A newbie’s journey into DE shaving

[Guido75]

What's that Dutchy on the left hand side? (And could you pass it?)

Only if you are young and into music ! Would you believe I actually have that single! Was my first and gifted to me by the late Hans Breukhoven - former owner and founder of Free Record Shop (at its apex the biggest music store chain in the Netherlands)

In this case however it is the brand of soap inside the container and it’s Bergamot. It said Dutchy embossed in the soap as well, but the other side of the container says Kox Bergamot. Available through dutchshavingshop.nl - delivery to Belgium should not be too big of a problem (I have seen other threads where even US members ordered something).

Cheers,

Guido

 

[Guido75]

Proraso Green

My bad by the way - today was Floid’s the Genuine.

Guido

 

[Guido75]

Date​	15.07.2022​
Main Focus:	15/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 194/196 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Floïd the Genuine
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso Green
Brush:	Razorock Plissoft 400
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip SE Open Comb
Blade:	King C. Gillette (17)
Rating:	9/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

Not really much to add to today. I tried no pre shave and instead lathered for a longer time. Smooth and comfortable although my face feels dryer than it usually does.

One tiny weeper that may indicate the longevity of the blade is starting to dissipate, but other than that excellent performance by the KCG.

Lather was a bit of a left over from yesterday. It was really a tiny blob, but the Lather King turned it into a huge pile of lovely lather for excellent shaving.

 

[thombrogan]

The weeper could be the blade or it could be less slickness without your preshave as noticed by the drier feel to your skin.

 

[Guido75]

The weeper could be the blade or it could be less slickness without your preshave as noticed by the drier feel to your skin.

It did feel dryer yes. The learning curve continues .

 

[Guido75]

Date	16.07.2022
Main Focus:	16/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 195/197 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Haslinger Sandelholz
Aftershave:	Floïd the Genuine
Balm:	-
Bowl:	Proraso Green
Brush:	Omega Super Badger
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Mühle R41
Blade:	Dorco ST300HQ (3)
Rating:	10/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

Easy did it. Simple shave, no fancy stuff. Took time lathering up and made sure to use no pressure and the right angle. Three passes to BBS bliss.

Brush seems to perform less. Backbone is gone and it spleens by just looking at it. Hairs felt a bit rougher to this morning. Will be monitoring what is to happen going forward.

 

[Guido75]

Date​	17.07.2022​
Main Focus:	17/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 195/197 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel
Blade:	Tiger Platinum (6)
Rating:	7/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

The Lavanda provides excellent lather and while face lathering it is a nice prep to my skin. Shave was good given the circumstances and without irritation, nicks or weepers I was set for the day. No BBS but that wasn’t today’s goal.

 

[Guido75]

Date	18.07.2022​
Main Focus:	18/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 196/199 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel
Blade:	King C. Gillette (1)
Rating:	10/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

What a difference a new blade makes and my favourite blade at that. Smooth sailing to an almost BBS finish. Excellent way to start the day!

 

[Guido75]

Date	19.07.2022
Main Focus:	19/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 197/200 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel
Blade:	King C. Gillette (2)
Rating:	8/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

Less smooth than yesterday and a couple of weepers on the neck. All in me for wanting to go too fast. Still a great shave overall with excellent lather - I had the feeling I was shaving without a blade!

Used my Gillette Slide again for a change. Made less of a difference than earlier on. Either my technique improved (which I like to believe obviously) or it was just happenstance.

 

[Guido75]

Date​	20.07.2022​
Main Focus:	20/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 198/201 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel
Blade:	King C. Gillette (3)
Rating:	7/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

Went too hard on the neck so couple of weepers there. The rest was the same as yesterday - superb lather with excellent glide from Lavanda. Again it felt like I forgot to load the blade. Slowly counting down to Saturday - very curious to learn about my Shark Chrome. Weather should be somewhat cooler than yesterday - now doable.

Have a great day everyone.

 

[Guido75]

Date	21.07.2022​
Main Focus:	21/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 199/202 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	King C. Gillette (4)
Rating:	8/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

No fuzz clean shave. More comfort than yesterday as I paid more attention to comfort. The Gentile baseplate is indeed gentile and less efficient than the open comb.

 

[Rosseforp]

The Gentile baseplate is indeed gentile and less efficient than the open comb.

My Gentile baseplate makes for a nice dust collector.

~doug~

 

[Guido75]

My Gentile baseplate makes for a nice dust collector.

~doug~

I think I am inches away from the same decision!

