so, I got my package from WCS after waiting for about 4-5 days.
I waited a day to do my first shave (Saturday) as I was worried about getting cut where I had a spot of acne on the bottom of my chin.
Step 1 (the lather):
There I was, moving my brush in circles over and over again with virtually no foam. All that was in the bowl was a thin coating of soap that did not resemble what I had seen online. Then I had an epiphany! Perhaps I need to apply pressure to the brush. Once this was done, the proraso soap lathered up just fine! After that, I went at my face with it for a bit until I was nice and lathered up.
Step 2 (the "with the grain" leap of faith):
With my plate 3 attached to my Rockwell 6s and an included Rockwell blade inserted, I began to attempt my first pass. I noticed that it was pulling at some hair, but I could not feel the blade on my face at all (about 5 days growth) and it was cutting very little each time I did a strip. I finished the first pass and still had quite a bit remaining.
Step 3 (overconfidence?):
After having had little effect with the first pass, but no discomfort or cutting, I decided to go up a notch. I switch the base plate and went to setting no.5 of 6. I then relathered, but this time trying out the snakebite menthol soap that I had ordered.
First thing to note, holy hell this stuff has menthol! It tingled a lot more than it burned and had a great cooling sensation. There was no feeling as if I had cut myself or had any irritation though.
After having relathered with the snake bit soap, I then tried a second with the grain pass. I finished this up once again with no issues or discomfort and also remembered to do short strokes instead of long ones. This helped clear a lot of what had remained and much more easily!
Step 4 (I should probably stop):
After having a much more successful second path and having plenty of lather, I decided what the hell and gave it a go with against the grain
. After lathering a third time, I then went ahead and did against the grain. some issues, but not many! I had to go slow and do really short strokes around my chin and ended up getting a tiny cut on the mole on my chin, but this was entirely my fault and could have been prevented. Barely any blood from it, so I was still happy. I then did my mustache area which resulted in two tiny spots, one on either side. This I attribute to not tightening the skin at first and once I did that I didn't have any more issues.
Step 5 (Alum and aftershave):
I rinsed off and then used the alum stick all over to see if there were any spots besides the 3 I knew off. Unbelievably, those were the only spots that had any irritation whatsoever! Then moved on to aftershave and disassembled the razor to clean it.
Conclusion:
I was very careful not to apply any full pressure, but after a min I figured I could hold it such that the razor would not fall away from skin, but also so that no extra pressure were applied. There was one moment where, having my mouth open for some reason and doing under my bottom lip, I accidently over shot my stroke and hit a tooth with the head of the razor. It wasn't hard luckily due to the speed I was going so no actual damage, but I will be sure never to do that again
.
Anywho, sorry it's a bit lengthy, but figured I'd give a description of how my first shave went. Thinking I'll do my next one today or possibly tomorrow. I'm thinking every two or 3 days probably.
Note: I know that I wasn't supposed to try for BBS, but I couldn't help it
. Also I suck when it comes to pictures.
I waited a day to do my first shave (Saturday) as I was worried about getting cut where I had a spot of acne on the bottom of my chin.
Step 1 (the lather):
There I was, moving my brush in circles over and over again with virtually no foam. All that was in the bowl was a thin coating of soap that did not resemble what I had seen online. Then I had an epiphany! Perhaps I need to apply pressure to the brush. Once this was done, the proraso soap lathered up just fine! After that, I went at my face with it for a bit until I was nice and lathered up.
Step 2 (the "with the grain" leap of faith):
With my plate 3 attached to my Rockwell 6s and an included Rockwell blade inserted, I began to attempt my first pass. I noticed that it was pulling at some hair, but I could not feel the blade on my face at all (about 5 days growth) and it was cutting very little each time I did a strip. I finished the first pass and still had quite a bit remaining.
Step 3 (overconfidence?):
After having had little effect with the first pass, but no discomfort or cutting, I decided to go up a notch. I switch the base plate and went to setting no.5 of 6. I then relathered, but this time trying out the snakebite menthol soap that I had ordered.
First thing to note, holy hell this stuff has menthol! It tingled a lot more than it burned and had a great cooling sensation. There was no feeling as if I had cut myself or had any irritation though.
After having relathered with the snake bit soap, I then tried a second with the grain pass. I finished this up once again with no issues or discomfort and also remembered to do short strokes instead of long ones. This helped clear a lot of what had remained and much more easily!
Step 4 (I should probably stop):
After having a much more successful second path and having plenty of lather, I decided what the hell and gave it a go with against the grain
. After lathering a third time, I then went ahead and did against the grain. some issues, but not many! I had to go slow and do really short strokes around my chin and ended up getting a tiny cut on the mole on my chin, but this was entirely my fault and could have been prevented. Barely any blood from it, so I was still happy. I then did my mustache area which resulted in two tiny spots, one on either side. This I attribute to not tightening the skin at first and once I did that I didn't have any more issues.Step 5 (Alum and aftershave):
I rinsed off and then used the alum stick all over to see if there were any spots besides the 3 I knew off. Unbelievably, those were the only spots that had any irritation whatsoever! Then moved on to aftershave and disassembled the razor to clean it.
Conclusion:
I was very careful not to apply any full pressure, but after a min I figured I could hold it such that the razor would not fall away from skin, but also so that no extra pressure were applied. There was one moment where, having my mouth open for some reason and doing under my bottom lip, I accidently over shot my stroke and hit a tooth with the head of the razor. It wasn't hard luckily due to the speed I was going so no actual damage, but I will be sure never to do that again
.Anywho, sorry it's a bit lengthy, but figured I'd give a description of how my first shave went. Thinking I'll do my next one today or possibly tomorrow. I'm thinking every two or 3 days probably.
Note: I know that I wasn't supposed to try for BBS, but I couldn't help it
. Also I suck when it comes to pictures.
