The Luxury of Warm Lather

[jumpinbeanz]

Warm lather is all well and good but I have heard that shaving with cold water and lather is actually better because: a) It stiffens up the hairs making it easy to shave off and b) it constricts the blood vessels on our dace making it less sensitive to nicks and therefore less likely for you to draw blood. I tried both and I do have a smaller rate of cutting with cold water. What do you think?

[mantic59]

@jumpinbeanz I have tried cold water shaving and it worked OK for me but did not give me nearly the same amount of pleasure to the shave.

[killaboomer]

i have recently visited the states and wow the hot water from your taps is really hot like you have to mix the water to not get scolded so its easier to have warm lather compared to the UK

[ewebb16]

Oh god, the whole time you had the water running and going straight down the drain pained me

[sesshomaru30]

The barber I go to has one of those " hot lather " thingys.

[mattj79]

Oh to have a vast American bathroom with a [faints] counter [/faints] !!

I think if I held my arm out I couldn't turn around in my bathroom lol.

[SammyJoeH]

A couple of months ago I bought a Crock Pot Little Dipper dip warmer from Bed Bath and Beyond. I fill the dip warmer about 1/4th full of water, place my shave bowl (Thomas O'Brian dip bowl from Target; fits nicely) in the warmer and plug it in. It doesn't boil the water so it's brush friendly, and I get a nice warm-hot lather from it.

[PluripotentKLF4]

If you have a coffee cup with a soap cake in it, why not use a coffee cup warmer to heat up the whole thing? You could flip it on before you jump in the shower and by the time you get out, the whole cup and soap cake would be warm and ready to lather up. I haven't tried this yet, but I think I'm going to.

[Sauron767]

KELLYS HEROES XD FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mCfOooL322]

@Sauron767 fuck yes

[darkmagelover]

i personalty prefer ice cold lather any suggestions?

[te908bd]

to much work

[laramie4x4]

I found it I found the holy grail. if your wife or girlfriend has an oil warmer the candle deal. gently take the wax bowl off the warming base and replace it with your shaving mug. I did it during my shower and when I got out of the shower the lather was golden

[Shangas]

Partially thanks to you, Mantic, I started wetshaving in January this year. Since then, I've been hunting for a shaving-scuttle. I finally found a nice ceramic antique example at a flea-market for just $10. I don't have any cake-soap to dunk in the top, but I have used the bowl at the top to mix up my shaving-soap anyway. The holes are very handy in draining away excess water to stop the lather getting too wet and sloppy and it's created lather thicker and faster than before! Scuttles are great!

[mCfOooL322]

i love kelly's heroes

[chef123]

could you use shampoo for shaving cream?

also can you mix shaving cream with vaseline? for a slick shave?

[mantic59]

@chef123 I've heard of shampoo as a substitute for shaving cream but I haven't tried it. Mixing shaving cream with vaseline would be a bad idea though.

[chef123]

@mantic59 alright thanks, i may try the shampoo thing, but if you make a video of it then ill watch yours. i'm 20 and i always get cut when shaving. i'm using a gillete fusion, but i'm gonna change to a shick quatro soon

[mboschm]

@chef123 I would not try using shampoo as a shave cream, as they have been designed for totally different purposes. There are plenty of inexpensive soaps and creams you can use (Williams, Van der Hagen... in the US, Palmolive in the UK, Arko in Turkey, La toja in Spain...). Mixing lather with vaseline is not a good idea as well. You can put a teaspoonful of GLYCERINE, for a slicker lather, there are people who do it but still, I don't really see the point, unless you had a really crappy soap.

[chef123]

@mboschm

Ah okay thanks. But I haven't been using shampoo as a shaving cream. I'm trying to find a good shave cream, because the one I have doesn't make a good lather at all, which is cremo shave.

[mboschm]

@chef123 Taylors of Old Bond Street Avocado, Musgo Real, DOVO stuff (although they are to be treated as a soap)... If you want good and relatively cheap creams, I'd reccomend you to go in this direction.

[mantic59]

I don't think there is anything you can do about the hairs now. Hopefully the brush won't fall apart. The hot lather machines work with a special liquid soap or can be modified to use traditional shave creams. They won't work with supermarket creams in a can.

[Xezmer]

Hello mantic! I received my prize from your contest and since then i've been absolutely hooked on shaving. I had a quick question as i've been scrolling through these videos. In your mug with the orange soap in a number of your videos i've noticed it almost appears that this soap is stuck to this mug.. is it just sitting in there or is it by some means attached or adhered to the mug?

[mantic59]

Xezmer- After the 1st use the soap will stick to the mug like glue. :)

[nevermind2886]

What movie is the opening scene from? Love your videos btw.

[1BobCochran]

As a boy I watched my grandfather use a shaving brush and mug with a straight razor. Never used a shaving scuttle and he was quick about shaving. He only shaved in one pass. I never realized there was such a variety of soaps, brushes, scuttles and techniques. Now I'm in my 50s and just learning how to shave. I'm glad to learn different ways. I just today bought a couple different soaps from Fendrihan and a Moss Scuttle from Sara Bonnyman. I think this is "greener" shaving too. No can to toss.

[CoffeeAddict20]

In addition, I'd like to mention that shaving gels always refreshes the skin before shaving, so I prefer foamy shaving creams (like Barbasol) rather than gels; foamy shaving creams are not commonly a cooling formula. Also, always check the ingredients for NO MENTHOL NOR EUCALYPTUS formula, these are the cooling ingredients commonly found in shaving gels and they may irritate your skin.

