Shaving soap or shaving cream?

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27
Hi guys,
I am going to ask you a what is no doubt a very silly question!
Okay so I used to use proraso shaving soap, brilliant stuff and I got used to its lather. I would soak my brush for a couple of minutes and then soaped it up.
I then got given an Amazon voucher and delved into the “Taylor of Bond Street Shaving Cream”. Now I appreciate that it will lather different but it didn’t seem to really lather at all, just stayed creamy… which I guess hint the name is normal but I just want to see if I follow the same procedure of soaking or whether I’m using it wrong?

Thankyou guys!
 
I wouldn't say I do anything different between the two.
I assume you use a shaving bowl to create the lather?
Myself I take an almond size piece and pop it into my bowl and after soaking my brush I gently squeeze some of the water out leaving my brush fairly dry as not to over soak, I then proceed to create a lather like ice cream in consistency, adding a dash of water if needed.
That's my way make of it what you will but I hope it helps.
 
Taylor of old bond street creams are class so if your not getting a lather your doing something wrong.
What type of brush do you have ??
Synthetics don’t need soaked at all,
Run the tap on it give it a shake & away you go.
Animal hair is similar in terms of soaking but do it longer.
Is your cream looking dry or is it looking wet ???
This will determine whether you need more or less water
 
Hi guys,
I am going to ask you a what is no doubt a very silly question!
Okay so I used to use proraso shaving soap, brilliant stuff and I got used to its lather. I would soak my brush for a couple of minutes and then soaped it up.
I then got given an Amazon voucher and delved into the “Taylor of Bond Street Shaving Cream”. Now I appreciate that it will lather different but it didn’t seem to really lather at all, just stayed creamy… which I guess hint the name is normal but I just want to see if I follow the same procedure of soaking or whether I’m using it wrong?

Thankyou guys!
If it just stays creamy, you might well need more water.

I'd encourage you to try a lather exercise where you'd try to keep gradually adding water to a shaving soap/cream until it break, just to have an idea where the breaking point is.
Next time, you could then dial it back and get lather at peak hydration.
 
how are you loading the brush in the cream? are you loading and creating lather directly from the tub the same ay as you loaded proraso? it could be a case of using too much product. which is the same result as not enough water in the lather but you'll need a lot more water if you're loading too much.
 
Morning guys, next time I use it I’ll shall try different things and make a record. All notes are greatly appreciated. My brush is a synergic proraso one so perhaps I need to trial and error a few things!
Thankyou all
 
Do you mean soak the brush or soak the soap or soak the cream?

Soak the brush: Depends on the brush bristle. As already stated synthetic bristles don't need to be soaked but Animal hair does. I use boar bristle almost exclusively and I soak that for around 10 minutes However for travel I use synthetic bristle because it dries faster. You'll know if you haven't soaked the animal hair brush enough because in that case the lather on the brush is short-lived (the bristle is absorbing the soap).

Soak the soap: Only hard soap should be soaked by immersing it in warm water until the surface softens. But all that really does is make loading the brush and lathering faster.

Soak the cream: No, never. The benefit of a shaving cream is the hard work of whipping to load the brush and lather is aleady done. Look at the instructions for TOBS: Press an almond size piece into the brush bristle and then lather directly on your face or a bowl.

There is another possibility which is a CROAP, cross between a soap and a cream which is basically soft soap. i.e. 3P Shaving Soap (La Barbiera) £7.99 for a 150ml pot). That doesn't need to be soaked either.

Lack of lather: Either too dry or indeed too wet
 
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