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What did you learn from your last shave?

Yesterday evening I had the worst shave I can remember (I've been wetshaving for some years) thanks to a Gillette Perma-Sharp stainless. I have half my face still red and irritated, hitching and with red dots on an area of my cheek. I might not be able to shave for few days.
Did I learn anything? yeah perhaps perma-sharp are definitely not for me :biggrin1:
 
That PAA Atmotic soap is still a good performer. I hadn't used it in a while -- I've been distracted by La Toja and Arko soaps, and Proraso Green cream -- and I'd forgotten how nicely it lathers. True, I used a little stick Tabac as a pre-shave, and left it in place as I face-lathered the Atmotic. That might have helped. But I mix soaps and creams like that all the time.
 
I viewed Mantic 59 video on
"How To Get The "Perfect" Amount Of Water In A Shave Brush Every Time". It works for me. I did not have to make any adjustments with the water.
 
That with a 48-hour beard, and using the Fatip Open Comb Slant, I really could stop with one pass on my cheeks for a close-to-BBS result. I usually come back for a quick ATG pass anyway, and get no irritation. But nobody at work is checking my face, and I can barely feel any stubble after the first, WTG pass.
 

thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
Making short stokes in an ever-so-slightly zig-zag pattern gets me a cleaner, closer shave than using the same amount of strokes in a single direction. Also, I’m only good at it for cheeks/sideburn area for now.

If you read “YMMV” as “Your Muttonchops Must Vanish,” it’s a good trick.
 
My Semogue boar brush works better, I think, with cream than with soap. The last time I used it with soap, the lather was irritatingly thin, and I seemed unable to whip it up. (Of course that might have been the soap, TFS Sera, as well.) Today I scooped up some Trumper's Almond with the soaked but squeezed-out brush, and it lathered beautifully.
 

Whilliam

First Class Citizen
I don't really need the extra step of a pre-shave, be it an oil, a soap or other magic potion. I just lather up and go. (But, as we all know, that may change when the next wonder potion comes along. It's just part of the fun.)

Also, with temperatures hovering around zero F, I wish I hadn't stored my scuttle so well that I now cannot find it. (That is definitely not part of the fun.)
 
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I don't really need the extra step of a pre-shave, be it an oil, a soap or other magic potion. I just lather up and go. (But, as we all know, that may change when the next wonder potion comes along. It's just part of the fun.)

Also, with temperatures hovering around zero F, I wish I hadn't stored my scuttle so well that I now cannot find it. (That is definitely not part of the fun.)
Interesting. It is around -4 degrees Celsius where I am in Scotland (not quite as cold as a North American winter!) but I have actually gone back to using a King of Shaves pre-shave oil after many years. It has really helped with dryness I have been experiencing due to the colder weather. So that is something I have learned! As you say it is all part of the fun and YMMV!
 
We have no dryness in Da Swamp at any time of year (though most of the year my air-conditioning handles the damp very well), so I rarely have to worry about dry skin. I have taken to putting a little of a different soap or cream from that day's choice on my wet face prior to actually face-lathering. Today, for instance, a little Arko soap from the stick went on first, before I lathered my Proraso Green. I think of it as "smoothing the way." Other times I may apply a little cream first before lathering the day's soap.

Perhaps that helps with any dryness or in preventing irritation.
 

Whilliam

First Class Citizen
Interesting. It is around -4 degrees Celsius where I am in Scotland (not quite as cold as a North American winter!) but I have actually gone back to using a King of Shaves pre-shave oil after many years. It has really helped with dryness I have been experiencing due to the colder weather. So that is something I have learned! As you say it is all part of the fun and YMMV!
I do my oiling on the way out. I've abandoned (at least for now) traditional after shaves for CeraVe moisturizer as a post-shave balm (and sometimes supplementing it with hyaluronic acid). Really keeps the dryness in check for me.
 
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