A journal of a Cajun's life wet shaving

[cajunrph]

Shave Date 11/29/23 Straight Razor Shave #15
Razor: Straight: Boker Unrivaled 11/16 DE: Yates 'Merica
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(4)
Pre-Shave: PAA The Cube 2.0
Soap: Southern Witchcraft Labyrinth
Brush: PAA Atomic Rocket
Post-shave: Alum block, Thayers Witch Hazel, PAA Mysterium Serium, Southern Witchcraft Labyrinth A/S.
Rating: 28/30 9 for Comfort(Neck and facial irritation), 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 9 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Notes:

Less irritation today, but still the alum block let me know there were some areas to improve on. It is the slightest of redness, but it is red. It is really splitting hairs. Pun intended. The shave today was delayed as I was finalizing the Penn Blue Slate purchase and I didn't start till almost the top of the hour, when I usually start between 5 and 10 minutes earlier. I did make sure I was not rushing with the Boker today, I took a deep breath to calm down the adrenalin and started the shave nice and slowly. The Boker felt a tad more comfortable than yesterday's Paul Drees. Ever so slightly, but still more comfortable. I am getting quite close on the neck with just WTG passes with the straight, closer than I ever got with the DE razors.

It is said that a straight has an infinite number of shave angles vs DE razors, and I am noticing that as my skills are progressing. I can easily change the angle of the blade by laying down or raising the spine. I can go much shallower with the straight than I can with any DE, which leads to smoother shaves on the neck where I concentrate on low angles and light pressure. I just try and shave the cream off cleanly, if I do that I get some close shave with WTG passes.

Face stretching is a work in progress. I never really messed with face stretching when I was DE shaving exclusively as the safety bar does that for you well enough. I know why GeoFatboy on YouTube wears the bandanas while straight shaving now. My routine is to fix my hair, what's left, right after I get out of the shower. Face stretching requires the off-hand to go over my head to pull the skin up which jacks up my fixed hair. It doesn't matter much as the helmet jacks it up the rest of the way before I get to work. Good thing I married. Haha. Anywho, the problem area is closer to the beard and nose, there's no real way to stretch that area so I just puff out the cheeks with either air or my tongue. Welp the tongue tends to leave a hill and if you aren't careful you'll top the hill. I didn't cut myself today but I sure did shave an ever-so-small sliver of skin off, it was hard to see but it looks like a dry patch of skin. The reason I know it is not a dry patch is 1) I just had shaving cream on the area 2) it wasn't there before, and 3) I could see the sliver of skin sticking up. But it went right back down when I touched it. I also thought I nicked my neck today, angles and pressure thing again. I'm working on it, I'm working on it.

Witchcraft Wednesday necessitated that I pull out one of my Southern Witchcraft soaps. I had already used the Autumn Ash soap last week, so Labyrinth got the call. It is a great scent, one that could be a year rounder. I don't know what it is based on, but it is more on the lines of the Creed Aventus dups, vs any barbershop scents. I like it and so did my drowsy bride this morning.

I'm going to hone some of my razors soon. Right now I have 4 fully restored shave condition straights in various states of sharpness, all will shave off a beard fine, some a tad rougher than others. I have a 5th headed here that is honed and shave-ready. On top of that, I have 6 French straights in various needs of reconditioning, three others from eBay that claimed to be shave-ready but won't even cut the hairs off my arm, and 2 other Gold Dollar razors I'm bidding on from eBay. So I have plenty to get me started on learning how to hone. Some will need a full bevel set others may only need a touch-up. The Gold Dollar ones are cheap, if I win the bid, and are ideal to learn on as if I fubar it all up, I'm not out too much cash.

15 shaves in and I am pleased with the progress. I need to try XTG passes at some point. I will read up and watch videos of various folks doing XTG passes to develop my style here, like I did with the WTG passes. If the XTG works out as well as the ones with the DE razors, I can go full straight razor shaving, well almost full. I still need to figure out the inside of the goatee area. I almost tried it with the straight earlier in the week, but I said nope and better heads prevailed. The DE will be around longer to take care of the tricky areas. A beard and mustache make it easier in some ways, no fools pass, but harder in other areas if you trim up the inside of the goatee. You take some, you give some.

