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Lathering techniques

GearNoir said:
So the learning curve will be figuring out how to get that same amount of soap you normally scoop (probably even a bit less) loaded onto the brush instead of a spoon. Being that you use a synthetic, which makes things really easy, you need only a moderately to slightly wet brush for most soaps. The fact that you’re making a mess without making usable lather probably means the brush has too much water in it.

After you wet the brush just give it a decent shake or two, then swish the brush over the puck for 15 ish seconds (linger for harder soaps, less for softer). Apply that load to your face, it should look like a thin film over your shaving areas, maybe a little pasty feeling. Add a few literal drops of water to your brush, work into the paste on your face; repeat adding water drops until you have the consistency you like.

I started with bowl lathering, but quickly moved to face lathering. It just seemed easier for me, and I knew on the fly where my lather consistency was at, because it was already on my face.
Click to expand...
Great information. I will use your tips and give face lathering another try.
 
NurseDave said:
I started with a CC bowl, but found the sides a bit too short and it also had to risk of being dropped and destroying the sink. So I switched to the copper bowl discussed.
Click to expand...
Good point about the sides. My current bowl has high sides and at times I find the soap working it’s way up to the top. The copper bowl seems to be the better choice here.

Thank you to all that have helped me make the decision to get a Turkish copper bowl and give face lathering another try instead of going for the CC bowl. This is a great group of very helpful and experienced wet shavers.
 
I am a mostly dedicated face latherer, so take this with a grain of salt. The only time I use a bowl is when I'm dealing with samples.
I have the large and small CC bowl. Neither work great for me. Perfect would be somewhere in between. Personally I don't think the raised rings on the bottom do anything to help the lather. What I think does help (a little) is having a rough surface inside the bowl. Now, a super cheap option, that works great for me, is a cheap plastic salsa bowl from Walmart. My walmart has two styles, one is like $1.50, and the other is like $3-$4. Sometimes you can find salsa bowls at dollar tree for (you guessed it) one dollar! I use my cheap salsa bowl more often than I use any other bowl I own.

What issues are you having with face lathering? Have you watched any of my videos? Like I said I'm a pretty dedicated face latherer so it comes pretty easy to me, but really, there's not much to it. I find it easier than bowl lathering (at leats in gettign the lather the way you want it).
 
I think a bowl shouldn't matter in improving your lathers, in my opinion it's all about find the right water ratio for your soap, each soap is different in that case. Some soaps are more water thirsty and can hold a lot of water(Barrister and Mann for example), while some soaps require less water. I saw you mostly using Stirling Soaps and they require a lot of water to get a good lather, very water thirsty.

Shavin’ Yeti said:
Any tips for face lathering? So far just watching YouTube vids hasn’t worked out for me.
Click to expand...

This is a great video about face lathering:

Also this article on Reddit has some great tips about improving your lather (I'm also part of the reddit #Wetshaving community):
Article Reddit
 
Last edited:
There has been a ton of stuff already said so what I am going to say may just add confusion but I'll say it anyway...

First, to answer the question presented, I have a Captains choice bowl and think it is a nice piece of pottery but not a very useful tool for a new guy trying to learn to lather...in fact it could add more difficulty than aid. I second the suggestion that you go get a $.99 or $1.50 salsa bowl from the store, they are easy to hold and have ALL the features you need to get a good/great lather going if you are going to bowl lather.

Next, To scoop or load from the tub, that is the question. I personally suggest you stay away from scooping and pressing soap into the bowl if you are going to bowl lather. I know this is a very common practice but unless/until you know how much soap you will need per shave and how much water you will need to add to achieve the lather you desire, how much water your brush holds in the beginning and how fast to add the water etc, the added variable of scooping a fixed amount of soap could cause more problems than it solves. Loading from the surface of the soap with your damp brush is a skill in itself but it also provides some consistent feedback cues you we can all agree on and use to describe how to load and whether you are loading too much or too little. "a scoop" "a snurdle" and "a dollop" are too subjective for us to all agree on.

Bowl or face? This is a matter of preference but I recommend a little of both to get started then you can pick one once you are better at it. What I mean by this is that I think you should load with a damp brush on the surface of the soap, begin to lather on your wet face (this means you have splashed your face before you started to load), add a little water to the brush using a spray bottle or by dripping a few drops of water from your hand or dipping tips of brush into water, continue to face lather until a halfway decent lather is achieved. Once you think you have a lather on your face and in your brush you might be tempted to shave switch to the bowl, add a few drops or a small splash of water to the bowl and start lathering the brush in the bowl, watch how the lather in the brush changes and how the bowl fills with more lather. Notice how the lather you thought was pretty good gets even better. Take the brush back to your face and face lather more, this time with a brush that is a little more wet and full of a wetter lather. By switching back and forth between your face and bowl you will achieve a finished lather that is quite nice and have a lot of control over how it turns out. Most important, once you shave the first pass you will have a bowl of lather to pull from. One of the common fears/complaints of a new face latherer is that they don't/won't have enough lather in their brush to do all the passes they need.

