Face lathering is a simple process requiring nothing more than hot water, a brush, and soap. This lathering procedure is superior to any other in our opinion. The lather is hotter. It stays hotter longer, and the lathering action on your face really gets the lather into the stubble. But mostly, the hot lather feels much more soothing. Finally, you have one less dish to wash.

The first step is to soak the brush in hot water for at least a minute. We recommend washing your face or taking a shower while you soak the brush. This step is important because the brush hairs need to soak up water for maximum efficiency. Once your ready to start lathering, ring out the brush by squeezing out the excess water. But be careful, you only need to remove enough water so that your brush doesn’t drip everywhere. Water is good.

The next step is to load up the brush. There is no right way or best way to do this. We use the same circular motion used to lather. You can also spin the brush, making half rotations. You don’t want to load up with too much soap because you’ll have to add a lot of water to thin out the lather. You can always add more soap if the lather isn’t building, but you can’t remove soap; you can only add water. Experience will tell you how much soap you need.

Next, dip the tip of the brush in the bowl of hot water. You did keep it right? Then, start lathering one cheek until a good lather builds. Use the regular circular motions you’ve always used to build lather, only this time lather on your face instead of a bowl or your palm. Once a good lather has been built up, paint the lather on your neck, chin, and mustache. Finally, use the circular motion to build up lather on your other cheek. Once the lather has been built, paint the lather on any spots you missed.

At this point, the lather either is or isn’t to your liking. If it is, start shaving! If not, follow these simple troubleshooting steps. For lather that is too thick, dip the brush in water again and repeat the lathering procedure. This will thin out the lather. Depending on how thick the lather is, you can just use painting strokes to apply and thin out the lather. If the lather is too thin, re-soap the brush and repeat the entire procedure until the lather is thick enough to your liking.

And that’s it. Simple right? How do you lather? Tell us in the comments below.