I took a few pictures of my lathering process this weekend, mostly I use the same method as Joel but with a few slight modifications, namely that I prime my brush with soap before using the cream and I put my lathering bowl directly into the hot pot double boiler style to ensure that the lather stays as hot as possible. Now on with the pictures..
My razors and the current rotation of creams lying in wait..
This is the kiss my face olive oil soap, I use it to prime my brush a la the cube. This huge 8oz bar was $2.50 at whole foods.
vulfix 2236 and futur, ready for duty
I got this cobalt bowl for 75 cents at walmart, it works very well for lathering, its wide enough so you never bang your brush against the glass and it fits perfectly in the hot pot.
the water quickly comes to a boil..
I let the brush soak in the water for 2-3 minutes while I rinse my face in hot water and use a facial scrub..
priming the brush with the KMF olive oil soap..
Adding a bit of trumpers violet to the mix and whipping up a lather, I use the spatula thing so the soap won't get mixed into the jar of trumpers..
here you can see the lather has a thick creamy texture
After you put the bowl into the hot pot the lather quickly begins to get very hot and evaporate
You can't really see it in these pics, but the lather is now so hot that the brush will be steaming when you pull it out of the bowl and hold it upright. When I touch the brush to my face it stings just a little bit due to the heat, which I quite enjoy. The texture of the lather is not as thick and creamy as it was before the bowl was placed into the hot pot, but I don't think that this detracts from the shave.
This picture was taken after my first pass with the grain, a few minutes have elapsed since the previous picture and you can see that most of the lather in the bowl has now evaporated
just a few swirls will reheat the brush and cause the lather to spring back to life
clean and ready to go again tomorrow..
Using this method has given me the best shaves of my life and increased the pleasure factor of my shaves immensely. Many thanks to Joel for making this all possible and his excellent lathering guide which brought the rival hot pot to everyones attention!
-Tyler
hot pot lathering pics
Tyler, I too ran into the problem with the lather evaporating the other night when I placed my bowl in the hot pot. I found that just adding a little more hot water reactivated the cream and allowed me to produce the lather had I had on the first pass. After all, the soap is not evaporating just the water. So just add more water.
Randy
- SurfFisherman
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- AceHarddrive
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I whittled little pieces of the soap into the mug and then just sat that mug in the hot pot and melted it double boiler style. You could microwave it but if you do be sure to only microwave for like 15 secs and then let it settle for a bit otherwise it will bubble up and get all over your microwave.AceHarddrive wrote:How'd ya get the KMF soap into the mug? Didja nuke it in the microwave?
If ya did, how did the KMF take to nuking?
~Tim
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