Lather Bowl Material

I started with a plastic Timeless Razor lather bowl with a raised cross pattern in the bottom of it.  I liked the bowl but always had to work at getting all the soap mixed well because of the sharp corner where the raised cross pattern attached to the bowl bottom and how high the cross pattern was as I believe the brush would skip over this sharp corner not catching all the soap.

I changed bowls and got a Bicrops Ceramic bowl which looks like the Captians Choice style bowl but about 1/2 the price with raised circles in the bottom.  Really like this bowl as the raised circles are much more rounded and rarely miss any soap caught in the same corner as described above as there is no actual corner.  When I started scooping my soap instead of loading the brush or face lathering I also discovered I could use less soap so instead of the standard almond size dollop usually recommended I only had to use about a pinto bean size dollop to get the same lather volume.  Knowing my nature and that one day I would drop this bowl and bust it all to h@ll I started looking for a backup bowl.

I recently thought it would be nice to have a stainless steel lather bowl as I see quite a few in SOTD pictures so I bought a cheap pet bowl for about $2.50 USD to try.  This bowl is slightly small than either of the other bowls which isn't a problem except with the same pinto bean size dollop it does not take near as much water and is very easy to overhydrate the soap so it is so thin there is no protection nor much slickness I was accustomed to.  I've worked with it more cutting how much water I use and can get a lather but takes longer, is not glossy looking in the light, and is more like a foam than a creamy lather.  I'm guessing it is because there is no irregularity in the bowl to help agitate the lather.

Finally the question and purpose of this post...  What bowl material do you prefer for bowl lathering?  I'll start as I'm thinking of buying another Bicrops Ceramic bowl for backup but am curious about brass, wood, scratching up the bottom of the stainless steel bowl, or some other material you might prefer.

I face lather.  On the few occasions I bowl lather, my preference is ceramic.   I particularly like the shaving bowls from Dirty Bird Pottery.

I have three that I rarely use: wood, ceramic, and metal. My ceramic bowl is the largest, and thus the easiest to use - so that’d be my choice (also the cheapest)

In a giveaway earlier this year on TSN, I received a lovely bowl  from tarkaner, It is copper lined with tin. The bowl is made in Turkey. The interior of the bowl is hammered with a circular pattern throughout which gives the exterior copper a distinctive hammered look and provides little spaces that stimulate the production of lather. I find that this Turkish bowl works better for me than anything else that I have ever tried as a lather bowl.
For travel, I bought a collapsible rubber bowl made by the Pacific Shaving Co. Works as designed even without the circular pattern. I think the silicone material creates friction with the bristles and stimulates lather production. 
Good luck in your search. I am happy with metal and silicone, as they are not easily broken but given time I am sure that I will find a way. 

This afternoon I decided to take as much time as needed to get a good lather out of this stainless steel bowl.  I did not get the volume I'm used to but did finally get a creamy lather in it.  Only took me 15 minutes.     Nobody has that much time....  The agitation created from bumps, ridges, whatever definitely helps.

Checked out Dirty Birds but due to medical issues he is not currently taking orders.  Looking at Etsy to see what I may find.

(07-01-2022, 08:56 AM)TheLegalRazor Wrote: I face lather.  On the few occasions I bowl lather, my preference is ceramic.   I particularly like the shaving bowls from Dirty Bird Pottery.

Exactly This.  

A number of years ago the artisan at Dirty Bird Pottery (I forgot her name) was gracious enough to craft a bowl to my specifications.   Its a beautiful bowl that works very well.  I just don't use it very often as I moved to soaps quite some time ago.

Julie Moore is Dirty Bird Pottery.  She was diagnosed with a serious medical issue last summer which she's still dealing with.  Hopefully she'll recover and return to her ceramic work.

In 2012, Julie did a Shave Nook special edition.
http://shavenook.com/showthread.php?tid=13965
That would have been fun!

I missed out on it, but last year picked up my own Dirty Bird bowl, and it rocks!
She is from VA, but splits her time up on the coast of Maine where she does her pottery thing.
Hope she gets well soon.

  :-)
- Bax

Didn't have time to take a picture due to being busy this Independence Day holiday weekend here in U.S. but found my empty white Proraso soap bowl.  Roughed up the bottom and corner between bottom and side with 100 grit sandpaper and darned if it didn't make a great lather in only 5 minutes.  Thought I always needed a larger bowl but the 3" diameter of the Proraso bowl was plenty big and made more than enough lather to shave with.  Also discovered a Royal Shave brand bowl with bumps in the bottom that looks pretty good.  Hmmm...  Got a discount coupon for the Bay too....

