Spray cream and the residue.

I think that's with all of the various spray foams. they need an agent to help it stick together, and that's PROBABLY what you're seeing. I had better luck with shave gels, spread with the fingers (from a tube, not pressurized). Then I just said the heck with it and used whatever was in the shower. Yes, I can shave with Dial, Safeguard, and Ivory. Dove is closest to shave soap.

Here are a few things that may prevent identical results when following someone's lathering advice
- you may have a different material brush
- you may have a different size brush
- you may have a different surface area on your puck
- you may have a different size/style bowl or mug
- I'd put money on it that you have a different face, not only in size, but also with how oily it may or may not be
- you're water may be a different hardness
- you may have a different idea of what "damp" is
- you may have a different force when you shake your brush to get rid of excess water
- you may have a different idea of what "excess" is
- you may have a different cream or soap
- you may have different sized almonds in your neck of the woods
- you may be applying a different pressure with your brush during the whipping process

The above is why you can't always go by what someone says. They may need 27 seconds or 18 swirls on the puck, you may need 45 seconds or 32 swirls.

Take the advice, try it. If it works, great. If not try more soap, less soap, more water, less water, more whipping time, less... you get the idea.

All I can say is that there's one thing pretty constant. If you're using williams mug soap, you have to use the brush like you're summoning 500 people to dinner with a dinner bell

(I'm glad I have a wooden brush. Otherwise that mug would be shattered from the ringing)

i use a hot towel and preshave to soften the beard followed by warm to cool water through out the shave.no hot lather etc.works for me without straight hot water all the time.especially in summer.

Very interesting. Thanks. At the end there is more than meets the eye in wet shaving.

Ooh. yeah. All that any of us can give is anecdotal evidence, and general suggestions. It's like being a wood worker. Every baulk of wood is different.

Hmmm...I wonder if my girlfriend will believe me if i tell her that... I could try to use that to explain why suddenly metal razors and packs of blades and brushes are filling empty spaces... Nah, i still think she will say i am crazy... I must at least try to keep a secret that i registered in a shaving forum. If not, i will be in real trouble... Even my own best friend thought i am a weirdo when i started talking about brushes and blades to him.

Well isnt this a fun debate i have had several asthetitions tell me cold water closer pores hot water opens them i dunno maybe there selling snake oil but they all seem to agree on this.

They are all categorically wrong. There is no physical mechanism related to water or temperature, pores are constantly open.

The physical mechanisms dealing with skin are where muscles are attached, and where blood vessels operate. We do know that when cold, the vessels constrict, and when hot, they expand, but I don't know if anyone's come up with how. If they have, it's an anatomist or dermatologist, and I'm not so curious as to go hunt down the information. The expansion/contraction MIGHT affect pore size, but not as any normal function. Only a few pores have muscles directly connected into them, and those pores are called 'follicles' The pilar erectile tissue is what gives you goosebumps, or otherwise moves the hair around. (I know those intimately. I have leiomyomas that form out of those. Yes, non-malignant tumours. ) Other pores are simply release points for sweat. (mixtures of salts and other materials)

OK, here's a quick reply:

To say that pores open and close, it would imply the presence of a built-in mechanism that does so. Such mechanism simply doesn't exist. There isn't either any sort of "door" or any sort of built-in muscle that can contract in a way to shut the pore. The pore for its fisiological role, must always remain open. That's how the sebum can arrive to the surface of the skin, to perform its job (lubricate the skin). If pores were to open and close in response to cold, then all people who live in Siberia or Alaska, poor bastards, would have to live their entire life, covered in comedones, which is the characteristic lesion of acne. Since they have permanent cold, right? In acne, the pore gets clogged and inflammation sets in. But there is a difference between "clogged" and "open/close". The first, is a passive, non fisiological process, where the pore gets clogged by sebum and keratine and the inflammation sets in the pore. It's pathological and this is why acne is a disease. Or, to put it otherwise, there wouldn't be need to prescribe drugs to acne patients! The only prescription would be "now go home and start washing your face with hot water until your pores open again". If a medical student were to go say during the dermatology exam, "acne is caused by closing of the pores", the professor would reply "you need to work more on your terms, son. See you next time!".

