The Luxury of Warm Lather

Some ideas on how to keep traditional shaving lather warm.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• wet
• shave
• wetshave
• wetshaving
• lather
• brush
• scuttle
• cream
• soap
• mug
• bowl
• hot
• warm
• water

[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.

[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.

[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. :)

[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.

[dirtybirdpottery]

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

[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

[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.

[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.

[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 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.

[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.