Thread: Natural hair brushes and runny lather

I have been shaving with an Omega Syntex brush for 2 years now and am very happy with it. However my mother decided I needed a proper brush for Christmas and bought me a Wilkinson brush containing a mixture of boar and badger.

In case you think: "Why didn't she give her son a really nice brush for Xmas?", you need to know that in our family we do not have the tradition of giving each other expensive gifts.

So I have been using it since Xmas and I have come across the same problem again that I have always had with animal hair brushes: runny lather. The Syntex brush gives me great lather that never turns runny. I never had similarly good lather using an animal hair brush, whether it be badger or boar.

So, what's your secret that helps you get non-runny lather?

Kees,

It sounds like you have oodles too much water in your brush at the beginning of your lather making. Soak the brush, and then shake ALL the water out of it before you load it with your soap/cream. Then add, quite literally, drops of water at a time to produce your lather. I've got 6 badgers, and 1 boar.....all of them produce heaps of fluffy suds. Each one though, takes a different amount of water to make that happen.

Hope this helps,
Nate

Could it be that your natural bristled brush is retaining water, not drying out as well as your synthetic bristled brush? Natural bristled brushes dry best with the bristles down.

Hi Kees,

+1 for too much water.

I had the same problem with my body shop synthetic brush and my badger hair brush. After a few tries I realized that the badger hair brush holds much more water than the synthetic. So flick more times to get the excess water out until you find the right amount.

Sy

I agree you are using too much water. Experiment with losing some water and see what happens.

Water ratio seems like a good thing to check, as others have said. Each brush type (synthetic, boar, badger, horse...) make lather differently, and you will need to relearn a bit as you adapt to the new brush type. I'm growing to really like my horse brush, but it took a dozen or so shaves to adapt to how it is different than my usual boars or my occasionally used silvertip. With some practice you should find that the new brush is able to make good lather, maybe even better than your old standby.

I tried less water. No runny lather but rather a thin, paste-like substance on my face, a far cry from the rich lather I get with the Syntex.
So if water content isn't the problem, what is?

I don't want to knock your very thoughtful gift however,to tell you the truth the Wilkinson brush is a bottom tier brush and when they mix boar and badger you usually get the worst of both worlds. So you are going to have to work around that and experiment to find the soap that works well with what you have and also figure out the right water-soap mix which will vary with the brush and the soap. It might very well be the old brush was a superior one to what you are using now.

That being said you should still be able to get a decent lather. You will just have to work at it.

Keep the brush your mother gave you in a nice brush stand , and display it in the bathroom , but don't use it . Use your old brush , but keep it hidden . Unless your mother watches you shave , she will never know .

Originally Posted by Kees

I tried less water. No runny lather but rather a thin, paste-like substance on my face, a far cry from the rich lather I get with the Syntex.
So if water content isn't the problem, what is?

Now that you've learned how to load the brush with little water in it, you can learn how to build a decent lather by gradually adding in water. Some people dip their fingers in water or under a faucet and add more drop by drop, others flick the tip of the brush under the faucet or into a little water bowl. The possibilities are endless!