There's nothing like a good amount of shaving foam on your face
Many wet shavers swear by a nice, thick, full and creamy layer of shaving foam on their face. Such a full head of foam on your cheeks just feels good and comfortable. The soft and warm foam caresses the skin. The dull soft tapping sound of your shaving brush and foam gives you a calm feeling. The released scents of your favorite shaving soap or shaving cream smell familiar. Then you hear the light rasping sound of the razor and you feel the razor glide gently over your skin. After shaving you are wonderfully smooth and fresh. For a moment you have your own zen moment in front of the mirror in the morning.
Why is shaving cream good?
Your skin is simply not made to handle a sharp razor. You must therefore protect the skin well. The fuller and fatter the shaving foam, the better. Beard hairs are the hardest hairs in humans. In some of us, these hairs are as hard as copper wires. For a comfortable and smooth shave, you must first soften the beard hairs. The combination of shaving foam, warm water, shaving brush and a little bit of time ensures that beard hairs become softer and softer. The longer you whip the shaving foam on your skin, the softer the beard hairs become. We recommend applying the shaving foam and lathering it onto the face for at least 1 minute. The softer the bristles, the smoother the shave.
A good shaving soap or shaving cream is packed with various caring or nourishing fats and oils, such as Jojoba oil, Castor oil, Shea butter and/or Argan oil. These ingredients nourish and care for your skin while shaving. This ultimately ensures fewer razor burns and a comfortable feeling after shaving.
Shaving foam retains water and stays on your skin. This ensures that beard hairs have time to absorb water and become softer. It also provides a protective film while shaving.
How do I make the perfect shaving cream?
For the perfect shaving cream you will of course need shaving soap or shaving cream plus lukewarm water, shaving brush and possibly a shaving bowl.
The warm water causes the shaving soap or shaving cream to dissolve. You need a shaving brush to apply and foam the shaving product. What we see among our customers is that one half applies the shaving foam directly to the skin. The other half will first whip the shaving foam in a shaving bowl. Everyone has their own shaving ritual.
The preparation
First wet the shaving brush with lukewarm water beforehand. If necessary, put the shaving brush in a bowl of water. The hairs of the shaving brush absorb themselves with water. You need water for your shaving cream. Make sure you don't put too little or too much water in your brush. With too little water, your shaving foam will dry up too quickly. If you use too much water you will get a shaving foam that is too watery.
Clean your face with a pH-neutral cleansing gel and wet it thoroughly with lukewarm water. If necessary, apply a preshave cream or oil before shaving for extra protection while shaving.
The next step is to foam the shaving product, apply it to the skin and distribute it over the area to be shaved.
Make shaving foam with shaving soap
A shaving soap has a hard composition. With a shaving soap, you must first rotate the shaving brush a few times in the shaving soap. This causes it to foam. Usually the shaving soap starts producing foam after 20-30 seconds. It can sometimes help to wet the hard shaving soap with a little water before shaving. This will cause the soap to dissolve slightly. This makes foaming easier and faster.
If you have enough foam on your shaving brush, you can of course foam it further in your shaving bowl or apply it directly and foam it on your face.
Make shaving foam with shaving cream
In contrast to shaving soap, a shaving cream has a soft or creamy composition. If you stir vigorously with your shaving brush, you often use too much. And that is of course a shame. A little bit of shaving cream is often enough for a shave. It is better to dip the wet shaving brush in the shaving cream so that a little bit sticks to the bristles of the brush.
In recent years we have seen that artisanal shaving creams are becoming increasingly popular. An important appearance feature of these shaving creams is that they have a firm, compact composition. They are not as hard as a shaving soap, but not soft and creamy either. With this type of shaving cream, it is best to swirl the shaving brush a few times to produce sufficient foam. Many traditional shaving products usually come in a large jar with a large diameter.
You can then foam it further in your shaving bowl or apply it directly and distribute it on the face.
Make and apply shaving cream
The longer you whip the shaving foam in your shaving bowl, the nicer and fuller the foam becomes. Our experience is that after 20 to 30 seconds the foam becomes nice and thick and lumpy. At some point it looks like whipped cream. If you apply the foam directly to the face, you will also notice that the foam becomes thicker after a few seconds. Our advice is to apply for at least 1 minute and distribute over the face. This ensures good distribution of the foam and makes the beard hairs softer and softer.
A shaving brush made of badger or synthetic hair works best if you further foam the foam with a light tapping back and forth stroking motion over the face. Possibly combined with a rotating movement. You can compare it a bit with stroking a paintbrush back and forth. Please note: do not flatten the shaving brush too much on the face because that is not good for the bristles of the shaving brush. A shaving brush with slightly stiffer bristles is best used with a circular motion over the face. Back-and-forth ironing is a little more difficult with this type of shaving brush.
Make shaving foam in shaving bowl
We are regularly asked: 'Do I need a shaving bowl?' Whether or not to use a shaving bowl is of course a personal choice. Some of our customers find it too much hassle. Others find a shaving bowl super useful.
The big advantage of a shaving bowl is that you can make a lot of foam with a little shaving product. Foaming the shaving foam is easy and smooth in a shaving bowl. Finally, you always have sufficient foam at hand while shaving.