I wish everyone a blessed Wednesday. May all your shaves be great.

 

[cajunrph]

In the early going with my acquisition of brushes I had never heard of or knew there was such a thing as brush burn. I already have sensitive skin, with the added brush burn of breaking boars. That cured me real quick. I wouldn’t use any brush until fully broken in and multiple hand latherings to confirm a fully tamed boar. They continued to develop with softness and luxury. I also moved more towards using and incorporating tip use only, especially when a little scrub was desired. My previous long use of silvertips had created poor brush habits. Splaying a brush accomplishes very little in a shave other than wasting time. Exclusive use of a big boar now has turned out to be my huckleberry.

Humm. I’m splaying the tarnation out of the boars. Maybe I need to do some more break in with the brushes. I do hand lathering to break in my Boars as well as stropping on a towel. But only once or twice before they are used. I may have to rethink that. Spend more time with my boars and break them in good. My Omega boar is the best.

 

[blethenstrom]

Shave Date 11/29/23 Straight Razor Shave #15
Razor: Straight: Boker Unrivaled 11/16 DE: Yates 'Merica
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(4)
Pre-Shave: PAA The Cube 2.0
Soap: Southern Witchcraft Labyrinth
Brush: PAA Atomic Rocket
Post-shave: Alum block, Thayers Witch Hazel, PAA Mysterium Serium, Southern Witchcraft Labyrinth A/S.
Rating: 28/30 9 for Comfort(Neck and facial irritation), 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 9 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Notes:

Less irritation today, but still the alum block let me know there were some areas to improve on. It is the slightest of redness, but it is red. It is really splitting hairs. Pun intended. The shave today was delayed as I was finalizing the Penn Blue Slate purchase and I didn't start till almost the top of the hour, when I usually start between 5 and 10 minutes earlier. I did make sure I was not rushing with the Boker today, I took a deep breath to calm down the adrenalin and started the shave nice and slowly. The Boker felt a tad more comfortable than yesterday's Paul Drees. Ever so slightly, but still more comfortable. I am getting quite close on the neck with just WTG passes with the straight, closer than I ever got with the DE razors.

It is said that a straight has an infinite number of shave angles vs DE razors, and I am noticing that as my skills are progressing. I can easily change the angle of the blade by laying down or raising the spine. I can go much shallower with the straight than I can with any DE, which leads to smoother shaves on the neck where I concentrate on low angles and light pressure. I just try and shave the cream off cleanly, if I do that I get some close shave with WTG passes.

Face stretching is a work in progress. I never really messed with face stretching when I was DE shaving exclusively as the safety bar does that for you well enough. I know why GeoFatboy on YouTube wears the bandanas while straight shaving now. My routine is to fix my hair, what's left, right after I get out of the shower. Face stretching requires the off-hand to go over my head to pull the skin up which jacks up my fixed hair. It doesn't matter much as the helmet jacks it up the rest of the way before I get to work. Good thing I married. Haha. Anywho, the problem area is closer to the beard and nose, there's no real way to stretch that area so I just puff out the cheeks with either air or my tongue. Welp the tongue tends to leave a hill and if you aren't careful you'll top the hill. I didn't cut myself today but I sure did shave an ever-so-small sliver of skin off, it was hard to see but it looks like a dry patch of skin. The reason I know it is not a dry patch is 1) I just had shaving cream on the area 2) it wasn't there before, and 3) I could see the sliver of skin sticking up. But it went right back down when I touched it. I also thought I nicked my neck today, angles and pressure thing again. I'm working on it, I'm working on it.

Witchcraft Wednesday necessitated that I pull out one of my Southern Witchcraft soaps. I had already used the Autumn Ash soap last week, so Labyrinth got the call. It is a great scent, one that could be a year rounder. I don't know what it is based on, but it is more on the lines of the Creed Aventus dups, vs any barbershop scents. I like it and so did my drowsy bride this morning.

