Thread: Lather?? help please!!!

As a fellow beginner, the easiest way for me to tell my lather is getting dry is when it stops rinsing instantly off the razor. If I have to hold it there for a second I know it's time to add a little water & lather back up. That's no substitute for learning how to get it right from the beginning (I'm still working on that bit) but it serves as a good signal during the shave.

Have you tried making lather with bottled drinking water? (We ARE getting bottled drinking water to you, aren't we?)

I mix my lather in a bowl, and aim for a yoghurt consistency. I add five drops of glycerin in the winter, since the air here is so dry... that helps extend the lather's age on my face. I lather my whole face and neck at once, shave everything except my mustache and chin (from lower lips to jawline, and corners of my mouth down). Those are difficult areas, so with the rest of my face done I rinse everything then relather the leftover spots. I think the "pretreatment" helps, plus the rest of my face seems to like the rinse. And I'm not left doing the toughest spots with old dried lather.

Thanks for serving, good luck over there, and I'm glad you've found a way to while away some time.

Best wishes to you.

I'm not a huge fan of the VDH brush and soap but other than my preferences there isn't anything wrong with them. They will make a good lather with hard water. The VDH soap is one of the few that will lather for me no matter what water I'm using.
Your use of free time to practice lather making is great. Practice makes perfect and I think most folks spend some time the first month or so just making bowls of lather until they get it right.

Since nobody has mentioned the pinch test yet, I will . It's an easy way to tell if your lather is in the ballpark. Once you've got your lather going just pinch a bit of it between your thumb and forefinger. Then sowly pull them apart. If it takes an inch or more of separation before the lather breaks apart you're in good shape. If it takes less than an inch figure out of it's too wet or dry and either add water or soap and mix it back up and test it again.

Originally Posted by Logistics

There are some videos showing members lathering. If you watch carefully you can see when they add water when it's too thick.

Thick lather that needs water has little to no suds or foam in the bowl when lathering. If you advance to applying that lather to your face it will be easy to figure out as the lather will dry before you are half done. If the lather is drying on your face you needed more water while lathering in the bowl. In a sense the lather will make your face look like the Mona Lisa before you're half done shaving.

Thin lather, watered down, generally has a itty bitty pool of water at the bottom of the bowl. If you pay attention to the lather it will also have larger bubbles and when you get a little peak (think meringue pie peaks) and it folds over, this means you need to lather it more. Just keep going swirling the brush making lather but do not add more cream/soap. Also, if you advance to applying the lather to your face the lather will make a sound like Rice Crispies (popping of the bubbles) and can be a little translucent.

Ideally you want the lather to be thick-ish. Think meringue pie peaks except the peak will not fold over if the brush is held vertical. The lather doesn't dry up quickly when shaving leaving you with a crust like appearance. You cannot see through the lather and doesn't make the Rice Crispies (bubble popping sound).

When I mentored a friend I recommended he practice lathering frequently even if he wasn't going to shave. Use a cream that isn't super expensive such as Proraso or CO Bigelow. Lathering is somewhere between a science and art.

This is just my experience and I'm sure others will have more information.

Just a tip on posting. See the way the above quoted poster broke a long post by hitting the enter key every so often ? Makes it much easier to comfortably read a long post such as your first one.

As to lathering. Don't feel like the lone ranger. I've been doing this for years, watched the videos , have a plethora of soaps and a few creams. A gaggle of brushes .... badger ... boar .... high end, mid range and cheap. I've never been completely satisfied with my lather. It takes a lot of trial and error to finally begin to get satisfactory results IME.

The water you're getting out of your tap will also effect the outcome. For me , having began as a face latherer .... from puck to face ..... I found that loading the brush and going to the lather bowl is better for me. I put my brush in water for a few minutes after spilling some on the surface of the puck. When I'm ready to shave I pour the contents off the top of the puck into the lather bowl.

I begin twirling the loaded brush in the bowl and, if I need more water, I dip my fingers into the container the brush was soaking in and sprinkle more. A little may go a long way. Finally, I probably twirl the brush 100 times (I count) before I feel the lather is of the proper consistency.

Thanks for the tips everyone!

I'd never heard or read of the pinch test, that'll change things up a bit today. I'd been wondering if there was a tactile way to tell besides what "seems good". Pictures are worth a thousand words, but you can't feel a pic.

And yes, this has been a wonderful use of time over here. Even though I'm busy most of the day, during down time there's not much to do besides look at the mountains. It's nice to be able to try something that will take some effort, and will pay out dividends. I'm already getting closer shaves than I was with any other type of razor, and i'm sure the comfort will come along with time.

Again, thanks for all the great input. Looking forward to being a part of the forums, also. Seems like it's a gold mine of knowledge.

Originally Posted by BobH

I don't want to answer for Gammaray but from my own experience making lather if you use too much water it will be thin and runny. You put it on and it wants to slide down your face literally. You can have a thick lather but it does not have enough water in it and drys out too quickly. When you are making lather you are walking a fine line between having too much or too little water mixed with your soap.

You could also be building a decent lather but shaving slowly enough that if you cover your whole face with lather parts of it will dry out before you get to them, been guilty of that one. You could try lathering only a portion of your face at one time and then go to the next section you want to do.

Bob

Well said Bob. That sweet spot is different for various soaps and creams, but the consistency that we all strive for is creamy on the face yet still easy to rinse off the blade.

It takes a LOT longer to learn to lather well in hard water. I have ultra-hard well water, and remember finding lathering a bit frustrating at first, too. The VDH soap is okay, though not amazing, and actually does better than some soaps do in hard water. Using a LOT of product as suggested is indeed the way to go. My personal opinion on the brush is that their boar brushes are, IMO pretty dreadful.

Anyhow, If you don't mind a used brush and soap/cream, and are able to receive mail out there, pm me your APO address, and I'll see what I have laying around that is PIF worthy.

Plwolfe,

I am new to straight razors but I have been using the VDH kit with my safety razors for 2 years now. The best way for me to get a consistent lather is to:
1) put HOT water on the soap for a few minutes, also soak the brush in hot water (usually while I am showering)
2) pour the water off the soap, shake the brush out 2 times, and DIG into the soap fairly hard for about a minute.
3) generate the lather on your face, I get much more consistent results on my face rather than using the bowl.

I dont know about other people here, but I have never gotten a foamy lather from VDH. It is more of a creamy lather. It will be very smooth and the razor will glide effortlessly. Im not the best at explaining things, but I hope this helps you a little.

Ron

Ron

I bowl lather but do like you do and put a little hot water on top of hard soap or the semi hard soaps like Cella. Instead of pouring out the water from on top of the soap it goes into the lathering bowl. Load the brush like you do but build lather in the bowl. I have also done what you do and it works equally well for me. I think the trick is to add the hot water on top of the soap with either method. Seems to make a big difference to me with or without the water on top first.

Bob

Lately I've been filling my soap mug with hot water, soaking the brush under the faucet & letting it sit in the bowl. Stay like that during the first hot towel, then I pour off the extra water & my brush is now full of soapy hot water instead of just hot water. Doing it that way seems to have helped a lot & makes it easier to load it up & lather on my face between towels.