Lathering

Hi everyone, I just started using a DE razor a few weeks ago, and I am still working on lathering shave soap. I have a merkur 1904 short handled DE and am using the Van Der Hagen premium shave kit for the lather. What I have been doing is keeping the puck in the bowl and building the lather on top of that. It seemed to be working well enough for me so I never really questioned it. But then upon further research, it seems that most people are only loading the brush over the puck, and building lather in the bowl. I tried this and failed miserably... I found that there was far too much water (i think) and the "lather" was a bunch of tiny bubbles. I just tried again for practice, and put some lather on the back of my hand. One minute later, there was no sign of anything on my hand. I'm thinking that because building lather on top of the puck has been working, I will just continue that. Does anyone else do it this way? Is there any reason NOT to do this?

EDIT: I should note that I am not adding water at any time. I soak the brush, shake and squeeze it out before touching the soap. I have also been submerging the bowl in hot water for warmth before use but then emptying it. Maybe stop doing that?