These are the voyages of the wet-shaver Steve. His five-month mission: to explore strange new razors, to seek out new cream and new soaps, to boldly lather where no man has lath—well, actually, I'm kind of hoping to seek the advice of the many who have built lather where I have not: the face. Since my early days of wet-shaving, indeed, since the prequels to my shaving adventures, I have always practiced bowl lathering. I can make me a pretty swell bowl of lather these days, but I am anxious to learn the skill of face lathering. I know this has been discussed on a regular basis, but the threads dedicated to the task are now years old. With all of your combined advances, observations, and improvements, the time has come to share with all of us your frothy-faced wisdom! Would any of you be so kind as to share your preferred counsel for those looking to build lather directly on the face? This may be a tutorial that leads you to great results every time. It may be subtle reminders about certain products. It may have to do with water. It may have to do with brush strokes. It may have to do with whether to apply the soap/cream to the brush or directly to the face. Tell us everything you know about face lathering. And by us, I mean me. Give me, give me. I need. I neeeed! Update: Here are the on-topic responses that have offered help on the subject of face lathering. I offer this up here so you don't have to scroll through the atrocities down there...
Towards the end of the first post of this thread, which touches on face lathering with shave sticks, is a link to another thread that will teach you how to lather with shave sticks, creams, and soaps. It is this thread that taught me how to build the perfect lather on the face, on the puck, and in the bowl. If you haven't seen any new threads on the subject, it is because that thread covers nearly everything there is to know about lathering. When it comes to face lathering, there is only one thing to remember. "Man can add water to his lather, but only God can take water away." The moral of this phrase is this: Unlike bowl lathering, it is difficult to fix screwed up lather on the face, but if the lather is done right, it's a wonderfully exfoliating experience.
Ryan has said it all, in fact. Face lathering is nice! Enjoy, but take care. There may be no way back!
I face lather almost exclusively these days even though I have several scuttles, my personal method is to have the brush as wet as possible for soaps, and a barely wet brush for creams, swirl the brush around the face for about 1 1/2 minutes, adding water if needed, finally "paint" the face to even out the lather, my favourites for face lathering are body shop maca root shave cream, and Cella soap!!!
Here are some tips: If you want to use a Badger brush, make sure the loft is 50 mm or less. Horse at a loft less than 55 mm works well. Even my Vie Long Zurito at 57 mm makes a great face latherer. TGN Synthetic , Muhles, and H.I.S. all do a good job of face lathering. Pick a good shave stick, Wilkinson in my opinion is the best. Great smell, lather and protection. There are other excellent ones too, like Speick, Palmolive and Arko. Be sure to know how your brush retains water. For badger and horse you might want to soak the brush for 30 seconds to a minute before lathering. Synthetics, start with a little water and start lathering and dip into the water a little bit while you build that first round of lather. Remember, Face Lathering is an art form in a way because there are more variables than mug lathering. Good fortune.
Yo Steve.. been brush lathering for over sixteen years now..give or take. Most of this is with bowl lather. I started face lathering only about a year or so ago and I don't think I'm going back. You seem to get perfect control over consistency this way and I find it's a whole lot quicker and easier and less arm tiring. And no, I'm not finding that the process excessively irritates the skin. You should experiment with brush pressure and patterning..circular painting etc. Personally I find it helpful these days to use the brush on the low pressure side..but just let the force guide you and you'll find your best way. Bon chance...
I leg lather and I love it! I used to bowl lather but leg lathering (or in your case face lathering) takes less time, and lets you use less while still getting a really good lather
I love face lathering. Feel FAAAAAAAAAAAAANTASTIC. Plus its helped me save money by not giving me a desire to have a bunch of scuttles custom made!
Lol hate to tell you this Justine, but you can also use a scuttle for face lathering. I fashioned one out of two metal bowls..one inside the other. I put the bar of soap in the inside bowl and there the soap heats up. When you go to load the brush, the product takes on a nice warm glow..
Probably a little tough getting the angle just right to peek out through the pour spout. Keep working on it. I'm sure you'll get it
For a short term solution you might want to consider a brush scuttle? It was designed and made for face latherers. When Justin finds out he is going to hit the roof.
