Damn Comfortable Shave

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Monday's shave was great.

I love this Wade and its edge. Good kit all around.

Spoiler: WTeff?

Just kidding. I'm finished counting. But, is it leap year?

Also used hyaluronic acid and Dragonsbeard Skin Food Splash. Boy, do I smell great!

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Tuesday's shave was very good.

Nice edge (seems better today; nothing to account for that if it is better it is magic).

Also hyaluronic acid and Dragonsbeard Skin Food Splash.

Tiny cut/nick on my upper chin. I cut myself very infrequently with the SR. No big deal at all.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My Thursday shave was surprising.

Good kit. ERN.

More good kit.

Still, although my shave seemed pretty good during and immediately after, it was actually not a very good shave. I must have been sloppy in my technique especially on the right side of my chin.

Surprise!

Happier and better shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Seveneighth]

Don'tcha just hate it when that happens. Especially when all the elements, *should* work perfectly but don't.

 

[Seveneighth]

Yp

Monday's shave was great.

View attachment 1036014

I love this Wade and its edge. Good kit all around.

View attachment 1036015

Spoiler: WTeff?

Just kidding. I'm finished counting. But, is it leap year?

Also used hyaluronic acid and Dragonsbeard Skin Food Splash. Boy, do I smell great!

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

You have such a great collection of razors now, Jim.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Yp

You have such a great collection of razors now, Jim.

Thank you, sir.

Funny thing though is I'm almost entirely using just a few of my straights. Mostly the Wade, my wide Torrey, my ERN, and a couple or three others. Largely that's because I don't remember which of the others are sharp (to my now high standards) and which aren't.

I've been lazy about honing for a longer while than I'd like to admit. Then I got sick with a back-to-back double whammy of two viruses. In recent weeks I've had the energy to work and not much else. Fortunately my energy is improving, I'm feeling better every day, and I'm thinking about honing again. I'm generally healthy and hardly ever get sick at all, so I suppose it's been my turn to catch some stuff.

It might be hard to hone very much until after my grandson visits. He's coming for twelve days beginning in about a week. Before that we have Thanksgiving which I love, and after his visit we have all the Christmas drama festivities and celebrations. Plus, there's football games (for me that means college football which I love).

Spoiler: Real football...

Go, Dawgs!

Not making excuses because I have honing plans. One of my plans is to hone to true sharpness a razor I can share with a B&B friend and member who wants to experience a sharp straight razor. Another honing plan is to increase the number of my razors I know to be truly sharp so I can shave with them at will and vary which razor I use.

However, if all I had were the sharp Wade I'd be a happy camper. That is one nice edge.

As I recall your collection of razors is pretty special!

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Seveneighth]

I completely sympathise. Work has been getting in the way for me as well. In my case that means I don't get out my favourite stones and take the time to hone properly but just grab a coticule instead (not that a coticule isn't honing properly).

I too have lost complete track of what I've honed with what. I have a collection of razors that I never hone - they are set, shave perfectly, maybe a rare touch up on an oiled Charnley Forest sometime.

I have a box of razors that I keep meaning to go through, and then my daily coticule maintained ones.

During the week I tend to shave with one of four stainless razors for ease.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I completely sympathise. Work has been getting in the way for me as well. In my case that means I don't get out my favourite stones and take the time to hone properly but just grab a coticule instead (not that a coticule isn't honing properly).

I too have lost complete track of what I've honed with what. I have a collection of razors that I never hone - they are set, shave perfectly, maybe a rare touch up on an oiled Charnley Forest sometime.

I have a box of razors that I keep meaning to go through, and then my daily coticule maintained ones.

During the week I tend to shave with one of four stainless razors for ease.

Yes, much the same boat.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Friday's shave was very very good.

I wish I could get shaves this good with my straight razors but so far I can not.

The Storm Trooper with a brand new Polsilver SI blade performed like the champ it is.

These products along with today's soap take care of my skin post shave very very well indeed.

That small looking and small in overall height Omega Mighty Midget boar is one excellent brush. What did I pay for it? Maybe $7. The three #13 O-Rings I added improve its looks and also improve its handling. It is a small handle but I like how it works in my hand.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Somerled]

I wish I could get shaves this good with my straight razors but so far I can not.

The Storm Trooper with a brand new Polsilver SI blade performed like the champ it is.

One thing I noticed when last time I shaved with my favourite schick and proline blade, was, the quality and closeness of the shave was not all that far off what I get with a straight. Came as a bit of a surprise to me.

