Thread: Cushion? So what is cushion?

So you just bought yer new soap and yer concerned it has good lube and good cushion.

I get it, as you shave the soap residue stays behind to provide lube but the soap is pushed off yer skin ahead of the blade so how can it provide cushion?

So who can explain this mysterious process so us country folk can understand it?

Good question, inquiring minds want to know. I always though a cushion was something you sat on.

Bob

While it's difficult to define what cushion is and how it affects the shave, if there was no such thing as cushion, and you only cared about slickness, you could shave with hand soap and be happy with your shave as hand soap is plenty slick. Cushion is related to the richness and density of the lather, and a very rich, well hydrated, slick lather is what works for me. I believe in the concept of cushion, whatever it is.

I've always assumed, with no evidence to back this up, that cushion is a property of a well whipped lather that forms a cushion under the whiskers that helps to lift them.

Originally Posted by Moonshae

I've always assumed, with no evidence to back this up, that cushion is a property of a well whipped lather that forms a cushion under the whiskers that helps to lift them.

But that is the key. As the blade approaches it pushes the soap up and away and then onto the blade. Is there really anything left behind to cushion the shave.

I submit you could get a perfectly great shave with just water. For a long time barbers used a lather king machine for lather from probably the 1940s or maybe earlier. Have you ever seen the stuff that comes out of that machine. I don't think anyone here would care to use it and it certainly has no cushion. I can tell you that from experience.

So why would barbers use soap without cushion if it was so important?

From all I have read nobody has come up with an adequate, for me, definition/concept of what "cushion" is. It is one of those nebulous concepts that you either believe in or don't.

If it is just a rich, well hydrated and slick lather then it is just describes how a well made lather should be. Using "cushion" to describe that is a little misleading and just confuses things.

Bob

I meant that the cushion would lift the hair so the shave is closer, not having anything to do with protecting the skin...that's where slickness comes into play.

Maybe slickness is what it's all about. Water is certainly not as slick as soap. I wouldn't shave without some kind of shaving cream. If you want to try to shave with just water, go for it.

I agree, Bob. If it can't be defined, then odds are more likely it's just something people learn and repeat. I've concerned myself with slickness from my shave soaps and creams.