Thread: Proraso drying up

I am using prorasos new formula green tub with a Van Der Hagen brush in a 4 inch buffalo horn bowl. The issue I am having is not getting a good lather started I get the nice think foam with the soft peaks that hold the brush up. The problem I am having is that about half way through my shave the lather drys up on my face. After that I get a lot of irritation and nicks on the spots where it is still nice and slick I don't get the irritation and when I rub the alum block over my face no sting. I also seem to leave some stubble behind but that is a different topic.

I am not quite sure what is going on, any ideas?

If the lather drys just refresh it. Do Not shave with dry lather it will be bad. Leading to irritation, skipping, and cuts.

How long does one pass take? It is likely that you have every thing just fine except the confidence and skill to go quickly, but that will come with time. It still takes me about 40 minutes to shave. don't worry about speed, just work on skill and you will be fine.

Jonathan

I use proraso white and run into the same problem. After my first lather I leave the lather on the brush and set the brush to the side.

Once my lather dries in the areas I am not shaving, I quickly run a little but of the brush under the water and then scrub my face with the brush.

The water/lather combo on the brush wets the dry lather after a few seconds of scrubbing. Then I just shave and I usually do not have any issues.

I noticed I get the worst shave when I do not properly re-wet the dried lather. My face will feel like its on fire if I do not do a good enough job.

Let us know how it works out!

It dose not take very long to do one pass about normal shaving time. I will try the rewetting or just lathering in sections.

The Italian soft soaps are a bit of A bit of a water hog. How I typically lather them is to soak my brush ,ether in a mug or under the faucet, until its dripping wet. Then quickly move to the soap with out losing any water from the brush. Load the soap the move to bowl or face. Normally that will give me a nice wet lather for a three pass shave 10-15min. Sometimes even then you will have to add a bit more water. I face lather most the time so I just rinse my face off in between passes and leave it wet normally that will add enough water back into the mix if need be.

Today I had a much better experience my proraso did not dry up on my face. I did have to load the brush three times to get the amount of lather I wanted but it worked like a charm. As I made the lather I kept adding a few drops of water as I went. Would have been a good feeling shave but I also went XTG and ATG I should have just stuck with WTG. My coarse beard is hard to get off in one pass WTG so anything extra is a little irritating but it was FAR FAR less irritating than it was before.

Thanks for the help guys.

Congratulations, sometimes it takes a little while to learn a new soap or cream.

Try much less pressure on all of the passes. Some times you get into bad habits without any clue.

Jonathan

I seem to have better luck when I add the water at the base of the knot.

When I tried dipping you end up removing some of the creme and sometimes adding too much. By holding the brush horizontal or with the tip down (45 deg) you can add a little water "behind" the brush tips. Water comes from either the tap or a ice water soaked washcloth. From there there bowl or face works.

Pre-soaked brush, cold water shaving.

I dripped the water in off of my fingers straight into the bowl.