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Title is fairly self explanatory. I've watched a few videos/read some posts about lathering creams in a bowl. It's very time consuming, but the lather that comes out is just beautiful to look at, and something I've personally never accomplished. I just lather my creams by dabbing them on the brush then going straight to the face. Nowhere near as thick and smooth as what you see from the bowl and water adding technique.
Is the bowl technique so much better it's worth finding a bowl?
I guess trying bowl lathering is up to you. I normally face lather soaps or creams. For creams I just squeeze out what I need and spread that around my pre whetted face. Shake the water out of the brush and start to build lather on my face. I add water as I go by dipping just the very tips of the brush in water, quick little shake and build some more. Repeat adding water as necessary till you get the lather you want. If you are not generating a thick and smooth lather that way you might want to experiment a bit with your lathering technique.
I just mention that because to get that thick and smooth lather using a bowl you still have to get the right water ratio going. If your lather is thin and runny there is too much water or too little product in it. If it is pasty then too much product and too little water. In any case using either face or bowl lathering you should be able to get a good lather going.
You don't need a fancy bowl to try bowl lathering either. Plenty of people use something like a big coffee cup or a cereal bowl so it is not expensive to find out for yourself.
Bob
You can use any type of bowl, even a large coffee mug, as long as its deep enough
to hold the lather and wide enough to allow the brush to swirl around.
And yes....bowl lathering is a bit more time consuming, but the lather probably will
be thicker and smoother if you make it properly. Try it for yourself, using whatever
bowl is at hand, and see if you like it better than face lathering. Then you can decide
if its worth it to you to get a "real" lathering mug.
I don't know if it's really that much better but I do admit I tend to lather creams almost exclusively in a bowl. Soap I generally build the lather directly on my face. I think for me the main reason is when using soap I'll swirl the brush on the soap until I start getting a basic lather built then move to my face to finish. Creams I just spend enough time in the cream container to get it on the bristles so I use the bowl to start the lather and while there I may as well completely build the lather. In both cases generally if I need more water I tend to drop the water directly on the brush rather than into the lather itself. But that's just what works for me.
As you can see, it's definitely an all over the map/YMMV thing.
Me personally, I lather soaps in a bowl/mug exclusively and creams predominately in a mug/bowl, but will face lather them about 25% of the time as the mood strikes.
I face lather. I've tried both and I would rather spend the time working the lather into my whiskers. I think I get better coverage and a better shave.
50 percent this, 50 percent that. Always another way to do something keep us awake and functioning. I have scuttles, bowls and mugs and a face to lather in/on. For a while all I had was a six inch across bowl about 1 to 1-1/2 inches tall with a rim that curved inward (contained the suds quite well). Found it at a Goodwill, thrift store, secondhand stores depending what country you live in. Spent all of $1.99USD on it. Quite cheap and worked for me till my natural curiosity got in the way and I had to acquire all the others. One favorite is a medium size scuttle made by a grandchild for me. Makes lousy suds but I use it anyway.
I get great results from lathering creams in a bowl for 1 - 2 min., depending on the cream. I don't find that time consuming. My mug is about 4" wide (top) and 2" deep.
I've tried a coffee mug in the past, but a mug is too narrow and deep for me; I hate banging my brush against the mug walls.
As for my soaps, I lather them on my face.
When I use my Proraso/C.O. Bigelow Cream I put a dime sized 1/4 inch thick spot in the center of some cheapie lil ceramic rice bowl I snagged out of storage and swirl it with a damp brush for a minute or two. I get a thick lather that is stiff and well peaked that fills the bowl. It is usually enough to do a full slow 3 pass shave with plenty of left overs to do those spot touch ups. YMMV. That's my 2 cents.
I don't use that many creams being more a soap guy however when I do use them I just put a pea sized amount on the brush and work em up on my face directly. I never fail to get huge amounts of lather.