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So something ive been noticing lately, is that it seems the lather is slicker on my second and third passes than on the first. almost like the soap or cream needs some time to really react with the water. it doesn't seem to matter which soap or cream I use, or whether I lather in a bowl or face lathering.
has anyone else noticed this?
I've sort of noticed this, especially with face-lathering. But in either case, my explanation to myself has been that it may have to do with either more water being on my face or my face having absorbed more water prior to the second pass than in starting out on the first pass. The cream or lather in a bowl doesn't change over time from what I can tell. Also, I tend to use a pre-shave cream on the first pass, which means that there is not as much water on my face on the first pass.
I notice it a lot less if I use a preshave. My current go to preshave is Noxema. I also noticed that if I used a technique suggested by Glen that my soaps all seemed to perform better. If you lather your face and leave it set while you strop your razor, so just a few minutes, and then either wipe it off and regather or simply moisten the tip of the brush and regather, it seems to make the soap quite slick. Glen said it was to raise the whiskers up, but I mostly noticed the added slickness. Both ways make my shaves better because my soap seems to perform better.
Indeed, some soaps seem to be getting right by the 3rd pass.
On those, I load the brush and let it sit bristles-down in a cup awhile. Seems the soap is mingling with the water after a bit and goes on much nicer.
Never happens with MDC. ;)
Could also be that not enough water was used for the first pass. That has happened to me making the subsequent passes seem slicker.
Bob
JMO
I now live in a hard water area. I must leave the soap for at least two to three minutes to get a slick lather. Even creams such as Bigelow/ Proraso requires time to become fully hydrated.
And, it takes about double the amount of product to make decent lather.
~Richard
I have pretty hard water, I think this morning I will try loading the brush before I shower, and see what that does.
so this morning I took my badger brush, soaked it with warm water while I stropped, loaded it with some taylor of old bond sandalwood cream, gave it just enough swirls in a bowl to get the water loaded into the cream, then took a 10 min shower, and then went to shaving. and man what a difference. the first pass was way slicker than even the last pass of anytime ive used it before, and the last pass was even better.
so now to try that out with my other favorites and see if its consistent
When I really want to enjoy the shave, I use the following progression:
- shower
- hot towel
- lather my face using hot lather
- brush my teeth, strop my razor - just use up 5 minutes
- wash off the lather and reapply hot towel
- apply hot lather again
- shave
Not sure if it makes any real difference, but I sure feel good when it’s done.
The general rule of thumb with this hobby
Take your Time and the results get better
Shaving
Honing
Stropping
even Lather Making
The more time and care you put in,,, you get back in better results
:)
^^^^ Yup on all posts. Soap and creams need to be hydrated well to perform well, some more than others, and water hardness IMO makes a huge difference, in fact I'm on holiday on the fair isle of Feurtenventura and the difference in sickness with TOBS Coconut compared to back home is night and day. Then again they say the water we have from the Thames river goes through at least 4 people before we get the pleasure of using it :gaah:
Making lather takes a bit of time. The soap must be worked and hydrated to become lather.
The more you work the soap, either in a bowl or on your face, the better the lather will become. The more water you incorporate the slicker the lather will become. It takes effort.
I would guess this explains the improvement in your lather as you progress pass to pass.
Good luck on Forged in Fire
Soaps vary so much in what they need to be at peak performance.
You have to learn the soap and the brush. Then you should have more consistent results from the beginning of the shave to the end.
Forged in Fire?Quote:
Originally Posted by rolodave
Do tell.
April 17thQuote:
Originally Posted by RezDog
I've never noticed this.
If I use sufficient water to hydrate my soap when I face lather, then it is very slick and it stays that way for the two subsequent passes.
It could be that you might be using the greater amount of lather on your first pass and then on your subsequent passes, the lather may be of lesser quantity accounting for more hydration in the lather. Try using more water in the initial stage when generating your lather to see if it makes any difference.
Good luck.
True that. IME, the 1st pass is loaded with facial hairs to contain the lather. A bit thicker lather on the 2nd pass and so on seems desirable as the hairs are gone.
That seems where the ratio needs to be at it's best.
No shame in a few swirls of soap or water to get it right.
This. I notice it every shave. But when I try to get the lather to 'second pass state' on initial lathering, it ends up too wet and runny. I've come to accept that for some things there is no shortcut...Quote:
Originally Posted by BobH
Sounds as if our own Mr. Calton will be on TV on the 17th!
Looking forward to it and the best of luck! :gl:
that is a tough thing to do, to stick with one soap or cream and really learn it when there are so many out there that smell so good. but this just seemed to be so consistent with all of my soaps and creams and it just struck me the other day what it was. and I'm still learning brushes, I have a couple of the cheap synthetic ones from maggards, and then the other day I orderd one of their badger knots and made a handle for it and it is really nice.
thanks dave and Sharpton for the good luck wishes! Yes I will be on forged in fire on april 17th at 7:00 mountain time. its season 5 episode 6 for those out of the us that might be on different tv schedules. I went to new York last august to do the episode, but they said I couldnt say anything about it until they emailed me yesterday.
I cant say how it turned out, but I can say that it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be {I wasn't going to go, but my wife told me she thought it would be a good idea}. I do hope that it is a good episode :}
If you are talking about lather being thicker after a second shaving pass I haven't seen this. If you are talking about lather being thicker after moving the brush over your face for the second time...of course.
Paint is thicker after the second coat as well.
gcbryan,
the lather isn't so much thicker, as slicker. ive been doing this now for the last 2 weeks I think, where I will wet the brush, then load it or put cream in it, put it in a bowl with a bit of extra water, then shower, and then face lather and shave, and it seems to be consistent with the soaps and creams that I have tried it with.
it might be my hard water, or it might be that the soap needs some time with the water to really absorb it. but whatever it is seems to help, and seems to be consistent.
Joe your a star! Tc
Since it has been brought-up I have begun to do it longer with some things which have been disappointing in the past. Darned if it does not work great! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by caltoncutlery
Seems to help the brush as much as the lather.
OH! Yes, Joe! A STAR! :cool: