Bowl Latherers, a shaving soap question

Athar

Athar

Joined
Sunday October 17, 2021
Hei Bowl Latherers out there, how do You lather your soap and in which bowl? The method I have tried so far is to smear the the soap in and on the bowl ridges and tried to lather several different soaps. (I don't really like face lathering) But what I always experience that some of the soap remains untouched at the bottom of the bowl - or somewhere in the bowl if pieces had beed picked up by the brush. Sometimes this is a lot of soap, other times less. Do I use too much soap when there is a lot remains? Or it depends more on the bowl/brush type and my lathering technique? I do soap lathering based on the videos of "Iamcdb" from Youtube.
So far I have tried Captain's Choise and the Shave nation artisian shaving bowls with the ridges inside. By the way - in the Shave nation bowl if somone is familiar with it, the ridges seems a little too "harsh". Can this damage my synthetic brushes? (I don't use badger)
The soaps I have tried so far are Phoenix and Beau, Phoenix artisian, Razorock, Captain's choise.
I don't have this issue with creams.
 
My Qshave bowl has very gentle ridges, almost too gentle to be of use even. I have started face lathering more these days, but when I bowl lather I will soak the brush, squeeze out most of the water, then whip up a lather on the actual soap puck for maybe 30 seconds to really load the brush well, before moving to the bowl to generate the quantity and texture of lather I need. Hope that helps, may be worth a try loading the brush rather than smearing soap into the bowl, just to see if it gives you better results.
 
hotmetal said:
My Qshave bowl has very gentle ridges, almost too gentle to be of use even. I have started face lathering more these days, but when I bowl lather I will soak the brush, squeeze out most of the water, then whip up a lather on the actual soap puck for maybe 30 seconds to really load the brush well, before moving to the bowl to generate the quantity and texture of lather I need. Hope that helps, may be worth a try loading the brush rather than smearing soap into the bowl, just to see if it gives you better results.
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Thanks for the quick answer! If I load the brush directly from the box will it not "destroy" the scent/consistecy of these soap over time? Or what are "the correct rutines" if I load the brush from the original box? I mean obviously let it dry back to original state, but is there any other ting to do?
 
I don't know, I am not an expert, but I don't think there will be any adverse effects. As I understand it, (possibly wrongly), the way I do it is pretty standard and widespread. Yes, wipe away residual foam from the top of the puck and allow to dry before replacing the lid, that's all I would say.
 
hotmetal said:
I don't know, I am not an expert, but I don't think there will be any adverse effects. As I understand it, (possibly wrongly), the way I do it is pretty standard and widespread. Yes, wipe away residual foam from the top of the puck and allow to dry before replacing the lid, that's all I would say.
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Ok thanks, I will try this on one of the soaps at least. :) Hope someone maybe comes later with a more detailed explanation what can/could happen with the soap over time with this method, and what should be aware of.
 
I use mainly synthetic brushes ( Razorock, Yaqi, Vie Long ) and either the Fine Accoutrements lather bowl ( my favourite bowl ) or a silicone collapsible bowl.
As mentioned in previous posts I also load the brush directly from the tub. So far I haven't noticed any issue with scent or deterioration in the soaps. Rinse out excess lather / soap from the tub before letting it air dry naturally.

You shouldn’t really damage brushes as long as you don’t use them in the bowl like a mortar & pestle. Whisk the bristle tips around the bowl rather than grinding the brush into it.
It works for me and I haven't damaged a brush yet. YMMV.
 
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I use ceramic bowls and scuttles, with the recent additions of the giant Lickimat Wobble and those collapsible dog bowls with the stick-up "dragons teeth".

If the soap is a hard soap (which I don't want to excavate with a spoon), then I load the brush off the soap, usually after a drop or two of water on the soap top, and lather up in a bowl. If the soap is soft enough to get a dollop on my finger tip, then I do that, and smear it as thinly as possible in the bottom of the bowl, and lather from there. I see that Kensurfs in the USA digs his soap out with a UK 50p piece! I don't palm-lather, nor have I ever been tempted to grate stick soap into a bowl.

