Thread: Lathering hard soap

Hello

I am new to wet shaving and have a quick question about using soap for lather. Can I whip the lather in the same mug that i keep the soap in? Or is it best to put the soap on my brush and then whip the lather in a seperate mug?

Thanks for the help

Eric

both methods will work, and both methods are in use by various members here. One is not really better than the other, it's a matter of preference.

Personally, I load the brush with soap from a container and then make my lather in a scuttle, but I do it the other way when I travel and don't want to bring a lot of stuff along.

I load the brush and then make lather in a bowl. I used to just go right to my face with the loaded brush but prefer the bowl for a richer thicker lather. One thing I did pick up on the forums is to shake a bit or hot water onto the puck before I get in the shower while my scuttle is in hot water in the sink. By the time I get out of the shower my scuttle is pre- heated and the soap is softened up a bit for easier lathering.

What about mixing a hard soap with a cream? Can this be helpful or would i just be wasting one or the other...

Looking forward to starting my wet shaving experience. Should be receiving my razor today.

I've had better success shaking out the excess water from the brush and then loading the brush on soap that's had some water sitting on it for a while. I then lather directly on a wet face. There's no right way to do it. Try a few methods - for a while and see what works best for you.

Jordan

Originally Posted by erictski

What about mixing a hard soap with a cream? Can this be helpful or would i just be wasting one or the other...

Looking forward to starting my wet shaving experience. Should be receiving my razor today.

Just noticed your post count. Welcome to SRP ! Believe it or not I used Dove soap to lather with for probably thirty years. This was back when I still used a Gillette Good News. When I went back to the DEs and started frequenting the shaving forums I discovered high quality shaving soaps and creams. A big difference.

My routine now is a dab of cream in the bowl and then the loaded soap brush and a rich creamy lather. I find I like a thick lather with a straight and a thinner lather with a DE. The nice thing about this pursuit is you can experiment with different things and see what works for you.

There are a lot of high quality shaving soaps out there and all of those I have tried are way better then the Dove.

Originally Posted by erictski

Hello

I am new to wet shaving and have a quick question about using soap for lather. Can I whip the lather in the same mug that i keep the soap in? Or is it best to put the soap on my brush and then whip the lather in a seperate mug?

Thanks for the help

Eric

You can make the lather in the same mug you keep your soap in (I did it this way for years) but you use up the soap faster and it's a little trickier to get the right mix of soap and water. When I was starting out I tended to get too much soap in the mix and ended up with a rapidly drying paste on my face.

Using a separate bowl/mug/scuttle/whatever gives you more control over the mix and better results when you're first starting out.

You can add some cream to the mix to get a richer lather. Search the forum or YouTube and you'll find lots of advice on how to make "uberlather".