I'm also very bad at taking notes or remembering what razor has been honed on what stone. So now I've refreshed all my main razors (what I think of as my go to razors) with one stone. All give good shaves and knowing that I can touch them up with just one stone makes life a little easier.

With my other razors I'm going to pick one out and experiment with some of my other stones and see if I can get the edge as good as any of my go to blades.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

One thing I noticed when last time I shaved with my favourite schick and proline blade, was, the quality and closeness of the shave was not all that far off what I get with a straight. Came as a bit of a surprise to me.

I'm also very bad at taking notes or remembering what razor has been honed on what stone. So now I've refreshed all my main razors (what I think of as my go to razors) with one stone. All give good shaves and knowing that I can touch them up with just one stone makes life a little easier.

With my other razors I'm going to pick one out and experiment with some of my other stones and see if I can get the edge as good as any of my go to blades.

Sounds like a very good plan.

Seems like we're all in the same boat.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Monday's shave was very good.

The Wade easily took care of the whiskers grown since Friday.

Excellent kit. I'm even getting used to the brush (it's not a favorite though).

Truly great scent in this Dragonsbeard Skin Food Splash! Its skin food component is wonderful, too, particularly combined with the HA.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Tuesday my shave was quite good.

I really like this brush. It's the taller version (I think) of Stirling's 26 mm badger. Very soft. Works a treat.

MdC is a great shaving soap.

My wide Torrey is a very nice razor. I think it may be a tad less perfect than my Wade though.

This combination improves the MdC post shave and post-post shave by leagues.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[JoWolf]

I'm a wet shaver. In other words, I've been shaving with a Gillette Fusion, and real shaving creams, and sometimes brushes for many years (well, decades if I include other iterations of Gillette's "modern" razors with multiple blades).

My shaving career began before these razors were invented, so I, like just about everyone back in 1960 began shaving with a Gillette twist to open double edge. I cut myself all the time, and was a lot better at shaving with razors like the Fusion.

Like most people, I've tried everything, and like most people, most everything works okay or great on my face, and is lousy on my neck. The best of my neck shaves have been with the Gillette Fusion.

Through reading this forum and lots of other online material I decided to give double edged razors another try. Why? Frankly I'm not sure. Certainly it is not about the expense of the Fusion blade systems because I can use one for weeks or even months. Yeah, it will tug a bit, but it still shaves well, and doesn't irritate my sensitive neck. Maybe the DE just seems cool, and traditional, and has the promise of delivering a shave which is both BBS and comfortable.

Back in the day I used to occasionally get a real barber shop shave by a real, old time, experienced, skilled barber. Those were the shaves I dreamed of, and hoped to replicate at home with a double edged razor.

BBS sounds great, and why shouldn't it, but a damn comfortable, and pretty good shave would have to come first, and be a development milestone, and be a higher priority item. After all, who cares how you look if you're hurting, and miserable?

Old timers are going to kick me here because I don't follow every direction worth a hoot, and am prone to change variables. I don't do this professionally (being scientific in my approach), but this isn't rocket science, and I can do as I like (and suffer the consequences).

Today I got what I would consider a still not perfect but close to it damn comfortable shave. I changed several variables. I took a shower first, but I still did a hot to warm towel over first lather pre-shave preparation. I used a new and different brush, a RazoRock Plissoft Monster Synthetic instead of my Semoque SOC boar. I didn't change soaps, but used, other than the towel soak, cold water, and cold lather.

My razor is a Feather AS-D2. I changed today to a different blade. Instead of a Feather I used a Personna med blade (marked "for hospital use").

Yeah, I know this is not the way anyone should do things especially not a newbie like me, but, shoot me, I'm just reporting.

My goal this morning was not to get a good, close shave, but to get a comfortable shave. I can't say the shave is the most comfortable I've ever gotten. It certainly is not as comfortable as most shaves I got with the Fusion. However, it is the most comfortable shave I've gotten with a double edged razor.

I did only only pass with a little touch up on my chin. Still, my shave is pretty good, certainly socially acceptable, and, frankly, closer than I would have expected with one pass.

What was the difference? Was it the cold shave? Was it the blade? There's no way to be sure, but it still pleases me very much to know that a damn comfortable double edged shave is possible. I suspect it will get better as I become more experienced, and listen to my face, and learn to shave better.

Oh, I bought some Dickinson's witch hazel yesterday.

