Well with my new single edge shavette razor in hand it was time to dip toes into the world of straight edge shaving. I've been a cartridge shaver for years now and have been very satisfied with it but I wanted to step up my game.
The plan - Going in the plan was simple; start with one area, perfect it then move onto the next area down the road.
What happened - That plan went out the window when my first cheek came out incredibly smooth. Since it went so well and seemingly on a roll I did my neck as well on that side. Encouraged with a good shave on that side I figured I would give the other side a try with my non-dominant left hand. Sure enough that side came out nice and smooth, actually a closer shave than my right side. I tackled the upper lip with good results. The remaining area was my lower lip and chin. That is where things went off the rails resulting in my first cut (there were a couple of other nicks but those were more reopening of nicks from my dull cartridges). Unable to get the angles right and happy with what I had accomplished so far I called it a day and finished up that area with my cartridge.
The results - Well for a first shave with a single edge shavette, single pass, with the grain - I'm going to give myself an A+. A smooth close shave with only a couple nicks and one cut on the first try. The shave while not on par with where I was able to get my shaves with the cartridge it was very similar to what my old shave was before I started to learn the proper way and techniques of shaving. Mrs. Monkey says it is actually closer, smoother than those shaves. This now my baseline to improve from.
What went wrong - My shaving routine seemed pretty locked in with Proraso White Preshave and hot towel, Williams Mug Shaving Soap and Nivea Sensitive Aftershave Balm. The single edge shave reveal short comings with the mug shaving soap. I had already made to decision to try different shaving soap before but now it would seem to be a necessity. Since it is a relatively new puck and I'm cheap I'm going to keep working with it and the lather to hopefully improve the results until I buy something else. For newbs out there this why you can't lock into one routine - changing one thing (the razor in this case) changes the results of other products, means changes to the routine to get back/improve on previous results
The plan going forward - I will work with the Williams Mug to improve its performance. For the shave itself I will continue with the single passes with the grain until I'm satisfied I have the muscle memory locked in and I can get my lower lip and chin shaved as well. Only then will I start with across the grain. Once those two passes are locked in I will add a third pass against the grain.
The plan - Going in the plan was simple; start with one area, perfect it then move onto the next area down the road.
What happened - That plan went out the window when my first cheek came out incredibly smooth. Since it went so well and seemingly on a roll I did my neck as well on that side. Encouraged with a good shave on that side I figured I would give the other side a try with my non-dominant left hand. Sure enough that side came out nice and smooth, actually a closer shave than my right side. I tackled the upper lip with good results. The remaining area was my lower lip and chin. That is where things went off the rails resulting in my first cut (there were a couple of other nicks but those were more reopening of nicks from my dull cartridges). Unable to get the angles right and happy with what I had accomplished so far I called it a day and finished up that area with my cartridge.
The results - Well for a first shave with a single edge shavette, single pass, with the grain - I'm going to give myself an A+. A smooth close shave with only a couple nicks and one cut on the first try. The shave while not on par with where I was able to get my shaves with the cartridge it was very similar to what my old shave was before I started to learn the proper way and techniques of shaving. Mrs. Monkey says it is actually closer, smoother than those shaves. This now my baseline to improve from.
What went wrong - My shaving routine seemed pretty locked in with Proraso White Preshave and hot towel, Williams Mug Shaving Soap and Nivea Sensitive Aftershave Balm. The single edge shave reveal short comings with the mug shaving soap. I had already made to decision to try different shaving soap before but now it would seem to be a necessity. Since it is a relatively new puck and I'm cheap I'm going to keep working with it and the lather to hopefully improve the results until I buy something else. For newbs out there this why you can't lock into one routine - changing one thing (the razor in this case) changes the results of other products, means changes to the routine to get back/improve on previous results
The plan going forward - I will work with the Williams Mug to improve its performance. For the shave itself I will continue with the single passes with the grain until I'm satisfied I have the muscle memory locked in and I can get my lower lip and chin shaved as well. Only then will I start with across the grain. Once those two passes are locked in I will add a third pass against the grain.
