Definately a love hate thing. It took me awhile to get it, but once I did it was poof and I knew how to do it. I prefer VDH over williams though. There are plenty of videos for making lather from soap.
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Definately a love hate thing. It took me awhile to get it, but once I did it was poof and I knew how to do it. I prefer VDH over williams though. There are plenty of videos for making lather from soap.
Yep! the secret to shavin with it is to have a bit of warm water to dip the brush into. it does dry out, but not with luke water. Good lubricity, for sure!
Here is a video I made of lathering Williams. I have used it for quite a long time and I like it, but have been thinking of picking up something else to try.
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5zNL5lETgo
Well you can practice making a lather anytime.
Shaving is mostly a once a day only thing.
One of the best things I did years ago was
spend an hour with Williams and a $7 boar brush.
Too much water, too little. Hot water, cold water
all at once add water bit by bit. Too much
soap, too little.... lather in a mug or on the palm
of a hand....
By the time you work through half a puck of
Williams you will have learned a lot.
The one hint that some miss is time.
Take a full 3 min building a lather. A common
egg timer helps.
So play and practice.
Tom's advice above is rock solid,,, if you take the time to learn to lather Williams basically everything else comes easy...
+1
Okay, I tried to multi-quote but for some reason it isn't working for me. Thanks for the lather vid. I don't think I've gotten quite that nice of lather, but I think I'm getting close.
The thing about lathering is, while it can be done any time, the only time I have been able to find time to do it is right before a shave.
That said, I think I had a breakthrough.
I went through the process with the VDH tonight instead of the WMS as I mentioned (I think) that I would do yesterday. Very good lather today (compared to past VDH attempts), I lost it at one point but was able to get it back (dried out, then got too much water).
I'd tried circles, back and forth, and pumping. Each did what it said it would do, but each seemed to negate what was done before. Circles created a low yield foam. Pumping built up the foam but it lost any staying power. I'm struggling to describe this in a way I think makes sense, but it seemed like I'd get one leg up and try another motion to get the other leg up and lose the first.
Tonight I used a circular motion/pumping hybrid down at about 3 o'clock and up at about 9 o'clock. I could do this repetitively and it seemed to build a better foam. This is what I started doing toward the end of last night, and I had to work for the lather much less.
My shave tonight was not as enjoyable as last night and I think it might have to do with the quality of the blade I was using (same blade and edge as yesterday).
Thanks for the help and input guys.
Big Jim, just a thought... I read in your post that you swirled 10 times on the soap then went to the mug to make the lather. Maybe it's just my opinion but 10 swirls is not going to get enough soap loaded in the brush to make any lasting lather. Try taking your brush out from soaking in water, gently shake just the excess water out but not too much, then go to work on the soap puck for as long as it takes to really get some soap loaded in the bristles, you may even have a semi- lather going on top of the soap. THEN, take it to the mug to build your lather and add small amounts of water as needed. I hope this helps some. Happy shaves!