Thread: Face Lathering

I've fairly new to SR shaving. I've been face lathering using Wholly Kaw King of Oud. I spend a few minutes working up a great head of lather in the puck. It seems that Im running through soap pretty fast however. Something I'm doing wrong?

Have a look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

Then your not face lathering , your building it in the dish with the puck, which is why your using it up so fast your brush doesn't need to swirl around on top of the puck that much to be loaded. Guys who bowl lather load their brush then build in a bowl, not on the puck. Tc

What TC said. You load the brush with soap and build the shaving lather on your face not the puck. I face lather and use a version of the first method in the attached video. How much soap you will load the brush with depends on the number of passes you do during a shave. I do 4 passes so load a lot more soap than the average shaver. After a while you will get to know how much to load for the number of passes you intend to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zESTQWDuw

Bob

Most guys I know (like Bob and Tc) who are real long-term straight-shavers got away from the scuttle and experimenting as soon as they found a fine lather and brush.
Face-lathering and enjoying it immensely. Simple and sweet!
I don't soak my brushes, BTW. Add water as-needed..

The ultimate, JMO

Just to clarify what Tom has said. I started shaving with a DE about 45 years ago now and all I ever knew was face lathering. Nobody I knew used a scuttle or bowl lathered. Fast forward to 5 years ago when I started to learn to shave with a straight razor and found out about scuttles and bowl lathering. I tried both and found that my lather was no better than what I got from face lathering. I did find that scuttle or bowl lathering added more to clean up post shave and took up more room on the counter top so I just dropped the idea of using them. I just prefer, as Tom says, "simple and sweet". So really not a long term straight razor shaver but a long term wet shaver for sure.

Bob

There are many threads containing information about ways to load the brush and generate enough lather to last for the xx pass shave. I too agree that adequate brush loading depends on several factors, the brush, the soap, amount of H2O, pressure, etc.. There are times when I find the lather becoming a bit thin for my liking as the shave progresses. What to do... Put the brush back in the soap and load a bit more. I don't do this often but when necessary it makes the last pass lather much like the first.

Rich

Like everyone is saying. go to the puck to load your brush. Some folks go buy counting swirls and others go by seconds. When I started I would soak my brush and shake out about half the water in the brush then start swirling untill I started to hear the sticky sound. Like velcro sound. Then start face lathering and adding water to the brush as I went. Some soaps take longer to load your brush. If in the middle of your shave you can always go back to a couple swirls on the puck to get some more soap. It just practice and knowing your brush and soap. I find HK loads easy so just start cutting back and only load your brush. You should not end up with a puck covered in foamy lather.

I like a warm lather, so I use a combination of bowl lathering and face lathering. While showering, I allow my brush to soak in hot water. If using a cream or croap that I can spoon out of the container, I obtain about 1/2 tsp of product and put it into my shave bowl along with a similar amount of water. My shave bowl is a ceramic mortar from a mortar and pestle set. The rough interior of the mortar is great for building a lather. I have my shave bowl sitting on an electric candle warmer that will take the temperature up to about 125 degrees F, similar to hot water from the tap. If using a hard soap, I add a 1/4 tsp of hot water to the soap container to "bloom" the soap while I shower and another 1/4 tsp to the shave bowl.

Upon completion of my shower, I start building my lather. If I am using a cream or croap, I build a light, foamy lather in the bowl, similar to the lather that described by Michael Freedburg in the second half of his video. I then transfer that thin lather to my face and face lather until the lather thickens to give a thick, slick protective layer. If I am using a hard soap, I load a damp, but not wet brush with soap for 30-40 seconds and then build the lather in the bowl. Remember that I added about 1/2 tsp water to the bowl and about 1/2 tsp water to the soap for blooming, so I have enough water to build a thin, foamy lather in the bowl. Some soaps are more "thirsty" than others and you will need even more water. I have not tried Wholly Kaw soaps, so I do not know their specific characteristics.

In my experience, soap usage is largely a function of brush size. I have some 20-22 mm knots that hold very little lather such that I sometimes have to go back and reload the brush between passes if I am using a hard soap. I also have a large Omega professional boar that has a 27 mm knot with high loft that holds a ton of lather so that I am usually washing a much down the drain after the shave than I used during the three pass shave. My preference is for 24mm, moderate height brushes that seem to produce a sufficient amount of lather, but not a great excess. I have a variety of badger, boar, horse, and synthetic brushes. They all work, except I have a couple of soft, floppy badger brushes that I reserve for creams only as they do not have sufficient backbone to properly load a hard soap.

You did not mention what type of size of brush you are using. Also remember that synthetic brushes do not hold as much water as natural brushes, so you might need to add a little more water if you are using a synthetic.

If you are using a bowl to make lather and then spreading it on your face you are not face lathering.

Bob