A wonderfully thick, full and especially creamy layer of shaving foam is adored by many wet shavers. A fine thick head of foam on your cheeks feels good, comfortable and gives you a wonderful fresh feeling afterwards. The warm and soft foam head feels nice on your skin and the dull soft knocking sound of your shaving brush is music to your ears. The released scents of your favorite shaving cream also smell like a good start to the day. When you then hear the grating sound of the razor gliding smoothly over your skin, your morning can't be better! But how do you make the perfect shaving foam to start your day? In this article we are going to explain it to you step by step so you can start every morning with the perfect shave!
Benefits of Shaving Cream
Shaving cream helps to keep moisture in your beard hairs while shaving, making them softer and easier to shave. When less force is needed to shave each hair, you can be more comfortable. Also, shaving cream creates a thin protective layer between the blade and your skin, reducing friction and the risk of redness, shaving rash, irritation and nasty cuts. After all, your skin is not made to go over it with a sharp razor. Also, while shaving, shaving cream helps you keep track of where you have already passed the blade. This will ensure that you don't miss a spot and don't stress the already shaved skin again. Another benefit of using shaving cream is that it soothes your skin and leaves it feeling fresh after shaving.
A good shaving cream is packed with various conditioning and/or nourishing fats and oils, such as Jojoba oil, Castor oil, Shea butter and Argan oil. These ingredients nourish and condition your skin while shaving. This ultimately ensures less shaving irritation and a comfortable feeling after shaving.
How to make the perfect shaving cream?
Below we are going to explain to you exactly how to whip up and use the most ideal shaving cream. First of all, we're going to look at what it takes to get started.
1. What do you need?
To create the most ideal foam, you need a good shaving soap, shaving cream, transparent shaving gel or shaving cream. You also need to make sure you have lukewarm water, a shaving brush and, if desired, a shaving bowl. The lukewarm water will cause your shaving product to dissolve. You can then use the shaving brush to apply the shaving product to your face and lather up. Whether you apply it directly to your face or prefer to lather the product in the appropriate bowl first is entirely up to you.
2.GettingStarted
Now that you have gathered all your supplies you can start wetting your shaving brush with the lukewarm water. The bristles of this shaving brush will absorb the water, which you will then need for your shaving cream. Be careful not to apply too little or too much water to your shaving brush. If you use too little water, your shaving foam will dry up quickly. Too much water will make your shaving foam too watery and it will not work as well.
You can choose to clean your face beforehand with a mild pH neutral cleanser and wet it thoroughly with lukewarm water. You can also possibly use a pre shave cream or oil to give your skin extra good protection.
3.Lather up!
The next step is to lather up your chosen shaving product, apply the shaving product to your skin and distribute the shaving product over the area to be shaved.
Lathering shaving soap
With a shaving soap, it is important that you swirl your shaving brush well a few times in/on the soap. Moisture is essential to get soap into the brush, the amount depends on the soap and brush, but always start with little.
The moisture will cause the soap to dissolve and the residue to be absorbed by the brush. Generally, it takes between 20 and 30 seconds for the brush to be completely saturated with shaving soap. When this point is reached, take the brush which is saturated with soap and begin to whip up a lather.
Whipping is done by rotating the brush in a shaving bowl. This technique takes some time to get the hang of. You don't want to swirl too much, but you don't want to beat it either. You can compare it to whipping cream with a whisk.
Does the shaving soap start to lather and are you convinced you have enough lather on your shaving brush? Then you can start applying it to your face.
Whipping Shaving Cream
Shaving cream, unlike shaving soap, is already soft and creamy in form. When you start stirring in this with your shaving brush, you will find that you soon use too much. Of course, you don't want to waste your shaving cream, so a small amount will suffice. When you do have too little you can make some up quickly enough. Instead of stirring your shaving cream, it is better to dip your shaving brush into it so that a small amount sticks to the brush.
You then take the shaving cream along with a damp brush into a shaving bowl.
Shaving cream is less harsh than shaving soap and has a firm and compact composition. With shaving cream, it is best to swirl the shaving brush in the bowl a few times to mix the shaving cream with water. The ratio is good when the cream sticks nicely to the brush.
When this point is reached, take the brush which is saturated with shaving cream and begin to whip it into a lather.
Whipping is done by rotating the brush in a shaving bowl. This technique takes some time to get the hang of. You don't want to swirl too much, but you don't want to beat it either. You can compare it to whipping cream with a whisk.
Does the shaving soap start to lather and are you convinced you have enough lather on your shaving brush? Then you can start applying it to your face.
Apply the shaving cream to your face.
The more time you spend whipping up your shaving cream in a suitable bowl, the fuller and airier the foam will become. After about 20 to 30 seconds, the shaving foam becomes thick and lumpy, almost like whipped cream! When you are satisfied with the shaving foam you can start applying it to your face. Even when the foam is already on your face you will notice that it is still gaining volume. Spread the foam well over your face until your beard hairs have reached the desired softness, the shaving can begin!
Which shaving brush and shaving bowl? Our bestsellers
Choosing the right shaving brush and shaving bowl can be tricky. That's why we're happy to share our picks with you;
Shaving brush, choice of The Alpha Men
Simpsons Shaving Brush Trafalgar T3 Synthetic
This handmade shaving brush from Simpsons produces a good lather which ensures a perfect shave. The brush has synthetic bristles, these bristles are the best imitation bristles and some people even claim that these bristles are even finer than badger bristles. The synthetic bristles are super soft and last very long. The handle of the brush has the third version of the Simpsons "trafalgar" model and has a fake ivory finish which provides a classic and luxurious look.
Shaving bowl, choice of The Alpha Men
The Goodfellas'Smile Shaving Bowl
This Shaving Bowl from The Goodfellas' Sm ile is handmade in Italy both inside and outside painted and lacquered three times to ensure durability.
The shape and depth of the bowl guarantee a better lather. The bowl is brown with golden wood colors and is made using traditional methods.