I'm going to hone some of my razors soon. Right now I have 4 fully restored shave condition straights in various states of sharpness, all will shave off a beard fine, some a tad rougher than others. I have a 5th headed here that is honed and shave-ready. On top of that, I have 6 French straights in various needs of reconditioning, three others from eBay that claimed to be shave-ready but won't even cut the hairs off my arm, and 2 other Gold Dollar razors I'm bidding on from eBay. So I have plenty to get me started on learning how to hone. Some will need a full bevel set others may only need a touch-up. The Gold Dollar ones are cheap, if I win the bid, and are ideal to learn on as if I fubar it all up, I'm not out too much cash.

15 shaves in and I am pleased with the progress. I need to try XTG passes at some point. I will read up and watch videos of various folks doing XTG passes to develop my style here, like I did with the WTG passes. If the XTG works out as well as the ones with the DE razors, I can go full straight razor shaving, well almost full. I still need to figure out the inside of the goatee area. I almost tried it with the straight earlier in the week, but I said nope and better heads prevailed. The DE will be around longer to take care of the tricky areas. A beard and mustache make it easier in some ways, no fools pass, but harder in other areas if you trim up the inside of the goatee. You take some, you give some.

I wish everyone a blessed Wednesday. May all your shaves be great.

View attachment 1756038
View attachment 1756039

I am pretty sure you know about the trick to wet your fingers and rub them on the alum block to get a better grip on the skin while stretching. I use that myself sometimes even though I am not straight shaving.

 

[cajunrph]

I am pretty sure you know about the trick to wet your fingers and rub them on the alum block to get a better grip on the skin while stretching. I use that myself sometimes even though I am not straight shaving.

Yep, been doing that. I also learnt it was advantageous to take said alum block out and set it on the side of the sink BEFORE the shave, rather than fumble around for the block while holding a sharp blade with lather falling off the blade. That took one time for me to learn that, sorta like Sister Edmunds whooping in front of my first-grade class. I have no idea what I did, but I darn sure didn't do it again, I know that much. She said bend down and touch your toes, I thought that's silly why am I doing calisthenics then wack.......That's all I remember.

 

[huck1680]

I thought that's silly why am I doing calisthenics then wack...

Yep...the ol' "beat it out of them approach.."

 

[cajunrph]

Shave Date 11/30/23 Straight Razor Shave #16
Razor: Straight: Unknown "Best" Solingen 7/8 DE: 1948 Super Speed
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(5)
Pre-Shave: PAA The Cube 2.0
Soap: Sterling Executive Man
Brush: Zenith 502 Blue/Green wave boar
Post-shave: Alum block, Thayers Witch Hazel, PAA Mysterium Serium, Sterling Executive Man A/S.
Rating: 28/30 10 for Comfort(Nada), 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 9 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Notes:

An interesting shave today. Going in, I fully expected this to be a shave on the more irritating side of the spectrum, so much for preconceived notions. This was quite a pleasant shave. I do have some spots here and there red, as I will until my skill level allows me to shave without any "mishaps." I was very conscious of pressure and angle today in order to avoid irritation. Which I did for the most part. I did detect more stubble left after the straight portion of the shave. Although much less irritation today, the straight was less efficient on its passes. I am getting better at shaving around the beard area. Interesting enough is that my left hand is a tad better than the right. Likely because I’m going slower and more cautious. I’m glad I heeded the advice to shave with both hands, left on left and right on right. It feels natural now. Just 16 shaves into it. I am much pleased with this.

I used my newly broken in Zenith boar. I finished up the break-in yesterday. I did a few hand latherings on it. I was pleasantly surprised with how soft it is for being newly broken in. It seems to be softer than the Zenith Boar I have been using for a few months. I was going to use another brush, but this one fit in with the green color scheme of the rest of the shave gear. This brush should only get better with each shave as it continues to break in. A great addition for DecemBOAR.

I need to hone one of these razors before I attempt to hone the Drees. Or maybe I should hone the Drees and see what I get out of it. I do have some eBay razors in need of a hone, despite the listing claiming they are "shave ready", they ain't.