Stirling is a great soap to learn to lather, a great soap to load ON and Stirling has an awesome shave bowl if you just HAVE to buy a dedicate shaving bowl that isn't a salsa bowl.

How I would start. Splash a small amount of water onto the surface of the soap (wet the surface and dump the water off, leaving the top wet). Soak your brush as usual then shake the water out so it is damp and no longer dripping water. Press the brush to the soaps surface with enough pressure to splay the bristles out over the surface (not hard but "firm" pressure) and swirl. As you swirl pay attention to the sound and watch what is happening, you should hear the soapy sound change from a wettish sound to dryer pasty sound as the surface starts to form what we typically call a "protolather". This just means the wettest part of the soap has been absorbed into the brush and a soapy paste if forming on the surface of the soap, at about this stage is when the brush has become loaded with enough soap to make a good lather. For many soaps this loading process happens is a few seconds, for others it takes longer. Some soaps are more finicky and will require you to load more (a LOT more) at the protolather stage, that's why you often hear guys say "more product" when you are having problems getting a good lather. The whole goal of loading, whether you are doing it from the surface of the soap or pressing soap into a bowl and loading from the bowl is to get soap distributed into the bristles of the brush. And here's a little secret, the whole goal of lathering is to lather the brush...not the bowl and not your face. If you focus on lathering the brush everything else just kind of falls into place.

Hope this helps confuse the situation even more!
 
CBLindsay said:
There has been a ton of stuff already said so what I am going to say may just add confusion but I'll say it anyway...

First, to answer the question presented, I have a Captains choice bowl and think it is a nice piece of pottery but not a very useful tool for a new guy trying to learn to lather...in fact it could add more difficulty than aid. I second the suggestion that you go get a $.99 or $1.50 salsa bowl from the store, they are easy to hold and have ALL the features you need to get a good/great lather going if you are going to bowl lather.

Next, To scoop or load from the tub, that is the question. I personally suggest you stay away from scooping and pressing soap into the bowl if you are going to bowl lather. I know this is a very common practice but unless/until you know how much soap you will need per shave and how much water you will need to add to achieve the lather you desire, how much water your brush holds in the beginning and how fast to add the water etc, the added variable of scooping a fixed amount of soap could cause more problems than it solves. Loading from the surface of the soap with your damp brush is a skill in itself but it also provides some consistent feedback cues you we can all agree on and use to describe how to load and whether you are loading too much or too little. "a scoop" "a snurdle" and "a dollop" are too subjective for us to all agree on.

Bowl or face? This is a matter of preference but I recommend a little of both to get started then you can pick one once you are better at it. What I mean by this is that I think you should load with a damp brush on the surface of the soap, begin to lather on your wet face (this means you have splashed your face before you started to load), add a little water to the brush using a spray bottle or by dripping a few drops of water from your hand or dipping tips of brush into water, continue to face lather until a halfway decent lather is achieved. Once you think you have a lather on your face and in your brush you might be tempted to shave switch to the bowl, add a few drops or a small splash of water to the bowl and start lathering the brush in the bowl, watch how the lather in the brush changes and how the bowl fills with more lather. Notice how the lather you thought was pretty good gets even better. Take the brush back to your face and face lather more, this time with a brush that is a little more wet and full of a wetter lather. By switching back and forth between your face and bowl you will achieve a finished lather that is quite nice and have a lot of control over how it turns out. Most important, once you shave the first pass you will have a bowl of lather to pull from. One of the common fears/complaints of a new face latherer is that they don't/won't have enough lather in their brush to do all the passes they need.

Stirling is a great soap to learn to lather, a great soap to load ON and Stirling has an awesome shave bowl if you just HAVE to buy a dedicate shaving bowl that isn't a salsa bowl.

How I would start. Splash a small amount of water onto the surface of the soap (wet the surface and dump the water off, leaving the top wet). Soak your brush as usual then shake the water out so it is damp and no longer dripping water. Press the brush to the soaps surface with enough pressure to splay the bristles out over the surface (not hard but "firm" pressure) and swirl. As you swirl pay attention to the sound and watch what is happening, you should hear the soapy sound change from a wettish sound to dryer pasty sound as the surface starts to form what we typically call a "protolather". This just means the wettest part of the soap has been absorbed into the brush and a soapy paste if forming on the surface of the soap, at about this stage is when the brush has become loaded with enough soap to make a good lather. For many soaps this loading process happens is a few seconds, for others it takes longer. Some soaps are more finicky and will require you to load more (a LOT more) at the protolather stage, that's why you often hear guys say "more product" when you are having problems getting a good lather. The whole goal of loading, whether you are doing it from the surface of the soap or pressing soap into a bowl and loading from the bowl is to get soap distributed into the bristles of the brush. And here's a little secret, the whole goal of lathering is to lather the brush...not the bowl and not your face. If you focus on lathering the brush everything else just kind of falls into place.

