Whipping up a Lather

[HungeJ0e]

Been having difficulty getting my lather up to snuff...

I'm using a Tweezerman's Badger Hair Brush and Col. Conk's glycerin soap. I soak the brush in hot water in a mug for a few minutes, empty the mug and gentle squeeze some of the water out of the brush. I then whip the brush ontop the soap until a light lather appears. Then I move over to the mug and continue whipping. Trouble is no matter how long I whip, I never get a thick foamy lather. It just stays down... a fairly light lather. After a few minutes I put the light lather on my face, but it's kind of runny and a lot of it ends up dripping off my face. Not to mention in all that time spent whipping up a lather, it's grown a bit cold and isn't the nice hot lather I'd like to have...

Yesterday I also tried moving the soap over to the mug, and just whipping up a lather with the soap in the same mug. No real change.

What's the deal here? Most of the pictorials I've seen show people whipping up a lather without too much effort... I'm spending several minutes with no visible difference...

Cheers,

- HJ

[PaulX608]

MORE SOAP. I like Col. Conk's glycerin soaps. They're very inexpensive and work well. But you gotta use it. Get in there and get more. When you think you've got enough, get more. When you think you have too much, you're almost there. Remember you can always add more water in the bowl if it's too thick, but you've got to have plenty of soap to work with.

[ben.mid]

I've no experience with either the brush or soap, but it sounds like you need more soap.
I swirl & scrub the brush over the mine for 20-30 seconds.
Try getting some more soap in there. You can always add water if it's too thick.
When you've whipped it up for a minute or two it should look a bit like meringue. You know it's done when you can't clean it out of the bowl with the brush.

[Maximilian]

it's defenitely not the brush (I have one too that I use at times and it's an awesome cheap performer), the soap isn't at fault either. So basically you're looking at your soap/water ratio combination. Hard water can also come into play. Don't give up but instead try different ways. Take some warm water and let it soak on the soap when taking a shower or when prepping your shave. This pre soap prep does help soften the soap and load the brush much faster.

[Moe]

As others have said, use more soap. It seems when I load, load, load, load the brush with soap, I get great lather, and enough lather to do umpteen passes. Whenever I think i'm being wasteful because of all the left over lather and try to cut down on the soap i'm using, i never get a good lather and have to reload the brush to get it going.

[gregs656]

Take some warm water and let it soak on the soap when taking a shower or when prepping your shave. This pre soap prep does help soften the soap and load the brush much faster.

That's a good tip, it works.

It might be worth picking up a cheap cream, they're much simpler to get a good lather with, and might give you a better shot at developing a 'base line'

Or just stick at it, there's not that many variables to get your head round, really.

[HungeJ0e]

Okay... now we're getting somewhere!

Thanks for all the help. Used ALOT more soap on today's shave, really loaded up the brush. I did feel like I wasted quite a bit at the end, but got closer to getting something resembling an actual lather. Lathered most of it up on my face, which seemed to work okay. One thing for improvement... while the lather was *warm* it wasn't *hot* like I like it. Thinking of moving the electric kettle into the bathroom, but we're starting to run out of counterspace.

Apparently I was being far to timid with the brush as well, as I really focused on getting it into the soap. I may choke down on the bristles a bit next time...

Cheers,

- HJ

[BeBerlin]

Lathered most of it up on my face, which seemed to work okay. One thing for improvement... while the lather was *warm* it wasn't *hot* like I like it. Thinking of moving the electric kettle into the bathroom, but we're starting to run out of counterspace.

You will find that hot water in a nice bowl (or scuttle, of course) will get your lather warm... I use a small electric kettle, too, and it works wonders.

[JoeyGargano]

Hi,
I've not used that soap.
For what it's worth here's what I do.
I keep a small noodle bowl on top of a thermal cup of boiling water.
I put hot water in the bowl and leave brush in to soak during shower, I also put hot water on top of the puck.
I don't flick any water and the brush is saturated with water, after emptying the bowl I put it back on the cup with a few drops of glycerine inside.
I work the brush directly onto the puck loading as much soap as possible not afraid to realy pump the brush onto the puck, this happens over the cup of glycerin so the excess soapy water runs into the bowl.
I let the loaded brush tips sit in this water/glycerine mixture while I strop, prepare etc.

Irrispective of any prep I do I will build the lather on my face, the first thing on my skin is hot soapy water with plenty of soap in the brush or easily three passes. I keep the tip wet in bowl between lathers.

I don't know if this would work with your soap, but it works for me (I use woolfat). It's all a question of what works however unorthodox it may seem, try any method until you get it to work.

I find I can't tiptoe around shaving soap and find myself being quite aggressive when loading the brush.
Can't speak for cream I have never used it.

Good luck

Joey

[Disburden]

You can always face lather and toss all the whipping in a bowl mumbo jumbo out the window. Worked for me. Plus, Imo, it preps your beard better.