Thread: I blame the lather! -- or lack thereof

I'm still having some troubles with shaving, and I think I've narrowed it down to the lather. My Fromm blade seems to be quite sharp. I can hold a hair -- or even a few hairs -- with a pair of tweezers and bring the edge up from underneath. The hairs pop effortlessly with very light pressure. I prepare for my shave with plenty of hot water. The hot towel on the face has never felt very effective for me; maybe it's the lack of patience, rendering it impossible for me to hold it there for very long. My approach is more aggressive. I fill the sink up with water as hot as the facet provides, and I plunge my face into it and let it soak in the heat for as long as I can hold my breath several times. You guys laughing yet? Welcome to my life.

Then I wet my brush and begin to make lather in my mug with the Williams soap Tony Miller provided me with my kit. The light downward passes on my cheeks go very, very smoothly. Everything else is extremely difficult. I'm unable to make thick lather on my face. Maybe there is too much water from my ridiculous plunging technique, because the soap just seems to go on very thin and run. But if I try using less water, the lather just feels too dry, resulting in the same problem of the blade not gliding, the hair not cutting, and the blood flowing. I have managed to think of ONE good idea, though, and that is to fill the sink a little less full so the mug can sit in it and keep warm during the shave. Still I can't find a happy medium with my lather 'wetness', so any pointers you guys have for me are very much obliged.

PS: I do stretch the skin as much as I am able to with each pass, and I always shave in the direction of hair growth. (at least so far with my straight)

Hi,

personally I have no experiences with the William soap, but I read of others who had good success with putting a few drops of olive oil or something similar on the soap prior to creating the lather. They reported a much richer lather this way.

Another idea would be to take some of your nice hot water and soak (i.e. cover) the soap with it before starting to create the lather. Just don't forget to get rid of this soaking water before using your brush

Good luck,
-Axel-

just my two cents here!

1. Fill a mug with hot water and put your brush into it to soak and put a tablespoon of hot water on the cake of soap.
2. Take a shower
3. Put a drop of either mineral oil or hair conditioner on the cake of soap
4. Remove the brush from the mug of hot water and shake it once.
5. Whip up a lather and apply it to your face
6. Strop your razor
7. Reapply your lather
8. Stretch your skin and shave

Hope this helps,

Are you really building a lather or are you just applying the soap from the brush? Use the method Randy suggested but make sure your build a lather, spin the wetted brush 20 times in the cup of soap and 20 more times on your face. Don't put too much water in the brush and don't put too little. I suggest tapping the brush, wetted, twice to knock out excess water. And get your face out of the sink man, you just need your whiskers soaked, not drowned. Lift the water to your face in your cupped hands and soak your face. Wait between applications, maybe 20 seconds, soak beard for a good 5 minutes total (atleast 3). I suggest filling sink with hot water and applying to face, drain, and refill with more hot water. Shave after a shower; soaks the beard easier.
Also consider that your water might be too hot, you should be able to shave ok in tepid water but really hot water is bad for your skin and can dry out the soap, this is rare though from just sink water, usually from guys who use a hot pot of some sort.
Its remotely possible you have hard water too, that doesn't build a lather very easily.

5. Whip up a lather and apply it to your face

i have used wilkinson sword soap which i think is similar to williams (it's cheap!) and it takes a lot of effort to build the lather up properly. 50 - 80 fast spins before i get an actual "lather" building.

I have a similar problem, and my best guess here is on hard water (the kind leaving chalk traces within a few hours if not wiped up thoroughly).

I "fixed" it by getting me some trumper's (Lyyyyyyyyyyyyynn), which does build up well here, and sticking to that.

My technique is similar to Randy's. I put a little water on the soap, soak the brush well and place it still dripping on the soap and then shower. After the shower I dump the water, tap the brush once or twice to remove the bulk of the water then lather well going over cheeks and neck twice. When done I have a creamy 1/4" to 1/2" layer. I then strop, go over the lather again and start shaving. Cheeks downward first, then I re-lather my cheeks and shave my neck. When my neck is done my cheels have been soaking in the lather a while and I do my upward pass. Whne cheeks are done the second pass I re-lather my neck and finish.
I have a tough beard and the up-ward cheek passes are not that effortless like the first downward passes.
You may wish to try a few different soaps. The Williams is used in my kits because it a) works for me, b) is a classic brand and c) helps keep my kit prices under $100 <g>.
Go to Walgreens, Eckerd Drug, etc.... and try one of the Surrey soaps. order one or two from Ray at Classic shaving and experiment. You may also wish to try an inexpensive badger brush like the Tweezerman one for $10 to see if this helps. I actually prefer my Burma Shave brushes to my Badgers but everyone is different.
Tony

Thanks so much for all the good ideas, guys. I'll see if I can't get a nicer lather going today before work with some of your suggestions.

So I just shaved, and here's the method I used this time:

1) put drop of hair conditioner (nice citrus scent!) on the cake of soap and poured enough hot water in the soap mug to cover the soap

2) let brush soak in hot water

3) showered

4) covered face with hot, moist towel several times

5) took brush out of water, poured water out of soap mug, put another drop of conditioner on soap and started to build a lather. Instantly I saw better results with this

6) lathered up face and let soak for a couple minutes. This is where I would have stropped the razor, but being new I still strop it before I enter the bathroom to shower.

7) applied more lather and took a swipe with the razor. The lather on my face was so much better than all previous attempts.

So I think my #1 problem was too much water on my face. The conditioner REALLY helped to build thicker lather, so I think I will continue to do this. The only problem I ran into this time was with dry feelings from time to time, which I was able to cure by dipping the tip of my brush into the warm water before applying more lather. Thanks again for all the tips, guys. Each shave is a notch above the last!