Critique my 2 pass shave (pictures)

[supertrunker]

Think of a cat or dog puffing out when they are cold. The pores around the hair follicle also tighten around it so it doesn't blow away.

i think you're on to something here and my own baldness is due to my hair follicles lacking that resilience and my hair just flying off in the breeze. i'm guessing that any motorcyclists that ride with open-face helmets never need to shave because of the same effect.

My cat is smarter than me - it has all its hair, but it can't use a straight razor.

T

 

[ukbfg]

Any thoughts on my suggestions?

 

[Vineeze]

I attempted to RMA the synthetic brush back to Amazon and they refunded my money and dont want the brush mailed back to them.

I am assuming it is a hygene thing? But that is kind of a crazy policy. What if someone buys a $200 shaving brush and says "I didnt like it"? A dishonest customer would take advantage of them.

Im not the kind of person to do Amazon returns willy-nilly either. A product has to truly fail me for me to send it back. THis is my 4th shave with that synthetic brush and it consistently does a p!ss-poor job of lathering. Im not going to swirl a brush longer than 30 seconds to load it, I aint got all day. With the badger hair brush I dont even soak it first and it produces fabulous lather every time.

 

[Vineeze]

I'd also consider using shaving oil as a pre-shave and then using shaving gel to shave with to make sure your skin is well lubricated and eliminate the variability of the lather making process.

I havent considered to shave in the shower since I shower at night after I get back from the gym and I shave in the morning so they are separate events. I will look into trying a pre-shave oil but I had never done so up to now because I have heard several of the YouTube shaving celebrities say that the pre-shave oils are a waste of money and not needed if you do a proper lathering with the brush and get a good scrub+lather going on the face before shaving.

So that is why I dont own the pre-shave oil at the moment. Since the shaving celebrities all poo-pooed the concept of pre-shave oils

 

[ukbfg]

If it gives you a decent shave, it might be worth having a quick shower. Is it not even worth trying do you think? Why not try shaving in your evening shower and see a few times and see how you get on (Your stubble will be soiftened up nicely from your gym sweat/oil etc)? It makes a huge difference for me and I can use pretty much any soap/razor/blade combination and get a decent shave if I do it in/after a shower.

Maybe they don't need oil, either because they don't have sensitive skin, or because they have mastered their technique. As you're struggling to get a nice close shave with just soap, I thought it'd help. Also using a shave gel will be better I think as it'll give very good slickness and protection without having to worry about making decent lather consistently.

 

[Vineeze]

Here is a picture of the lousy shave I had this morning. You can see I also drew blood on the goatee area. I forgot to mention that this is with the cheap Chinese Baili razor (similar to Vickings brand). On a seperate thread I asked about which of 2 razors was more aggresive and since most people thought that this gold colored Baili lookd to be the more aggressive one that is why I shaved with that one today (But it seems that I got a better shave yesterday using the Parker 22R).

 

[paintflinger]

Im not the kind of person to do Amazon returns willy-nilly either. A product has to truly fail me for me to send it back. THis is my 4th shave with that synthetic brush and it consistently does a p!ss-poor job of lathering. Im not going to swirl a brush longer than 30 seconds to load it, I aint got all day. With the badger hair brush I dont even soak it first and it produces fabulous lather every time.

To the other member's point, the brush doesn't create the lather, you do.

Blaming the brush when you don't want to change your routine is not the brush's fault. It's an inanimate object that is simply meant to mix soap and water.

If the badger is working for you, then that is perfect; you don't need to worry that your routine doesn't work with the synthetic.

Perhaps if you wait some time though and then go back to the synthetic, you'll find you do enjoy it.

 

[Vineeze]

To the other member's point, the brush doesn't create the lather, you do.

Blaming the brush when you don't want to change your routine is not the brush's fault. It's an inanimate object that is simply meant to mix soap and water.

If the badger is working for you, then that is perfect; you don't need to worry that your routine doesn't work with the synthetic.

