Cella - Lather Building

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Do any of you have some tips for building the right consistency of Cella lather? I originally assumed I wasn't getting on with a blade before realising my Cella lather wasn't providing any slickness/protection. I used the 'Marco method' from B&B which involves using a lot of water. I had loads of lather (which I originally assumed to be a win!) but the subsequent shave was rough. The lather had no slickness when I tested it with my fingers. I've also tried building it up using less water and there's a slight improvement but I can't seem to get it to match my other soaps and creams. Given the good reviews of Cella, I'm convinced the issue is me.
 
I find starting with a fairly dry brush, loading the soap, then gradually adding a liitle water at the time to build the lather gives me the best results. It's easy for the lather to turn frothy if you start with too wet a brush or if you add too much water too quickly.

if done right it's an excellent soap.
 
Thanks Frankie. A tub of froth is an accurate description of what I ended up with each time. Roughly how long do you think you spend building your lather after loading your brush, if you don't mind me asking?
 
One technique that works for me is loading well shaken synthetic brush for about 15 seconds then continuing on face with adding small amounts of water until I get desirable lather. This works for wide range of soaps different consistency.

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I find Cella to be a superb soap but I have found it has quite a narrow window for the lather being too dry and being too wet.

Cella is a soap I tend to use a boar brush with, and I squeeze out all water from the brush before loading it for about 15-20 seconds (my sample has dried out, different if it was 'fresh'), then I apply to my face before adding water to the brush a few drops at time and when the lather has got to the consistency of whipped double cream I reckon it's about right.

More often than not it works well.
 
Cella is a good soap but the tub in it makes it difficult to load because it is small in diameter, I would suggest; use a smaleer brush if you have one and load the brush more/longer loading time. At first I had similar problem but when I managed to load the brush more, lather quality was much better.
 
Thanks Frankie. A tub of froth is an accurate description of what I ended up with each time. Roughly how long do you think you spend building your lather after loading your brush, if you don't mind me asking?
I use a bowl for building lather, as I find it the easiest way to control the quality of it. I've never timed myself, but I guess it takes me 30-40 seconds (in a hard water area). Off all the soaps I use, Cella is probably the quickest.
 
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Cella is a good soap but the tub in it makes it difficult to load because it is small in diameter, I would suggest; use a smaleer brush if you have one and load the brush more/longer loading time. At first I had similar problem but when I managed to load the brush more, lather quality was much better.
That's a very good point. I bought a 1KG brick of Cella and transfer some to a 9cm diameter screw-top container, which makes it much easier to load the soap onto a brush.
 
Thank you all. I'm going to give a drier and smaller brush a go over the weekend and will let you know how it goes. I'll also experiment with the face and bowl lather.

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Do any of you have some tips for building the right consistency of Cella lather? I originally assumed I wasn't getting on with a blade before realising my Cella lather wasn't providing any slickness/protection. I used the 'Marco method' from B&B which involves using a lot of water. I had loads of lather (which I originally assumed to be a win!) but the subsequent shave was rough. The lather had no slickness when I tested it with my fingers. I've also tried building it up using less water and there's a slight improvement but I can't seem to get it to match my other soaps and creams. Given the good reviews of Cella, I'm convinced the issue is me.

Usually, less water does work out great, try some bit hot water with a dry brush!
 
For the benefit of anyone who stumbles across this thread in the future, I can finally lather Cella competently. There's good advice in this thread but I found the solution came naturally as I mastered lathering soaps. I would recommend test lathering your soaps and creams in your palm to get to know them. This has the added benefit of building your confidence without you even realising it.
 
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