High desert winter: Lather that won't dry out?

During the work week I live in tiny camper in northwest Colorado, and so shave there as well. The relative humidity is low to start with, then any humidity in the camper condenses out on the window frames and adds to my little personal glacier fields.

In this environment I make my lather, brush it on, and try to shave before it dries into a crust that resembles really nice meringue.

I've only ever used straight lather, either from a puck or from a cream. I lather in a bowl, then brush it on to my washcloth-moistened face.

Is there anything I can add, or a soap/cream I can try, to make a lather that resists drying out in the winter desert world I must shave in? I know I can lather less of my face at a time, but I do like the lather to sit for a little while before I shave through it.

Many thanks.

A few drops of glycerin should do the trick.

Roughkype,
As my friend Theseus suggests, five or six drops of glycerin will help. I also would make the initial lather a bit more watery than ordinary. Finally, there is nothing wrong with touching up the lather several times during a pass, if needed.

Maybe more water

Uberlather is highly resistant to drying out. Over daily use it does use more product, but in your case I'd say it's worth it.

Uberlather--is that with the glycerin added?

Uberlather is soap+cream+glycerin.

I'd also recommend Al's Shaving "Bombs". It's a heavy cream, almost a soap compared to the other creams I've tried but it will hold a ton of water and takes forever to dry out. I'm a fan of his "chillwhip" which is a custom scent. Smells like noxzema with extra menthol. Feels like shaving with ice cold fluff.

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Originally Posted by roughkype

Uberlather--is that with the glycerin added?

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Technically, yes. But even just soap & cream combined (w/o glycerin, can't remember the name given to this mixture off hand) will resist drying out. I'd try this first before going out and buying glycerin.

When you moisten your face with the washcloth is your face sightly damp or wet. I find that when I splash water onto my face and neck before lathering the lather stays full and moist for each pass. I can't get this result if my face is just a little damp. Try it, what have you got to lose?:gl:

I live in N.M where it's even drier so I can tell you a bit more moisture when you make your soap lather is what you need to do.

Thanks, guys. I did end up getting some glycerin, which seemed to help me push a little more water into the mix and still get a nice lather. With my usual amount of water, in fact, and 5 drops of glycerin, the lather initially whipped up into knife-edge peaks. It looked like a really tortured icescape until I mixed in more water. After more mixing, the lather (Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera) began to shine the way bread dough does after you've kneaded it some critical amount of time. Very pretty, like a bowl full of pearl.

Anyway, the lather did stay moist enough for me to finish my full shave. I had to back up and re-do a few spots, which isn't usually the case, but don't know if that was because of the lather or some other variable. I'll keep using the glycerin anyway, just to explore the new addition.

BHarner--where do you get this Al's Bomb stuff? I generally shave cold, so icy fluff sounds perfect.

Thanks again, and happy shaving.

I would just add more water to start with and not worry about the lather being watery looking and not as structured. I haven't noticed a difference in shave, perhaps thinking about it, I'd give the more hydrated but less pretty lather a higher mark for razor glide. The structured lather that's drying out leaves me feeling like I've got a dry poof that looks nice, but the razor goes right under it and doesn't glide that well.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I live in N.M where it's even drier so I can tell you a bit more moisture when you make your soap lather is what you need to do.

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Oh yea! Well it's so dry in Colorado that we don't even have water to shave with! We have to use bottleed water from New Mexico!

So dry the birds are building their nests out of barbed wire.
So dry the Baptists are sprinkling and Methodists are spitting
It’s so dry that the Catholics are giving rain checks.
So dry the catfish are carrying canteens.
So dry the trees are bribing the dogs.
It’s so dry that the trees are whistlin’ for the dogs.)
Its so dry here that the fire hydrants are chasing the dogs around.
So dry my duck don’t know how to swim.
It’s been dry so long we only got a quarter inch of rain during Noah’s Flood.
So dry I’m spitting cotton.
Dry as a powder house.
Dry as the heart of a haystack.
Dryer than a popcorn fart.
It’s so dry that the cows are giving evaporated milk.
So dry the cows are giving powdered milk.)
It’s so dry the fish are knocking on the door, askin’ for a drink of water.
It’s so dry here the all the fish have ticks.
It’s so dry you’re only permitted to eat watermelon between 8pm and 8am.
It’s so dry the government has announced a water pistol buy back scheme.
It’s so dry, crooks are siphoning off radiators instead of gas tanks.
It’s so dry, they’re encouraging people to pee in the pool.
It’s so dry, all the Baptists are converting to Catholic.
It’s so dry, the the dogs are marking their territory with chalk lines.
It’s so dry they’ve had to close two lanes at the swimming pool.
It’s so dry the river only runs twice a week.

So dry we’re fishin’ on lawn chairs with slingshots.
It’s so dry we went rafting on hand trucks.
So dry the water tower was held up at gunpoint.