I have my great grandfather's shaving mug, made by Limoges. It really just looks like a small coffee cup, it's very light and fragile. I'll never use it. Give me plastic, I'm clumsy. Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
I'd say that it depends somewhat on the soap. Some of the harder soaps benefit from bowl lathering moreso than face lathering. It is possible to over exfoliate one's face, especially if a person is using a very stiff brush, which I usually do. And I say that as a habitual face latherer. Edit: the importance of warm water is often overlooked, but many soaps lather better with warm/hot water. Something to do with chemical reactions. I'd have to dig to find the relevant info, but it's out there.
Here's today's lather with my cheap $1:39 metal bowl. The surface doesn't have ridges. I will concede that an artisan shave bowl with ridges, etc. will make lathering easier. Let's face it. We all like the expensive items. However, I can get a great shave using a $1.00 bowl, $1.00 razor, and Arko soap.
No. It's something to do with lather stability, the way the soap forms stronger bonds. Technical stuff above my understanding. By the same token, using too hot of water breaks down the lather, as the steam generated from the water causes the bubbles to burst. It's one reason why I never got along too much with modern scuttles, aside from some early experiments involving a smaller dish nested inside a larger one. Frankly, I don't spend enough time on a shave to need one. If a shave takes longer than 10 minutes, I've screwed up somewhere.
I don't think so. Lathering is a matter or water and heat. Never found difference between bowl and face about mounting the lather. Ideally, yes. But It needs some effort ... Yes, actually the physical part of the chemistry. Long story short, a complex formula (hard butter and wax) needs more ... heat, water, brushing, time. It's like a beautiful lady. She needs some care to give the best. +1 Except the sunday ...
In the case of shaving with quality artisanal soaps, "exfoliation" may be over rated, if not superfluous.
I was thinking with all the added oils and butters in these artisanal soaps, exfoliating the beard via face lathering might not have that much of an effect on the final shave compared to a bowl lathering. Hey, I've been wrong before.
Depending on how you treat your face in the shower, i.e. if you use a loofah or similar, then yes, exfoliation isn't necessary. For shaving, it helps to release trapped hair follicles, and helps to distribute the skin's natural oils and sebum on the face for what minor protection and lubrication that can offer prior to the shave. After the shave is rather a moot point, as the razor's edge exfoliates far better than anything else us mere mortals have been able to discover. The oils and butters added to soap are there to either add slickness to the lather, or because they have a good post-shave moisturizing effect. ...or because they are one of the primary oils used to make the soap, in which case, they are saponified, and no longer act like an oil. Coconut oil and palm oil are the two tallow substitutes most used. Once an oil has been hydrogenated, it's mostly converted to some form of stearic acid, which is what makes a shaving soap a shaving soap, rather than a bath, shower, or hand soap. When people make soap, they combine oil/fat with potassium and/or sodium hydroxide. Depending on how much of each you use, you wind up with a hard soap or a liquid soap, and everything in-between. A 'super fatted' soap adds extra oils/fats after the saponification process has already occurred, or by using more oil/fat than the hydroxide can convert to soap. Soap is pretty simple stuff. It's not difficult to make. GOOD soap, on the other hand, is way more complicated. Take Saponifico Verisino, for instance. They are on soap base Beta 4.3 at this time, which means they've already gone from an alpha soap base to a beta soap base, and they've had at least a 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 version, plus the 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 version. At minimum, that puts the minimum count at 8 different changes that have been made to the soap base. That's not to say that other manufacturers don't do the same thing, but none really use it as a background marketing tool like S.V. does. We 'know' that S.V. tweaks their soap bases because they stick those Beta 4.x labels on the shaving soap labeling. Funny thing about perceptions. Nobody freaks out when La Toja or Saponifico Verisino changes the formula, because they have a long history of tinkering with and changing their formulas. When a soap like Mitchell's Wool Fat changes their formula, after using the same one for 40+ years, everyone collectively loses their minds. Granted, tallow to non-tallow reformulations seldom are for the better. I think I've derailed this thread enough. What were we talking about? Bowls and mugs? I like the color blue.
What makes a good shaving mug? 1. Size and shape, as many have already discussed. 2. Weight. Not to heavy, not too light. 3. Sturdy. I seem to chip all the small ceramic bowls I've conscripted into shaving service, and I rarely chip or break anything else. 4. Cleans up easily. My Chinese wife tells me that no duck restaraunt has ever served duck that satisfies all three of her criteria: meaty, crispy skin, good flavor. It's true, you can get any two but never all three together. I suspect it's the same way for a good shave mug: maybe you can find a mug that meets three criteria, but never all four.
About shaving, I agree. With a good technique, shaving does not afflict the skin. Just cuts the hair. It only needs the primary lubrification. As glycerine soaps do. But advanced soaps have other components, for secondary lubrification and skin conditioning (waxes, clays, amids, proteins). Exfloliation works here.
The green rubber Marvy is the mug I had for probably 10 years. Lightweight, wide enough for a good whipping, and indestructible. Not sure they still make them but I'm a face latherer now...*shrug*
Speaking only for myself and my odd taste for stiffer nylon bristles, the scritchiness has improved my skin. Combined with something like Cryogen soap...holy cow, what refreshment!
absolutely.tap range water temps work well.i.ve not tried boiling water or fringe/freezer cold water temps.
