Shaving Scuttle vs Shaving Bowl vs Mug – Which is Best?
We’ve looked at the different methods for lathering your shaving soap before in prior articles.
See How To Choose The Ideal Shaving Bowl or Mug by yours truly.
However, today we will dive into which really is the best from all the options above.
Keep in mind when we say Best, we mean that in a subjective case. Each of our options (Mug, Scuttle, or Bowl) has its own strengths and weaknesses to judge which one is best for your form of wet shaving.
Shaving Mug
Shaving mugs come from one of the original at home accessories for shaving: the coffee mug. Typically they are made from Ceramic, but they can also be made from metal or plastic.
They also universally have handles. Sometimes these handles are nice loops, but also could be just a stud to grip on the outside of the mug.
Sometimes they even come with a lid to allow you to keep the heat from the lather in for a longer period of time.
Pros
Mugs are deep and compact. They typically do not take too much space on your bathroom counter. Which is great if you have a limited amount of space.
They also have very steep sides, so they are exceptionally good at vigorous lathering to build your shaving lather before getting started with your shave.
The Handle also helps to keep a hold of your shaving mug. The bathroom has soap and water all over the place, and there is always the chance your shaving vessel could slip out of your fingers.
Then you get lather, soap, and maybe broken ceramics everywhere. Having a good handle keeps that from happening.
Finally, because they are so deep, you can drop your brush in them before you start your shave with warm water to get your bristles all nice and charged up before your shave.
Cons
Shaving Mugs tend to be smooth on the inside. Friction brings the best options for building a thick lather quickly, and having a smooth surface inside your shaving mug means you are going to have issues building a lather.
Secondly, the smaller size means you aren’t going to be able to get a great deal of lather without getting some of it all over your hands.
The size also makes the mug, not the most ideal option for lathering straight from a puck of shave soap. If you are using a very dry triple-milled soap, you will want to put that in the bottom of your shaving vessel to build your lather from the puck itself. Most shave mugs are not big enough to accommodate most soaps.
Finally, if you aren’t using a metal or ceramic option with your mug, there is a distinct chance you are going to lose a great deal of warmth you want to keep in your lather. That is, unless you shave really fast. Who wants to do that, though?
Shaving Bowl
Shaving bowls are much more shallow than mugs, and typically have a textured bottom. Most do not have handles at all, instead, they are held in the palm of your hand with your fingers wrapped around the rim.
Many have small embellishments like maker’s marks or stamps to show how best to hold on to the bowl while you are lathering.
Like mugs they can come in a variety of different materials, though the best are typically ceramic of metal. These materials hold the heat from water better when you are charging up your bowl and/or soap before your shave.
Pros
Bowls have a great deal of space in them, making them ideal for slow lathering and building up your shaving soap into something that is really comfortable and gives a nice feeling to the skin.
The more luxurious the lather, the more protected the skin is. This is especially true if you want to use a more aggressive style safety razor blade, shavette, or straight razor.
The textured bottom of a shave bowl is going to be the real helper in building your lather. Most are in various geometric shapes like little speed bumps on the bottom of your bowl. This creates a nice and even flow for creating a thick lather as you run your brush over the bottom of the bowl.
Finally, bowls are great for holding a shaving puck and building a lather right on top of it. Where the Mug most often can’t hold it or lather from it well, a bowl has plenty of room to accommodate the shaving puck.
Cons
There are very few cons when looking at shaving bowls. That might show off my unintended bias, but I really like using them myself.
I would say that one of the major considerations is how shallow they are. It is very easy to accidentally slop soap over the rim when you are building lather. You waste soap and get messy in the process, and that is never fun.
Many shaving bowls are ceramic in make to hold the heat for the lather in. This can be a problem when the bowl doesn’t actually have a handle. Sending a ceramic bowl full of soap careening to the floor is just a mess no one wants to clean up.
Metal bowls are not going to break as easily as ceramic, but you will get some dings and dents. The issue with some metal bowls though is corrosion. This is especially true if you have a copper bowl, which will slowly get a green patina that looks good on the Statue of Liberty, but bad on bathroom equipment.
Shaving Scuttle
Shaving Scuttles are somewhat more complex than just your average bowl or mug.
A Shaving scuttle is sort of like a teapot or an oil lamp. They are typically made from ceramic, and have a reservoir to hold warm water for you. This will warm the soap for you, and keep your lather nice and soft while you shave.
Shaving Scuttles come in all different kinds of shapes and sizes, with some looking more like a teapot with a flared head to hold your shaving soap. Others look more like a traditional shaving bowl, but contain a hidden space around the bowl for holding the hot water.
They can come made from Metal, Ceramic, Wood, or Plastic. The Ceramic and Wood are considered the top of the line, as they have texture to build lather and retain heat well. Though ceramic can break easily, and wood will absorb the water and warp over time.
Metal and Plastic will hold up longer, but lack the texture to build a good lather quickly.
Pros
The major pro of Shaving Scuttles is the fact that they keep your lather and soap warm. The best shaving bowl or shaving mug isn’t going to hold heat forever. The hot water in the ceramic or metal scuttle is going to hold the heat better than anything else.
Some shaving scuttles also come with a large spout on the side of it for pouring water in or out, and these can double up as a place to put your brush to charge it up before shaving, or keeping it warm between passes.
I mentioned how the shaving bowl holds a soap puck better than a mug, but a shaving scuttle can do that even better. In fact, it is often designed to do that. It can hold the puck itself and keep it warm and charged while shaving. The heat from the water lets it stay warm, and the condensation will keep the soap nice and wet.
The lather will also stick around for longer in a better condition. This means you don’t have to re-lather as much between passes with your razor.
Cons
Many concerns that come with shaving scuttles are carried over from shaving bowls. Most are not as deep as mugs, so be prepared for some soap to slop out here and there.
However, they do often come with handles. Dropping should not be as significant an issue for your Scuttle as it is with your shaving bowl.
Likewise, ceramic scuttles will break if they are dropped. With all that hot water, be prepared to clean up a mess there.
Scuttles are often also more expensive than mugs or bowls. Typically your shaving mug or bowl is going to range from $20 USD to maybe $50 USD for the really nice and fancy items.
Scuttles on the other hand typically start at $35 USD and go up from there, sometimes getting as much as over $100 USD! That is quite a bit of money when you are talking about just a fancy teapot for shaving.
Final Thoughts
So which is best?
It depends on what you are looking for. Most guys are going to be content with just a shaving mug or a shaving bowl. They aren’t complex, and they are easy to use. This is fine. There is no need to go for something fancier.
For the best shave you can get, shaving scuttles are definitely the way to go. If you are looking for the overall best option, then shelling out a few extra bucks for a luxury item might be the best way to make your day.
