Loading up on soap

[brothers]

The heavier my brush gets loaded, the thicker and creamier the lather turns out. Being frugal doesn't seem to be a factor when it comes to making soap lather. It's soap, and it's only used once a day. Too much is just about right!

[Esoteric83]

Agreed - just when things start getting thick, I count to 30. I also use a fair amount of water.

The milled pucks, Tabac, Harris, Trumper, AOS aren't going anywhere fast with selective useage is my thinking in taking this approach.

[CMur12]

I agree. My soap is definitely lathering long before I remove the brush from the puck. I find that a certain critical mass of soap within the brush - which varies according to the capacity of the brush - greatly reduces the effort that goes into lathering.

- Murray

[ShadowsDad]

Yes indeed Gary. Mine too.

A few of us began calling that sort of lather "Ultralather". Meaning it's just ultra high in soap solids.

I make an ultralather everyday now; have been for years, and wouldn't know how to make anything else. I certainly wouldn't like a "regular" lather.

Wasteful? Not really IMO and I'm a frugal Mainiac. I agree with what you wrote, plus it puts the resulting lather way off the scale as far as every measure of lather is concerned.

Just this morning I used the lowly Van der Hagen and made an ultralther. The lather was phenominal, but of course the post shave feel was the pits because VdH has none of that sort of good stuff in it. Even with overloading the brush, soaps last a very long time.

[fallingwickets]

I must be doing something 'wrong' because I lightly swirl on the puck several times and I'm going to go. What I have is a very 'dry' super comforting lather which is good for 2 passes max

clive

[dosco]

I must be doing something 'wrong' because I lightly swirl on the puck several times and I'm going to go. What I have is a very 'dry' super comforting lather which is good for 2 passes max

clive

What soap?

[jww]

I didn't know there were different qualities of lather -- I just pick up what I need, and swirl about on my face. If it's thin or thick, I simply adjust the soap or water content. I do admit to have gotten to the point where it simply feels intuitive and I go with that. ymmv

[marsos52]

i have always loaded more soap or cream than i really need

guess i like lather haha

marc

[Racso_MS]

This has always been a YMMV issue. I load my brush (after a few years experience) until it looks/feels right (soap or cream). It usually is. Normally enough for two and sometimes three passes. If I don't go three, I lather my face with the extra and wash my face with the excess.

Have enough in stock to last several years but still do not want it washed down the sink.

Enjoy.

[bernards66]

Gary, Yeah, I agree....and the same holds true, I think, for creams. Years ago I used to stuggle getting top quality and adequate lather from the English creams until I figured out that I was being too stingy and increased the amount of cream that I put in the lathering bowl. Voila! Made all the difference in the world. But it is also true that to some extent it is a matter of taste. Some gents prefer a wetter thiner lather than I do and so, the amount of soap/cream they use...and even the type of soap that they like...is different.
Regards,
Gordon

[fallingwickets]

I must be doing something 'wrong' because I lightly swirl on the puck several times and I'm good to go. What I have is a very 'dry' super comforting lather which is good for 2 passes max

clive

What soap?

trumpers rose....the one and only!!

clive

[ThePossum]

Had problems at first getting good lather from my Tabac soap. A bit too much water I thought but actually it was not enough soap on the brush. As a face latherer with soap I saw a post on another forum that suggested that I load the brush for like 30 seconds to get enough soap on the brush. So that is what I did and it turned out great lather. Now a days I have a sense of when the brush is loaded and if I miss it a bit I simply go back and load a bit more soap on the brush.

Now creams were not such a problem. Make my lather in my shaving mug and have never seemed to have trouble making good lather. Well if I sometimes am a bit liberal with the water it will be a bit thin. I had to laugh at mantic59 and some others who suggest an almond size dollop of cream in the mug. Only tried that once and found that I needed more so more it is. Now get loads of nice creamy lather.

[ShadowsDad]

Gents, one factor no one is discussing... water. Soft water requires far less product and hard water requires far more product.

[brothers]

My hard water, in the beginning, was causing me to under-load and get lousy results. Then I went to distilled water and had better lather. That was OK, but I found out how to go back to tap water.

Dealing with different brushes, all with large knots, over a period of time finally taught me that I can get wonderful lather from nearly any soap with my hard tap water. This is a result of the heavily loaded brush.

That whole process, particularly with the brushes, taught me something else. I don't have to use any guesswork or intuitive judgment that I probably have enough product. Doing it the hard (water) way taught me that I've got to load any brush I have, when shaving at home with my hard water, for 60 seconds. Anything less, and my expectations are not met.

[Craig_From_Cincy]

My hard water is making my learning my learning curve on croaps such as PannaCrema difficult. Methinks that more product on my brush is definitely called for.

[brothers]

I have a little more than 10g of soap left of the full block I started out with. Probably a couple more days and it'll be all gone.

[beartrap]

The soap cannot be overloaded. I load until it's coming out of its ears, after that a bit more. I even overload MdC, still need 122 years to finish every puck that I horde

[SharpSpine]

Yes, give me lather & lots of it. In fact just this morning my mind was wandering a bit & I didn't load as well as I normally do. I still had a great shave but it just wasn't as enjoyable. The lather was still better than anything I used to make when I first started using a brush, but just a step below where I like it & it completely affected my level of enjoyment during the shave while having little effect on the quality of the shave.

Soap is the most important component of lather so don't be stingy. Get the good stuff in there & enjoy!

[kingfisher]

Agreed.

After making soap lather every day for several years, I have a pretty good sixth sense about when the brush is perfectly loaded.

the other aspect of lathering that took me a long time to appreciate is that even after a lather looks pretty darned good it can be made better by continuing to work the lather for an extra 30-45 seconds, or even a minute.

So, for me, a little more time on the front end, and a little more time on the back end makes a far superior lather. And if there's one problem I definitely DON'T have, it's using soap too quickly. If anything, I wish that soap would be used up more rapidly, so I could try more different soaps.

[JarmoP]

What I do, and I am not sure if it saves any soap as using more is always good. I have this quite small puck of soap in diameter sitting now on my Tabac bowl. And i don't iknow even if it is any good as pucks go. And no tallow and it is no name, my first soap since I started shaving with a brush years ago. I mean I have not shaved with it for years lol just have to finish it.

But I'm frugal, so i load my brush on it as a face latherer I am quite long time and then I rub my face with a Palmolive stick. After facelathering with paint brush style my brush somehow holds pretty good lather by this method.