There are so many things are used in urban legends that are inexact. For exactly, cosmetics industry, make billions by selling miraculous "rejuvinating" creams. But then, if they rejuvinate you, why must you keep buying them? As a professor used to say, 99% of the effect of creams, is to make the skin temporatily swell, due to increased hydration. Swelled skin causes the wrinkles to be less visible. As soon as skin finds a new equilibrium and the excess water is removed, the wrinkles go back to where they were before. Or, like i said, cosmetics industry, wants you to believe that UV screens will absolutely protect you from sun and that tanning is good. Tanning is good, but for dermatologists. In my studying years, i had a dermatologist who was doing his PhD as a flatmate. We used to laugh about that, as he was telling me "the sun is certainly MY best friend, because he gives me so many patients!".

Ah, the vessel constriction or dilation mechanism is very simple and well known. The middle tunic of the vessel, is the "tunica media" . It's basically the muscle tunic of a blood vessel, made of smooth muscle cells (involuntary) responsible for giving most of its volume and calibre variation. Skin has receptors for cold, hot, pressure and pain. In our water case, they are called thermoceptors . These, when the skin comes in contact with either cold or heat, send signal to the central nervous system. The central nervous system sends signal back to the blood vessel's tunica media to contract and cause vasoconstriction and decrease blood flow locally, in the case of cold water. Both the blood vessel muscles and the muscle of the arrector pilii are smooth cell muscles, controlled by the autonomous nervous system, without our will. Contrary to the "skeletal" muscle, which is voluntary and we can control. 90% of medical terms come from latin and greek. Leios=smooth in greek. Which is why your Leiomyoma is called like that. It just means "Smooth(leios) muscle(mys) benign tumor(oma)" in one cosy word. I doubt the vasoconstriction can close the pores to completely close. The vessels run deeper than the epidermis and if anything, vasoconstriction means the bloodvessel caliber decreases. Hence the area around the vessel deflates a bit, which excercizes less pressure on the surroundings. One could make a hypothesis, that an increased hydration of the skin may restrict pores temporatily. But again, saying that the pores close would be wrong. "Close" is different than "restrict". The sweat glands don't exactly have "pores". They are glands that run on their own. In the upper picture here , the sweat gland is the thing like spaghetti rolled up around itself on the left of the hair folicle. Technically, it's not a pore, it's the gland's duct that goes up to the skin (all glands have a duct).

I hope all this wasn't too "technical".

I fully understood it. If it helps, English has a number of words that have multiple definitions, often because of slight pronunciation differences. This can lead to all sorts of weird confusion.

'Open' can mean to take from 'shut' closed, to expanded as far as it can go. Such as to Open a door. It can also mean that there is a free flow, with no restrictions, as in a stream of water. (or blood flow). "How open are his arteries?"

Close, or closed, can mean even more. 'Close' (short pronunciation, emphasis on the 'ess' sound), means 'not far away' ( "Keep your enemies close") AND 'still and confined' (The closet felt close). 'close' (longer pronunciation, emphasis on a zed sound -'zuh') means to shut, or to constrict. 'Close the door.

So, I meant 'open pores' meaning 'less restriction'. Others write 'open pores' as if they can be opened and shut like a door or window.

(Technically, I was told they were 'angioleiomyomas', and there's STILL not enough research to identify if they're formed off of the tissue from the pilar erectile muscle itself, or the vascular tissue feeding the muscle. No known instances of going cancerous, but painful, and the only treatment is 'cut them out')

Just curious. Have you tried to face lather instead of using a mug? You may find it easier. I also think it helps with the prep.

And just to put my .02 in. The only thing wrong with cold water shaving is the water is not warm.

You can't understand a redneck unless you are one....and I are one. Carry on. YO!