I will use by Dan's Black Ark as is for the finishing stone. I have read many conflicting opinions of if a Black Ark from Dan's needs to be lapped or burnished. I do see where some say they lap an Ark, but don’t necessarily mention a Dan’s Ark. Also, some burnish with a chisel or old knife, others are vehemently opposed to burnishing any Ark. I have read someone called or was in contact with Dan's and was told that Arks from Dan's are ready for a razor. What’s the truth? I don’t know, but I will follow the advice given to me, 50 laps on my 12k Naniwa and 200-300 on the Black Ark. Then some 60 odd laps on the leather strop. Will see what kind of edge this puts on the razor.

As of now, I will not use a diamond pasted balsa strop. Again, the advice on this one is all over the place, but I have read many posts on how an edge from a natural stone is more comfortable than an edge from a diamond balsa strop. I have to start somewhere, and this is where I'll start. I'd like to put an end to paralysis by analysis now and just get to honing. Furthermore, I have someone in the wings (Steve56) who is capable of honing the razor if my attempts fail. I also have a Penn Blue Slate on the way for a natural finishing stone. I likely would have outgrown the pasted balsa strops anyway, so I outgrew then from the start.

Rainy day on the Texas Gulf coast, and no, we aren't going to get cooler weather from this rain. In fact, fall is going away for a few weeks, back to the warmer temps. At least I don't have to shovel snow. I wish everyone a blessed Thursday and may all your shaves be great.

 

[Balin]

Rating: 28/30 10 for Comfort(Nada), 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 9 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Did you put this easter egg in to make sure we read all of your post? I get a 29 rating!!

 

[cajunrph]

DecemBOAR 1 of 31
Shave Date 12/1/23 Straight Razor Shave #17
Razor: Straight: Paul Drees "Sistrum" DE: Military Issue Tech
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(1)
Pre-Shave: PAA The Cube 2.0
Soap: PAA Awesome Sauce
Brush: Omega 10049 Boar in black
Post-shave: Alum block, Thayers Witch Hazel, PAA Mysterium Serium, Bootleggers El Dorado A/S for the Win!!!!!.
Rating: 29/30 10 for Comfort, 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 9 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Notes:

First day of DecemBOAR and the last blade of this tuck. I’ll join the illustrious TaaT group. If for only one tuck. Haha.

Well, I am not going to have preconceived notions going into a shave, as today I expected this one to be on the harsh side. It wasn't. I do realize the Drees needs some attention as it has had a few shaves under its belt so far. Today when I was stropping it I could hear more "singing" at the start of the stropping. This feedback was less prominent as the stropping progressed, at the end of the 60 laps I heard no singing.

There are different schools of thought to stropping, some say the lightest of touch, others say to put your arse into it. I can't confirm this, but I feel I was holding back on placing the full weight of the blade on the strop in an effort to use an ultra-light touch. Maybe I was keeping pressure off the edge ever so slightly and this made for a less than optimal edge. Whatever it was, today I made sure the blade's edge was in full contact with the strop as I was doing the laps. Not necessarily applying more pressure to the edge, but not holding it back.

Today's shave was less irritating than when I used the Drees the last time, was it the stropping? Or maybe the Prorasco Green Dupe PAA soap menthol content? Whatever it was, I'll take it. I just need to narrow down the source of it. I did face lather today, so it's not from the scrubbing of the boar on the face.

I have some beater straights I will attempt to hone today from bevel set to shave ready. If I get this in one day great. But day one of honing is tomorrow, after work and before the Bama/Georgia Game. In regards to touching up the Drees, I may shave with it a few longer and concentrate on proper stropping, as today's shave was not too far off optimal. To become proficient at touching up a razor on a stone, learning how to set a bevel is a tremendous step forward. Sometimes we look for a shortcut so long, the regular path would have been faster if we just took the first step. I'm gonna step into the honing arena tomorrow and see how it goes.

Another week in the books, I wish everyone a blessed Friday and weekend, may all your shaves be fantastic.

 

[Eric_75]

Have a blessed weekend, John.

 

[cajunrph]

Did you put this easter egg in to make sure we read all of your post? I get a 29 rating!!

Not an intended easter egg, I copy and paste from the previous days shave, the number of oversights is in direct correlation to how busy I am at work. Haha. But thanks, I checked just now for today's post and I forgot to change the rating. Haha.

