Fine Accoutrements Lather Bowl Review – Step Up the Shaving Game
Fine Accoutrements Shaving Bowl
A ceramic shaving bowl with built in ridges to help create a fine and luxurious lather. It has a nice weight and heft without being too heavy, and keeps in the heat.
Pros
Ceramic Material holds heat well
Multiple Ridges make lather quickly
Easy to hold and lather in
Easy to store away
Cons
Ceramics make it easy to break. Treat with Care
Not very deep, easy to slop lather out of the bowl
Shallowness doesn’t let you warm up your brush
When looking at shaving bowls, there are always a ton of options available. You could find an innumerable number of bowls and mugs for sale, but how do you know you are getting your money’s worth?
That is where we come in.
We’ve already made a few reviews of shaving bowls. You can see them here: Shaving Bowl Reviews, Articles & Guides. We even have an article about finding the right bowl for you!
So, what makes this bowl from Fine Accoutrements stand out? Let’s take a deeper look.
About the Brand: Fine Accoutrements is the brainchild of a former financial advisor who noticed that wet shaving was overall the best option for guys overall when it came to money, time, and ability. In 2005, he started down the path that led him to be CEO of Fine Accoutrements, offering solid products for a mild price.
Design and Features
This lather bowl is a very nice feeling bowl that fits very well in the hand. It’s balanced very well for something ceramic. Even with the best bowls, they are sometimes too heavy and wear out your wrist after a while.
I have yet to have this issue with this bowl. It doesn’t wear out my wrist or even feel overly heavy.
The handle has a nice divot in the top of it that allows you to hold it by just placing a thumb over it. Secondly the handle has a hole so you can actually hang it on the wall. This means you can let it air dry easily, provided you have a good hook to hang it on.
The handle is also great for setting your brush on between rounds of shaving, so it doesn’t have to stand on the bristles and mess them up.
I do have several major issues with the construction of the bowl. One we will wait and bring up in the lather portion, but two I can bring up now.
The Ceramic style of the bowl makes this bowl fragile. As someone who just moved across the country and had to trust my shaving supplies to baggage handlers, I was paranoid that it was going to be shattered into a million pieces. It survived though.
Secondly, the bowl is very shallow, this means your shave bowl is going to have a hard time pulling double duty when it comes to prepping your brush for shaving.
Theoretically you are supposed to prep your brush before shaving by letting it soak in warm water for about five minutes. To that end, you put it in an earthenware cup or mug to just let it soak. For the last several months, I have just been using my shave bowl to do that rather than have to get a new mug.
Unfortunately the Fine Bowl is just too shallow for that. My brush won’t really get submerged in the water.
It is a bit of a nitpick, but it means my brush is not warmed up and ready as it could be.
How well does it Lather?
This is where the bowl really starts to excel.
On the interior of the bowl is a set of geometric ridges that help to add some friction to your brush as you swirl over the bottom. This can help to really build a lather very quickly.
In addition to that, glazed stoneware is not as smooth as it seems, and provides a small amount of friction on its own. This makes it really awesome for building lather as well.
I also love the ceramic for holding heat. When I lather up with this, the warm water that I build into the lather stays warm for my entire shave. It’s a joy lathering up with warm lather after a shower, or just on a cold day.
As we are going deeper into the fall now, the chill air makes it great to take a nice warm shave every few days.
There is a downside to this bowl when it comes to lathering though. Honestly? The bowl feels a bit too shallow. It is very easy to over lather quickly and you end up sloping the nice warm lather you built up all over the place.
It also builds so quickly, you are going to start making a mess before you even know!
To combat this, I just really build the lather in the center of the bowl using small circles rather than making large circles that could splash everywhere.
My old shaving bowl was a good 6 inches deep, so this was a bit of a change for me. It took very little time to reset my habits though.
Value for Money
Time for another point where this shaving bowl excels. The price for this Lather Bowl on Fine Accoutrements website is a measly $25.00 USD!
That is a steal with a mug of this quality. I’ve been using this mug for about a month now, and I don’t think I am ever going back to my plastic Proraso mug.
And for 25 USD, I don’t know a single wet shaver who wouldn’t agree with me on that.
Something you can use for months to years for only 25 USD and will make this good lather is something for every shaver.
Consumer Complaints, Issues, and Positive Reviews
Most reviews for this bowl are really great. People really love the quickness of the lather and the nice texture it creates.
There are a few complaints some customers have brought up.
A few have found the mug awkward to hold. I didn’t have this issue, but I suppose that may be subjective. If you aren’t used to it, it could be somewhat awkward.
Others have found their item arriving with water spots on it, and they take time to clean off. Luckily, the mug is dishwasher safe if you want to make sure it gets thoroughly clean.
Finally, there are a few complaints about the items arriving broken. Honestly, I don’t really have a way to refute this. As a person who worked in shipping and receiving for almost a decade, I can tell you there is always a chance something ceramic like this is going to catch the wrong corner and get broken.
Make sure you get a tracking number when you ship this guy, and order directly from Fine rather than a clearing house. They are more likely to keep your product safe.
Final Thoughts – Who is the Fine Accoutrements Lather Bowl for?
Everyone!
This bowl really is for everyone. Any wet shaver would get their money’s worth out of this shaving bowl.
This bowl would be great for any new shaver, or someone who is wanting to upgrade from a plastic bowl or a normal coffee mug.
This would make a great small gift for a birthday, halloween, or christmas gift for the wet shaver in your life.
