Hey all, I'm new to wet shaving and since my brief experience at the other site over the past week or two has been as choppy, painful, and frustrating as my start at wet shaving, here I am. So one of my biggest confusions right now is knowing if I have a proper lather or not. I'm using a Muhle R89, Simpsons Best Badger Chubby 1 brush, and Trumpers coconut shave cream. I'm lathering in a wide shallow coffee mug for now, until my brush scuttle and bowl arrives from miss dirty bird. Where my confusion lies is in identifying wet vs dry and thin vs thick. How do I know if it's too wet or to dry? When i apply to my face I feel like I don't get enough coverage but don't really have a good reference other than Mantic's videos, and he seems to get a thicker application to his face than I do. But his brush also looks a lot softer than mine. My chubby is kinda stiff. :happy102 My lather in the bowl is really nice and fluffy but seems pretty airy/light. It leans closer to a nice froth on a cappuccino than the heavy whipped cream look of real whipped cream or egg whites with stiff peaks. I have no idea where I should be in that scale and how to get there. Any comparison pics or anything out there? Or good advice on recognizing the differences? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
:signs046to the Den! You want that lather to look like wet yogurt, when you see a reflective sheen to it you'll know you'll get a lot of good razor glide. In the shave school section you'll find a picture tutorial of lather making, check it out good stuff.
You'll know if it's too wet - it will be thin and runny. You'll know if it's too dry - it will be thick and pasty. What you want is right in between. It's very hard to tell from pics, so I caution on using them as a guide. Helpful, yes, but not definitive. You're going to get all kinds of advice. Take it and try it. You'll only know what will work for you AFTER you put it into practice. Here's why - you may not have the same brush they do; it might be a different size or different material. You may not have the same water they do; it might be harder or softer. You may not have the same soap or cream they do. Your idea of "too much" may be different than theirs. Bottom line is - you gotta practice with what'cha got. Then you'll find that perfect ration of soap (or cream) to water, along with just how to use that brush in the most effective way to give you a lather you are happy with. As I said, you'll get lots of tips and tricks to try. Try 'em all, then let us know how you're doing. Oh, almost forgot - Welcome to the Den!
I'm in the same situation. I am enjoying learning these things though as my new favorite thing to do before I go to bed is practice making a lather. I'm getting better at determining what a good lather is, but my biggest problem is the lather getting thinner while it's on my face. This was a huge problem when I was bowl lathering. Now that I'm face lathering it's not as much of a problem, but I'm still learning to get it better. My question to add to this discussion is what are the pros/cons of face lathering vs. bowl lathering. I'm very new to this and I'm not quite understanding a scuttle. If someone can give me a brief description of what a scuttle is, how to use it, and it's benefits I'd appreciate it. Cheers, Brian
No pros or cons, just preferences. Just my opinion. The modern scuttle is really just a bowl within a bowl. The outer bowl holds hot water to keep the lather and brush in the inner bowl warm. The vintage scuttles were used to keep hot water near the person shaving since there was no running hot water. I quick dip with the brush to get it warm and wet, then off to the soap it goes to get loaded up.
Welcome to the Den! I don't have a Chubby, I use a Penworks Finest (badger) and the Semogue Owners Club (boar). I was in the same boat as you until recently. I have been wet shaving for over 2 years (with a brush, etc) and like you my lather was nice and frothy. When I used cream I would get it nice and thick...I tended to use about an almond size amount of cream and a tablespoon (15mL) of water. I prefer soap and my lather was always runny. Now I would recommend doing this because this has changed my lather from froth like, to rich and creamy. I used to think my poor lather was from the amount of water I added to the cream/soap, so I would focus on trying to get it right. But one day after watching a video by Jeff (Thanks!!), I saw that he would work on making his lather much longer than I did. So I spent another minute or two working on the lather and it has made all the difference! Now I spend 2-3 minutes (not just 45 secs) whipping the lather in my mug and it always turns out great! This may not solve your issue, but I would deffinately recommend it as it took me over 2 years to figure out...Good Luck!
Almost without fail the new wet shaver does not use enough product, another hint is that you get a better lather from cream than soap! When you are NOT going to shave and have a few moments, Grab your stuff and make a practice lather. Double the amount of soap or cream you are currently using. (a cereal bowl from the kitchen makes it easier than a mug) Start with a well soaked brush that is shaken out, begin building a lather, add water a teaspoon at a time, keep going- note how the lather feels and looks at each step. Put some lather in your hand and squeeze it closed, does it collapse or does it squish out of your palm? Keep adding water until you have soup. This experiment will familiarize you with many aspects of the lather building process. The key to it though is to use enough product! Good luck!
I have Trumper's Limes and I have to say it was a bear to get the lather right. It kept coming out just like you describe dry and super aireated. My razor was skipping across my face like no buddy's biz. I finally seemed to get it right by shaking about 3/4 of the normal amount of water out of the brush and swirling the brush on the puck for approx. 15 seconds. The lather now is thick and creamy and the razor glides beautifully. I have come to the conclusion that FOR ME creams are way easier to lather properly YMMV. Hope this helps. Welcome to the Den and keep us posted on your progress or lack there of.
Welcome the the Den I had same problem with dry lather but i also had huge problem in face prep. In the pre shave area 10th post i did every thing and took away what doesn't work for me. My face was burnt allot i still had the press harder to get closer running in my head(learned no pressure is fine line between contact and making skin pushed in). When in doubt go back to basics. Every shave is a learning experience. B
It can take up to a minute on a hard soap to load your brush- you can always add water but, as you discovered, you cannot take it out!
Thanks! I use an almond sized amount of cream per Mantic's instruction via his videos. Should i be using more? Thanks! I'm using cream, not a hard puck. But I could still have too much water in my brush. But I'm still wondering what the lather should look like visually. I could practice making lather till the cows come home, but it doesn't help until I know what to shoot for, both in my bowl and on my face. I found post #6 in the shave school stickies (I can't post links yet, not enough posts) The 7th and 8th pics so the brush and face. Does that look like the perfect lather. I usually end up with more fluffy lather than that. Thanks for the help and welcome!
For this exercise use twice that amount. Lather that has been overworked will look big but it's mostly air, think yogurt rather than whipped cream. This exercise will expose you to varying degrees of lather suitability, the squeeze the lather trick will be very illuminating, when it stops breaking in your hand you will know.
If it collapses its mostly bubbles, not good. If it squishes out its an emulsion of water and soap/cream, good! Go do it!
Thanks for the help guys, I think it's getting better. Today I used a little more product and a little less water and that seemed to help get me a thicker, slicker lather. Every always says add more water and then when you think you are done add more. But maybe I was just adding too much. And then when i was done, I looked down and the photo nerd in me thought that might make a nice picture so I grabbed my camera. :ashamed001 Muhle R89, Chubby 1 and Trumpers.
I'm reading your post and thinking that maybe you have a new shaving brush. Brushes do take a few weeks to break in and performance of of the brush to create lather with increase in a short period of time.
