To bloom or not to bloom

MPH

Forum GOD!
Yep. I bloom it whilst in shower\bath and soak my badger brush too. Both, are apparently no actual use, but I swear it makes the brush nicer on the face and the soap easier to load.
 

sɐǝɹpu∀

riverrun
The standard wishy-washy answer is of course:
Whatever works best for you.
Personally, I don't bother. Blooming saves a little time when loading the brush.
I'm not short of time when shaving.
 

R181

Grumpy old man
About 98% of the time no and the other 2% yes only when it is necessary for me to get it to load and lather well.

Bob
 

halvor

a most elusive fish
Well, that’s a coincidence. Just this morning I pulled out a vintage Williams. And yes it was bloomed.

I have experimented with blooming and find that with some soaps, it speeds up the lather building process, with others it improves the lather all over, while with yet others it makes for too rich and dense a lather (or I should simply have loaded less) or no difference at all. Usually not so much full soaking as wetting the surface, though. A tablespoon or so works for me :thumbsup:
 
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