Thread: Please help

Originally Posted by prodigy

Ok I've been enlightened to making lather. Turns out mainaman is local and was kind enough to give me a full rundown, from honing to lather making. I was using 1/10 as much water as I should have been. Now I've only made a practice lather and not actually shaved, the lather is night and day different. I also have some razorock on the way and I think I'm going to try a few other quality brands. I feel like there are a lot of personal preferences involved in this topic and the only way to know what's going to be my favorite is to try them as much as possible. I'm also excited because we honed one of my razors on his gokumyo 20k! I hope it's not as good as they say it is because I'm afraid I'll not only want, but have to have one. Thanks for all the tips, I think I'm heading down the right road now and I'll post again after my next shave.

Your should have the two razorocks by Wednesday. I really want to thank mainaman for jumping in. That's way cool. I have a friend who was 6 years into SR shaving who helped me. Without his help I would be years behind. You are on the way my friend. semper fi

I just experimented last night with water... Used the tap water (hard well water that sometimes tastes of rust or smells of sulfur) and then used purified drinking water from a bottle to compare. The purified water definitely created a thicker lather that lasted longer, even if I made the lather frothy. They seemed the same when I loaded the brush, but it really showed a difference when I applied it to my face and scalp.

That said, is it enough of an issue for me to switch to shaving with bottled water? Certainly not. I just plan to lather as I go, instead of doing my whole head at once.

I'll be curious what the lather does when I travel. I have heard some big hotels add chlorine to their water, or run it through some additional sort of filtration. And my family has a condo in Florida where we have noticed the water seems naturally softer than the well water here in Michigan.

Ok everyone. I have officially received the best shave to date. I did change two of the variables, but I feel like the lather making was the one that had the biggest impact. We honed of my my Germany steel full hollow razors on the gokumyo 20k, and I lathered with Mitchells wool fat. The lather was so thick and slippery, unlike any I have made to date. I lathered my entire face, and there were no signs of drying out before I finished my entire neck and face. Thank you to mainaman for the hands on help and to all those that had advice. I'll keep tweaking things but I finally know what I've been missing!

Originally Posted by prodigy

Ok everyone. I have officially received the best shave to date. I did change two of the variables, but I feel like the lather making was the one that had the biggest impact. We honed of my my Germany steel full hollow razors on the gokumyo 20k, and I lathered with Mitchells wool fat. The lather was so thick and slippery, unlike any I have made to date. I lathered my entire face, and there were no signs of drying out before I finished my entire neck and face. Thank you to mainaman for the hands on help and to all those that had advice. I'll keep tweaking things but I finally know what I've been missing!

Good for you! That is an awesome feeling. I have never been able to make a good lather with MWF