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  1. #21
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    I think I have a very different view of lather than a lot of the folks around here. YMMV, but I see no reason to generate a pint of lather that looks like pudding.

    I started wet shaving (although still using disposables) when I was about 15. (I'd been shaving regularly since I was 12. Runs in the family)

    My dad has worn a full beard since I was 3 to cover scars from a car accident, and had only ever used canned goop back when he shaved. Also, when I was 15, the internet wasn't what it is today. So, I had to teach myself, and only worried about what worked well. I could care less what my lather looked like, or how impressive it was.

    I don't lather in a bowl, and if I somehow managed to produce lather that looked like what I see around here all the time, I'd wash everything off, including my brush, and start over. The lather is there to lubricate your skin, not make you look like santa.

    First of all, I've always used soap. Just feels more old fashioned.

    I have an antique scuttle (just mentioned this part in another thread)

    Before the moss scuttle, scuttles were intended for soap, and had drain holes in the soap dish making them useless for creme, and useless for lathering. Also, the spouts were big enough to stick your brush in.

    I use one of these types of scuttles by filling it with boiling water from my kettle. It does nothing useful to the soap, but gives me a ready pot of boiling hot water to dip my brush in, and allows any excess water to run back into the reservoir instead of making the soap soggy.

    I get the brush down in the boiling water to soak some up and make the brush really hot, then tap the excess off on top of the soap. This softens the surface of the soap, and let's the excess water run back down.

    I rapidly twist the brush back and forth while pumping up and down on top of the soap to load it, which usually takes about 10 seconds. I go until I can just see a thin lather starting to form around the edges. The brush will have no visible lather on it.

    Then I take my very hot soapy brush, and lather on my face. I get lather that is as hot as I could possibly stand, and a nice full lather. I also get a nice little face massage in the process.

    If the brush get's cold while I'm lathering, or the lather get's too thick and sticky, dip the very tip of the bristles back in the hot water, and keep going.

    For the second and third passes, I'll dip the brush again, but only the tips, and reload lightly. Just a couple of quick seconds on the soap.

    Doing this, I get consistently hot lather, and a 1oz bar of TGQ (which is very soft stuff) lasts me a month or more. And, you can pick up an old-school scuttle like mine for $15-$35 on the bay.

  2. #22
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    That's the way to do it!

  3. #23
    Senior Member Mike257's Avatar
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    Im still not sure what route Im going to take with lather, right now I like making it in the bowl and seeing it develope, I like the way it smells , I probally dont need to make as much as I did last night , but it gives me an excuse to ask the wife if she wants me to shave her legs. Sometimes she says yes and when shes not in the mood she just washes her hands with the excess lather and she likes the way it smells.

  4. #24
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    Well, I'd encourage you to at least give my method a try. You could do the same basic thing with any old bowl full of boiling hot water.

    I know that you use colleen's too, and it works really well with my method.

    You may find that you don't like my method, especially considering that I'm in a small minority when it comes to lather, but you may find you get a better shave go through your soap a lot more slowly.

    Plus, you can still say, "Honey, I've got plenty of hot water left and everything is out. You want a shave?"

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by VeeDubb65 View Post
    Well, I'd encourage you to at least give my method a try.
    I imagine your method is pretty close to how the original scuttles were designed to be used, and I bet it works well. My only concern is that some of the oversized brushes that some of us use now would need a lot of persuasion to fit into the scuttle's spout. It's hard to tell from ebay pics.

  6. #26
    Senior Member Mike257's Avatar
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    Steve Im gonna give your method a try this weekend.

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rajagra View Post
    My only concern is that some of the oversized brushes that some of us use now would need a lot of persuasion to fit into the scuttle's spout.
    You are absolutely correct.

    My scuttle came with an old pure badger brush that was nice and narrow. Unfortunately, it's previous owner stood in his bathroom 10 hours a day chain-smoking menthol cigarettes if there's anything to judge by smell, so I had to replace the knot.

    The replacement was only an 18mm knot, and even that is too wide to stick in the spout when it's dry.

    Mac just started a thread the other day about restoring a brush that came with a scuttle he bought on the bay, and while it's a boar brush, it is also very narrow.

    However, the only time you stick the whole brush in the spout is the first time when it's completely dry, and then you can just squeeze the bristles together since they're dry and room temp. After that, you're just dipping it in far enough to add a little moisture to the tips, and I think even a very big brush could do that just fine.

    Also, it's completely irrelevant if you don't have an old-school scuttle, and you're just trying out the method with a big bowl of boiling water.


