To get a shaving bowl or not to get a shaving bowl? That is the question. In this review, we will take a look at the best shaving bowl on the Market!
If you have recently switched to wet shaving you may be wondering what accessories are really necessary.
You were probably told that shaving with a safety razor would be cheaper in the long run than your old multi-blade cartridge razors.
Well don’t worry it still will be. But if you really want to dive into the wet shaving experience you may want to add a shaving mug or scuttle to your line up with a quality shaving brush.
A shaving bowl is pretty basic by design. Some simply look like a bowl and others mugs.
They may have a handle or they may not. They can be made of several different materials including:
As you can see, they each have their own advantages and disadvantages.
They really only have one main function, to help you whip up a lather with your favorite shaving cream or soap.
Since the brush and some hard soaps need to soak in hot water before use, the shaving bowls will also allow you to do that.
The shaving scuttle is slightly different than a bowl or mug. The scuttle dates back to the late 19th century.
As you can see it has two compartments. The larger one underneath is to be filled with your hot water and you can set your brush inside to soak.
The smaller compartments are where you would put a puck of soap and usually has drain holes.
These are hard to find today, most scuttles you will find have a spout that allows you to fill the bowl with hot water so that as you create your lather it stays warm.
They also do not have drain holes so you can use soft soaps or shaving creams.
Using a shaving bowl is really a simple task. For soft soaps or creams simply soak your brush in warm water for a couple minutes to allow it to soften and heat up.
Then pour out the water, add your cream or soap and briskly whip it with light pressure into a lather adding water as needed to create your desired consistency.
For certain, hard soaps you can use the same process but the soap should be in the soaking water. Then you can pour off the excess water to begin your lather.
For an even easier lather you should melt the soap down so it forms to the inside of the mug or bowl. If you have a microwave safe material like ceramic, simply pop it in for 20 seconds and this should be enough to melt the soap down.
If you have a metal bowl you can simply use a double boiler method to melt the soap down.
Or you can simply dampen the bottom of the soap cake before you place it in your mug which will help it stick to the bottom.
When deciding on a shaving bowl for you one thing you will need to consider is what kind of brush you are going to use it with it.
For example, if you have a short brush, you probably don’t want to get a tall mug that doesn’t have a big opening. This will create extra work on your end just to get the brush in to do its job.
So be sure to try to match the style of brush with the type of bowl or mug you want to get.
This is designed to hold standard three inch pucks of shaving soap. It is slightly wider at the bottom than the top and only 2.25 inches deep so this should work well with even the shortest of brushes.
This is stainless steel and not chrome plated so it should keep its shiny look for many years to come if you can keep it dry between uses.
This bowl has over 500 reviews and is rated at 4.5-stars.
As you can see most customers love this product but there are a couple complaints.
Some say the lid is either too tight or too loose, maybe there was a bad production run.
Others say that it is too thin, the only issue this may cause is it probably won’t hold heat as well as some others.
However, it should fit well in your hands because of the shape and size which will allow you to quickly whip up a lather.
The Crown King Victorian Scuttle has a pretty awesome design.
It kind of looks like a tea pot with its large handle and water spout.
The water spout allows you to fill the “walls” of this bowl so to speak with hot water so that it warms up and keeps the contents warm as well, whether it be water or lather.
The inner bowl is about 4 inches wide and also 2.25 inches deep but has a cone shape so your brush shouldn’t fall into the lather.
The inner walls also have texture grooves which will help you create a rich, thick lather in no time!
One downfall of this design is that hard pucks of soap may not work well in this bowl. The textured grooves may make it difficult for the puck to really stick to the bowl and may slide while whipping a lather.
However, if you use soft soaps or creams you may be pleasantly surprised by the quality of this scuttle.
It comes highly rated at 4.7-stars.
Not many are negative but the bowl itself could be a little wider/deeper at the bottom. The tapering design may not be great if you have a larger brush.
It has a clean, simple design with more of a knob than a handle, however, many suggest it is comfortable and easy to grip.
This will probably not work well if you have a shorter brush as it is over 3 inches tall so it would be difficult to get a short brush in there, especially if you have larger hands.
This mug will also not work with larger pucks of soap, you should try and keep them under 2.5 inches in diameter.
Overall this is a great mug with many positive reviews. It could have been just a little wider to allow different soaps and some more room to work your shaving brush around for the lather.
This seems to be the biggest complaint about this mug.
However, it will get the job done and could make a great first mug or gift for someone who is just starting out wet shaving.
This mug is wide enough to fit most puck soaps, one guy even got a 4-oz. puck in there! It also has a textured bottom to help keep the soap from sliding around.
It is also microwave safe so you can form the soap to the rubber mug.
The mug is almost 4 inches in height so you will probably need a longer brush for this one, however, this should be much lighter than other mugs made of different materials.
Another added benefit of the rubber is that it won’t make a bunch of noise while you are whipping up your lather compared to a metal or ceramic shaving bowl.
