So almost two months into this learning experience of shaving with a DE razor and things are coming along fairly well. One problem I do seem to be having is that I almost always have problems applying lather for my second pass. Assuming I get the lather right to begin with it goes on fine for the first pass when there is plenty of whiskers there (I usually only shave every two or three days) but then when I re-apply for the second pass it doesn't seem to matter what I do it is very difficult to get the lather to sit on my face properly in that nice, cushiony foam. However I try to apply it with my brush just seems to push the lather about my face leaving a rather thin layer. Trying to apply more to a spot seems to almost make things worse, pushing more of the lather that was there away rather than leaving a thicker layer. One thought I had was that my face was too wet after rinsing off the left over lather from the first pass - I always splash warm water on my face after the first pass - as I haven't been doing anything to dry off the water from this before reapplying my lather, which means there are still water drops all over my face, something I haven't noticed in any of the videos I watched about applying lather. To this end I tried patting my face with a towel after rinsing, just to remove most of the drops, last night but didn't really see any benefit from this. Also, do people tend to add a little more water to their lather to re-hydrate it a bit before starting on a second pass or just dip straight into what's in the bowl? I'm thinking I might try and take a quick photo next shave as a picture is worth a 1000 words but thought I'd put something up now just to see if there are any immediate thoughts about what I might be doing wrong.
I bowl lather and use both cream and soap. If I'm using cream I'll squirt a small amount straight into the bowl or if I'm using soap I'll load up the brush by swirling it around the soap for a little while. I pre-soak my brush before this and then give it a gentle squeeze before loading up/starting to lather. As far as starting water is concerned, apart from what is in the brush, I only use whatever is left over in the bowl after I empty it out from soaking the brush. I then add "a bit" of water every now and again during creation of the lather. I'll admit that some/most of the problem could come from exactly how much "a bit" of water should be. Although, like I say, I am usually fairly happy with my lather on the first pass. I have varied between re-whipping my lather before I start my second pass and not. Same goes for adding water before re-whipping the lather for the second pass, though usually I do end up adding more, mainly because I worry the lather needs it after sitting in the bowl for a while and also to try and re-heat it a bit.
your doing ok. the lather is always thinner on the latter passes, just maker sure you hydrate between,I wouldn't pat dry, just slather it around best you can. it's there it's just not as thick as the first pass. it doesn't take much just a little slickness
It could be the water in your brush combined with the water in your bowl. The softness/hardness of your water as well will factor in. Shake your brush a little more. Also, what cream/soap are you usually using?
Try more product. You may have to get some more soap or cream on your brush to get the same kind of layer you had for your first pass.
It sounds like your lathering technique is very good. after you finish building your lather in the bowl, squeeze all the lather out of your brush and mix this back into your lather. I think the inconsistency is because of the water content in your brush, if you pull everything out of it and then keep mixing it will give you consistency. slowly add more water or more soap (reload) from there to get it how you like. This way the water absorbed by the brush won't change the lather on your second pass, just paint it on from the bowl. Another possibility is that your soap has issues with "stability" the lather should stay "stable" while it sits in the bowl for quite some time. to find this out make your bowl of lather before you shower, then shave with it after.
Good advice here, and I'm going to throw my own in. When you think you've built your lather, keep building it. A lot of creams/soaps will give you a false lather that's easy to build, but it doesn't last very long. Also, don't rinse your face between passes, there's no good reason to do that. Just shave, then reapply the cream for the next pass. No wiping, wetting, etc. Rinsing/wiping between passes just removed cream that you are about to reapply anyway, just keep going. What cream/soap do you use? That can be it right there. Some lather stronger than others. Definitely re-evaluate the lather in the bowl between passes. I've found that with many creams they can use a bit of water between passes.
I have to agree with both of the above statements. I have had some what of the same problem in the past with one of my favorite Stirling Soaps. I melted it by adding boiling water to my mug to pre soften the soap. So I would say that they are both almost right on.
Thanks guys for your help. My last couple of shaves I have not rinsed off between passes and squeezed out the lather from the brush and mixed it back into the bowl along with a little more water and this seems to have worked a treat. The lather now stays on in a nice cushiony layer all over my face and I have been much happier with it. FYI I have also been adding some more water in the initial mixing process and this has been helping as well. I have just started using my new Stirling soaps so it has taken a few runs to figure out the correct amount of water to use with them but now they are lathering up nicely.
If you're like me, you are going to lather one day and everything is going to fall into place. You'll think that you're doing the same thing you've always done, except that the results are want you want. Every learning experience since I got into retro shaving has been like that. It never works, and then it does. It's better than the 40 years I was struggling with canned goo and multiblade razors. I never solved that.
