Thread: Brush holding too much water?

It seems my brushes can hold too much water. Now that I started soaking the brush (as opposed to Classic Shaving's approach) in a bowl, both badger and boar hold so much water that the foam is inferior with either soap or cream. I find I have to be more aggressive with the shake off if I want to have thick lather, not watery stuff streaking down when I apply it. I have had to throw away watery lather from the bowl, get more soap, and lather up again in order to get decent results.

I find this weird, as people have consistently praised their brushes for holding tons of water. Do others find their brushes can get loaded with too much water?

No. It's possible for them to be insufficiently loaded with cream or soap though, which causes the same problem you describe.

i soak mine before i get into the shower and take it out and use it afterwards. for me it has a ton of water in the brush... savile row 208.. its a big brush.

what i do is simply give the brush one snap and i find that takes out enough water but leaves enough water to make me satisfied. however i have never thought i had too much water after snapping. and often i have to add a few drops of water to my bowl so that it explodes with lather.

try a snap and like the poster above said....don't under cut yourself with cream/soap. apply enough to start with onto the brush to make great lather.

~J

A few times I've really loaded up my brush (boar) with water and had drops splashing out of it when lathering up. It could probably be solved by getting more lather in there or just using less water, which is what I usually do.

When I charge my brush with water I hold the bristles near perpendicular to running water. I've also tried soaking in the mug, but it doesn't seem to get noticably more water in it. When done charging, I don't flick or squeeze out excess. Instead I just let it drip out for a few seconds, then give it a down & up motion; similar to if you were dunking something in & out of water quickly. After that, build the lather and I'm good to go.

Originally Posted by mparker762

No. It's possible for them to be insufficiently loaded with cream or soap though, which causes the same problem you describe.

THANK YOU! (and jscott too)

I believe you hit the nail on the head. It's not like I am trying to save on soap or cream. I do 30 or so swirls on the soap (which is more than what I have heard recommended on B&B, they only do 10 or so there?) and use a penny-sized amount of cream. I was thinking that I use enough / more than enough... As I said, I have had to throw away watery lather and go again on the soap, so this makes sense with what you say - more soap / cream needed. I guess I should use more, which is nice because I get to use up more stuff and then I can try new soaps and creams

By the way, I have gone like over 2 years on a normal cake (this is shaving once a week or so, most of the time, but still 150 - 200 shaves). Maybe this indicates I use less soap than necessary.

I will try to double what I use and will report on the results in the next few days

Cheers
Ivo

Originally Posted by ToxIk

A few times I've really loaded up my brush (boar) with water and had drops splashing out of it when lathering up...

Exactly! Both badger and boar in my case. Maybe you too don't use enough soap / cream? I will try using more and see how it goes.

Ivo

I use soap, and while I soak my brush in a minute, I also have hot water on the
soap, just enough to cover. When I get ready to lather, I pour off the water from
the soap, shake the brush almost dry, twirl the brush about 10 turns on the
sofened soap getting all that goop, and start building directly on my face. A
quick pass over the face, and then start adding HOT water to the brish by barely
dipping it in the sink. After about two to four minutes of this scrub and dip, I'm
scrubbed up, lifted up, well lathered, and had hot lather the whole time...

I don't know if it would work well with creams, as I'm a Williams guy.

YMMV, but try it that way a couple of times...

It looks like the water you have is very soft. I get this when I am on vacation, not this year, though. Your badger brush should hold enough water, with the brush fully loaded, and just a tiny flick. Also, 10 or so swirls on the soap is enough, or bean-sized dolop of cream. Try using botled spring/mineral water to see the diference. If you get beter results with it, that was your problem...

Nenad

I don't think its possible for a brush to hold too much water. The more the better. Just because its flush with water doesn't mean you have to use it all. Its like saying my car's gas tank holds too much gas.

Every brush is a bit different. Some need a flick to get rid of the excess and some you can just let the excess drip out and it also depends if your using cream or soap. Cream doesn't need much water at all, soap needs more so you just have to experiment and adapt your brush to your soap or cream.

Ivo,

A couple of thoughts. When using soap, the number of swirls needed to load the brush will depend on the type of soap. If you are using a glycerin type soap, 10 should be sufficient. This is experiment time. Try 10 swirls and then look at the brush. How much soap is there? If it is a limited amount, try 10 more swirls, etc. As far as the water, two things to think about. Water in the brush is like salt in the soup. You can always add more, but once you have started, you can't take it out. Let your brush drain, then give it two good flicks. Then work with your soap or cream. If you need to add a few more drops, no problem. If you are lathering your face and have water and lather coating the mirror, you aren't draining the brush enough.

RT