    Of course, I also don't like the over-sized brushes. I know that a lot of this is preference, but from where I stand, it seems like a lot of the things that a lot of guys around here do in terms of shaving are down right silly, and don't to a thing to improve the shave. I won't drag this thread OT by trying to list them, but I think you get my point.


    Oh, and Mike, be aware that even with a really big bowl of boiling hot water, it's going to cool off MUCH faster than it would in a scuttle. In a scuttle, you're not going to have air moving over the surface of the water. In a bowl you're going to have a lot of surface area.

    If you don't own and old style scuttle, you'll probably have better results by either filling a coffee mug with the water, letting it warm up the mug, and then dumping and refilling, OR, use a mug in the microwave to boil the water so they both get hot.

  8. #28
    Senior Member Mike257's Avatar
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    Steve I will give it a shot with the smaller mug and see what I think. Im gonna kind of miss looking like Santa Claus . lol...

  9. #29
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    Well, you might really hate my method, and even if you decide you like it, you can always get a fake beard at the dollar store. lol

  10. #30
    Comrade in Arms Alraz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by VeeDubb65 View Post
    I think I have a very different view of lather than a lot of the folks around here. YMMV, but I see no reason to generate a pint of lather that looks like pudding.
    Well, it depends on what you are doing. When I shave I do 2 things: test the soap and shave. I find it easier for me to find the right point of the lather (when the big air bubbles start to come out) when I lather in a bowl and use a bit more than I need, particularly because I test too many soaps; otherwise, I would agree with your comment for the most part.

    Quote Originally Posted by VeeDubb65 View Post
    I don't lather in a bowl, and if I somehow managed to produce lather that looked like what I see around here all the time, I'd wash everything off, including my brush, and start over. The lather is there to lubricate your skin, not make you look like santa.
    Again, I think that you are partially right on this one. Yes, one of the functions of the lather is to lubricate your skin (and also to soften the whiskers) but also to provide cushion and glide (these do not have to be mutually exclusive) during the shave. Good lather does even more for your skin than just that but I agree, the santa face is not necessary, you can definitely get both if you really want. I would say that the santa face is a matter of personal preference. If I have read the reviews correctly, with the soap you are using, you get some of these qualities from the clay rather than from any direct effect on the skin, this is also something to consider.

    Quote Originally Posted by VeeDubb65 View Post
    I rapidly twist the brush back and forth while pumping up and down on top of the soap to load it, which usually takes about 10 seconds. I go until I can just see a thin lather starting to form around the edges. The brush will have no visible lather on it.
    10 seconds? With most of the soaps I use, if I swirl for more than 3 seconds, I end up filling my bowl with lather.

    Quote Originally Posted by VeeDubb65 View Post
    Then I take my very hot soapy brush, and lather on my face. I get lather that is as hot as I could possibly stand, and a nice full lather. I also get a nice little face massage in the process.
    I am not a face latherer but after talking to a few senior member that prefer this method, I gave it a try. I must say that face lathering is great for your skin. I would have to work on the process as I ended up making a mess in the bathroom but that is a different story. Also, a lot of brushes are to soft to be used for this method. I managed to get enough soap in the brush to relather a couple of times without hitting the soap again.

    Quote Originally Posted by VeeDubb65 View Post
    Doing this, I get consistently hot lather, and a 1oz bar of TGQ (which is very soft stuff) lasts me a month or more. And, you can pick up an old-school scuttle like mine for $15-$35 on the bay.
    If I read your post correctly, your comment is partly directed towards the economy of your method vs generating large quantities of lather that would inevitably end up in the sewer. This is how I look at the issue of economy: assuming that you shave once a day, you get approximately 30 shaves per oz of soap. I get over 10 shaves per 4 gr of The Bomb, which is my homemade soap, using my seemingly wasteful method; this is over 70 shaves per oz of soap. Utopian, another member here, gets over 5 years of usage out of a puck of Tabac, which is an EXCELLENT!!! shaving soap. You may not like the scent but you cannot argue about its performance. I personally would not use his method myself but again, this is a matter of personal preference. I have been offered some samples of TGQ soaps for testing and at that point, I would be able to tell you how they compare to The Bomb. The point that I am trying to make is that the choice of soap and lathering method should be a matter of personal preference. People should do whatever makes them happy, there is not a unique way to do things. Also, I find that you normally get what you pay for, there may be a way around this but I have not yet found it... ;-)

    Al raz.

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