[bello787878]

here is an idea for you people that use shave gel out of a can, before you take a bath, fill a vary tall cup with vary hot water and put your can into the water. by the time you need to shave, your lather will be warm enough to use.

[CoffeeAddict20]

Be careful as that doesn't make your can explode. I recomend you to switch to foamy shaving creams like Barbasol or Gillette Foamy Regular.

[bello787878]

im well aware of the dangers. thanks for the concern, but the water cools down at a pretty fast rate in the cup.

[Glivity]

resourceful stuff, thanx 4 sharin

[soloban81]

Here's my technique for warm lather:

I got a $10 mug warmer from Bed Bath and Beyond. Before I shower I place the empty mug on the warmer.

Once I get out of the shower, I make the lather in the warmed mug. I'll lather up my face and place the brush back in the mug and keep the lather warm while I do the first pass. Works great with shaving creams, I tried it with Col Conk shave soap still in the mug and the soap started to melt.

[5t8t2u]

You have the soap puck in the mug. So that means the lathering is done on your face or hand? If making lather in the mug, the soap would not be in the mug?

[mantic59]

5t8t2u- That's correct. ALthough I suppose you could use the mug the soap is in, it would be very wasteful

[WillACarpenter]

@mantic59 I did this my first time and realized I was doing it wrong. But it did help a total noob make HUGE amounts of lather :-P

I would say the VDH soap puck (about 1/4 of it probably) was worth the added vote of confidence for my first wet shave.

[ivorycoastworldcup]

With a shaving scuttle do you build the lather in a seperate bowl?

[mantic59]

ivorycoastworldcup- It depends on the size and type of the scuttle and the size of the brush. With a traditional soap scuttle yes, you either build the lather in a separate bowl or directly on your face. With a cream scuttle you might be able to use the scuttle to build lather if the scuttle bowl was large and the brush small.

[dirtybirdpottery]

I make shaving scuttles at Dirty Bird Pottery in rural Virginia. Very interesting to see exactly how they're used. Thanks

[AustinJC9]

Is that the large or small Moss sucttle your using it the video? Thanks.

[mantic59]

AustinJC9-- Its a large one.

[yerfucked]

Very informative... Dr. Moss was my doctor while growing up in Tatamagouche, NS.

[ZZchaz]

I like what you did with that dip bowl, man. Very good idea. :)

[Chowsky131]

I'm a tad curious, what does traditional lather have on say, the well know canned shave creams/gels or Edge latherless shave cream?

[mantic59]

Chowsky131- Its like the difference between hamburger and steak. :) Much better performance (with both lubrication and protection) and fewer chemicals to react with your skin.

[Chowsky131]

Good to know, thank you.

[kohios1]

I have used cold water because hot water in my bath room does not work and no cream or soap just razor and a mach 3 i like your videos vary documentary style

[FeudFan76]

We live in this wierd trendy age of the late 2000's where guys seem to be growing their sideburns out again. Any helpful hints on shaving with sideburns?

[moalisiddiqui]

Hi there Feudfan76, I think I can help since I have fairly good sideburns. A tip I suggest you use is when lathering up cover your sideburns. Once done with your whole face quickly wet your finger a little and wipe it off from your sideburns. This will allow you to clearly see where you want to shave and where your sideburns begin and end. Hope that helps.

[jackypaper]

I feel like donald sutherland is definitely a DE kinda guy while Telly probably had some broads to shave him with shards of conch shells. Just some food for thought.  Clint was most definitely a straight edge guy, and I think Carol O'Connor probably kept his stubble at a minimum by yelling at them and calling them "Pinkos".

[wetshave]

Again and again ... I LOVE your videos!!!

BTW, incredible lather on your face in this vid. What is it? I'm not bad with lathering I suppose, but that kind of perfect stuff on my face I never get ... (or wait, was it Superlather?)

[mantic59]

Wetshave- as a matter of fact, my next video will be about lathering!  I don't recall what I used for this video, sorry (not a superlather though).

[wetshave]

Oh yes, please! We all can use a bit more input on that. I mean my lather is quite fine, but when I see yours, I am a bit jealous though ;).

[helloguy55]

Love your videos man.

[lancer1960]

Great stuff as always !

[kbrinks]

i want one of those electric shaving cream machines :)

[wetshave]

Nah, buy a decent shaving brush and you never think about that again. I even lather up completely on the face, 'cause I love my brush so much ;).

[MarkGauvreau]

Great vids. I was surprised that on one you recommended non-alcoholic after-shave. For me alcohol closes those nicks and tighens the face. I follow with a little balm.

[wetshave]

Yeah, I'm experimenting with alcohol based after-shaves myself. There are a lot out there which contains glycerin and other moisturizing and anti-inflammatory substances, those should supposedly be much better than any balm. But even so, balm or another moisturizing facial cream is a must-do-finishing for me.

[BigMilan]

nice. i have a bit of trouble with keeping the mug in place in the sink. i'll have to try one of those mug inside a mug things

[verloc]

Another great video. Thanks for continuing to make these!

[comedyguy21]

yeah i agree i dont know how much more you can talk abotu but its worth it

[mantic59]

I have ideas for at least five more videos!

[uberpirox]

Can't wait for more :) Every video you do is great and very educational

[lilmamaness]

That's awsome.

[theuppercut]

cool!

[mantic59]

No, warm!  :-)

[Brukernavn]

Third!

[asklyar]

second!

[martint84]

First view!