Traditional Beard Shaving

Recently I have been getting into using more traditional shaving techniques for my face. You know, the brush, shave soap etc. I always post about shaving body hair and pubic hair but it occurred to me that I've not shared any hints on that daily routine of face shaving. To remedy that, here is what I've learnt about going old school and shaving with shave soap. Hope you enjoy. Feel free to add your own hints too.

The traditional shaving soap is lathered up with a shaving brush in a container a mug, bowl, deep dish, and a jar or directly from a stick. To build up a good lather, follow these steps:

Wet your brush under running hot water or fill up your sink with hot water and leave the brush in the water for at least a minute. A badger hair brush is always a good choice. Unlike synthetic fibers, badger hair is naturally soft and retains water like a sponge
Make sure the brush bristles have soaked up the hot water. The point is to retain the moisture in the brush so that it gets directly to your face to soften your beard hairs and open pores. So, dont tap too much excess water off the brush.
Lather up the soap using circular motions directly in the container. At first, the bubbles will appear large, but as you keep going, they will increase in number and become smaller and smaller until you can barely see them at all. After 25 seconds, you should have achieved a thick, warm lather.
Apply and massage the warm lather with the soaped brush evenly across your face in circular motions. This will also increase the lathers density, soften your whiskers, and allow them to stand up, allowing the razor to sit close to the base of the hair follicle. The longer you whisk, the richer the lather, the smoother the shave and the more your skin will be protected.
Adding a touch more hot water will normally provide re-lathering for second or third passes, if required, without using anymore soap.
Empty excess water from the soap container and leave it open so it can air-dry.

Steve

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