Bowl - smooth inside or rough?

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On the subject of bowls, all the bowls I've seen people use that are either purpose-made or coffee mug improv jobs have smooth inner surfaces. Would it make sense to lather in a bowl with a rough surface? Would this help create lather or just knacker up your brush? I realise this is OT. Is it worth starting a new thread or is this idea a complete no-no? :?:
 
The inside of a Dirty Bird scuttle has circular ridges. Some have been made with crossed ridges. It certainly speeds up the making of lather. I really have no idea yet if it means 'better" lather. Fun to use though. Frankly, unless you have invested £100 plus in a brush are you that bothered if you have the fun of an earlier than expected replacement to make? Where are our scientists to advise on this matter?
 
I was just thinking that rough edges (or ridges) would help make lather more efficiently. I can do it in my bowl but it takes some time. I prefer face lathering and suspect that my stubble helps to create the lather. Just wondering on behalf of all you bowl-latherers! :p
 
Fido said:
Where are our scientists to advise on this matter?

Well, I can't claim to be a scientist, so will leave the scientific analysis to Henk, who will no doubt pick up on this soon. As for the suggestion that a 'porous' type of rough bowl be used, that just feels sooooo wrong. But a shiny ceramic/ glass/ metal or even wood surface that had little ridges on it sounds like a quicker way to lather to me.
 
I edited the post and closed your tags.[tags] must have an open and closed square bracket with the closing tags using a forward slash.[/tags]
 
Don't think that it would make much of a difference, except on brush wear. Building lather isn't about friction but about aeration of the 'solution'. In that respect, the brush (besides being a water reservoir) act like a whisk. Cream doesn't whip easier in a rough bowl either.

The only advantage of a porous bowl that I can think of would be the additional infusion of the lather with air (from the pores) from below, but I can also think of a few properties of a porous bowl that would be deleterious to you lather, so in all, I would guess (and note that at this point, everything said above is conjecture, none is hard solid, experiment-supported fact...) that the smooth bowl is actually the best implement to build your lather in...

Henk
 
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