Thread: Weird lathering instructions

Originally Posted by Stubear

Its my experience that quite often the so-called "experts" actually dont have any idea what they're talking about..! I've asked several barbers here in London about various things, and the advice I have been given has varied from accurate to the misleading to the downright nonsensical!

Make your lather however you feel like, theres no right or wrong way, just whatever results in a good lather for you. If a circular motion works, do that. If you like to paint the lather on, do that. Whatever gives you the lather you need!

As to sharpening on a belt machine and stropping everyday on CrOx, arent you glad you're one of the enlightened members of this forum..! Anyone who did that would quickly find that their razor was ruined by the belt machine or dulled by the overuse of CrOx.

I'd take the advice of forum members here over 99.999% of the advice I'd get in a store. The reason being that members here are passionate about the topic and have years of experience in the field. To the guys in the stores its basically just a job, with very few exceptions. Dont get me wrong, there are barbers and shopkeepers out there who know their stuff, who can hone, lather and shave and give accurate advice. But there are also those who dont and who will give you the wrong advice.

Boy, I agree! When I was first starting out, I talked to every barber in our county and I swear I got more useful assistance and information in one minute on the Forum than with all the hours trucking around to all the barbershops. It's almost like they have forgotten their "art"...or it's just not being taught anymore. I got a lot of "don't that, son...you'll just cut yourself up...things are modern for a reason...oh, that's that old school shaving that went out when cro-magnan came on the scene" and such.

After about 30 seconds on the forum, I had tons of information and a fantastic gentleman offered to look at and hone up the razor that I had been grinding my face with for a month. I was off to the races!

In the end it's just as well. As someone mentioned in the "What should a man know" post, we should be able to, with enough information, pick up an old art and be somewhat proficient at it (with time and practice). In many ways, this has been one of the more constructive learning processes I have had. Extremely rewarding!

Have a great morning, men!

Julian

Lovely story six, I enjoyed and could imagine it

And yes, I also think just painting makes no sense if you think about it, you need that hair to get soap everywhere, not just 'pasted on top like that'. But I made this post not to verify the techniques, I just can't stand it that at the very shops where they sell this gear they seem to always give incorrect instructions, and these lads are not even ashamed to charge you for it (25 EUR!!).

It's just so strange, because as said above, one minute reading here will teach you so much, and these guys don't even take the time to do just that. Instead they sell people like me a straight razor, give me wrong instructions, and had I not found this forum I would have stopped using it because clearly it was not shaving the way it was supposed to...

One of the two or perhaps both my rooney and simpson brushes came with some sort of "paint don't smoosh" type of instruction. It was some hoopla about brush longevity. IIRC one said to dry it on a stand hair side down and the other said to dry it on the base hair side up.