Thread: Trouble keeping my face wet during shaving.

Silly question most likely, but I cant seem to keep a good wet lather going on my entire beard while Im shaving. Would it ruin the beard prep if I just lathered up a section at a time? Or should I just re wet at the start of every section?

i rinse my face with hot water between every pass. keeps the skin warm and the lather slick. when you first start there is nothing wrong with lathering only portions of your face and taking a little extra time, but it is important to keep the skin warm or the pores will close which can cause irritation depending on your skin.

just make sure you don't rush through the shave because things are starting to dry up.

There's a deeper issue here. You should fix the root cause rather than figure out a workaround (lathering portions at a time). Something is wrong with the consistency of your lather. Are you using soap or cream? What brush? Face lathering or bowl? Does your area have hard water?

I use a bowl, with Col. Conk Bay Rum soap. As for the brush its a pure, not super or anything like that, just getting the baseline materials for now. And as for the hard water goes, Im in Iraq right now so I should say the water is pretty harsh.

Do you find that the lather has a drying/tightening affect on your skin?
If so, try keeping your whole face wet with water while applying lather to just the area you are about to shave.
If the lather doesn't have a drying effect, just keep reapplying it.

You will probably find the problem goes away as you get better at making the lather and shave a bit quicker. I'm a painfully slow shaver but I don't have this problem any more. Good lather lasts a remarkably long time. Once the mix has enough substance it seems to form a barrier that stops it from drying out.

I think you'll find that in time you will be able to make
a lather that lasts all the way through the shave. Some
factors are the amount of water you use, the water
temperature, how much soap or cream is used, and
the amount of actual lathering/agitation you do. I find
that it also makes a difference if you add water gradually
rather than all at once.

In the mean time, just reapply fresh lather from your
brush over the dry areas before you shave.

- Scott

Originally Posted by SneeveeBee

I use a bowl, with Col. Conk Bay Rum soap. As for the brush its a pure, not super or anything like that, just getting the baseline materials for now. And as for the hard water goes, Im in Iraq right now so I should say the water is pretty harsh.

Try loading up more soap with a slightly drier brush and then adding water until it is very slick and creamy looking. My guess is that you aren't using enough soap. It's a very common problem people have with soaps, I think it's especially bad with hard water (as I have). If I don't use enough soap, my lather dries out very fast. I had this problem for a while. But with enough soap, and the proper amount of water, my lather now lasts for several minutes, at least (never tried much longer!)

Try the suggestions I had here and get back to us! This post was for face lathering, which you can try, but even for bowl lathering, the important part is loading up a ton of soap with a relatively dry brush, then adding water as you go. Over time you can reduce the amount of soap as you get used to what it takes to make the proper amount of lather for you. When I bowl lather I do everything the same as face, only instead of my face, it's a bowl Another tip that helped me is to make practice lathers. It may seem like a waste of soap and a waste of time, but it really does help. Do it when you aren't going to be shaving and you have plenty of time. Do it just for fun. Take the lather from obviously too dry (not enough water) to obviously too wet (sudsy and watery) and keep an eye on it throughout. When it is the creamiest and slickest, that's where you want it.

And as everyone says, you're lather will improve over time, no worries!

Originally Posted by SneeveeBee

Silly question most likely, but I cant seem to keep a good wet lather going on my entire beard while Im shaving. Would it ruin the beard prep if I just lathered up a section at a time? Or should I just re wet at the start of every section?

I have the same issues depending on what soap I use, MWF is one that gives me the problem of drying to fast and I do not have hard water so I find myself reapplying, because I have to do this MWF is becoming one of the soaps Im starting not to like. Mama Bear soap and Coleens soaps seem to stay slick and lathered for me through out the shave, but Im also learning what I need to do to keep them lathered, I think I tend to start out to dry to begin with anyway, but it is definitly something you will figure out the more you shave.

Hey Mike,

I've found MWF to be a pretty thirsty soap. I like to build
MWF lather in a bowl by gradually adding water. Take a
bit longer to lather than usual, this seems to help as well.

It's a bit trickier of a soap to get dialed in, but once you
get the lather right it can be really nice and especially
moisturizing.

- Scott

Originally Posted by SneeveeBee

Im in Iraq right now so I should say the water is pretty harsh.

Is it hard or soft though? The water here is REALLY hard because it passes through so many minerals, I would imagine the water in iraq to be quite soft, but I guess it depends on where you are and the water source.

If your lather is drying up, then relather, even if you're doing something a little 'wrong' if you're drying up then you need to relather. Over time you will figure out what's right for you, probably just by chance.