Thread: Getting a good shave from a good pre-shave...

Well this morning, I tried things a bit differently. I attempted the lather directly on my face method and it seemed to not work as well as I would like, so I loaded up my brush again and instead of running to look for another bowl, I worked the lather in the palm of my free hand and that seemed to work out alot better. I didnt use my straight this morning because that Shavette gives me a lot of irritation, so Im waiting for my real Dovo to get here, but using my DE it seemed to work alot better working the lather up that way. Only time will tell if it will work well with a real straight, but the lather did seem to be alot thicker then what I had been getting before. I may still have to adjust my technique and possibly even add to it instead of just using nothing but a soap puck, but we shall see. At least this morning, the lather wasnt drying out midway through my shave.

Well that's a good start eh! Did you soak the soap puck while you were in the shower? That should make a huge difference.

Yes I did. It made a world of difference in how well the brush loaded up. It seemed to even start to make a bit of lather in the bowl as I was loading up. I realize now though that one of my biggest problems was that I thought that when I saw bubbles coming up that that was good enough. I wasnt actually churning the soap into a good lather for shaving. I may try using another bowl next time and see how well that works out as it wasnt quite as thick or as slick as I would have liked this morning.

Just my 2 cents, but if you get any brand named cream and use enough of it you will be amazed at the improvement. I think soap is harder for a newbie to use. You don't have a thick enough lather . That is why it is drying out.

You are right, if you were stopping making lather when you saw bubbles that is way too thin and airy. Just keep going and maybe add a little water as you go. Good luck.

Bob

Well when I first started using a brush to apply shaving cream, I used the method I had always watched my old barber use by applying Barbasol with a brush. That worked great and I had thought about going back to it, but given that soap is the more traditional way, I really want to learn to use that and use it properly.

I have only seen Barbasol in a can. Do you mean he spread foam in a can with a brush?

Bob

I'm fortunate to be able to usually take as long as I want to shave. (Retired) I usually start with a warm water face rinse then a cream face soap that lathers well then on to the main soap. Today I used a new-to-me Kai captain and a TSD lanolin soap Desperado. This soap really would have been able to stand alone with out the pre wash but another tomorrow might not. As I like the pre wash I just do it for every soap.

Yeah Bob. My old barber always just used a regular can of Barbasol into something that warmed it up a bit and then used a brush to apply it to the face then put a hot towel over that, let it sit for a few minutes, then took it off and shaved. It was always a darn close shove and left my face very smooth, but I assume alot of that was from his 35+ years of using a straight.

Almost certainly it was. I think you'll find that a real soap or cream will give you way more protection and comfort than any kind of canned stuff. That's why they're still around after all these years.