One might wonder why you don’t see more of these rubber mugs with all of the benefits of a traditional shaving mug and almost none of the weaknesses.
The biggest complaints are that it feels cheap and it is too tall for some guy’s brushes. Well it only costs a little more than $10 and is rubber, what do you expect it to feel like?!
If you are looking for a cheap but durable shaving bowl to get the job done the AKStore Men’s Durable Shave cup is the way to go.
There is nothing fancy about this thing, just solid double layered stainless steel to help retain heat while you are whipping your lather.
It does have an anti-skid ridge on the bottom but it is on the outside so this is to prevent the bowl from sliding around on a counter top and not to prevent the soap from sliding.
It is not very large, only about 2 inches tall and slightly less than 3 inches wide so some of the larger soaps may not be a good fit in here.
They do offer a 100% money back guarantee so this is a risk-free product.
A lot of guys mention in the reviews that this cup really will retain a good amount of heat once you heat it up with hot tap water.
However, since the bowl is on the smaller size, it may be better for shaving creams or at least, not trying to whip a lather with a soap puck stored inside. This will give you more room from your lather.
It has thick walls of ceramic which will help it retain heat but also add some weight to it but has a comfortable handle on it as well. One guy even had it fall off a toilet with no damage, however you probably shouldn’t expect this from every fall!
It is wide enough to handle soap pucks up to 3 inches in diameter but short enough that you should be able to use a shorter brush like their faux horn silvertip brush.
Just remember that the larger the soap you use the less room you will have to work up a lather and it may come out onto your hands.
There are not many negative reviews for this mug, the main one being that it is too expensive. You get what you pay for.
Overall though this should be a great mug if you prefer using soap pucks because it is large enough to leave room for a lather but wide enough to be useful.
The Kingsley Shave soap bowl might be good to purchase together with the AKStore cup. Both of them are less than $10.
The Kingsley would be good for storing your soap and the AKStore would be good for whipping a lather.
The reason we say this is the wooden shaving bowl from Kingsley is very short, only about 1.5 inches tall which won’t leave much room, if any to work up a lather once you put your puck inside.
However, it is one of the nicest looking shave bowls with a lid if you get complaints from your significant other about your shaving area looking messy. This will give it a classier look.
Since it is so attractive on the outside this could make a great gift for someone.
While it does come highly rated with 4.3-stars on Amazon and over 500 reviews there are a few common issues. But remember this less than a $10 bowl.
Some guys have had the bowl crack on them. Others say the lid doesn’t fit quite right like it shows in the picture.
Other than that, the shallowness comes into play. If you are a shaving cream guy this might be a great bowl to use since you can simply apply a little cream on your brush and use the bowl to whip your lather.
This is another very nice looking stainless steel shaving bowl by Apollo. It comes with a nice lid, a lifetime guarantee and won’t break the bank.
It has a 3.5 inch opening so it will accommodate most regular sized shaving pucks. The lid will help prevent your soap from drying out or cracking between uses.
They even throw in a nice micro-fiber towel that you can use to wipe it down after each use to remove any water marks and keep it looking fresh on your counter top.
The good think about the stainless steel is that you don’t have to worry about it breaking or cracking like other materials.
Apparently, the lid fits too well. There are a few negative reviews that mention they couldn’t remove the lid after the first couple uses.
This may happen if you put the lid on while it is still wet. If you be sure to wipe the inside of the lid as well as the outside of the bowl completely dry it should help prevent sticking like that.
It has a nice wide opening, about 4 inches and tapers down to 3 inches which holds most standard soap pucks. However, it is only slightly taller than 3 inches so you don’t need a long brush like some other mugs.
In fact, it really doesn’t leave much room for the soap to slide around so you probably won’t have to worry about melting down the soap. Besides after the first use it should be stuck to the bottom anyway.
This is a bit more expensive than most of these but you usually have to pay for quality. As you can see from the reviews many guys love this mug.
The main complaint is that it is too small compared to a bowl. While it is called a bowl in the name it takes on more of the shape of a mug.
If you like using short, stubby brushes you may want to go for a bowl but if you don’t mind the height this should last a long time making it easy to quickly whip up a nice lather.
This would probably work well with their badger hair shaving brush. It is long enough that you don’t have to work too hard to whip up the lather.
Besides that, there is nothing too fancy about this mug, just an overall solid design that will get the job done.
This is a fairly high rated mug with 4.6-stars on Amazon. The only downfalls you could say is that it is heavy but hopefully that also means that it can withstand some use.
Or if you like to use larger soap pucks they may be difficult to get down to the bottom. Of course, you could always cut it and melt it down, a small price to pay for such a nice shaving bowl.
As you can see there are several awesome choices if you decide you want to get yourself a shaving bowl.
Of course, if you are a shaving cream guy you can always lather straight onto your face. Or maybe you have an old bowl or coffee mug lying around the house that can easily be converted.
However, maybe it’s your birthday or Father’s Day and you want to treat yourself to a nice addition to your wet shaving lineup.
One of these shaving bowls would certainly do the trick!
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