Ok here goes, my soap of choice is Qed Sandelwood. I swirl my brush around about 10 x in then go directly to bowl. My brush is very flimsy and does not hold water and is not very dense. The lather is more of a slime but does cream up a bit. Could the soap be an issue. I am getting ready to order some shave den cream and have Olivias Cremo on the way. Kurt
I don't think the soap is a likely culprit. A brush should pick up and hold a bit of water. I have several vintage/ancient Ever-Ready and the like and they lather well. Swirlin your brush around should give you a goodly bit of soap on the brush and there will be soap lather in the QED bowl. I sometimes have to work on making a satisfactory, to me, lather. It may take two minutes, which is a pretty long time. I not only swirl but I mash, I plunge up and down, I rotate....I do this in the Lather bowl and in the QED bowl. I think that if you don't see lather in the QED bowl there is something amiss...right away.. It may be that your brush is bad.. I suggest that you pick up another brush. Take a look at Vulfix. Mike has just posted that Leesrazors.com has a 660 for a right price and it looks very shave worthy Tom
Kurt, as you're waiting on the new brush to arrive. Take another look at the Mantic videos. A picture/vid, for me, is better than reading on it becasue I can visualize better. The Mantic Vids were very important in my learning process. Make some lather on your hand with the brush you have. You'll feel how much water is held by the brush Tom
And by all means get the TSD creams in Essential Oil... Write up the Cremo review as I haven't tried that yet. Tom
Kurt, I think you need to play around with the soap/water mix. I have no idea how many times I swirl my brush around the soap tub, but it's way more then 10! I do this with a brush that's been shaken quite dry. While my brush is soaking, I cover the top of my soap with hot tap water. After a minute or so, I dump that water into my lather bowl. Maybe a tablespoon or so. Now, the soap puck is softened and I shake my brush mostly dry and swirl it around the soap til it's loaded up. I've never counted, but it's gotta be at least 20-30 swirls! Then I build the lather in my bowl. The longer I swirl it around, the more lather I get - and the creamier it is. Depending on the brush I'm using, sometimes I'll add a few drops of water til the lather is the consistency I want. I think you need more water - but DEFINITELY more soap on the brush. I don't think there's a problem with your soap. I just think you don't use enough of it. Experiment.
Hi Kurt, This is a great soap brush for me: http://vintagebladesllc.com/vshop/xcart/product.php?productid=471&cat=153&page=1 Works great by loading the brush with soap as Michael described and then building the lather directly on the face. Try following the steps Michael provided, you should be able to get a nice lather.... How is your water quality there? If it is pretty hard that may be causing some troubles with the lather. You could also try using some distilled water that has been heated and see if you are able to generate more lather? Neale
Fantastic soap, I wouldn't hesitate making that my desrt island soap in a second! (Of course, if I really was going to be stranded on a desrt island I might prefer lime or bergamot, but hey... : From personal experice, my 3122 ($98) is extremely soft but firm, and it holds up great to face lathering. However, I would love to impress on you the value of a c&re BBB. This thing is just an outstanding lather making machine. You can easily get both brushes (and it would be quite worth it) for the price of many inferior brushes out there.
Try cleaning your old brush with hair shampoo or a Borax soak. See if it helps any. In regards to your question: SM vs Rooney ?? Are you looking for a brush to make lather in a bowl or do you make lather on your face? I dont have a SM brush but I know you can custom order them superstuffed. I will tell you my Rooney small (1) style(3) is one wicked brush for making lather on the face. 2nd only to my Simpsons Super Chubby1
I bought a Rooney Finest size 1 style 1 for soaps and I've never looked back. The tips are soft, but you still feel them and the stiff bristles are perfect for soap lathering. Its pricey, but I'll never buy another soap brush... Jordan
Kurt, I guess it's hard to limit this to just ShaveMac or Rooney. I don't own a Rooney, and just one ShaveMac so I can't say anything about the difference; but I can vouch for ShaveMac's customer service. It's SUPER! If you go for a ShaveMac I bet you won't be dissapointed. I love mine and wouldn't hesitate to recomend anyone to get one! But I assume Rooney's are just as good!
Sounds like you haven't seen drP's "collection" http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=287
I've seen pics other than that one, but I don't think I've ever seen a photo with all 150+ in one mob scene. Can you imagine? :1respect
