Balling with a Bowl and Williams

I've recently realized, while trying to explain how soap works on a forum, that according to the standards I've laid out here, my lathering ways have become extremely lazy and perverse. A far cry from the rustic Williams-in-palm method that I hold as being authentic tradition, from the time before hoarding. Taking just enough soap for one shave, or even one pass, in a small, narrow brush.

Bulbous 24-mm synthetic knots are a new standard, generally speaking, and might not even seem all that luxurious to a newcomer. Googling quickly orients one to the dry brush method of lathering, or an alternately wet, but equally stupid, method that sends soapy water spilling everywhere. Not having bothered to learn the old way is defeating the purpose of extravagance entirely. It takes forever to drip water back into the even greater volume of prematurely aerated paste; or, if you sent all your soap down the drain to start, how much lather are you really left with?

How To Lather Shaving Soap

Fill your brush at least half full of water, then use a soap cup to gently and carefully dissolve soap into the water, until it gets grey and sudsy. Unload the brush against the rim of the soap cup occasionally, to make sure that no relatively pure water is sequestered in the knot. The assessment of the suds is rather important, because stable bubbles, at this point, will ensure a stable lather later.

Without whisking to lather, transfer all protolather liquid into a separate bowl, first by dumping, then by wringing the brush on the lip of that vessel. Return to the soap cup to mop up any remaining moisture gently, without digging at the puck. A few stirs in the bowl makes it just bubbly enough that the fluid may be painted on the face without having it run down one's neck. Once more, drag the brush over the bowl rim to make room, before finally whipping up lather on the face.

It's not "bowl lathering," though the bowl's usefulness is maximized. And this specific technique is beyond the internet's present understanding of "face lathering." The essence is, loading and not lathering. Not until lather is needed, anyway. "Bowl preparation," to be precise. Actually, it seems like the most natural use of a scuttle.

If You Can't Join Them, Beat Them

I was confident that I could find a YouTube where an Italian barber does exactly what I'm talking about; and that adding soap to water, instead of water to soap, wouldn't need a label. I was wrong. It's not that I think I've invented anything by lathering soap efficiently. But the contrast between what I do and what everyone online does, and wastes everyone's time instructing, has become glaring and intolerable. Large brushes forced the issue, but it was always the amount of water in the brush that determined serving size. So if you still want to conserve soap, while affording yourself this luxury of a bowl or scuttle, simply reconsider using a brush of classic proportions.

Anyway, the switch in my head has officially flipped, from internal justification of my frugal guilt, to absolute justification. Categorize me as "correct," and everyone else as, "incorrect." That's all the newcomer needs to know. One might (justly) point out that I've been of that opinion since the founding of this blog. But I convict even my prior self, who rubbed the Williams lather that stuck to his palm into his beard as a minimal preshave. I didn't fully realize then, how much of the magic was attributable to my palm's contribution of natural moisturizing factor. It's not something you want to be wiping off your face, either.

Today, Williams is definitely in on the high life, as I pre-treat the lather bowl with a dollop of oil and/or a splash of fragrance. I've got a large, black-and-white synthetic brush heat-modified to a flame profile, extending its mighty mass of fiber into the tiny Armetale "mug." The opportunity to easily add amendments to the simplest of all shaving soaps is a synergistic benefit. My label search finally yielded an old forum post of my own, where I started with Ivory and added things in my palm. I then gave the nascent water-first approach an excellent label: the Artist Method. Though, when tossing in things like six grains of sugar, or a dash of psyllium husk powder, it may be more like alchemy.

So come on, everyone. There is no practical abundance in the mere possession of cupboards full of shaving soap. Quit cranking that brush, start maxing and relaxing. Indulge! I know you want to.