Cushion

It's not a real quality of your lather and has no bearing on your shave. That is all.

You are welcome to your position, but I do not agree.

If your skin is like elephant hide, then cushion plays little role in your shave. However, if you have sensitive skin like I do, cushion is critical to getting an irritation-free shave. Some people think that slickness is the only thing that is important and for some that may be true. I can produce an extremely slick lather from nearly any soap, including Irish Spring bath bar, but the lather has so little cushion that I get a terrible shave.

Everyone is different so your experience may differ from mine.

Everyone is different so your experience may differ from mine.

Ray, this is so true and I wish all would recognize it like you rather than trying to force their experience on everyone else. 

It's not a real quality of your lather and has no bearing on your shave. That is all.

This Seems like a very odd thing to say.

1 I think cushion is not a defined term in wet shaving, I think for most people cushion is a way to describe a mix of the lubrication and thickness of the lather to create a smooth comfortable shave that allows a razor to glide across your face. In that regards I would say cushion is a sum of many characteristics of a shaving product.

If what you meant to say is that a lathered cream or soap is not necessarily needed for a good shave that is something that deserves discussion. There are many options for shaving that do not involve creating a lather at all. However these options still provide cushion(lubrication, and protection). If your argument is that you don't need a soap or product at all besides water, you wouldn't be totally incorrect but you're going to be hard pressed to find people that agree with it being as comfortable and enjoyable an experience as a good lather.

Whether cushion is a physical thing or a ghost thing, it is experienced. It is the feeling of protection from the blade.
More important than slickness, in my opinion. Not everything that's slick is protective.
Case in point... Trumper soaps are extremely slick, but everyone agrees they suck (except the people who claim they can make a great lather with it, but never show pictures of it, weird how that works :/ ...or they do show pictures of it and you can measure the bubbles with a yard stick).

It's not a real quality of your lather and has no bearing on your shave. That is all.

This Seems like a very odd thing to say. 

1 I think cushion is not a defined term in wet shaving, I think for most people cushion is a way to describe a mix of the lubrication and thickness of the lather to create a smooth comfortable shave that allows a razor to glide across your face.  In that regards I would say cushion is a sum of many characteristics of a shaving product.

If what you meant to say is that a lathered cream or soap is not necessarily needed for a good shave that is something that deserves discussion.  There are many options for shaving that do not involve creating a lather at all.  However these options still provide cushion(lubrication, and protection).  If your argument is that you don't need a soap or product at all besides water, you wouldn't be totally incorrect but you're going to be hard pressed to find people that agree with it being as comfortable and enjoyable an experience as a good lather.

Try the clap test: spread various lathered soaps on your palms then clap them together - be prepared to do some cleaning afterwards.  

There is a demonstrable delta between various soaps: some soaps' lather so cushioned that the clap results in palms never touching while other soap lathers result in the palms fully contacting as though no soap present.  So how do we know cushion exists and what it accomplishes?  Through experimentation as any science major will have learned at some point in his education.  Cushion is distinct from glide.

For those with extremely damaged and sensitive skin, cushion is a major and desirable characteristic, perhaps not as much for those with normal skin

It's not a real quality of your lather and has no bearing on your shave. That is all.

Based on your extensive experience and expertise in skin science and soap making I imagine…
That is all.

Palm lather some products and rub the lather between your thumb and index finger... Some will just feel thin and watery... Others will feel like there's a layer of Vaseline or oil. The latter will feel more protective when shaving, more often than not.

It's not a real quality of your lather and has no bearing on your shave. That is all.

This Seems like a very odd thing to say. 

1 I think cushion is not a defined term in wet shaving, I think for most people cushion is a way to describe a mix of the lubrication and thickness of the lather to create a smooth comfortable shave that allows a razor to glide across your face.  In that regards I would say cushion is a sum of many characteristics of a shaving product.

If what you meant to say is that a lathered cream or soap is not necessarily needed for a good shave that is something that deserves discussion.  There are many options for shaving that do not involve creating a lather at all.  However these options still provide cushion(lubrication, and protection).  If your argument is that you don't need a soap or product at all besides water, you wouldn't be totally incorrect but you're going to be hard pressed to find people that agree with it being as comfortable and enjoyable an experience as a good lather.

Try the clap test: spread various lathered soaps on your palms then clap them together - be prepared to do some cleaning afterwards.  

There is a demonstrable delta between various soaps: some soaps' lather so cushioned that the clap results in palms never touching while other soap lathers result in the palms fully contacting as though no soap present.  So how do we know cushion exists and what it accomplishes?  Through experimentation as any science major will have learned at some point in his education.  Cushion is distinct from glide.

For those with extremely damaged and sensitive skin, cushion is a major and desirable characteristic, perhaps not as much for those with normal skin

I attribute this characteristic more to density which is definitely a very important consideration, That's why I mentioned the fact that having a conversation about different types of products and the ways they protect is a worthy discussion, and is obviously very subjective. People shave with products that range in density from butters to some people just using water.

The idea of it not being important is what I find odd, post shave affects, skin beneficial ingredients are all great but the most important aspect of any of the products being used is the cushion it provides between your face and the blade.

Ah, I’m just going to go out on a limb here and guess that few groups at any geographic point and at any point of time in history have ever discussed this topic.  AIN’T IT GREAT?