Interesting. This certainly goes well beyond my understanding of english. I mean, i understand that the english meaning is wide and somewhat vague, i just am not used to think about it that way. Benign tumors in general, very rarely can turn malicious. There are some certain types, but like 99% of the time, if it's benign, it doesn't go malicious and in the few cases they do, they have slow evolution. If they are "angioleiomyomas", then by definition they are from the smooth muscle of the blood vessel. "Angio" means "vase" in greek, which is the blood vessel in english. It's like saying that it's a leiomyoma of the blood vessel. So if they told you that they 're not sure where it comes from, this is contradictory. And as a matter of fact, i don't understand why they shouldn't be able to know. These things are the turf of anatomopathologists. They receive bioptic samples and then study the lesion in optical and electronic microscope. These are the guys that are supposed to tell the clinical doctor exactly what it is (histotype, benign or not, grade and stage if malicious). And it's pretty obvious at that point where the tumor originated from... Because a benign tumor, is not inflitrative or destructive. So you can follow its growth in net limits and see what's exactly growing.To be honest, i 've never heard of a leiomyoma originating from the hair's muscle. But, technically, it's possible. Tumors can originate in any tissue. But, i 've sure heard originating from the blood vessel... Finding what causes them is another story, but i find hard to believe that in years of studying, anatomopathologists fail to understand the origin... Here, the nomenclature is strict. When you say "leiomyoma", you mean "originating from the smooth muscle". When you say "angioleiomyoma", you mean "from the blood vessel's smooth muscle". But, i don't know what kind of nomenclature exists in USA about this.

No, i haven't, as, from Mantic99,s videos i understand that bowl lather is supposed to be the easiest and less messy. I don't want to have lather flying all over the bathroom. I don't do much prep either, i have to cut down time. I just put the brush in hot water for 1 min, splash my face with hot water, make lather, put lather on, shave. But, tomorrow, i will try lather in my new super dog bowl. And i think i will have better chances. Unfortunately, my order containing the new brushes wasn't delivered today. So much for 24h shipping. DHL's fault though. The shop did send them yesterday. So i will have to use the unweildy Omega 48 again. But, the bowl is big enough this time.

Not to offend Face Latherers, or anyone with a collection of Old Spice mugs because I have and do have.
Banging a brush on a mug brought me to wider, more shallow bowls. A bit of texture inside the bowl also facilitates incorporation of air into the soap & water.
Try a Suribachi bowl!

The lack of prep could also be a problem. Good prep is helpful to good shaves. Face lathering is not so messy and helps if you have only a short time for prep. I will make a video of it in a few days to show it is not messy.

Thanks, but i already suspected i had a problem with the mug size (the Omega 48 brush was huge for the mug i had and i was hitting my fingers while whipping), so i ordered this amazing dog bowl! It's no1 "shaving bowl" in the italian Amazon. It's a bowl for giving water to cats and dogs, but also comes up as shaving bowl. It's amazing, because it has near vertical, high enough walls, and big diameter even for big brush. Tomorrow morning i will try it for the first time! Dog bowl for the win! Plus, suribachi, you can break. dog bowl, no!

I know, i read all kind of preparations, but i just can't spend all that time! With the cartridge i was used to shave in like 2 minutes, with cold water. In and out of the bathroom in no time. Now the brush alone wants 1 min for her own soaking. I can't spend 20 minutes just for shaving in the morning, aside from weekends. Thanks, i will watch the video, but i am afraid that when you are newbie and also in a haste, it gets messy easier. At least with the bowl, i can just whip the cream like a madman and there are no splashes.

Alarm clocks are adjustable.

Just sayin'.

If you have Dove soap, or another moisturizing soap popular with some women, you can do what I did for quick shaves. Wet soap, wet face, soaped up face where I was going to shave with off hand. Used primary hand to shave a section. Add more soap to the next section, repeat. I can do a full shave in about a minute that way, with a DE. It's not a burnished shave, but all the bristles are down, and I don't feel peeled.

You might want to go ahead and try the canned foam with the DE for a day or two, until you can get to the weekend and take a slow shave for the technique.