Guido

 

[Guido75]

Date​	22.07.2022 Fatip Friday​
Main Focus:	22/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 200/203 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) - XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	King C. Gillette (5)
Rating:	9/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

This is what I like about Fatip - just when you thought you knew it all, she had a superpower in store. Solid performance today with a two pass shave to DFS+. And that with the Gentile baseplate! Wonderful start of the day. Meanwhile eyeing a New and a Tech (and I think I spotted a contract Tech as well). Vendor has multiple offerings and I could buy them all! - not biting the bullet yet, but man RAD is itchy this week!

 

[Guido75]

Date	23.07.2022 Testing the waters
Main Focus:	23/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 201/204 in 365 days of shaving (98%)
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	Shark Chrome Stainless
Rating:	8/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

First run with a Shark blade. I was fearing the worst after reading the Shark week thread, but actually it was quite alright. Not super smooth at the start but slowly progressed into more comfort. @BigJ can still be satisfying, because I had a small weeper above the upper lip - so there was blood!

In all, a good shave with nice clean and smooth results. Looking forward to this week although I am wondering if this blade will survive a full week.

 

[Guido75]

Date​	24.07.2022 Shark week​
Main Focus:	24/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 202/205 in 365 days of shaving (98%) 1/7 Days in Shark Week
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	Shark Chrome Stainless (2)
Rating:	8/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

There was some tugging sensation at the start the shave, but progressing into the shave things became comfortable again. I do had the idea this blade might be dulling faster than I am used to with my regulars, but we’ll see what we can accomplish with this one. As always I had a cold shave and I have some idea it might help to extend the lifetime of this blade.

Great performance as a great start of this Sunday.

 

[Guido75]

Date​	25.07.2022 Shark week​
Main Focus:	25/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 203/206 in 365 days of shaving (98%) 2/7 Days in Shark Week
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	Shark Chrome Stainless (3)
Rating:	7.5/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

Al in all a mild shave. I think there was blood but not much at all. Definitely less irritation on the neck. Mrs commented on that after the first shave too. I really like the KCG blade but the first couple of shaves are rougher on my neck (no razor burn on anything, but it is agitated) - maybe too sharp in the beginning. This Shark blade is mild from the start. Onwards to tomorrow’s shave!

 

[Guido75]

Date​	26.07.2022 Shark week​
Main Focus:	26/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 204/207 in 365 days of shaving (98%) 3/7 Days in Shark Week
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	Shark Super Chrome (4)
Rating:	8.5/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

I was kind of thinking this blade would not go beyond three, but today’s shave was smooth and comfortable. Inspired by old techniques discussed in another thread I went back to my trusted Gillette Slide and Slant strokes. I could have stopped at two passes so decided to do the third pass as a sort of touch up. I also changed the order of my passes and did WXTG, ATG and XTG. Worked pretty well. The Fatip gives this blade the right clamping I guess. But then again there is nothing a Fatip cannot do (don’t answer that! ).

 

[Guido75]

Date​	27.07.2022 Shark week​
Main Focus:	27/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 205/208 in 365 days of shaving (98%) 4/7 Days in Shark Week
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	Shark Super Chrome (5)
Rating:	8.5/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

Nothing really changed compared to yesterday. I felt the blade more this morning, but still comfortable. Two passes and a XTG completion pass and I was done. No BBS but I could definitely get away with this during office hours, no problem.

The Piccolo Gentile is a dependable partner for riding with sharks. Nimble and versatile. You can get away with a little pressure here and there - something I cannot (and will not!) do with some of my other razors.

And this Lanvanda, man! I use peasize dollops for lathering, but BOOM - lather is there for four passes if I want to. Brush is quite nice too for a travel brush. I might even include it in my normal rotation.

 

[Guido75]

Date​	28.07.2022 Shark week​
Main Focus:	28/31 Days in GRUME (out at 19%) 206/209 in 365 days of shaving (98%) 5/7 Days in Shark Week
Other:	High Efficiency Razors in July Steep Angle Shaving Alliance
Prep:	Cold splash
Cream:	Lavanda
Aftershave:	Proraso Green
Balm:	Proraso Green
Bowl:	Proraso tub / Face lather
Brush:	Unbranded synthetic travel brush
Passes:	WTG (N-S) XTG (W-S) ATG (S-N)
Razor:	Fatip Piccolo Nickel with gold Gentile baseplate
Blade:	Shark Super Chrome (6)
Rating:	9.0/10 SAS/CCS/DFS/BBS

By this point I am going to Excalibur this blade. A 6th run with the Shark and still performing well. Initial toughness on the first strokes was there, but it smoothed out quite quickly. Lavanda is a bonus because it provides significant glide and smells nice too. It has officially been mrs-certified as well so I can stock up! .

A no trouble, easy shave. The Piccolo not only tamed the Tiger (Platinum), but also tamed the shark - for now at least. I am even considering getting a pack of 100. I have blades left so first see if it performs consistently.