Lather Monster?

I think churchilllafemme has one or had one of these bowls at some point.

Yes, I use a suribachi with my badger brushes on summer days that are too hot for using a scuttle. I try to be relatively gentle when building lather in it, and I have not noticed any damage to the hair tips; but then again, we don't get that many hot days here in the Seattle area, and I rotate 25 brushes.

Too hot for a scuttle ?

nice one, i will order a suribachi bowl also to give it a try.

Thanks for sharing

I've been using this bowl since April, and it is an excellent lather bowl for all the reasons that have already been mentioned.  In particular, the ridges are shallow and tightly packed, but very smooth.  The bowl is still available on Amazon (here), although the price has almost doubled since I purchased mine in April.

I considered one of these suribachi bowls back when OP posted this but decided to pass - I was concerned about damage to fine badger knots because I've seen what aggressive ceramic texturing does to my boar brushes.  I have a Dirty Bird and a Moss scuttle and they both have fairly aggressive texturing.  What they do to boar brushes is actually a good thing in that they break in and become soft and split-endy much quicker than normal.  To be fair, I haven't seen actual damage to badger brushes but I still avoid using them in those scuttles as a precaution.  A ruined badger can be a lot more costly than a ruined boar.  

One other point the OP made was that the Captain's Choice lather bowl was messy because of its low sides.  I don't agree with that.  The CC lather bowls, both ceramic and copper (which is slightly bigger) are more than ample for a generous three pass shave.  More if you're so inclined.  I've been using both the ceramic and the copper lather bowls for a while now and unless you're making massive amounts of lather, containing it isn't a problem, at least I've never spilled any lather.  The other thing about the lower sides of the Captain's Choice lather bowls is that you almost completely eliminate the risk of knocking the brush handle off the sides while lathering.  With a standard, user grade brush a little battle damage isn't an issue but you wouldn't want to ding up those artisan made beauties and that is definitely a risk in a deeper, steeper sided scuttle or mug.

Since I acquired the CC lathering bowls (ceramic/copper) I've not used either of my scuttles and have pretty much stopped looking for anything else - The CCs may not be the ultimate lathering bowls, they're close enough for me.

[font=Verdana]Fine Accoutrements Bowl:
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As for low-sided bowls ...  They can be sloppy, and I had to learn to use one.  At one point in my journey, I got a Fine Accoutrements bowl, which is low-sided but IMO very cleverly engineered.  It has a hole in the handle for hanging on a hook, a thumb grip which doubles as a brush rest, and ridges on the inside to help build lather.  It was so utilitarian that I invested time with it and learned to use it.  


[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana]Helen's Suribachi Bowl:[/font]
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[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Verdana][/font][/font]
Some time later, after making friends with the Fine bowl, I ran across Helen's suribachi bowl and took to it immediately.  I cannot be absolutely certain that Helen's suribachi bowl is harmless, but I am fairly certain that no one on this forum besides me has felt the ridges and grooves on mine - and they are utterly smooth!  As the saying goes, "You pay your money and take your choice."  I've favored the Helen's suribachi bowl over the Fine because IME the Helen's bowl makes it much easier to spread creams and the increasingly common soft soaps evenly and over a wide surface area.  The result for me is better lather built more quickly.


Georgetown Pottery G20 Scuttle (mine is in Green Oribe):

  

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Hard soaps are another matter, at least for me.  I tend to load hard soaps off the puck and face lather.  In these situations, particularly in cool weather, I use a Georgetown G20 scuttle for the sole purpose of keeping the brush and lather warm.  [/font]


[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]So these are my top three bowls, but for different reasons and in different situations.[/font]

Nice HighSpeed , I've always wanted a Georgetown scuttle and that one of yours is beautiful.  How are the texturing grooves in the bowl?  Sharp or smooth?  

I've got a Fine lather bowl and its pretty good as well.  Very low walls so almost zero risk of brush handle contact, however, if containing lather in a Captain's Choice bowl was a problem then you'll have even more problems with the Fine.  I think some guys must have a really exuberant lathering technique if lather flying out of the bowl is a problem

Nice HighSpeed , I've always wanted a Georgetown scuttle and that one of yours is beautiful.  How are the texturing grooves in the bowl?  Sharp or smooth?  

I've got a Fine lather bowl and its pretty good as well.  Very low walls so almost zero risk of brush handle contact, however, if containing lather in a Captain's Choice bowl was a problem then you'll have even more problems with the Fine.  I think some guys must have a really exuberant lathering technique if lather flying out of the bowl is a problem

Thanks Marko.  The G20 is a sweet piece of kit.  The reservoir holds 20 ounces of water, and if you pre-warm the whole scuttle and refill the reservoir, your lather will stay nice and warm for the most leisurely of shaves.  The groves are very smooth - no worries there.  I have included two pix to help you get an idea of what the interior looks like.  The inner diameter is about 100mm at the top (~ 4") and the depth is about 60mm (~ 2.6").

I used a Suribachi bowl for a long time. My thought after time is that they are great for synthetics and less expensive natural fiber brushes, though I wouldn't use my nice badgers in it. The directions for my Simpson's brushes say that you shouldn't even face lather in order to avoid damaging the ends of the fibers

I had a suribachi bowl that I got off Etsy that was ceramic. Didn’t really like using it. The idea of it was cool, but using it was a different story.