Lathering Issue

Gents,

I am having an issue with lathering my soaps. I am stationed in Germany as a singe Soldier, which means I reside in the barracks. Unfortuantely, the water is really hard.

Any advice, tips that can help me work around it? Thanks!

There is a member on here called Merkur Man , his name is Nathan. If you put Merkur man into YouTube he has a lathering video which is very good. It was specifically created to show people how to lather Mystic Waters Soap but is a very good menthol to use all the time. Try that and see how you get on.

Out of interest what soap and brush are you using?

Basically, start out with less water in your brush, load until the soap gets slightly pasty, add a little water on either the soap or your brush, load some more until almost pasty, keep repeating until you see a nice lather in the brush. Then take that to your face and face lather.

Go by the looks and feel of the lather rather than how many swirls or how long you swirl.

Dino de Soto , thanks much for your service.

Good points thus far. I live in Austin and the water is also quite hard. Load more than you think you need and add water gradually for best results. Would also be helpful as Oli mentioned to know what kind of soap you have and brush too.

Living in Georgia and the water is impossible, I just use a hot water maker and use distilled water. You can usually pick up a hot water maker for about 20-45 bucks. usually amazon has a great selection. I just keep mine in the bathroom in the sink. Takes only a minute or two to get nice hot water and using distilled makes it really easy to lather most any soap.


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Thanks for the many reply gents. I am currently using a Semogue 610 and a Crown King Synthetic brush. The soaps I use are all from Phoenix or Ginger's Garden. Terrific soaps, but again, the water here is killing the mojo. The hot water maker is a terrific idea, but barracks regulations prohibit that.

Try using a soap that is made to mitigate hard water conditions. This is one of the only things that worked in my hard water, as certain soaps simply did not work efficiently whatever technique I used.

Can you describe your lathering technique?

What I can offer you is to load more than usual until you get a sticky-type paste, then try face-lathering as this usually facilitates things, in my opinion, as it may offer you more control of your lather.

Good luck.

You really gotta load up what they call the "protolather." This us the pasty soap residue on a damp (not wet) brush. Might help in ur had water case to bloom the soap beforehand. Also, use ur fingers down near the tips of the brush to stiffen them while working up the protolather. Work it until some paste is on the tips. If need be, wipe some of the paste on ur face or in ur bowl as case may be and then work up some more protolather. Do thus several times (don't pay attention to how much time u are loading or how many swirls - go by what u see on the brush tips). After building up a good amount of protolather, only then start adding really small water additions, like Merkur man does in his video, spAringly. If face lathering, use mostly painting strokes; if bowl lathering, turn bowl on side & use mostly painting strokes on side of bowl, not bottom of bowl (resist temptation to splay the brush knot out & don't pump the brush up and down). Also, rub the damp puck on ur face like shave stick if u can, all over.

The combo platter of all of these things solved some recent lathering issues I had with one soap.

One more thing: pay close attention to what Celestino tells u to do.

Gents,

I am having an issue with lathering my soaps. I am stationed in Germany as a singe Soldier, which means I reside in the barracks. Unfortuantely, the water is really hard.

Any advice, tips that can help me work around it? Thanks!

One usefull tip for you, especially with hard water and if you are a rookie, listen very carefully now  

LOAD THE LIVING LIFE OUT OF THE SOAP AND THE BRUSH - JUST LOAD IT UNTIL SUDS AND LATHER IS FLYING ALL OVER.......

Problem solved  

Your shaving gear is just fine. I also have rock hard water here.

Incredible how some think this lather issue has to solved like a Matrix equation or a NASA rocket science issue.
It's wet shaving, Gentlemen - all rookies with lather issues, 99% of the time load too little and is unsure of how hard and much they can load the brush with. Just forget about it, and load your brush till it's so full of soap, that you can't see the top 40% of the entire knot.

I promise you, this will solve your problem.

You don't need to dance around the brush and do 10 jumps up in the air while you meditate to create lather.

Just load it like you hate it, load the brush until your arm is getting sore. Don't listen to advice with an almod size, loading for 10,20,30 seconds - just load it so you have soap/cream floating all over.

Then you have lather enough on your brush.
Add water 5-6 drops at a time. Then swirl the brush.

If too dry, add more water drop by drop.
If too thin, add more product.

It really isn't rocket science, guys