowl I suggest starting out working with too little soap then add two to three drops as you go. Once you get to the point where you have that start of a lather but thin look, stop adding water and work it over. Just my two cents.

edit to add: I also use mama bear soap

And two cents more...
Try using a simple sand egg timer.
If you lather in a bowl and on your face
for less time you like an egg are not quite done.

OK, I have tried you guy's suggestions. What has helped most was using the distilled water and more time working the lather. I think you guys who suggested my hard water was at issue were on the money. That has made a big difference.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank all of you for taking the time to help out.

Ray

RayCover,

I think your feedback on the advice you got made this thread ten times better. I think everyone gave you great advice, but actually knowing what you did to solve the problem is going to be helpful to so many others down the road. So, not only thanks to everyone who gave you great advice, but thank you for letting us know what worked in your particular situation.

-Mark

I agree with mark. Its always nice to hear back with what works.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

How is your water quality? Hard water can make things difficult and some soaps don't take kindly to hard water.

...aint THIS the truth...out here in the sandbox, the water is both hard AND heavily chlorinated...makes getting the lather even close to right a big task...as for the original question, I would echo many of the other sentiments here and say that it'll just take some practice with both the amount of water you'll use and your learning curve...this str8 razor thing is like playing golf in that rarely does it all come together at exactly the same time but every so often the planets align and presto...

Festus, huh? I'm in St. Charles county, myself, so I know what you mean about the water in the St. Louis Metro area. I have always meant to try distilled water some time, but it is very possible to get an amazing lather with our tap water (even fussy ones like MWF, although mwf really is a lot of bother with water this hard). The big trick is to use a LOT of product. Two or even three times what is usually suggested, so, unless you use Williams, you very well may find yourself saving money with the distilled water, come to think of it.

I'm having this same issue with MWF. I usually just dip the brush in water and reapply on the left side of my face. Maybe I will try distilled water, but that's kind of a pain....