Razor and Brush: PS

Posted by Murray on November 5, 2009, 1:04 am, in reply to "Re: Help me understand bowl lathering"

I do three-and-a-half passes on my neck, so I actually spend a fair amount of time wielding the blade. Any reduction in those passes, however, and I start to feel "cheated."

- Murray

--Previous Message--
: I'm starting to become a little concerned
: about what Zach might find next, poking
: around in the dark recesses of my mind!
:
: When I first came to these forums, lathering
: in a bowl was taught and still popular,
: though the tide quickly changed to
: face-lathering.
:
: My issue with face-lathering has been
: sensitive skin, and I have bought a number
: of brushes hoping that each would be the key
: to lathering on top of my own whiskers. It
: never worked, however, as the skin quickly
: became sore long before I had anything
: remotely resembling lather.
:
: I'm of the impression that face-latherers
: tend to do most of the lathering work on the
: jaws and chin, where the skin is the
: toughest and a solid surface is presented
: for the job. I trim my beardline at the
: cheeks with nothing more than a film of
: water and a Bic Metal, but I would never do
: that on my neck. My neck is very sensitive
: to both friction and pressure. I'm also of
: the impression that the neck, by itself, is
: not an ideal lathering surface.
:
: So, I started with the lathering bowl and I
: stuck with the lathering bowl. I like the
: aesthetic of it and it works for me. A
: member of SMF, who has always felt that
: face-lathering was the manly thing to do,
: recently decided to try lathering in a bowl,
: and he has been marveling at the results.
:
: Face-latherers talk about getting a better
: shave because they work the lather more into
: the beard. It seems like this would be
: true, but I question the validity of the
: argument. The friend from SMF mentioned
: above found this not to be the case. I find
: that the more I work the lather on my face,
: the less lubricity I have.
:
: So Zach, this is my take on lathering.
:
: - Murray
:
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: People who take a long time to work lather
: into a foam, and then simply paint it on
: their face with paintbrush strokes; help me
: understand that.
:
: Here's what's inside my brain:
: I don't enjoy the process of creating foam,
: this seems like work to me. If I wanted a
: big foam I'd just buy a can. What I enjoy is
: the experience of creating a thick lather on
: my face, it's like pampering, really. And
: the richer the soap, the cleaner the scent,
: and the more luxurious the giant splay of
: the huge boar, the more it's pampering,
: something that's meant for a King.
:
: If I had to guess what's inside Murray's
: head, it would be this (written as Murray):
:
: We both enjoy the ritual of shaving; it's
: something we do for ourselves. Since I have
: a full beard and only shave my neck, I don't
: mind the process of making lather, I
: actually have come to enjoy it a great deal,
: and for me, it's the main part of the
: ritual, since the rest is over rather
: quickly.
:
: And to that I would say "OK, I can see
: that"
:
: Then there are the people whose face can't
: take the rigors of face lathering; well, OK
: I suppose. All skin is sensitive, but some
: perhaps more than others; I have an olive
: complexion and thick skin; I don't burn in
: the sun and I don't have many problems in
: this arena. I still think that a majority of
: people who don't face lather because they
: say their skin can't take it probably can
: but just don't want to; yes, I am thick
: headed as well.
:
: But what about you, the guy who's clean
: shaven and doesn't have sensitive skin, YOU,
: what's your story?
: Why do you bowl lather?
:
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