Thread: Foam consistency...when is it right?

Dang! That is some lather!! No need to advise anymore lol. But that's never stopped me. My only requirement is that it doesn't dry on my face. Some of my soaps go big, others go light. So long as I got bubbles and glide, I'm ok with whatever - but that lather you got there, well, yum lol!!

Tom,
I think you have got this. Now comes the part whereas you have to create this type of lather every time. When I first started (not that long ago) someone told me about water. Water (soft and hard) makes a difference. In San Antonio, we have consistent hard water. A trick to overcome that was a little dab of Cremo original shave cream. You can get it at HEB. Comes in a tube. Use that, a little cake soap, 3 drops of glycerin, and some water, you'll get tons of rich luxurious lather just like you have in your vessel every time.

A shaving brush can be thought of as a face whisk. You're job is to whisk, or beat air into a foam to the point it thickens considerably. When I realized this I had enough shiny, unbreakdown-able, THICK Mitchell's Wool Fat lather, enough for 5 passes. And I face lather exclusively. I never need to add water to my lather during a shave. Also, I don't load too too much, never "like you hate it." My lather is so thick I could drop a quarter on it and it would stay mostly put. Now that's lather.

Lather is made in two steps:

1. Creating the Foam.
2. Whipping Air into it.

I start with a WET BRUSH. Wetter than most people care for. I never shake the brush, not once. I love long big boar brushes, they can whip up lather IMO better than a Simpson's. That's just me though.

I will simply load the brush letting foam spill over the side, pick it up with the brush, and keep going until the bubbles are small and uniform. this is a LOT of foam on the brush.

I do a painting stroke on one side of my face to "dump" the foam on my cheek, then begin with whatever's left to build the lather on the other side of the face. When it's thick and ready, I "pick up" the foam on the other side of the face. Sounds complicated -- it's rather seamless and never messy. By the time I'm done.... if I put pictures up you would've sworn I used glycerin or shaving cream or extra loading time. Those products work to tho, and they definitely have there place.

I used to be a chef, so it might not make sense reading it. I guess the best metaphor--thick of whipped cream, except you're starting halfway thick and the whole process takes about 3 minutes to Uber-Lather quality, 5 passes at the ready.

I respect everyone on this forum. Personally, I can't stand bowl lathering.The dry loading technique is also pretty bad, for ME. Ymmv. I like thick, but I like it with tons of glide too. Some soaps have ingridients that lend themselves more to certain qualities, kind of like hones-- with enough practice you'll knock it out of the park everytime.

I use MWF exclusively now.

As I load my brush, I observe what the soap in the brush looks like. If it looks airy and bubbly, I squeeze out the brush and begin anew. I don't go to the bowl, or to my face until the soap in the brush looks very dense. This method will make a killer lather out of MWF and Williams, so it will work with any other brand soap. I load my brush until soap is all the way to the base of the fibers, or very close. The brush actually becomes top heavy from the weight of the soap in the fibers. Yes, this is overkill, but once you learn this method, you can always dial it back and use a little less soap. If you reach a point where the brush doesn't want to load, just add a couple drops of water to the puck and the brush will begin loading again.

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

Tom,
I think you have got this. Now comes the part whereas you have to create this type of lather every time. When I first started (not that long ago) someone told me about water. Water (soft and hard) makes a difference. In San Antonio, we have consistent hard water. A trick to overcome that was a little dab of Cremo original shave cream. You can get it at HEB. Comes in a tube. Use that, a little cake soap, 3 drops of glycerin, and some water, you'll get tons of rich luxurious lather just like you have in your vessel every time.

You can do that, but. Have found that if I get a soap that doesn't need a "crutch" and stands alone that I get a great soap no matter what water I have. Don't get me wrong I did this at one time too. Mixing and adding ingredients to get that perfect lather every time. But I learned to skip it and just go with soaps that perform without help, makes things simple and bulletproof. Tc