Cold water shaving was a milestone improvement for me. I found that after the warm shower that squelching the warm skin with cold towels before shaving further improves skin comfort for me. Another thing I noticed was pre shaves and some creams that were border line irritating were now ok. I have since gone to artisan soaps and specifically with a clay or bentonite ingredient seem to have also been a big improvement for my sensitive dry skin. My post shave comfort also improved considerably with the better soaps. I use alum and then rinse it off and always use Thayers Witch Hazel and sometimes Lucky Tiger as well, both excellent skin toners before apply a balm.

 

[Seveneighth]

Tuesday my shave was quite good.

View attachment 1038357

I really like this brush. It's the taller version (I think) of Stirling's 26 mm badger. Very soft. Works a treat.

MdC is a great shaving soap.

My wide Torrey is a very nice razor. I think it may be a tad less perfect than my Wade though.

View attachment 1038358

This combination improves the MdC post shave and post-post shave by leagues.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

How does "quite good" relate to standard nomenclature? DFS? DCS?

The less perfectness of the Torrey - can you put a name to it? Less sharp?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Cold water shaving was a milestone improvement for me. I found that after the warm shower that squelching the warm skin with cold towels before shaving further improves skin comfort for me. Another thing I noticed was pre shaves and some creams that were border line irritating were now ok. I have since gone to artisan soaps and specifically with a clay or bentonite ingredient seem to have also been a big improvement for my sensitive dry skin. My post shave comfort also improved considerably with the better soaps. I use alum and then rinse it off and always use Thayers Witch Hazel and sometimes Lucky Tiger as well, both excellent skin toners before apply a balm.

Since August I've been using warm water and a warm brush to shave. I believe it is because I've become much better at shaving and taking care of my skin, but that could be totally wrong.

I suspect I will still sometimes do totally cold water shaves. I know for sure from my experience that cold shaving is a great way to go for some people.

It's really about trying things to see what works and realizing things change as we change.

At least that's my viewpoint today.

Try a couple of tiny "drops" of this stuff on your damp skin after shaving. It spreads very well and very easily and has really made a difference to me in recent weeks.

I've tried all sorts of things to help with the easily irritated, easily chapped skin of my face and neck.

When it becomes available again which won't be long I think Dragonsbeard Skin Food and Splash (or something similar from Frank @Dragonsbeard) is also terrific for the skin (mine for sure). And, as you said, the soap you use is of great importance.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[viking4976]

Oh, I bought some Dickinson's witch hazel yesterday.

I like Dickinson's Witch Hazel too sir.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

How does "quite good" relate to standard nomenclature? DFS? DCS?

The less perfectness of the Torrey - can you put a name to it? Less sharp?

I have no idea exactly. I never get a completely BBS shave and don't even try anymore. I get very close sometimes, but it's random I think. I really don't know the standard nomenclature very well other than BBS and DFS.

None of my straight razor shaves are as close and smooth in their results as my best safety razor shaves. Few of those are completely BBS either unless I overdo things (too much, too many passes, too much pressure, excessive something).

My face tends to be closer and smoother than my neck regardless of razor.

Probably "quite good" is a mixture of some BBS and some DFS or perhaps a half smidgeon less good. That probably doesn't help or answer worth a flip. All my shaves are now Damn Comfortable Shaves or very very close to that standard.

Yes, I think the Torrey is just a bit less sharp than the Wade. It's not enough less perfect for me to feel like I must remedy it, but I will hone it a bit when I have time and it doesn't upset my wife (meaning she needs to be off quilting at her girlfriend's house where they sew and quilt and make beautiful things from cloth).

I was planning to hone tomorrow, and am finally feel recovered from my recent viral illnesses well enough to feel like it and have the energy to do so, but it won't work with all the Thanksgiving preparations and such.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[dundak]

My grandfather used to use Pond’s cold cream post shave. They didn’t make moisturizing aftershaves back then. He learned it from a barber. He said that it was the best step to take to make sure your next shave was better.

I think that using a moisturizer, your choice, helps heal and protect your face and does make shaving daily easier over the long haul.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My grandfather used to use Pond’s cold cream post shave. They didn’t make moisturizing aftershaves back then. He learned it from a barber. He said that it was the best step to take to make sure your next shave was better.

I think that using a moisturizer, your choice, helps heal and protect your face and does make shaving daily easier over the long haul.

I like that idea. Haven't tried it.

Another option I've not tried is this one...



I sometimes use this one...



It's been pretty good to me.

Happy shaves,

Jim