Does anyone else have trouble getting bbs with aos sandalwood?

[cjw208]

First off I would like to say I have been wetshaving with a de for about 6 months and I dont think its my technique. I use to get bbs quite easily with van der hagen soap, but the aos sandalwood is kinda like barbasol because it lets you shave close but never bbs. My setup is a lord l6 with derby blades (they worked for me before). Am I just using the aos cream wrong or what is it?

[ecormier]

I think you may be overstating the influence of your cream/soap in regards to closeness of shave.... for me the closeness has more to do with the razor, and how many passes maybe, but not the cream or soap.... AOS Sandalwood is one of the best I have.... all I could think is that maybe you're not using the right water/soap ratio.... all soaps are not the same... some I have to use far more water with... (I find I need to use more water with creams than soaps)

[BobH]

Sorry, no idea what the problem may be, all I can say is the AOS lavender cream works for me to get a BBS with a DE or straight.

Bob

[thebigspendur]

Quite honestly I don't think any shave cream will make the difference between BBS or not. You can shave with water only and get great shaves. In your case you say you get BBS with VDH which is one of the lowest performing soaps out there.

[cjw208]

I guess ill try to tweak my water/cream ratio and see what happens. Do you guys face lather or bowl?

[BobH]

Face lather and I guess all you can really do is play around with more or less water like ecomier said. It should work with a little tuning.

Bob

[ecormier]

I'm not good enough for face lathering yet.... it still takes me 20-25 for a shave, so I generally use a scuttle (heated bowl), and lather a 'section' of my face to shave so that I can take my time (no nicks in a long time). I see a lot of 'experienced' guys on here sing the virtues of face lathering (exfoliation, making the hairs stand out better, shorter prep time) but I'm just not there yet

[Phrank]

I'm not good enough for face lathering yet.... it still takes me 20-25 for a shave, so I generally use a scuttle (heated bowl), and lather a 'section' of my face to shave so that I can take my time (no nicks in a long time). I see a lot of 'experienced' guys on here sing the virtues of face lathering (exfoliation, making the hairs stand out better, shorter prep time) but I'm just not there yet

Geez - guess I never gave this much thought...I've always "face lathered", whether it was with the old cartridge razors and canned goo, or when I got into straights. Started simply swirling the brush in a tub of Proraso until it looked right, then lathered it on my face, no problem.

Scuttle is nice for some nice warm/hot lather once in awhile....

[cjw208]

Hmm I see im thinking my lather is just bad

[thehattr]

I lather in a bowl, but I also agree that it is not your soap.* I recently switched soaps and did not put enough water in so when I took my second pass it came off sorta powdery, however I still got just as good of a shave as I did with my other soap.