Interesting shaving idea: the Moss Scuttle

This is a revision to bring the post up to date.

The Moss Scuttle is a refinement of the lathering cup—it’s a heated cup to hold the lathered brush. (The bowl part of the Moss Scuttle is, most find, too small to use as a lathering cup.) The post at the link explains exactly how it’s used (with photos). The short version: it has two compartments. Fill both with water as hot as you can get it from the tap.

As it turned out, my tap water didn’t get hot enough for the Moss Scuttle to satisfy me. I have the water heater set so that pure hot is just right for a shower.

So I got a Sunbeam Hot Shot and used boiling-hot water in the Moss Scuttle, which did keep the lathered brush hot. But: DO NOT soak your brush in water that hot—it ruins the bristles.

Leave the hot water in the Moss Scuttle while you shower. Then after the shower, empty out all the hot water, and fill only the inner (bottom) compartment with hot water: this will keep the upper cup hot. Rinse the brush with hot water, then charge it with soap or cream and develop the lather in the (hot) upper cup. The result: warm lather—very luxurious. After the first lathering, let the brush lie in the hot cup while you shave with downward strokes, then re-lather (the brush still warm) before shaving with upward strokes.

I would develop the lather in my soup cup, then transfer the fully lathered brush—which easily contains enough lather for 4 passes—to the small Moss Scuttle, where it fit snugly against the hot walls. But then I found that, for me, the lather would degrade under the heat. YMMV.

You can order it here.

UPDATE: Here’s my (later) post on the gourmet shaving experience, a guide for the novice.

UPDATE 2: My own Moss Scuttle has arrived!

Make your own vortex shooter

When I was a kid I had Flash Gordon (or was it Buck Rogers?) gun that shot a vortex of air across the room. They made a comeback not too long ago, and are wonderful to confuse kitties—though the little devils quickly learn the sound of the gun’s being cocked and vanish when they hear it. Here’s how to make a large one out of a plastic wastebin.

Advantage (WRT kitties): no sound when it’s being readied for a shot. Disadvantage: it’s enormous.

The morning shave

This morning I tried a new technique—developing the lather in a bowl—I just learned about from one of the shaving discussion groups
(look at the series of photos). I asked about the technique, and I was told:

There have always been some shavers who used bowls, cups, or mugs to lather up the brush, especially with the soft creams. There basically three ways one can go; just scoop up the cream and lather it directly on the face, lather it up first in the palm of your other hand, or, lather it up first in a bowl or cup. Personally, I prefer #3, although with hard soaps, I’ll sometimes resort to #2. At Trumpers in London, some of their barbers lather in a bowl, some in their hand.

As it happens, I have an excellent hemispherical bowl with a handle—it was originally a soup cup—that I had been using as a shaving mug. I took out the soap, washed the bowl clean, and used it this morning with a dab of shaving cream (“about the size of an almond” seems to be the rule) on the brush. While readying things, I let hot water run in the bowl, so when I emptied it to develop the lather with the brush, the bowl was hot—important unless you have a preference for cold lather.

I got wonderful lather, and had a terrific shave. I did use the Proraso pre/post-shave cream, and my Futur safety razor was set at 1.5. For now, I’ll be leaving it at 1.5: close shave, no nicks, why change?