A wonderfully thick, full and especially creamy layer of shaving cream is adored by many wet shavers. A nice thick foam on your cheeks feels good, comfortable and gives you a wonderfully fresh feeling afterwards. The warm and soft foam head feels nice on your skin and the dull soft throbbing sound of your shaving brush sounds like 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 rasping sound of the razor smoothly gliding over your skin, your morning can't go wrong! But how do you make the perfect whipped shaving cream to start your day? In this article we are going to explain that step by step so that you start with the perfect shave every morning!
Benefits of shaving cream
Shaving cream helps keep moisture in your beard hairs as you shave, making them softer and easier to shave. When less force is needed to shave every hair, you can work more comfortably. Shaving cream also provides a thin protective layer between the blade and your skin, which reduces friction and the risk of redness, shaving rash, irritation and annoying cuts. Your skin is simply not made to go over it with a sharp razor. Shaving cream also helps you keep track of where you've already passed the blade during shaving. This will ensure that you don't miss a spot and don't burden the already shaved skin again. Another advantage 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 nourishing and/or nourishing fats and oils, such as Jojoba oil, Castor oil, Shea butter and Argan oil. These ingredients nourish and care for your skin during shaving. This ultimately ensures less shaving irritation and a comfortable feeling after shaving.
How do you make the perfect shaving cream?
Below we will explain exactly how to whip up and use the most ideal shaving cream. First of all, we will look at what is needed to get started.
1. What do you need?
To create the most ideal foam you need a good shaving soap , shaving cream or shaving gel . In addition, you should 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 it up. Whether you apply it directly to your face or prefer to whip the product first in the intended bowl, we leave it entirely to your own preference.
2. Get started
Now that you have gathered all the supplies you can wet your shaving brush with the lukewarm water. The bristles of this shaving brush will fill up with water, which you then need for your shaving cream. Make sure you don't apply too little water or too much water to your shaving brush. If you use too little water, your shaving cream will dry up quickly. With too much water, your shaving cream will become much too watery, so it will not work as well.
You can choose to cleanse your face beforehand with a mild pH neutral cleanser and wet it thoroughly with lukewarm water. You can also use a pre-shave cream or an oil to protect your skin extra well.
3. Knock!
The next step is to foam up your chosen shaving product, apply the shaving product to your skin and distribute the shaving product over the area to be shaved.
Shaving cream whipped from shaving soap
With a shaving soap it is important that you rotate your shaving brush 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 dissolve the soap and the residue will be absorbed by the brush. In general, 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 start whipping it into a foam.
You whip up by turning the brush around / knocking in a shaving bowl. You need to master this technique. You don't want to turn too much, but you don't want to hit it either, you want to beat air into the soap with a tapping motion. You can compare it to whipping cream with a whisk.
Is the shaving soap starting to foam and are you convinced that you have enough foam on your shaving brush? Then you can apply it on your face.
Shaving cream whipped from shaving cream
Shaving cream, unlike shaving soap, is already soft and creamy. When you start stirring this with your shaving brush, you will soon notice that you are using too much. You obviously don't want to waste your shaving cream, so a little bit will suffice. If you don't have enough, you can make more quickly enough. Instead of stirring with a shaving cream, it is better to dip your shaving brush in it so that a small amount remains on the brush.
You then take the shaving cream together with a damp brush in a shaving bowl.
Shaving cream is less hard than shaving soap and has a firm and compact composition. With shaving cream, it is best to rotate the shaving brush a few times in the bowl 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 start whipping it into a foam.
You whip up by turning the brush around / knocking in a shaving bowl. You need to master this technique. You don't want to turn too much, but you don't want to hit it either, you want to beat air into the soap with a tapping motion. You can compare it to whipping cream with a whisk.
Is the shaving soap starting to foam and are you convinced that you have enough foam on your shaving brush? Then you can apply it on your face.
Apply the shaving cream to your face
The more time you spend whipping your shaving cream in a suitable bowl, the fuller and fluffier the lather will become. After about 20 to 30 seconds, the shaving cream will become thick and lumpy, you could almost mistake it for whipped cream! When you are satisfied with the shaving cream you can apply it to your face. Even when the foam is already on your face, you will notice that it is still gaining volume. Divide 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 a suitable shaving brush and shaving bowl can be tricky. That is why we are happy to share our choice with you;
Shaving brush, choice of The Alpha Men
Simpsons Shaving Brush Trafalgar T3 Synthetic
This handmade shaving brush from Simpsons produces a good foam which ensures a perfect shave. The brush has synthetic hairs, these hairs are the best counterfeit hairs and some people even claim that these hairs are even finer, for example the hairs of a badger. The synthetic bristles are super soft and last a very long time. The handle of the brush is the third version of the Simpsons "trafalgar" model and has a fake ivory finish which gives it a classic and luxurious look.
Shaving bowl, choice of The Alpha Men
The Goodfellas'Smile Shaving Bowl
This Shaving Bowl from The Goodfellas' Smile is handmade in Italy and painted and varnished both inside and out three times to ensure durability.
The shape and depth of the bowl guarantee a better foam. The bowl is brown with golden wood colors and is made according to traditional methods.