 

[cajunrph]

Have a blessed weekend, John.

You as well Eric. Keep warm up there.

 

[cajunrph]

DecemBOAR 2 of 31
Shave Date 12/2/23 Straight Razor Shave #18
Razor: Straight: Dovo Bismark, DE: 1967 TTO Adjustable Slim
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(2)
Pre-Shave: PAA The Cube 2.0
Soap: PAA The Watcher
Brush: Zenith Unbleached Boar Black Handle
Post-shave: Alum block, Thayers Witch Hazel, PAA Mysterium Serium, PAA The Watcher.
Rating: 29/30 10 for Comfort, 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 9 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Notes:

Straight shave no. 18 in the books and it was a very comfortable one. Despite using one of my more scrubby boars. The straight today is a new one to me, arriving yesterday in the mail. I was told it was honed prior to sending it out and was shave ready. I must say it was a very comfortable shave. I didn't feel the blade like I do with the other straights, but it was wacking off whiskers with abandon. At first, I didn't think it was removing any whiskers, but upon inspection, the lather with said wacked whiskers on the blade proved otherwise. I was a tad too confident in this blade while on the neck, I noticed too much pressure and the angle was too steep. But all was well, this blade did not bit me at all.

The GSB is doing a fine job as always, wacking down what the straights left behind. As is par for the course lately, I did not do any ATG work on the face, just the jawline. The face gets diagonal passes from chin to ear, an in between XTG and ATG pass. The GSB delivered another very close shave. I do realize the GSB is covering up much of my lacking technique with the straights in the field of closeness of the shave. But it sure does feel smooth. I'll kill off this tuck and figure out XTG passes with the straight, then maybe retire the DE, except for trim work inside the beard. Is it cheating to use the DE while learning to straight razor shave? I don't think so, there are no rules here, just shaving however you see fit.

I don't check how close of a shave I get on the WTG passes with the straights, as in the back of my mind I know I will handle what is left with the DE razors. I do need to feel around after each pass and see what is left. I did that somewhat today, felt after each pass. The procedure was, rinse the face once with a wet hand, then fell about to see what was left. I used whatever residual lather I had on my face as a preshave cream for the next pass. It worked pretty well. I also noticed today I was being laxed on my face stretching at one point, relying on puffing out the cheek. On the area around the mustache and beard, I can't really stretch the area with my off hand, no where to grip, so I puff out my cheek. I realized I was doing this on a section of the cheek where I could hand stretch, when I did stretch the area properly, those whiskers were sacrificed at the altar of the Dovo Bismark, some of them, it was just a WTG pass. But I did hear much more whisker wacking when the area was properly stretched. I need to figure out the XTG passes next, besides the honing.

This boar has always been one of my more scrubby ones, and I figured out why. It is the only unbleached boar I own. Ahhh, that's it, the bleaching process softens the bristles somewhat. I will do some extra break in on this brush and more stropping on it as well. My others I just broke in are ahead of this one as far as softness goes.

Honing, honing, what to do, what to do. This is what I'm going to do, I will attempt to refresh one of my straights razors I have in my shaving rotation that could benefit from a touch up with the Naniwa 10k and 12k first. See how it shaves tomorrow. I will also try and restore and hone one of my other razors that are not shave ready. I need to round the edges of my Dan's Black Ark before I try and do any X laps, less I fubar my edge I worked hard to make. As is said, ya gonna learn today!!!!

An overcast day on the Texas Gulf Coast, I wish everyone a blessed Saturday, may all your shaves be the best.

 

[Osyri]

Fantastic shave! I have just 1 issue, but later on that!

How many straight razors have you brought so far? Am I gonna get one in my xmas stocking this year?

The GSB is doing a fine job as always

This is my issue, why are you taking my cheese points Uncle John!

 

[cajunrph]

How many straight razors have you brought so far?

I currently have 5 that are in shave condition. And I have 9 or 10 in need of various kinds of restoration, from simple bevel set to full on restorations. This is a deep rabbit hole.

Am I gonna get one in my xmas stocking this year?

Some of the ones I have to restore would be good stocking stuffers. It’s all depends on if I pick this up fast enough.

