Dry brush or wet brush...

Discussion in 'General Shaving Talk' started by SharpSpine, May 28, 2012.

  1. SharpSpine

    SharpSpine Well-Known Member

    However you go about it, the goal of making your lather each and every day is to hit that perfect soap:water ratio each time. Some prefer to start drier while others prefer a much wetter approach to start. While we all must experiment with our hardware & software combinations in our water, I thought it could still be beneficial to discuss these two approaches and what you like and why.

    Many are familiar with what I've read is the traditional Italian barbers' method of a large soaking wet boar brush on a soft Italian soap known around the forums as "Marco's Method". With this approach you utilize a fully saturated brush to load slowly on the soap. This method tends to have suds and water dripping out over the soap container. Once loaded for the typically recommended 45-60s you can then build the lather on your face, palm, or bowl/scuttle. So you basically start with a ton of water and keep adding soap until you hit the sweet spot. You can certainly produce mountains of lather with this approach. The fallbacks being that it can be pretty sloppy if you don't start slow enough and you're more likely to over aerate and end up with thin lather.

    A drier brush approach, which I don't think has a moniker full of alliteration, is basically the opposite. You start with a damp brush, but certainly not fully saturated. You load your brush on the soap for 30-60s but instead of water & suds spilling out of the container you end up making more of a paste. You then take this pasty brush to your face, palm, or bowl/scuttle. Now as you build the lather you'll also incorporate water as needed by either dipping the brush tips in water or dribbling water on the brush or into the bowl/scuttle. So in this approach you start with lots of soap and just add water to reach the sweet spot. The fallbacks of this approach include the potential for under hydrating the lather leading to poor glide & poosible razor burn. This method may also take you a bit longer if you're stingy with adding the water back in.

    Both of these approaches set out to accomplish the same goal by starting at opposite extremes. So obviously any number of modifications can be made that will fall somewhere in the middle on this lathering spectrum. How you do it is completely up to you & involves some personal preference. I just suggest that while you may prefer a certain method that you don't forget that there are other ways to make a lather and that some products may require you to be flexible and try something out of your comfort zone. Whether or not you find that effort to be worth your time or not given the plethora of great choices we have is neither wrong nor right, it just is.

    Now that I'm coming to the conclusion of this little lathering exposition I'd like to propose a thought. The water we use is for the most part constant. The variable that inspires such AD is the soap. The soap is what houses all the goodies to prepare our skin & hair for the shave. We don't talk about such & such water leading to a super slick shave that was extremely moisturizing. No, all of those properties that we so desire from our lather come from the soap, all the good stuff as my friend Brian SD refers to it. So doesn't it make more sense to err on the side of more soap than on the side of more water? Even when on the more soap side of the equation it's still easy to have a very well hydrated lather. You just have more soap solids that aren't fully saturated. If you kept adding water you would eventually get that lather explosion, but to what end? A dilution of all the good stuff that's in contact with our skin & hair?

    I know many of you have mentioned that you don't really think about how you lather and all the variables involved, but I find the lather to be the part of the shave that we have the most control over each and every time. Sure you can change your brush & some of us can change brushes much more often than others before repeating but you can't really control the characteristics of a brush like you can your lather. Lather seems to take on a life of its own. It requires building. You're almost raising those little suds from infancy to mature soap that is ready to serve its duty as your perfect lather for today. To get the most out of our shaves I believe it is worth the time & effort to really understand your lather & be able to make the right adjustments when needed.

    Enjoy your shaves gentlemen. May they be slick, cushy, and close!
     
    tomnat, macaronus and PLANofMAN like this.
  2. Slipperyjoe

    Slipperyjoe Rusty Metal Tetanus

    I'm using the Marco wet brush approach. Admittedly kinda messy, this method seems to enable perfect control over the consistency of the final product. I also start lathering on a completely wet face...
     
  3. SharpSpine

    SharpSpine Well-Known Member

    A lot of people like it & I've used it successfully. I'm just currently on a different kick right now & really liking the lather I'm getting. There is something fun about clouds & clouds of lather floating around the Den though! ;)
     
  4. Slipperyjoe

    Slipperyjoe Rusty Metal Tetanus

    I'm just picturing you floating around your bathroom, razor in hand, on boundless white fluffy clouds of lather..kind of an ethereal image really. I just hope it's not a straight razor your holding:kar::happy108::happy097:
     
    macaronus likes this.
  5. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    Spare the rod and spoil the child? Not I, I beat my lather into submission and get perfect results every time. I like well-behaved children, dogs and lather. Now women on the other hand...:D

    Since your method is to go to the other end of the lather building spectrum, I propose that your method be named the "Dr. Spock" method of lathering. I think it sounds cool.

    You raise some valid points and you've obviously put a lot of thought into this well reasoned discourse. I doubt you will find many converts because most of us are, well, "traditional" wet shavers, we enjoy the wet soapy mayhem. We talk about the "perfect bbs shave" as though it were the be all and end all of every shave. I think that for most wet shaving enthusiasts, it soon becomes less about the end result and more about the process of shaving itself.

    As shaving advice, your article is pure gold, Some soaps that are stubborn latherers might need this treatment rather than the more traditional method. If I get a bad lather, I add soap or I add water until it all comes together. I also have no qualms about throwing out 5 cents worth of soap suds to start over.

    Edit: Just re-read the article to make sure I understood exactly what the differences were. I usually use the "Doc Spock" (for lack of a better name at this point) method myself, because I transfer the loaded brush to my lather bowl and build it there when I'm using soaps. when I use creams I use a much wetter brush and rarely have to add more water. I just don't like having to clean my wooden soap bowls more than necessary.
     
  6. macaronus

    macaronus Sir Nice-a-Lot

    Exellent article! I tend to use both methods - dependent on the soap/cream. Wet brush on the TSD soaps & dry brush on the other ones & creams. But since my lathers are below standard of late (too dry, too wet, too thin etc.) I guess I'll have to pay more attention to my lathers.

    Thanks for posting!
     
  7. battle.munky

    battle.munky Has the menthol.munky on his back!

    Good argument Brian. I use the load the brush and add water as needed approach just for the record.
     
  8. DLreno

    DLreno Well-Known Member

    +1 on that. I add water as needed on the face. I find that forces me to work the face/beard more and get tne most out of the prep.
     
  9. tomnat

    tomnat accepting applications

    Me too. I'm kind of neat freak and like things nice and orderly so I really don't like to make a big mess. I tend to not use too much water and add as I go. This seems to work really well for me.
     
    battle.munky likes this.

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