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Restart. First shave.

Goodevening. After your advice, I decided to shave with the same gear for 4 weeks.
After some consideration I chose my Muhle R41 for my beard and the DLC Yaqi for the head shave.
Although my first shave with a Gillette Platinum (dark blue package) was disappointing, I thought I had to give it a second chance in both razors. The soap was the Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite.
I can say both shaves worked out great. Beard shaves have never been a problem, whatever razor or blade.
But this time, after your advice to work on my technique, I shaved my head as everybody seems to do, starting from top to bottom. As I expected, this was not enough for a BBS head shave, so I shaved against the grain after that, which is usually the only method I use on my head. It worked out fine. Very little small stubbled patches left to shave. And not a single bloody spot, not even a small raw part of my skin.
After these two shaves I went to sit in the garden, put on my Snake Bite AS and had a relaxed smoke.
I am very gratefull for the advice I got on this forum and will only shave with the gear mentioned so I can work on my technique.
 
It’s excellent to hear that you have a plan. I’m interested to hear about your progress so maybe you could check in every so often. Are you sticking with those blades or will you be trying different ones as you go?
 
It’s excellent to hear that you have a plan. I’m interested to hear about your progress so maybe you could check in every so often. Are you sticking with those blades or will you be trying different ones as you go?
@srqshaver

Other forum members urged me to stick to the same blades, razor and soap, so that is what I will do. I am so enthousiastic after discovering shaving with a safety razor, that I bought many razors, blades, soaps etc. I probably underestimated the technique factor and trying all of these, one after the other, resulted in very mixed results. So, now I focus on technique, using the same gear for four weeks. It already pays of, but time will tell. I will check in again and share my experiences.
 

JCinPA

The Lather Maestro
Four weeks is perfect! Good idea. That should get you fairly experienced, then you can start changing things up a bit. You would have gotten better eventually mixing things up, no doubt, it would just take longer, IMO.

Catalog your 2-3 favorite blades in your current razor. Then when you change razors, start with those. As you branch out, keep some familiar things, changing one thing at a time.

Lather experimentation is not as big a deal as changing hardware too often, too soon, IMO. If you have several you like that are working well, no need to lock those down, but don't get a dozen right out of the gate, either. :lol:

Good luck, and great shaves!
 
@Jc07

Thanks for all the advice. I am confident it will work out fine.
One other advantage: I stopped buying everything I like to try.
So: joining this forum has positive economical consequences for me too 😎

BTW: I read many call this a hobby, but get the impression that the word "passion" seems a better one 👍🏽
 
Congratulations! It's quite rewarding to get better results as we practice. And I hope you will keep us updated as to your progress. Feel free to jump in on any conversations or to post any questions. You're right, this is a passion as well as a hobby. But the feel of a freshly shaved face done well...Ahhhhh!
 
Catalog your 2-3 favorite blades in your current razor. Then when you change razors, start with those. As you branch out, keep some familiar things, changing one thing at a time.
I'd wager that most people do this, possibly without thinking but it hadn't occurred to me at first. Now i use the few blades I know work well for me when trying anything new. One less variable to consider.
 
Congrats on the progress. Using the same gear really allows you to collect feedback on your technique and variables if you only change one thing per shave if that. It can be a bit tough when there are so many options, but really focusing on technique will pay off.
 
Second shave restart.

I payed extra attention to the beard shave, doing wtg and atg. A few patches and one tiny weeper.
This was due to my 60 year old skin, I think. All in all a very good shave.

The headshave didn't draw any blood. I am getting a little more used to starting with wtg before atg, bacause I never shaved my head wtg before this restart. I had to make the DLC and the Gillette Platinum work pretty hard, compared to the BIC I used often. But the combination worked good. This blade must be very forgiving, because I felt I made a few mistakes, but not even a scratch.

FYI: I used the Fine Accoutrements Snake Bite soap and AS again. Love them both.
Today, I used a bowl for the first time. A german copy of the blue US ceramic bowl with the loops at the bottom. Very, very surprised how much better the soap lathers in this bowl. Really happy with it.
And, off course, I enjoyed my after shave smoke in the garden 😎
 
The back of my head is usually the only place I'll draw any blood, and even then it's not very frequent. My first head pass is front to back, the second is back to front. I'll routinely do a third left to right pass on the back of my head (that is against the grain of how the hair grows on the back of my head), and sometimes a front to back to touch up. There is a fat fold on the occipital part of my head that is nearly impossible to shave clean, and generally that is the area I will draw blood if I do.
 
The back of my head is usually the only place I'll draw any blood, and even then it's not very frequent. My first head pass is front to back, the second is back to front. I'll routinely do a third left to right pass on the back of my head (that is against the grain of how the hair grows on the back of my head), and sometimes a front to back to touch up. There is a fat fold on the occipital part of my head that is nearly impossible to shave clean, and generally that is the area I will draw blood if I do.
Does it not depend on the combi razor/blade?
 
Does it not depend on the combi razor/blade?
Sometimes, but as a DE shaver MOST of the razors fall between mild and medium aggressive. I've backed away from very aggressive razors (I never even completed a shave with the Ikon Tech). Today I used the Wolfman WRH2 1.25 with a Gillette Silver Blue blade on the 3rd use. I used the above pattern, no weepers, just shy of BBS with a small furrow of stubble in the occipital fold. I generally rotate between 8 brands of blades but about 30 different razors regularly.
 
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