First time using shaving cream/soap and Astra Superior razors.

So today was the first time I used a shaving cream/soap product, I've been DE shaving shaving for about a week now, And I think I used way too much soap, I don't have a shaving bowl, and did the lather straight on my face, maybe I should go out and buy myself a cheap bowl, or a big coffee mug so I can see and feel the lather before applying to the face.. on top of that I used a Astra Superior blade which litterally ate up my face.. should of stuck with the Wilkinson Sword blades..

The reason why I think I used way too much soap is because when I went down to shave my beard on the first pass, underneath the "lather" was a gooey thin layer of soap.. If maybe I can get some advice from some of the expert shavers.. that would be great..

Thank you so much.

- Peter

You didn't say which soap product you are using. That can matter.

You should just have enough soap so as to cover your face and provide cushioning and lube for the razor. It's not like the canned foams where the stuff is 3 inches thick on your face. Having a mug or bowl of some kind is a good idea to help with the lathering. Even if you face lather and just use the bowl to load the brush it's still a good idea and if you build the lather in the bowl then a mug or scuttle becomes way more important.

If you want to use soaps, a bowl does help. There are some great looking bowls available from all sorts of places, but while waiting for that bowl to arrive, you can get away with a soup bowl. Also, a tip worth noting is that if you have hard water you may need to load the brush more than once.

Astras aren't the kind of blades that skin you alive. In fact those and the Medical Personnas (Personna Prep Blades) are my favorites.

It does sound like you used too much soap. Just keep trying new things and you will find what works for you.

What did your routine look like? How long did you load the brush? How much water did you add? What soap was it? There are many factors to consider.

Estenoah,

Hey there, I have a really stiff bristle brush and I push kinda hard on the soap, I think that's the mistake, I swirl it in there for about 10-15 seconds, and recently I bought myself a deep mixing bowl, I usually made the lather on my hand, which is really messy and not quite good. And I keep adding bit after bit of water, sometimes the lather turns out really soapy and it looks like it had little bubbles in it, and sometimes I swirl it just enough with the right amount of soap and the right amount of water that the soap turns into a really nice lather the has good strong peaks, almost like a meringue.

Have you watched any of the videos about building a good lather like mantic's:
How To Build And Apply Traditional Shaving Lather - YouTube