This is my issue, why are you taking my cheese points Uncle John!

It’s all part of the Bishop fast track program. I bet you haven’t even recited your Blue’gorian chants today. Gone head. Go outside and do them.

 

[huck1680]

Did you always have some straights or is this a new path/rabbit hole which you are embarking on? Curious because I had 4 straights I never used and wound up giving them away to someone who actually uses them.

 

[cajunrph]

Did you always have some straights or is this a new path/rabbit hole which you are embarking on? Curious because I had 4 straights I never used and wound up giving them away to someone who actually uses them.

It's a new rabbit hole. I initially joined BnB way back in 2011 because I was interested in Straights. But the Feather blood bath sorta thwarted my desire to go down that path. I notice many have straights of some sort here but DE shave. I wonder what the back story is that the straights are idle for some members.

 

[cajunrph]

DecemBOAR 3 of 31
Shave Date 12/3/23 Straight Razor Shave #19
Razor: Straight: Unknown "Best" Solingen 7/8, DE: 1948 Super Speed
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(2)
Pre-Shave: PAA The Cube 2.0
Soap: RazoRock The Dead Sea
Brush: Zenith507IF Italian Flag Boar
Post-shave: Alum block, Thayers Witch Hazel, Nieva Sensitive Skin Cooling aftershave balm/RR The Dead Sea A/S
Rating: 28/30 10 for Comfort, 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 8 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Notes:

The straighat handled all of the shaving today, except for inside the goatee. I figured out XTG work on the cheek. I'd need to shave from the right ear to the left ear of the face for the most efficient XTG pass on the face. Oddly enough it was easier to shave XTG on the left side in the chin to ear pass, I was unable to figure out ear to chin in the right side with the right hand to shave that side closely. I ended up doing passes chin to ear. Stretching on the XTG pass is a challenge as well. I will need to research the best way to shave XTG on the various parts of the face but today was a great shave.

I did touch up this razor on my Naniwa 12K stone last night. I followed up with 10 strops on a pasted strop then 60 on my leather strop. This morning I heard the razor singing a bit while I was stropping on the leahter strop. I decided to do 10 more laps on the pasted strop then 10 laps on the clean cloth strop and back to the leather side of the strop for 60 laps. I did verify with the loop that the bevel was still set. I was pleased with the edge.

It was a very comfortable shave today. I did verify the straight was wacking down whiskers with a visual inspection of the lather before wiping it off the blade. I had a very slight amount of irritation on the face from the XTG passes I made with the straight. I did a few passes to get as much as I could. The jawline is nowhere as smooth on the right side as usual due to no ATG work, which is an ear to chin pass, that I couldn't figure out, On the left side it is not as smooth as normal but still a very acceptable shave. I do need to do more of the shave with the straight so that I will improve faster. If I am forced to live with extra stubble during the day then I will put more effort into the next shave to avoid that. Today's edge was quite comfortable, and I had the confidence to go after the XTG passes. I will see how this shave looks at 5 pm when I head to church for my Sunday night duties. It will be interesting to see how much stubble has regrown over the 8 hours from the shave in the morning.

I cut the shave short, as my wife and I were having a "discussion" and I didn't feel like it was prudent to attempt to get any closer shave given the ongoing "discussion." Although I am glad I remained calm while I had the straight in my hand. Those prayers for patience work. Haha.

I wish everyone a blessed Sunday, may all your shaves be great.

 

[Osyri]

DecemBOAR 3 of 31
Shave Date 12/3/23 Straight Razor Shave #19
Razor: Straight: Unknown "Best" Solingen 7/8, DE: 1948 Super Speed
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(2)
Pre-Shave: PAA The Cube 2.0
Soap: RazoRock The Dead Sea
Brush: Zenith507IF Italian Flag Boar
Post-shave: Alum block, Thayers Witch Hazel, Nieva Sensitive Skin Cooling aftershave balm/RR The Dead Sea A/S
Rating: 28/30 10 for Comfort, 10 for cuts and weepers (1), 8 for closeness, neck stubble, Face DFS.

