[rich_202]

Lathering.

Hi guys, I'm about my first week into straight razor shaving, and it has been going well so far. I'm still learning and improving a bit every day. I have a question about getting the optimum lather. I seem to fall a bit short on my lathering skills and seem to have too thin of a lather. I bought a small rooney silvertip brush off of CS, and I am using either a bay rum glycerine soap from CS also, or a nivea shaving cream purchased at a local pharmacy. I find that the cream lathers up better for me, and has much more body to it. The bubbles are much smaller, and the cream is more dense. When I try to bowl lather the soap, I have a hard time producing a similar thick lather. I realize that a soap won't lather as well as a cream, but I seem to be taking a very long time to build a decent lather. When I watch some videos the lather seems to be being produced much quicker than I can produce it, and the end result is also better. What could I be doing wrong? Is a small brush too small to build a good quality lather quickly? Do brushes need to get broken in before they work their best? Any help would be appreciated.

[holli4pirating]

Soap can lather as well as cream, but it can be a bit more tricky to figure out. My two early "mistakes" with soap were not picking up enough soap and using too much water. Play around with these two quantities, and you should be able to improve your lather.

[gugi]

If your lather is thin you probably are not using enough soap. I've never used the CS soap, so I'm not sure what to recommend, but I shake off the water from my brush and then swirl over the soap until there is a paste on the top of the soap and that ends up going onto the brush tips. Depending on the brush this may take some time. I lather on my face though.
In any case do some practice, it's easy to add more water so starting on the dry side is better.

[0o.Mark.o0]

Try pumping the brush (an up and down motion) while you spin around on the soap puck. Also, there is a balance between too much water and not enough. Fiddle around with that too. Finally, the hotter the water the better.

Also, hard versus soft versus perfect water makes a differenece too. I don't know how to fix that though. Play around with water proportions and time swirling around on the puck.

Mark

[lawman2]

I, as a newbie, had a similar problem until about a week ago but solved that problem with the help of the forum.

I was trying to build the lather in the same mug that I keep my soap in and I wasn't letting the soap soften enough before loading the brush. My solution was to run just enough hot tap water to cover the puck in the mug. Then, I got another bowl and use it to soak my brush in hot tap water. After showering, Iwould pour the excess water off of the puck, shake most of the excess water off of the brush, and load the soap onto the brush by swirling and jabbing the puck (which has sofened due to the hot water) with the brush. When lather starts for form in the mug, I pour the water out of the bowl that I soaked my brush in and begin to whip up the later in that bowl. You will learn through trial and error how much water to use but start with less because it always easy to add water. When you think you've got a good batch of lather, keep working on it. Maybe add a few drops of water if it appears too thick. This simple method has produced enough rich, thick lather for me to get at least two passes.

Good luck.

[netsurfr]

I put a couple of tablespoons of hot water on my soap while I am showering.
I let my brush soak in hot water and my mug at the same time.
When I get out of the shower, I shake the brush out as dry as possible and empty the mug of water.
Then I dump the water that was on my shaving brush into the mug.
I take the almost dry brush and load it up with soap for about 45 seconds.
Then I take the soap-loaded brush and apply it to the water in my mug.
Swirl and pump the brush to build a lather.
If the lather seems too dry, add a teaspoon of water at a time to achieve the consistency you want.
You should get a super creamy lather that holds up well.

[rich_202]

thanks guys,

I'll definitely let the water soak into the soap during my shower. And give it a go again.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Doc]

glen will pop in I am sure.

[gssixgun]

You have most of the info already...

Here is a link to a thread I did about Uberlather, keep in mind that you can dissect it and use it for soap only or cream only...
The basic process works with either way of making lather....


The Illustrated Guide to making Uberlather

Your going to find that soaking the soap, and loading that soap paste first on the brush, is going to make the biggest difference in making lather....

Some small tricks to point out
Dribble hot water from the tips of your fingers to the base of the bristles never just add water to the lather I don't know why but this really works way better....
Hotter water will overcome hard water problems, trust me you can chip yer teeth on the water we get from our well...

[Seraphim]

As said, soak the soap in hot water as you do your other beard-prep stuff...

Then, really swirl that brush around on the soap---load that brush up, don't be shy.

[rich_202]

Thanks netsurfr and lawman, I tried what you said and I am getting great lather from my soap. I have also learned that a feather light tough on the strop, and a light touch when shaving, really goes a long way in creating a smoother shave. Again, thanks.