Perhaps if you wait some time though and then go back to the synthetic, you'll find you do enjoy it.

How do you mean exactly "change my routine"? What changes would need to be made to the technique for

a) Lathering using badger hair brush VERSUS
b) Lathering using a synthetic brush

Because the only thing I have ever read is that you need to soak the badger brush in hot water for like 10 minutes (or however long it takes you to finish your shower and come back out). And I have never bothered to soak the badger brush, it works just fine without any soaking up to now.

 

[ukbfg]

To me it doesn't even look like you've shaved, so something's not right, but I'm out of suggestions. Good luck figuring out where the problem lies.

 

[paintflinger]

Im not going to swirl a brush longer than 30 seconds to load it, I aint got all day.

With the badger hair brush I dont even soak it first and it produces fabulous lather every time.

How do you mean exactly "change my routine"? What changes would need to be made to the technique for

a) Lathering using badger hair brush VERSUS
b) Lathering using a synthetic brush

Because the only thing I have ever read is that you need to soak the badger brush in hot water for like 10 minutes (or however long it takes you to finish your shower and come back out). And I have never bothered to soak the badger brush, it works just fine without any soaking up to now.

The way I read your first quote is that you are unwilling to change your routine to accommodate a different product. If you need to load for 10 seconds or 120 seconds, it doesn't really mean that the brush is bad, it just means that you aren't willing to try to optimize your technique/routine to get the most from it.

Looking at the lather picture you posted, it looks overwatered to me. I have no idea which synthetic brush or badger brush you are using, but my guess is that the synthetic did not load as much soap, which then got overwatered as you lathered. The synthetic brushes tend to require less water to develop the proper lather and that's what I would guess you are seeing.

Since I see that you are lathering in a bowl (I prefer face lathering if you are wondering), I would scoop out some of the TOBS and smear it all over the bottom of your bowl (about an almonds worth or more). Take your damp synthetic brush (wet and then wrung out) and start to swirl the brush tips in the cream. If the lather looks too dry, add a bit more water and keep building until you get the lather you like. A fantastic video for this approach (he is using the soap puck and his palm rather than a bowl) is MerkurMan on youtube. Check that out for a good example. The key thing to take away is that it is less about the swirling and more about getting the right mix of soap/water, not air.

As far as soaking badgers go, I just rinse mine under the water for 10 seconds or so until I feel like the hairs are wet and then I wring it/shake it out and proceed to load my soap. Personally, I feel that soaking badgers doesn't do much so I think you are on the right track there.

I'm not trying to sell you on the idea that the synthetic brush needs to be good, it's more the idea that you should always question what YOU are doing and try to improve, rather than just say it is the product. Sometimes it is the product (I recently binned Mike's Barbershop for just being subpar in my experience), but more often it is the user.

I hope this advice helps. Overall, based on the images you seem to be getting pretty smooth shaves, so just keep it up.

 

[ukbfg]

That was kindof my point about trying oils and gels instead of soaps. Making lather seems to be a bit of an art form in it's own right and gels and oils are consistently easy and great for providing a layer of lubrication and protection for your sensitive skin to prevnet irritation.

 

[Vineeze]

Thanks guys,

I think we can finally get to the bottom of this mystery. @GearNoir has agreed to have me ship the brush to him and he will be taking the brush thru its paces and posting a review on it.

So he should get it by Thursday or Friday and we will stay tuned for his report.

In the interim tommorrow's shave will be with badger brush + proraso green hard puck and the Parker 22R. I have been introducing too many variables and the experiment has gotten way off track.

 

[paintflinger]

Here's a couple of shots of the lather I got with TOBS Sandalwood from the Great Sandalwood shaveoff:

The Sandalwood Shaveoff
The Sandalwood Shaveoff

 

[paintflinger]

That was kindof my point about trying oils and gels instead of soaps. Making lather seems to be a bit of an art form in it's own right and gels and oils are consistently easy and great for providing a layer of lubrication and protection for your sensitive skin to prevnet irritation.