Regarding brushes, I have always avoided mashing expensive natural ones round in bowls like a madman, as it breaks the hairs in badgers, and horsehair ones are quickly in a tangle. "Gently does it" is best with those. Boar brushes don't mind rough treatment (benefit from it, to split the ends and break them in), stand up to it well and don't cost an arm and a leg. The same applies to synthetics, which I treat as roughly as the mood takes me.

I don't often have too much left in the grooves and recesses of the china kit, but I usually get any out by rinsing my brush in them. The rubber bowls are great, as all that's needed is to turn them inside out and get any reluctant residues off with a nail brush or similar.

I have just one tube of LaToja shaving cream, which, on the rare days when I use it, I squeeze on a brush and head straight for a face lather. That stuff will stick like the proverbial to a blanket in any container, so now bowls there.
 
Radar said:
I use mainly synthetic brushes ( Razorock, Yaqi, Vie Long ) and either the Fine Accoutrements lather bowl ( my favourite bowl ) or a silicone collapsible bowl.
As mentioned in previous posts I also load the brush directly from the tub. So far I haven't noticed any issue with scent or deterioration in the soaps. Rinse out excess lather / soap from the tub before letting it air dry naturally.

You shouldn’t really damage brushes as long as you don’t use them in the bowl like a mortar & pestle. Whisk the bristle tips around the bowl rather than grinding the brush into it.
It works for me and I haven't damaged a brush yet. YMMV.
Click to expand...
I see these mortars in local asian/arab shops always wondering if they'd make good shaving bowls
 
Like others have said I usually load straight from the puck unless it’s a really soft croap or cream, then I scoop. I tend to bloom my triple milled soaps, soak or dip my brush depending if natural or synthetic and gently squeeze before loading. Your load time will depend on many variables such as soap hardness, usage frequency, brush size/hair but it will become second nature after practice. Add water a little at a time until you reach your hydration preference, you will be surprised how much water they can take. Give your soaps a rinse and let to dry after use. Phoenix and Beau are great soaps, they are reasonably firm so l load them from the tub.

I use a Giles Shaving bowl which has a textured base.

Happy lathering
 
I think bowls are over rated
don’t get me wrong i mostly use one but this one is better than that one & these ridges are deeper than that one.
Some people iv seen on here & youtube using soup bowls with no ridges & iv actually done it myself.
I now use the Timeless bowl as i received it on here as a gift.
The only reason i use it it’s because i travel & the bowl is very robust & pretty much break proof in everyday life.
For home i have a ceramic from Steph Baxter again a wonderful bowl.
But my argument would be does all these new shave bowls give you a better lather and i don’t think they do.
Getting back to the op
All my soap goes to the bottom of the bowl, iv seen video of guys that have the soap virtually everywhere to an extent that there’s far to much soap in the bowl, but i guess they don’t pay for their own.
if your Brush isn’t touching the soap then quite clearly it’s in the wrong place.
Soap in the bottom & couple of baked bean sizes is enough normally on todays soaps.
and spend a bit of time making a lovely lather.
if you still have soap that’s untouched i would suggest your not using enough water
 
Everyone face lathers, just that some do it to a greater extent. You need to bring the lather up to snuff on your face whether you bowl lather or not as you have to work it in and "raise" the hairs for a better shave. Swirling the brush on the face makes this easier. Even the rare times I use a bowl, e.g., to lather a sample, I still treat it the same once on my face as I do when loading from a tub/puck. Consistency is the secret. Be thorough. After all, you are shaving your face and not a bowl.
 
Bogeyman that's more or less why I've gradually drifted towards face lathering. I figure you still paint and swirl round yer phisog even if you made your little meringue pie in the pot before, or not. Eventually I could not be bothered with the bowl at all, mostly. There are sometimes troublesome soaps that want whipped, but by and large it seems a superfluous step. Of course I only really realised this after getting some shave sticks.
 
Thanks for the lot of response! Didn't realise yet that still a little face lathering is so important, will do that more. Today I managed to smear the soap very thin, and there was almost none rest. It was in all the ridges in the captain's choise bowl. Used also a little firmer brush, but probably not that was the most important part. Used about 2 almond size soap portion, but maybe that was too much I had lather for about I think 10 passes.
 

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