Briallen said:Is the need for more water on the brush and more time loading common to all glycerine shaving soaps?
heroblob said:Has anyone else had problems getting a stable lather with Mama Bears.
I have 2, Ginger limes and bay rum.
I have now tried them both once with the 2201 and one with the 2211. I have found on both ocassions that they make a what appears to be a reasonable lather, But when aplied to my face it quickly breaks down.
I live in the Essex area and the water round hear is quite hard. Have wondered whether this may be the problem. This is my first time with a glycerine soap and wondered if i was missing something.
Process i followed was this.
1. Soak brush for 5 mins. add a couple of drops of water to the tub while brush soaking.
2. Tip out water from tub and gently squeeze excess water from brush.
3. Swirl fairly dry brush in tub and load with soap, approx 30 sec. seamed like quite a bit of soap on the brush. Bristles appeard stuck together with soap.
4. transfer to bowl and add small amounts of water to bowl as lather builds. Lather appears to build to same consistancy as with other soaps like Nanny's.
5. Apply to damp face as i do with nanny's soap and start shaving. By the time a reach the second half of my face, say minuet or two the lather has reduced significantly. By the time i reach my chin Last phase of the pass It is all but gone.
What do you think i am doing wrong. Heard such good things about Mama Bears, and at the moment i am a bit miffed. Shame cause both the wife and i like both scents.
Someone please give me a clue.
heroblob said:Well just got up, and decided to give the Mama Bears another go. This time i while i soaked the brush(this time i chose the 2201) i soaked the soap by filling the top of the pot with hot water. After soaking for a few minuets I poured the water off the soap and gently squeezed some of the water out of the brush. I then started loading. Due to more water in the brush the pot started to lather immediately and became quite messy. Kept loading for about 1 min, and then moved to my face. Now this is my first attempt at face lathering and it was very pleasant. Using a finger i scooped the excess soap from the bowl and added that to my face as well. Needed to add a small amount of extra water with one small dip of the tips of the brush and carried on going. the lather became very thick and rich. Finished by evening out the coat of lather and removing excess for further passes.
At this point i couldn't help myself, i couldn't just leave the lather there as i had intended to to see how it lasted. Out came the razor and i went for a WTG pass. Rinsed, wiped the excess water from my face with my hands and reapplied a second coat of lather. You guessed it, this was followed by a second pass. Due to me not usually being able to shave on consecutive days, but being unable to play with foam and face, the third and fourth passes where done with the blade removed. Was just as i remember playing as a 6 year old.
Well the verdict.
The lather was excellent. Thick and very slick. In fact when it came to rinsing off the excess the lather was extremely slippery.
What had changed,
Well, my normal water was used so its not down to the hardness of the water.
I didn't use Proraso pre shave and started the lather on a dry face with zero prep.
I changed the brush to the 2201 which has a little more back bone and a smaller more controllable head in an attempt to reduce the mess whilst loading.
I will now have a go on my next shave with a hot water prep only, and if that is as good as this then i shall re introduce the proraso and see if that makes a difference. looks like a week or so of face lathering. If all that works well Then i shall have another go at bowl lathering.
Thanks for the input guys, and girls. My faith has been restored and another soap has been added to my arsenal. You got to love the smell of ginger lime.
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