I recently dug out my Captains Choice copper bowl, and I'll admit it works very well. I also like the DR Harris pottery bowl, and the stainless Japanese bowl I can't remember the name of. If I didn't have a bowl to play with I'd be just as happy with a face lather any day.

I'm not convinced the bowl material matters as much as the shape of the bowl.
I started out with a smooth-bottomed kiddie cereal bowl (4 for 100 yen) that worked for quite a while.
It was decorated with dancing penguins, which added class and panache to my shave, too!

After the Dancing Penguins, I tried a little Viking Revolution stainless steel bowl, then a Phoenix Shaving bowl "The Intergalactic Indestructible Shatterproof Travel Scuttle" (that was shaped ALL wrong), a vintage Old Spice mug, a Bailey's Irish Cream tumbler (that said "MINE" on it), and a little Mexican salsa dish that had texture on the bottom.  I never found a Goldilocks bowl (that was juuuuust right), but the Dirty Bird is the closest, I think.  No matter what bowl I use, I can't get a really good lather in less than about 6 minutes.  Face lathering takes a fraction of that time.
    :-)
- Bax

(07-09-2022, 05:25 AM)Bax Wrote: I'm not convinced the bowl material matters as much as the shape of the bowl.
I started out with a smooth-bottomed kiddie cereal bowl (4 for 100 yen) that worked for quite a while.
It was decorated with dancing penguins, which added class and panache to my shave, too!

After the Dancing Penguins, I tried a little Viking Revolution stainless steel bowl, then a Phoenix Shaving bowl "The Intergalactic Indestructible Shatterproof Travel Scuttle" (that was shaped ALL wrong), a vintage Old Spice mug, a Bailey's Irish Cream tumbler (that said "MINE" on it), and a little Mexican salsa dish that had texture on the bottom.  I never found a Goldilocks bowl (that was juuuuust right), but the Dirty Bird is the closest, I think.  No matter what bowl I use, I can't get a really good lather in less than about 6 minutes.  Face lathering takes a fraction of that time.
    :-)
- Bax

Now that's a cool bowl Bax!

I primarily face lather. But I do have an old wooden salad bowl that I use once in a blue moon.  And I recently made a lather bowl out of an empty PAA soap container.  Glued some plastic furniture sliders in the bottom for extra texture.  I got the idea from one of Mark Szorady's MMMB vids.  Both work alright.  But for me, I love the feel of a good warm face lather.

(07-10-2022, 04:12 PM)2Chops Wrote: extra texture

I use a natural marble bowl I recently purchased from Supply.  It's my first shaving bowl.  Must confess, I'd never really given a shaving bowl much thought before I started using one.  Sometimes I use a soap and lather in the bowl, and sometimes I use a cream and lather on my face using the bowl to hold my brush between face laps.  It sits on my counter top and I love the look of marble.  After reading this thread I'm going to look into Dirty Bird Pottery.  Julie sounds like someone I want to support.

(08-07-2022, 07:26 AM)Barry Wrote: I use a natural marble bowl I recently purchased from Supply.  It's my first shaving bowl.  Must confess, I'd never really given a shaving bowl much thought before I started using one.  Sometimes I use a soap and lather in the bowl, and sometimes I use a cream and lather on my face using the bowl to hold my brush between face laps.  It sits on my counter top and I love the look of marble.  After reading this thread I'm going to look into Dirty Bird Pottery.  Julie sounds like someone I want to support.

Barry, welcome to TSN.  

Julie at Dirty Bird Pottery makes outstanding shaving ceramics.  She's dealing with some health issues but I see she has reopened her website for orders.

(07-01-2022, 04:57 PM)Chappy Wrote: This afternoon I decided to take as much time as needed to get a good lather out of this stainless steel bowl.  I did not get the volume I'm used to but did finally get a creamy lather in it.  Only took me 15 minutes.     Nobody has that much time....  The agitation created from bumps, ridges, whatever definitely helps.

Checked out Dirty Birds but due to medical issues he is not currently taking orders.  Looking at Etsy to see what I may find.

15 minutes!!!     I lather on my face in less than one, so I guess my material of choice is skin. 

(08-07-2022, 10:19 AM)TobyC Wrote:

(07-01-2022, 04:57 PM)Chappy Wrote: This afternoon I decided to take as much time as needed to get a good lather out of this stainless steel bowl.  I did not get the volume I'm used to but did finally get a creamy lather in it.  Only took me 15 minutes.     Nobody has that much time....  The agitation created from bumps, ridges, whatever definitely helps.

Checked out Dirty Birds but due to medical issues he is not currently taking orders.  Looking at Etsy to see what I may find.

15 minutes!!!     I lather on my face in less than one, so I guess my material of choice is skin.