Thread: What kind of Latherer are You?

My dear friend, Lynn,

Thank you for such kind words. Indeed, I had a glorious time with my visit at your chateau on the Mississippi River. The hospitality was royal, the food exquisite and the conversation memorable.

The honing education was worthy of the greatest masters.

Much of what I know about the world of straight razor shaving I have learned from you, including shaving with the straight razor, some lathering technique and honing.

Yes, I love lathering. I find it sweet therapy, and a chance to think about stories, characters, scenes and dialogue I am working on in my writing. Sometimes I spend three or four minutes on the first lather, sometimes even more as I fade away. Imagine the pleasure of creating a warm and fragrant lather on your face with a delicious silvertip brush and a superb soap and cream.

A long time ago, shaving in the jungle in Vietnam with canned good, a Bic razor and my steel helmet for a sink, I promised myself that if I ever made it out alive, I would find a glorious way of lathering and shaving. So here I am.

At your place, the brush we used was the Simpson Polo eight in super badger — 25 mm knot and loft. The cream was Esbjerg. What a sweet combination. I must say, Esbjerg is a superb cream, and I had eyed it at Straight Razor Designs for quite sometime— an order will go in for it tonight, and Castle Forbes of which I am out.

In the old days, I used to bowl lather. Now, I prefer to face-lather, and to let a quality brush do what it was designed for. That's why I put such emphasis on brush knots between 24 and 26 mm, lofts between 50 and 53 mm — and silvertips with tips as soft as an angel's kiss.

Yes, my journey to Chateau Lynn was celestial.

Have you seen the picture of the little boy with his daddy's shaving all over his face and head 2 inches thick?

That was me this morning trying to invent new ways to lather and be like Obie.

Wow did I make a mess. Great shave though.

Its been really interesting reading the ways everyone does something that, i know i don't even think about.

My method is self taught, my target when lathering up is to to soften up the bristles and to get them to stand up from the skin. So i use lots of hot water, i then proceed to plaster it on. Once i have a good layer of lather i then sort of poke my face with the brush and twist it as i pull it away from my face. I find this gets the sosp behind the bristles.

I selected artist not because I am a magician with the brush. Rather it was because I use most of the methods listed. As a a face latherer, swirling is a major part of it. It's the method that gets the most use.
But I definitely whisk to buff out the lather. I plaster and paint to ensure nice and even coverage. Lathering is one of the more enjoyable parts of the shave for me.

Great poll Lynn!

Thick lather in the bowl, circular motion on the face - generally in such a manner that the bristles are pushing ATG - and finally, 'fence-painting' strikes to even out the lather to a relatively even density.

I may be doing something detrimental, though; does anyone else ever get little knots in the middle of a brush? Mine's a $16 Tweezerman.

Rich

Originally Posted by Obie

My dear friend, Lynn,

A long time ago, shaving in the jungle in Vietnam with canned good, a Bic razor and my steel helmet for a sink, I promised myself that if I ever made it out alive, I would find a glorious way of lathering and shaving. So here I am.

I spent two tours in Vietnam and one of the things that I missed the most was my mug of Old Spice and brush, and the ability to brush on warm lather each morning. I have appreciated this simple task ever since.

Originally Posted by evnpar

I spent two tours in Vietnam and one of the things that I missed the most was my mug of Old Spice and brush, and the ability to brush on warm lather each morning. I have appreciated this simple task ever since.

I know exactly what you mean, Richard. The can of goo shaving cream is not exactly the eighth wonder of the world. I, too, missed the shaving brush — much of the world does not realize how delightful the shave can be with a good brush. And those dreadful plastic razors! At least the canteen water poured into the steel helmet was tepid in the tropical air. Yes, the shave was unpleasant, although I'm sure a good brush and soap would have been a piece of heaven. The most unpleasant part of the shave, though, was my fear of being picked off by some ungentlemanly sniper. The nerve!

Never noticed before I read this tread. I know that since I started using the stuff from SRD I take more time and build a thick dense lather and add as needed when shaving so it doesn't dry out. have 4 difference soaps and as soon as one is used up can't wait to order a different one. It's going to be good to try as many as I can. As Tony would say THERE GREAT

Lynn...see if you can get Obie to make a video of how one lathers a Hollywood Face !!!

It's incredibly dangerous answering a question of this nature because one can strapulate much about another, especially habits/routines of early morn before one is fully awake. I'm one of those who wakes up slowly, not fully awake and responsible for my actions the first couple hours. One morning in particular, perhaps a Monday, I was working up a lather that seemed to take forever. The shaving soap was a bright blue color and for some strange reason stuck to the side of the bowl. I was working that brush to death, my arm was getting tired and starting to cramp. I remember thinking to myself, this is a strange smell, but it was starting to work and I can't give up now. Catching myself anticipating the warm silky lather and the feel of my favorite brush upon my face...I heard the sound. You know, that noise your wife makes when she can't quite find the words. Marching right past me she pushes down on the silver handle, definitely a swirl that day.