Thread: my lather is forming between the soap and the bowl

Thanks for all the great advice I tried scrapings in the bottom of the bowl today with a damp brush and moved into making a face lather followed by painting. I still think I might experiment with a bit better brand of soap.

especially since the soap I have right now seems to irritate any razor burn i might have and somehow i doubt that is normal.

Originally Posted by gunsandbibles

Thanks for all the great advice I tried scrapings in the bottom of the bowl today with a damp brush and moved into making a face lather followed by painting. I still think I might experiment with a bit better brand of soap.

especially since the soap I have right now seems to irritate any razor burn i might have and somehow i doubt that is normal.

Definitely search until you find a soap that suits you. My personal favorite is Cella in the kilo brick. I had a lot of favorites before I went back to cold water shaving a few weeks ago. When I did I found that Cella performed equally well with cold water.

Since you are experiencing razor burn I'll butt in with a pitch for cold water shaving. It took about three different attempts about a year apart before I was convinced that was the way to go. Old habits die hard, but razor burn dies harder. Pages 50-52 of this 1905 book Shaving Made Easy explains that the cold water lessens irritation because it makes the whiskers more brittle. Shaving made easy; what the man who shaves ought to know .. : 20th century correspondence school, New York. [from old catalog] : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive. So if you have razor burn, I recommend that you give it a shot.

Originally Posted by Murmle

My suggestion would be, if you are currently lathering in the same container as the puck, I would try lathering in a separate bowl. Load the damp brush (not wet, just damp) for about 15 seconds, this gives you a nice amount of soap on the brush, then move the brush to a different bowl to make the lather. if the lather gets dry/ sticky too quickly add just a touch of water... and mix a little more. if this still doesn't work try something that sounds counter intuitive, and use "too much" water, this will take a little more mixing to form a nice thick lather but should stay wetter longer... just my 2 cents, but I have only used VDH luxury Puck since I started wet shaving and I have found that a separate bowl and a lot of water seems to help.

This is what I have been doing with Proraso. I found that Proraso likes plenty of water, too. I just load the brush like Lynn does in the above video for exactly one minute. Then I move the loaded brush over to my mug and start adding water until I have sufficient amount of lather.

PWell I'm officially on board with face lathering. At least part way. Im running soap shavings in the mug and lathering about 30 seconds then lathering on my face for a minute. Its not meringue pie bit denser and not as creamy. Thick would be a good word.
More importantly it cushions well, prepares the beard well and lubricates well, which is rather the whole point. Either way I'm never going back to barbasol again.

"Either way I'm never going back to barbasol again."
A sure sign you're making progress.

One thing I do that helps is find a mug or bowl I like, grab my soap puck and put it in the bowl, and then microwave it for 25 to 30 seconds. After its all liquid I put it in the freezer for about 10 to 30 minutes so it reforms. In this way it's easier to load or lather your brush since the soap is formed nicely to your bowl or mug!

Originally Posted by Egon

One thing I do that helps is find a mug or bowl I like, grab my soap puck and put it in the bowl, and then microwave it for 25 to 30 seconds. After its all liquid I put it in the freezer for about 10 to 30 minutes so it reforms. In this way it's easier to load or lather your brush since the soap is formed nicely to your bowl or mug!

This only works for glycerin based soaps and can cause a break down of the ingredients of the soap. The most easily noticeable difference is the lost of scent as this can very easily boil off eo's and fo's

If you do this with a tallow based soap expect a ruined soap and to live with a very bad smell for a day or so.

The better thing to do for glycerin soaps is to use a double boiler method. A pot on the stove with heat able dish on top of the pot works good.

For tallow soaps a cheese grater, hands and bowl work well. Grate the soap then press it into your bowl with your hands firmly packing it down.

Ah that makes sense Castel because glycerin soap is the only thing I've used that method for! Thanks for the heads up and lack of heartache if I would have melted any other soap down!