...lather really isn't that hard. People make it harder for themselves by doing stuff like counting swirls, trying to be frugal with soap use, bowl lathering, etc.

I've used olive oil to shave (it works, but is hugely messy) and I've used the gels (they're ok, not great). If you are referring to pre-shave oils, they really aren't there to provide slickness, but to condition the skin. Most people newer to pre-shave oils actually end up using way too much. 2 drops or so, mixed with water, and then thoroughly rubbed into the skin.

 

[carel]

Here is a picture of the lousy shave I had this morning. You can see I also drew blood on the goatee area. I forgot to mention that this is with the cheap Chinese Baili razor (similar to Vickings brand). On a seperate thread I asked about which of 2 razors was more aggresive and since most people thought that this gold colored Baili lookd to be the more aggressive one that is why I shaved with that one today (But it seems that I got a better shave yesterday using the Parker 22R).

If I may ask, how long strokes do you do with the razor? short quick strokes or long?

 

[GearNoir]

Thanks guys,

I think we can finally get to the bottom of this mystery. @GearNoir has agreed to have me ship the brush to him and he will be taking the brush thru its paces and posting a review on it.

So he should get it by Thursday or Friday and we will stay tuned for his report.

In the interim tommorrow's shave will be with badger brush + proraso green hard puck and the Parker 22R. I have been introducing too many variables and the experiment has gotten way off track.

I’m not saying it will be definitive, but we’ll get it figured out yet!

 

[Josh Gribble]

Im a little confuse


Am I reading this correctly that you say a 3 pass shave all WTG? I had been doing 1 pass WTG and then pass 2 Sideways (not shaving the neck area at all on pass 2 (only above the jawline) and then pass 3 sideways in the opposite direction as pass 2 (again not shaving the neck at all). And then feeling with my hand to see where it is still rough and putting some later on those patches and shaving them by "buffing"

I also found that for my sideburns and cheeks that I can actually just skip the WTG and go straight to sideways on the first pass. On my face those areas are very tough and resilient and even tolerate a full ATG on pass 3 if I want to do it. But afterwards it If did do ATG it will burn alot when I splash the Witch Hazel at the end so does that mean I removed the top layer of skin when I feel a deep burn?

I havent used alcohol aftershaveas at all since beginning because I want to go with mildest products first and work my way up,

I was responding to an earlier post when you said you were planning on doing only 2 passes since 3rd pass is diminishing returns. Sounds from your reply like you moved away from that idea.

To clarify: I am suggesting doing a third pass with or across the grain rather than stopping at 2 passes. If you are shaving at a good angle and no pressure this should be pretty irritation free. The razor should smoothly glide across your face. If not then I'd keep working at it until you can do it smoothly with no irritation. This obviously wont get you nearly as close as ATG but will be closer than stopping at 2 passes and good practice for your technique. Once you are able to do that I'd suggest adding against the grain on the third pass.

 

[YKMV]

To quote @UncleMonkey
"Someone might swear by using bat guano"
I don't know how he discovered my secret ingredient, but now I'll have to change my formula again.. Drat!

@Vineeze
Where, out of curiosity, are you?
Anywhere near a large city with access to some good barber shops that do shaves?

 

[UncleMonkey]

Give it a try before overthinking it. Your skin will warm up prior to actually shaving. Using cold water has more to do with not heating the skin up and sensitizing it prior to the shave imo.

No I'm not knocking it because I know it works quite well for some people but it doesn't work for me. Everyone is different. It is all about finding the right combination for the individual. The OP said he liked the cold water.

 

[paintflinger]

No I'm not knocking it because I know it works quite well for some people but it doesn't work for me. Everyone is different. It is all about finding the right combination for the individual. The OP said he liked the cold water.

Fair enough.