Hope this helps confuse the situation even more!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information. Great tips I will try on my next few shaves.
 
shadowman12 said:
I think a bowl shouldn't matter in improving your lathers, in my opinion it's all about find the right water ratio for your soap, each soap is different in that case. Some soaps are more water thirsty and can hold a lot of water(Barrister and Mann for example), while some soaps require less water. I saw you mostly using Stirling Soaps and they require a lot of water to get a good lather, very water thirsty.



This is a great video about face lathering:

Also this article on Reddit has some great tips about improving your lather (I'm also part of the reddit #Wetshaving community):
Article Reddit
Click to expand...
You are exactly right about the water/soap ratio. I have learned to add water in small amounts and that has improved my bowl lathering. I mainly use Stirling soaps, but also have B&M. Thanks for your help.
 
Spider said:
I am a mostly dedicated face latherer, so take this with a grain of salt. The only time I use a bowl is when I'm dealing with samples.
I have the large and small CC bowl. Neither work great for me. Perfect would be somewhere in between. Personally I don't think the raised rings on the bottom do anything to help the lather. What I think does help (a little) is having a rough surface inside the bowl. Now, a super cheap option, that works great for me, is a cheap plastic salsa bowl from Walmart. My walmart has two styles, one is like $1.50, and the other is like $3-$4. Sometimes you can find salsa bowls at dollar tree for (you guessed it) one dollar! I use my cheap salsa bowl more often than I use any other bowl I own.

What issues are you having with face lathering? Have you watched any of my videos? Like I said I'm a pretty dedicated face latherer so it comes pretty easy to me, but really, there's not much to it. I find it easier than bowl lathering (at leats in gettign the lather the way you want it).
Click to expand...
I have watched a few of your YT vids and also subscribed recently. You do a great job of face lathering. I think my main issue is a inexperience face lathering. I have trouble getting the same quality of lather that I get in a bowl. I will keep working on it.
As for the bowl, I’m just going to stick with my present one since it works and was given to me by a former colleague that was an amazing potter before he passed away a few years ago. I just got it in my head that a CC bowl might be better, but that is definitely not the opinion of the experienced shavers here in the Cadre. I have learned to trust experience more than looks. Thanks for your input.
 
I face lather exclusively. I stopped trying samples earlier this year because I prefer to face lather and load off the tub. I soak my brush while I shower, gently squeeze out excess water, load on the tub or puck for 30 seconds - or dip lightly into cream tub - wet the face, and get to work. Add water lightly as needed.
 
I prefer bowl lathering. I use one of those cheap Turkish copper bowls. I started off with face lathering, but moved to bowls and now prefer that.
 
Shavin’ Yeti said:
Thanks for the information. Great tips I will try on my next few shaves.
Click to expand...
I think I should have said something about when you start to get that protolather you should keep loading awhile. You WANT that protolather in your brush and often you will want to load until the surface of the soap seems to have gone dry...sometimes you need to add a drop or two of water and keep loading. Those are things experience will teach you but with soaps like Stirling (and B&M) you probably won’t need to go to those extremes.
 
CBLindsay said:
I think I should have said something about when you start to get that protolather you should keep loading awhile. You WANT that protolather in your brush and often you will want to load until the surface of the soap seems to have gone dry...sometimes you need to add a drop or two of water and keep loading. Those are things experience will teach you but with soaps like Stirling (and B&M) you probably won’t need to go to those extremes.
Click to expand...
Thanks again for another great tip.
 
GearNoir said:
So the learning curve will be figuring out how to get that same amount of soap you normally scoop (probably even a bit less) loaded onto the brush instead of a spoon. Being that you use a synthetic, which makes things really easy, you need only a moderately to slightly wet brush for most soaps. The fact that you’re making a mess without making usable lather probably means the brush has too much water in it.

After you wet the brush just give it a decent shake or two, then swish the brush over the puck for 15 ish seconds (linger for harder soaps, less for softer). Apply that load to your face, it should look like a thin film over your shaving areas, maybe a little pasty feeling. Add a few literal drops of water to your brush, work into the paste on your face; repeat adding water drops until you have the consistency you like.

I started with bowl lathering, but quickly moved to face lathering. It just seemed easier for me, and I knew on the fly where my lather consistency was at, because it was already on my face.
Click to expand...
^what he said!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
I did a little demo at the start of my video today, just for a little more clarity, if you want to see how I do it.
 
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