Captain's choice lather bowl improved my shaving routine

[Z-2]

I used a brush and shaving cream all my life. Started shaving before 25 years ago, with a brush, some bulgarian cream (I am from Bulgaria) and disposable razor (mostly Gillette 2 (GoodNews)).
On my graduation of high school my aunt gifted me the new then Gillette Sensor Excell, which was something very modern with pivoting head and cartrige heads. Unfortunately I never liked this razor. It was too expensive to replace blades and I just put the handle in the trash when I used all cartriges.

Before about 14 years, I found my dad's old double edge razor (soviet copy of Super Speed). Got some blades from the store and tried it. I was bit scared, because I knew, he doesn't liked that razor for reason. But I was suprised of quality of shave. Then I found shavemyface forum...

There was a lot of good people, who helped me with adviced how to improve my shave. I got some real Gillette vintage razors and the worked much better, but after all these years till now, I always suffered from one bad spot on my neck. It was real pain every time, when I shave this area with 1-2 bloody spots or irritation.

Last year a friend of mine from LA send me Captain's choice ceramic lather bowl. To be honest I tried using bowls for lather in the beginning, but never got result, which I like, so, I stayed face latherer. Big mistake.
This bowl is magical. It let me to create thick dense and slick lather from almost any cream or soap which I use (except MWF). In the past I always wondered why sometimes I get better shave with canned goo than shaving cream, which should be opposite. Now I know. The quality of lather.
All these years I missed 1 important thing - preparation. I don't know is this the reason or not, but now my shaves are constantly free of irritation, burning, cuts or other issues. My skin is sensitive, and lather from bowl is not that strong smell than from directly on face. It is more easy to find the right proportion of cream:water. Even cheap creams works well for me.

My daily razor is Slim Adjustable (usually on 3 or 4). Allowing to use different types of blades. Lowest profile head (compared to Fatboy or 50s Super Speeds) is better for me.

Long story short : we learning whole life

 

[HMan]

Nice history!
Maybe it's not just the bowl, but also the timing. I find again and again, that I'll go back to something that didn't work for me in the past, and suddenly, it does.
In fact I'm having the same thing with bowl lathering now. I started with it, stoped for a long while, didn't seem worth the effort and I was getting inconsistent results.
After a couple of years of face lathering, suddenly the bowl is working wonders, and I'm getting consistent rich, thick lathers.

 

[dangerousdon]

I have a Captains Choice Lather Bowl also and love it. I use mine for for loading purposes, but there are a couple of soaps that I have that need to be lathered out of the bowl. But I am with Cole...often times I didn't think something works that well for me. But when I revisit it...man I get good results. Thanks for sharing...I love to read the background on member's shaving histories!

 

[Spider]

It is more easy to find the right proportion of cream:water.

I find the opposite to be true. When I bowl lather, I will add water and create lather until it looks just right. However, often I find that the lather that looks right, isn't the best for the shave. Often times I still need to adjust the lather after I put it on my face.

When I face lather however, I will lather and add water and work the lather until it feels right. Then I know my lather is going to be the best for my shave.

Either way, the CC bowl is really nice. I have 3 of them in different sizes.

 

[Luecke3262]

Awesome to hear! I haven't used a bowl to lather in years and years. Maybe I should revisit it in the near future? I've been looking at the CC bowls for a long time, but have never pulled the trigger because I'm a face latherer. Glad to hear more about you.

 

[wayne1963]

I get good results either way, but I make a durn mess when face lathering. With bowl lathering, it's easy to over aerate the lather, so I usually stop short of building the full lather and go to the face.

 

[Jaro1069]

I use a bowl a lot , honestly most of the time.. I have the large CC copper bowl I won in a CC contest .. I honestly use a scuttle or one of the silicone bowls most of the time though.. I like the lather I get from either a bowl or face lathering, I guess I'm lucky because I can build a decent lather from either.. I found a silicone cereal bowl at Walmart on clearance for 50 cents that works awesome.. the silicone bowl for one wont break and it has just enough grit feeling inside it to help building lather.. I like the fact that being silicone when holding it it seems to just fit right in my grip...
Here's pics of the silicone bowl ( Pics from Walmart site )

 

[Fenster]

Awesome to hear! I haven't used a bowl to lather in years and years. Maybe I should revisit it in the near future? I've been looking at the CC bowls for a long time, but have never pulled the trigger because I'm a face latherer. Glad to hear more about you.

Same here, i always face lather, but have been thinking of trying a bowl again. Who knows i may like it this time. It may be like brushes, I tried synthetic brushes off and on for a few years and never liked them untill this past year when i was PIF a synthetic that i actually liked. Since that time i have found several that i like.