Thread: Ok now for a dumb question

Evening all,

Seem to be making decent lather each time now but something I'm running into. Using the book Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving, Third Edition: Shaving Made Enjoyable it says the the lather should be in the brush and that the cup is just a place the help in making it. It even covers making it on the face.

Ok so how do I get it out? I have this big, thick puffy brush and when I go to put it on the face I end up basically making more.

Jim

So it sounds like you have a puck of soap in a mug. If iam correct,all you have to do is take your DAMP brush ( after you soaked it for a couple min, just shake out the excess water) and swirl it ontop of the puck 15-20 circles. This action will LOAD the brush with wonderful soap. Then just put that loaded brush on your DAMP face and start swirling like a son of a gun and you will have it, Hope this helps

If your brush is quite large (say, a Rooney Style 3, Size 3), you pretty much have to work up the lather in a bowl to work it well into the knot. (If you don't do a little mild pumping with a large brush, the water at the base of the knot won't get worked into the lather, so the lather for the later passes could be thin.)

But once you've created the lather, the brush itself holds all the lather you'll need. Lather for the first pass, set the brush on its base (or in a Moss Scuttle or the like), lather from the brush for the next pass, and so on: once you've created the lather, no need to return to the bowl: the lather's in the brush, not in the bowl.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Leisureguy

If your brush is quite large (say, a Rooney Style 3, Size 3), you pretty much have to work up the lather in a bowl to work it well into the knot. (If you don't do a little mild pumping with a large brush, the water at the base of the knot won't get worked into the lather, so the lather for the later passes could be thin.)

But once you've created the lather, the brush itself holds all the lather you'll need. Lather for the first pass, set the brush on its base (or in a Moss Scuttle or the like), lather from the brush for the next pass, and so on: once you've created the lather, no need to return to the bowl: the lather's in the brush, not in the bowl.

Hope this helps.

Hey Leisureguy, welcome to SRP !!!

You're welcome. I just dropped in to help a reader. I still haven't progressed to a straight-edge razor, though I do admire them.

Maybe I'm saying it wrong. I do get the lather going in the bowl (using cream) but it is all in the brush when I get it done. When I apply it to the face I put about the same effort into lathering the face as I would if I :built" the lather there instead of the bowl. The brush I'm using is a Art of Shaving one. It gets full of the lather but it is no less thick after I've done two or three passes. It's like I'm making more lather than using what I've made.

BTW - Quite a pleasure in having the author answer questions. Thank you for the book and the additional help.

Jim

Aha. Well, it sounds as if you're doing it right. You do end up working the brush over the beard a lot---working the lather in and giving the beard time to soften---so it may well be that you end up making more lather, especially if you really loaded your brush with soap: that soap, as the brush works in more water, will generate quite a bit of lather.

Why not try omitting the bowl: work the brush over the soap to load it, and then start brushing your washed, wet beard. Brush vigorously all over, and you may find that you get plenty of lather with less overall effort than with using the bowl.

Happy to help.

I've done it on the face but since I'm still new at this and I take a while to shave the lather gets cold fairly quickly so I use a scuttle filled with simmering water to keep the lather and brush warm. I push the brush down into the scuttle inbetween passes.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/soaps...ws-lather.html

I've gotten better with the additional help and now it is about the consistancy of Swiss meranque or even earlier Italian meranque/devinity. Sorry for being obscure I'm a hobbist cook and this is what it seems to me.

Jim

That lather looks good. Simmering water seems much too hot to me: if the lather gets too hot, it tends to break down, something Moss Scuttle users find out if they try to use boiling water, for example.

Still: the lather looks good. If you continue some judicious experimentation and observation of results, you'll find the lather gets better over time: daily practice.

Thanks.

I used simmering since it cools down a bit while heating up the ceramic. Comes out "shower hot" which seems to be working well.

Jim