new idea to make great lather!!!

[marsos52]

whether lathering a cream or a soap, using a brush involves a wet brush and after loading the brush adding water by the drop till the product turns to a nice lather.
Since I became a member here, seems everyone makes there lather pretty much the same way. UNTIL NOW THAT IS...

A month ago or so, I forgot to squeeze the excess water from my brush. I noticed this I after I began to work my cream to lather. I did flick the water out, but it was
still wetter than I normally have it. I didn't have time to start over so I just worked the cream as usual. as the cream needed water I just gave the brush a squeeze and the suds exited the brush to my scuttle and I continued this till the cream lathered fully. The result was amazingly great, the lather was prefect and nice and thick, maybe the best lather ever.

I continued to use this lather technique with my other brushes and soaps too, seems like the suds instead of a couple drops of plain water works wonderful with the soap or cream I am using that day. trick to trying this is to flick and excess water and leave the brush with the water it naturally retains. the brush seems to load better and release the product better or at least easier.
when more water is needed to build later, just get the brush a squeeze and use the suds to wet the soap or cream. I find this technique is faster and more consistent.

Hopefully, some will give this a try and share your experience.
Marc

[notthesharpest]

Are you saying, in essence, "Don't shake out all the water, just some"? Or are you saying "Leave the brush really dripping wet"?

I have been shaking out some but not all of the water, for a long long time. Each brush I've tried seems to have a different "just right" amount of water to leave in. It's easy to tell after a few uses of any particular brush - how heavy it feels with the right amount of water in it, how many times and/or how vigorously to shake the brush, that produced good results last time - so that with only a little practice you can get it right almost every time, and so that starting too dry and then adding more water is rarely necessary.

On your first go with a new brush, you'd want to err "on the dry side", because adding water is so much easier than taking it away - but pretty soon you get a feel for the brush you use and you know how much water to leave in.

[marsos52]

I'm saying, I flick the water out of the brush, and leave what the brush natural holds, and go from there, I have three brushes, which are all Rooney's, 1/1,1/2 and a Emillion.
they hold a lot of water. a few good flicks and I go from there. the brush seems to load better and faster and when I need to add water to the product I just give the hairs a squeeze,
and use the suds. the end result is my lather is amazing.

marc

[brothers]

The process I've been using for about a year and a half seems to be pretty efficient. This is for making lather with soaps. ( I have the soap in a bowl with sides, so I can load the brush thoroughly before moving it to the lather bowl.) I start with no water. Dry brush and dry lather in the bowl. I add an amount of water to the soap, in an amount that I've learned through hundreds of latherings to be the best amount for the brush of the day. Then I begin to swirl the brush on the soap with the water while I'm looking at the clock. When the appointed amount of time (30 seconds minimum with distilled water/60 seconds maximum with hot tap water) I move the brush and the proto-lather (some guys call it the suds) to the lather bowl and finish it off. I almost never add water unless it's obvious that I need it. I get outstanding lathers in this way. The bigger the brush, the more water I start with, but not much. Tap water in my house is hard, and results in more rapid depletion of the soap. Distilled water is a bit more of a hassle to deal with, but it does permit a shorter loading time and naturally results in less-rapid depletion of the soap.

[jww]

I have always soaked the brush while I shower (thanks to Dr. Chris' wonderful design and Sarah's marvelous creation). I then simply shake the brush with the bristles pointing downward into the sink (more like an up and down pump action rather than a shake , if that makes any sense) and I always have sufficient water to produce the lather I desire for soaps or creams alike. I must admit, I rarely use creams these days. I do have a few tubes of my favs, but they get used sparingly. ymmv.

[notthesharpest]

- I may be wrong, but I don't think soaking a badger brush has any useful effect; no harmful effect either of course (unless the brush has a defect to be aggravated by staying warm & wet longer).

- Whatever method of removing some water from the brush (shaking, pumping motion, wiggling, waggling - even spinning the house at high speed and holding on tight to the brush ) what matters is if you know your brush well enough to get the desired result consistently. Whether it's "shake six times not too hard" or "the wet brush should weigh 86 grams" or "spin the house at 540 RPM for 41 seconds", as long as you know.

- brothers: assuming the use of soft or distilled water, your method is really no different from anyone else's - you could wet the brush with an equally-precise amount of water (probably slightly more in absolute terms, because of the amount that would cling to the rest of the brush) and have your lather work out exactly the same as you're getting. However, with hard water, minimizing the absolute amount of water by having a dry brush and putting the minimum amount of water straight onto the soap might mean less contact between soap and mineral ions, thus wasting a bit less soap each time.

- I think with a top-quality soap, warm soft water, and a decent brush, the margin for error is pretty wide at each step of the process. If any of the three is off (a poorly-functioning brush, hard or cold water, low-quality soap) then you'd have to be more precise to get it to work. (And in hard water, sometimes the "right" soap matters as well - some soaps' formula is more suited to hard water than others. But even with a soap that performs poorly in hard water, you can usually force it to work just by using a lot more soap and not adding extra water.)

[Squire]

Anyone who has the manual dexterity to shave can make good lather.

[marsos52]

I think maybe my point is not getting thru, it's not really about how one gets water from the brush for the purpose of making lather. what I'm saying instead of using the water from the wet brush or water from the tap by drops, I'm using the suds to wet the soap and cream instead of only water. Seems to me the suds adds something that only water cannot.

[brothers]

Marc, I've re-read your posts. I'm guilty of misunderstanding your point, which is a good one. I'm going to try to remember it next time. Thanks!

[jww]

Anyone who has the manual dexterity to shave can make good lather.

I guess this is what we are all trying to say -- only squire in his usual ability has cut to the quick with the right response. Thanks Squire!