Monday, February 1, 2010

Using your shaving brush



You can find plenty of advice about how to make lather with your brush. You will find a video here:

Mantic's U Tube videos.

But how do you apply lather to your face? There are two main motions. Painting and circular. To understand the different viewpoints I started this discussion at The Shaving Room forum:

Lathering - Circular or painting

Think also about this advice which came with leaflets from some of my shaving brush suppliers:

"Lather lightly, without pressure"
"Do not press the hair of the brush on your face as you lather, it should be used lightly.
Remember only the tip of the hair penetrates and works up a really good lather. THEREFORE USE THE BRUSH WITH A LIGHT HAND, MAKING LONG TO AND FRO STROKES ON THE FACE"
"Lather lightly without pressure, excessive pressure will break the hairs and cause shedding"

That's pretty clear eh?

It all means that if you have a soft floppy brush with a relatively tall loft - say over 52mm you will have no option but to paint on the lather. Circular motions preferred by most face latherers mean that you really must use a firm dense brush with backbone and/or with a loft below 50mm in most cases.

But in the end it's up to you. You will soon figure out your preferences.

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