Thread: How to palm lather MWF soap

Hi gents,

Lately I've been using my palm to lather some of my soaps and after seeing the great guide du212 posted about how to lather MWF using the bowl, I decided taking my camera with me in tonight's shave and take some pictures while I'm palm lathering MWF.
I only have two hands, so bear with me about the photos quality, OK?
OK, let's start:

1. The gear you'll need

1. One puck of MWF (well, dohh...)
2. One good medium sized broken-in boar brush. I find the Semogue 1305 perfect for the job
3. One bowl Access to tap water

2. Preparing the stuff

Fill the bowl with tap water. The water must not be hot nor warm. Room temperature is ideal.
Drown the puck of MWF in the bowl. Put the brush in there too, but leave the handle above water level (so you don't have to complain later about chipped wood).



After a few minutes, remove the water from the bowl. Shake the brush for excess water and place the puck in the palm of your hand.



3. Loading

Start swirling with the tips of the brush on the surface of the puck of soap.



After one and a half minutes, the brush should be well loaded with soap.

4. Lathering

Now this stage is where normally one would place the brush in the face and start building the lather. I can do that, but I think I can "sense" better how's the lather is developing if I keep it in the palm of my hand. Besides, if I lather in the bowl, there's always some wasted lather that remains there, unlike palm lathering where I apply the lather directly in my face.
The palm skin is one of the most sensitive areas in the body, so it will tell you how does the lather is doing, after adding a drop of water.
Notice how the lather is faint and dry on the first picture.



Each 15 seconds, I'll add 3 drops of water and continue swirling.

...

3 drops more

...

and some more. Notice how using this technique, MWF can process several drops of water easily without becoming too thin, airy or bubbly.



OK, I think where done.

5. Finish

Now, I can feel the lather in the palm of my hand has being moist and soft, but at the same time, strong and tight, just what we're aiming for.
The lather is ready to "work" now. This is what it looks like when I pass the loaded brush in my arm:



Enjoy!

Looks like quite a mess. As I recall Classic Shaving sells or at least sold a horn palm cup for just that purpose. Looks like thats what you need.

But thanks for the informative tutorial.

IME you don't need to load the brush for anywhere near one and a half minutes, especially if it has been well soaked. Sounds like you may be wearing through your puck faster than is actually necessary, but as always, whatever works for you....

Good pics too, especially considering the circumstances.

Excellent post.

What do you keep your MWF puck in?

I have a variation where I soak the brush
dump out the water grab the puck,
getting a little on my wet hands and give my
face a very quick wash with my hands.

While my face is still wet I pick up some
additional soap with the brush and then start building
a lather on my hand or face.... trying to never let my
face dry out. I often go to my face with the brush
long before the lather is optimum going back and forth
to the bowel adding water as needed.....

A common soap dish or inexpensive covered
kitchen container make a useful container
for holding the soap, even a clean empty margarine
tub or take out container.

Your method works with Williams, heck any puck o' soap
or even shaving cream...

Hi all,

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Looks like quite a mess. As I recall Classic Shaving sells or at least sold a horn palm cup for just that purpose. Looks like thats what you need.

That "mess" has the purpose of feeling what the leather is becoming. The use of a palm cup would take that experience away.

Originally Posted by TartanJim

IME you don't need to load the brush for anywhere near one and a half minutes, especially if it has been well soaked.

Well, I found out that MWF needs to be loaded more than most of my other soaps.


Thanks for the comments!

I achieve the same effect facelathering, with the added benefit of prepping my beard at the same time while retaining my hands clean for the shave. Palm lathering seems a bit wasteful to me but it works for you, by all means. Same with soaking the puck, I normally only apply a few drops of warm water on the surface that I will use to load the brush. I have excellent water at home so I never had to soak my soaps longer than 10 seconds, typically no more than 3 or 5 and this includes Mitchell's Wool Fat, great soap BTW; thanks for posting.

Al raz.

Originally Posted by Leon

Hi all,



That "mess" has the purpose of feeling what the leather is becoming. The use of a palm cup would take that experience away.



Well, I found out that MWF needs to be loaded more than most of my other soaps.


Thanks for the comments!