Can the brush/bowl affect lather

I don't know what I am doing wrong here. I cannot for the life of me get a decent lather out of Castle Forbes lavender. I've read a good amount of how to's and am wondering if my brush and/or my bowl are preventing me from good lather. First of all I'm a 20 year old college student so I don't have the greatest amount of funds. That being said my "bowl" is a ceramic coffee mug. My brush is something my mom bought my dad years ago from a Walmart type store with what I believe to be horse hair bristles.

I know CS creams are good stuff, so can my poor quality supplies be at fault?

BTW...I have managed to get a decent lather from William's MUG shaving soap however, that soap dries me out like no other.

Thanks,
Dan

Dan, I love Castle Forbes but AFAIC it has to be attacked as if it were a puck of soap. I don't know what anyone else does but I put water on the soap (as if it was a puck) and let it sit while I take my shower. I load the brush as I would with a puck and then I lather in a separate bowl adding dribbles of water as I whip it up. It may use it up more quickly but it is the only way I found to enjoy this wonderful 'cream'. BTW, go to youtube and search for "mantic shaving" and check out his lathering videos.

IMO the boars hair or synthetic brush is the fault here.... Trying to raise a good lather from a creme with boars hair is much tuffer than with badger...

The reason you are getting a good lather from the Williams is that is exactly what your equipment was
designed for...


Edit: I also just found this thread just in case your on a budget

http://straightrazorpalace.com/brush...air-brush.html

I agree that the brush could be a factor. Kcarlisle just made an excellent analogy on this thread: "Kind of like the difference of using a bad paint brush or a good one. The good one will hold paint and not drip everywhere."

~Rich

P.S. Duh. Glen just referenced the same thread I did. Never mind :fim: , except that I do think that analogy is apt.

Thanks all for confirming my thoughts on my troubles. I have considered the tweezerman brush, even have had it in my cart at Amazon before. Ultimately decided to wait and buy good quality cream first, since I already had a brush to get me by.

Thanks again,

Dan

Hum, you are the second person that had mentioned having problems getting good lather with Castle Forbes in the last month or so... Since you are on a tight budget, the first thing that I would suggest is to follow the directions supplied by the manufacturer: "A CUT ABOVE". Another thing to try without spending money is a different bowl, I would try something large with a geometry similar to mine, like a cereal/salad bowl: http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...turn-bomb.html

I have found that the size and the geometry of the bowl can play a critical role. Recently, a friend of mine sent me a video of himself lathering a dense cream like Castle Forbes in a very tall and narrow bowl where the brush could barely fit. Needless to say, his lather was not very impressive. After we discussed his issues, the lather became much better.

Other things to consider are:

1) how long do you spend lathering? it takes a while to get a good creamy lather with these creams.

2) How do you load your brush? The way that Jimmy suggested (which is the way that Castle Forbes recommends or do you spread a bit of the cream in the bowl and lather away? If you use the latter, there is also a good chance that you leave lot of unused product at the bottom of the bowl if you are not careful.

3) Sure a using a badger brush may help in this case but a lot of people would I know, including myself, use boar brushes routinely with Castle forbes and get excellent results. This is not to say that your brush is not the culprit in this case. I think the cheapest brush I have used is a Van der Hagen boar brush with green handle.

4) Finally, do not be afraid of increasing the lathering speed. I have found that this factor can also play a role in the results you obtain for certain products.

I would be able to give you more tips if you could actually mention what the problem with the lather is: dry or too thin; not creamy enough or your razor would not through, that sort of thing. Since Castle Forbes creams are excellent, you should not have any problems with it.

Al raz.

Hmm, interesting points.

Well, The lather is way too thin and dry. Lots of air bubbles and seems like one brush stroke on the face puts some lather on and the next stroke takes it off.

Listed, in response to Alraz, are the various techniques I've experimented with

1. My "bowl" is tall and narrow.
2. I spend like 20 minutes trying get the lather correct.
3. I've tried whipping a wet brush on the cream then trying to lather in the bowl...I've tried putting an almond sized portion of creme in the bowl then whipping...I've tried loading the brush then doing it on my face as well as the hand.
4. I've gone fast and slow, spinning in the center and along the sides, pushing down and not pushing down.
5. Also I've started with a damp brush adding drops in at a time ending up with a teaspoon of water give or take.

So maybe a better brush and wider bowl?

This may or may not be a great deal of help to yourself, but I offer it up in case it helps anyone else.

I used a few cups/bowls/jugs trying to get one that would work right, most just didnt have the room for me to move, now I'm a bit picky and wanted a black bowl, so I was having a helish time lathering and finding a good sized bowl and I bitched about this to my barber/hair stylist (he does womans hair to) and he walked out the back and got me one of the little bowls he uses for mixin dye, its a good size has a handle and is black, best bowl I've got so far of any colour.

Geek

Wow, I'm amazed to hear this. I know some castle forbes creams are pretty solid almost like soap. Howeve,r I lather straight from the soap to my face and I find even using a small badger brush the thing just explodes with lather with almost no effort.

I think there is really something to this. I used to use a ceramic bowl for making my lather but recently bought an unbreakable (green rubber ) shaving mug. Since then I have been having trouble making lather. I was thinking it was the rubber mug. Now I believe it is because it is narrower than the ceramic bowl.

YouTube - The Art Of Lathering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7Aj9vwrtc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N0C1cLELQo

Pretty sure I got it. I switched to a much larger bowl with a more rounded bottom and wha-la. Wasn't perfect but pretty close and much better than usual.

Bowl might have been too big, the lather kept climbing up the sides and I'd push it back down but the shape and openness I think were essential.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan586

Thanks all for confirming my thoughts on my troubles. I have considered the tweezerman brush, even have had it in my cart at Amazon before. Ultimately decided to wait and buy good quality cream first, since I already had a brush to get me by.

Thanks again,

Dan

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I can highly recommend the Tweezerman brush. It does very well with C&F cream.

You do need to control the amount of water you use with it. Start with very little, perhaps the same volume as cream (an almond-sized drop should be plenty). Add water slowly as the volume increases until you get the right moisture content. Watch for stripes in the bottom of the bowl, and add water until they just disappear.

Fred

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan586

So maybe a better brush and wider bowl?

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Definitely a wider bowl. As for the brush, I had no problems with CF and a EUR 4.5 whatever-animal-had-to-lose-its-fur brush. I've had CF creams ranging in texture from modelling clay to sour milk (which strikes me as odd), but never(!) had any problems producing good lather. I start with soaking the brush in filtered, boiling water, let it sit for three minutes, squeeze it dry, load the brush on top of the cream with little dabs, then lather in a rather wide bowl (this one). Absolutely error free - for me.

Dan,

++1 on the advice offered by the previous posts.

Mantic59's YouTube videos, previously posted, are also a great primer on crafting rich, luxurious shave lather.