December 6th
Razor: Dovo Inox
Brush: Wild West Brushworks 30mm Tuxedo
SS: MWF
AS: Aqua Velva Musk
I woke up early and started seeing all the MWF conversations with @9ein9 and decided to make some lather and see what I may be doing differently. I didn't want to take time to pre-soak a brush, so I went with a synthetic, and I didn't pre-soak the MWF. I do have a ceramic dish and I did use it. I then rinsed, fished out my puck of Williams, and lathered it in my hand. Then rinsed and lathered the MWF loading and then finishing in my hand. I did notice a few things.
The first thing I noticed is I splay the brush heavily both when loading and when lathering. While I do cover the MWF puck with water before I begin, most of that water spills over the sides as soon as I start loading. The initial overly wet suds form and I lot them spill off into the sink. I then continued to load. That's when I noticed. Loading in the ceramic disk I saw soap seep through the bristles near the handle a lot sooner. I continued to load until the light foamy lather started to develop. Instinctively, I lifted the brush. Scooped that loose foam into the well created by splaying the brush, then mashed it back down on top of the puck as I continued to load. I kept doing this, losing some lather, but not as much as I thought into the sink. Not planning to shave just yet, I continued to build the lather in my hand. Again, with the brush heavily splayed working the brush into the palm of my hand. I did this until enough lather was squashed out the sides to then scoop that back into the splay cavity of the brush and mash it back down onto the palm of my hand. As I did this, I noticed a small amount of lather was forced out through the bristles.
I did stop and think, well that works, but I face lather, I don't do that on my face...
So, I put the brush on my face and started lathing. The first thing I did was splay the brush, work up some lather, gather the forming lather into a pile on my cheek, and mash the brush onto it splaying and working the brush in small circles. Eventually, I end up with enough lather and I just paint it across my face to even things out.
Interesting that how I build lather and how I thought I built lather is so different. It's an automatic action like putting on my seatbelt when I get in the car. If you asked me I would say I put my seatbelt on then put the car in gear, but I know, because my dad pointed it out, that I put the car in gear and put my seatbelt on as I start pulling out of my space. Funny how that goes.
The lather is formed deep in the bristles of the brush. You have to force water through those bristles while agitating. I think I noticed that Williams lather built on the tips of the brush and MWF built in the center. If that holds true, it would explain why people seem to be able to make one soap work and not the other.
With the 3rd batch of lather, I decided to just pull out my Dovo and shave. I'd been building lather on my face for several minutes and figured I might as well.
DFS, my whiskers weren't quite ready, but I made it work.
The picture was taken after the shave. That's the lather left after 3 passes and setting while I cleaned up. It's showing its age, but still good lather.
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