Michael writes:
One of the videos that I still frequently study is your video “How to Build and Apply Traditional Shave Lather”. In that video, you show how to build lather in the palm of your hand from a soap, how to build lather in a bowl or mug from a dollop of cream and how to build lather directly to your face after swirling the tips of the bristles of your brush on a puck of soap.
The one method that I’m interested in that you don’t show is how to build a lather directly to your face after swirling the tips of the bristles of your brush on the surface of a tub of cream. Is there a sufficient way to do this or is it really just always better to scoop out an almond-sized dollop of cream from the tub and mix it in a mug or bowl?
If it is sufficient/acceptable enough to swirl the tips of the bristles of my brush over the surface of the cream in the tub, how long would I do that for? And if I have already let the brush soak for a few minutes, would I just have to make sure the tips are wet and then swirl the brush across the cream and then onto my face or will I have to wet the tips of the brush again a couple of times? And how long should it take to build the lather directly on my face with this method?
Any advice you could offer would be greatly appreciated! Thank You.
I really need to update my lathering video. There are a couple ways to do what you’re asking about. One is to swirl the brush into the tub of cream just like it was a puck of soap. However as a cream ages it can develop a “skin” on the surface so another way is to kind of “dig into” the cream. You can to that by using a little more pressure on the brush, or twisting (instead of swirling) the brush down into the cream, or by supporting one side of the bristles with three fingers and “scooping” the cream right into the brush. Or as you said you could just scoop out a dollop with your finger or a flat object like a tongue depressor.
You need to make sure the whole brush is wet, not just the tips of the bristles, but it does not need to be soaking wet. How long it takes depends on some variables, including the type of soap, the type of brush, and even the mineral content of your water. It could be anywhere between 30 seconds and 3 minutes.
Hope that helps!
Lathering From A Tub of Shaving Cream To The Face?
I use a bowl, for one reason…it’s a lot neater than face lathering. I like face lathering, but it’s just too messy for me. Also with a bowl, I build more lather with less product.
I always face lather with a soap. It serves two purposes: build lather and massage the face at the same time. I don’t see the point of building lather in the palm of a hand or in a bowl.
I face lather with cream while traveling. I take an almond size dollop and load it into the breach of a pre-soaked brush with my finger, and then start lathering, in terms of timing I just keep going until I get the lather texture I like (adding water if necessary). I easily have enough left in the brush for a 3 pass shave, plus some finishing…
Don’t worry if the first few swirls on the face are really wet and loose, it will work it’s way to a good lather…
I use a wet brush, swirl around my tub of Proraso green a few times and then apply that to the face with a few drops of water added in after I have completely coated my beard.
Shave as normal and then use the brush again with a few drops for my second pass.
Perfectly happy with the results.
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