Notes:

The straighat handled all of the shaving today, except for inside the goatee. I figured out XTG work on the cheek. I'd need to shave from the right ear to the left ear of the face for the most efficient XTG pass on the face. Oddly enough it was easier to shave XTG on the left side in the chin to ear pass, I was unable to figure out ear to chin in the right side with the right hand to shave that side closely. I ended up doing passes chin to ear. Stretching on the XTG pass is a challenge as well. I will need to research the best way to shave XTG on the various parts of the face but today was a great shave.

I did touch up this razor on my Naniwa 12K stone last night. I followed up with 10 strops on a pasted strop then 60 on my leather strop. This morning I heard the razor singing a bit while I was stropping on the leahter strop. I decided to do 10 more laps on the pasted strop then 10 laps on the clean cloth strop and back to the leather side of the strop for 60 laps. I did verify with the loop that the bevel was still set. I was pleased with the edge.

It was a very comfortable shave today. I did verify the straight was wacking down whiskers with a visual inspection of the lather before wiping it off the blade. I had a very slight amount of irritation on the face from the XTG passes I made with the straight. I did a few passes to get as much as I could. The jawline is nowhere as smooth on the right side as usual due to no ATG work, which is an ear to chin pass, that I couldn't figure out, On the left side it is not as smooth as normal but still a very acceptable shave. I do need to do more of the shave with the straight so that I will improve faster. If I am forced to live with extra stubble during the day then I will put more effort into the next shave to avoid that. Today's edge was quite comfortable, and I had the confidence to go after the XTG passes. I will see how this shave looks at 5 pm when I head to church for my Sunday night duties. It will be interesting to see how much stubble has regrown over the 8 hours from the shave in the morning.

I cut the shave short, as my wife and I were having a "discussion" and I didn't feel like it was prudent to attempt to get any closer shave given the ongoing "discussion." Although I am glad I remained calm while I had the straight in my hand. Those prayers for patience work. Haha.

I wish everyone a blessed Sunday, may all your shaves be great.

View attachment 1758393

Damn amazing Uncle John! Can't wait for the day to read about your first ATG shave with a straight!

What are you views so far on DE vs Straights XTG thus far? Time commitment, closeness, and comfort?

 

[cajunrph]

Damn amazing Uncle John! Can't wait for the day to read about your first ATG shave with a straight!

What are you views so far on DE vs Straights XTG thus far? Time commitment, closeness, and comfort?

Truth be told, I get a much faster and closer shave with the DE at this point in the game. But only because I can go ATG with the DE and my confidence and/or skill isn’t high enough yet with the straights. Right now it takes about 30 to 40 minutes start to finish with the Straights. Including stropping and taking the pic. I could rearrange how I do my mornings and strop in some dead time. What I do is wake up about 2 1/2 hours before I have to leave for work. In that time I make coffee, listen to various podcast and do my morning prayers and meditations. I could very well strop the razor while listening to the podcast and cut down on time. A de shave took about 15 minutes. As I do more work with the straights, my time shaving is likely to increase. I realize that and I’m going to start earlier tomorrow to compensate. We’ll see how this works out. I’m blessed that I have the flexibility in my schedule to work this in. I’m watching a GeoFatboy shave now. He gets it done in 10 minutes or so. I’m sure I can get a straight shave to about 20 minutes. My 30-40 minute shave counts clean up and proper storage of the razors. The Straight gets some oil on the blade.

To answer your question in a shorter more concise manner. Right now at my current skill level, a DE only shave is about 15-20 minutes vs 30-40 minutes with the straight. Twice as long sounds like a lot. 15 minutes longer doesn’t sound so bad. As a percentage of the day it’s just 1% longer. It’s all how you look at it. Haha.

 

[Flanders]

Wait until you discover that shaving S-N is actually easier… but the stakes higher!

But seriously, having your hand below your eye level is really nice and you can relax your shoulders. You just have to have your stretch game dialed in is all… and watch that point or goodbye earlobe. I am a huge proponent of S-N if it isn’t already obvious, but the thing I have said before is that it allows you to shave out away from any facial obstruction whereas N-S provides a lot of opportunities to clip something with the toe or the heel.