I've recently converted from face lathering to bowl, as I find I can get a more luxurious lather (I primarily use MWF even through I've read it works better to face lather... Guess my puck wanted to be a little different).

Well I was thinking yesterday that the soap won't be getting worked into the beard as much as when I face lather so today (well about half an hour ago) I tried something different. Instead of just building lather then applying it, after loading the brush I rubbed it into my face as though I was going to face lather, after getting a thin layer of soap on my face I massaged it into the hair then proceeded to build the lather in the bowl as per. I then washed off the "lather" that had sat for a few minutes, re-lathered and shaved. Think this is the closest/ smoothest shave I've had to date. It's definitely staying in my prep and I hope it wasn't just a one hit wonder.

I just thought the lather was there to provide a cushion and lubrication for the blade, but this got me thinking does the lather penetrate the hair and make it stiffer and/ or brittle to make it easier to cut as well as giving the protection?