akamarcus' DE shave journal

[akamarcus]

First DE shave ever today! My daughter woke up at 4:30 and I couldn't go back to sleep after helping her get back to sleep, so I started with my shave at about 5 am. I got out my awesome starter kit that I purchased from blzrfn (thanks, Dave!) and went to work.

Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra Superior Platinum (new), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick
Lather: I haven't yet grated the Palmolive stick down and fit it in a bowl, so I just face lathered today. I noticed that I had to apply more soap to my face with each pass because the brush didn't hold enough to continue. Is this normal for face lathering?
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, WTG, XTG, followed by a cold rinse. I was very apprehensive about this first shave because from the get go, I cut my palm loading the blade (opened the blade packaging and tried to open the razor with the other instead of putting the blade down ).Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff - only a mild tingling sensation, which I think is what I could expect with any shave.

Summary: No nicks/weepers, only 2 small bumps on my neck that experienced minor irritation! After putting that razor to my face for the first time with a blade in it, I was almost certain I'd end up with a bloody face when the shave was over.

Verdict: Overall, I feel like it was a success, and I am confident for my next shave. My skin is slightly irritated from the shave because that blade is so sharp, so I'll probably allow 2 days between shaves for a while. Thanks to all who helped make it a success with their forum posts and reviews and especially blzrfn for the starter kit!

 

[Wingnut]

CONGRATS on your successful first DE shave!


Now if you can figure out how to unwrap a blade without cutting yourself, you'll be golden!

 

[Andy]

Congrats on the fantastic first shave!
Hope you have many more

 

[Mad Man]

Great news! Congratulations on getting the first one tucked away...and no nicks!!!!

Don't sweat it with brushes not holding enough for multiple passes when face lathering mate; I OFTEN reach for the puck or reapply the stick to the face depending on the brush (they're not all the same which is ok!). The soap is RIGHT THERE so if you need more, do it.

 

[akamarcus]

Thanks for the encouragement, gents! Day 2 of shave journal:


Preparation: Followed two tutorials for breaking in a new(er) brush http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/139297-How-To-Break-In-A-Brush-amp-Get-The-Funk-Out and how to properly build lather http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/21136-How-to-make-great-lather-from-a-soap-Tutorial. My brush seems a bit softer than yesterday, but it seems that it will soften up mostly with use. And the lather is much better now that I got that stuff in a soap dish. I decided in one day that all my shave sticks will end up in the soap dish.
Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra Superior Platinum (1 use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish
Lather: Spent about 30 seconds loading the brush, and I got much more soap this time than yesterday - enough for both passes without having to reload. Face lathered because the stainless bowl I have is not conducive to lathering. Need to figure this out. However, I rather enjoyed face lathering, and it killed two birds with one stone.
Shave: 2 passes: WTG, XTG, followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff - it stung just a little bit; then a tiny bit of Cetaphil face lotion.


Summary: 3 or so weepers on my neck where I tried to go ATG.


Verdict: I couldn't wait until tomorrow to shave again, so my skin will probably pay the price today! We'll see how it feels tomorrow morning, but as of right now, my skin is less irritated than yesterday. I need to discipline myself so I don't go out and buy a nice badger brush before giving my boar brush a good go. It had been used 6 times when I bought it, so I'll give it a month or two. I have a feeling though that I'm going to enjoy the softness of badger as well as its water retention/lather building capabilities.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 3 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra Superior Platinum (3rd use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish
Lather: Spent about 60 seconds loading the brush, then face lathered. I quite like face lathering - it gives me a really good feel of how much water I need to add to the lather.
Shave: 2 passes: WTG, XTG, followed by a long, cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff - just a little bit of tingling today.


Summary: 3 weepers on my neck, mild irritation on my neck.


Verdict: A decent shave, and again, my skin feels better post shave than it did yesterday, although there was a little bit of irritation on my neck during the shave. I've got to give my boar brush more time, but I'm itching to try a badger brush! My boar brush is scritchy on my face (at least the inner bristles are - the outer bristles have split and are now soft). I also need to work on shaving WTG on my neck. All hair on my neck grows East, but it's so much easier to shave XTG North to South or vice versa.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 4 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra Superior Platinum (4th use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish
Lather: Spent about 30 seconds loading the brush, then face lathered. Spent 5 additional seconds loading the brush with each pass
Shave: 4 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, ATG followed by a long, cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff - kind of tingly.


Summary: 1 weeper on my neck, no visible irritation.


Verdict: ATG hurts my neck, so I probably won't be doing that any more. I discovered that part of my problem with my first 3 shaves was that my razor was too dry from shaking it off after a rinsing off the soap! Now that I just rinse off and shave without shaking it off and it glides much more smoothly. Face lathering is great. My stainless steel bowl does not work well for lathering with my current boar brush, but maybe I'm just not doing it correctly.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 5 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra Superior Platinum (1st use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: Spent about 30 seconds loading the brush, then face lathered. Spent 5 additional seconds loading the brush with each pass. 2 minutes initial face lathering.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2 followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff - kind of tingly.


Summary: Mild irritation on my neck.


Verdict: This shave went very well! My skin is becoming more used to DE shaving every day, and I can certainly tell the difference between a 4 day-old blade and a new one. Also, I could feel no whiskers WTG or XTG in either direction. If I am able to conquer ATG at some point, I'll be on my way to BBS!

 

[akamarcus]

Day 6 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra Superior Platinum (2nd use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: Spent about 30 seconds loading the brush, then 2 minutes face lathering. Spent 5 additional seconds loading the brush with each pass.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2 followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff - kind of tingly.


Summary: Mild irritation on my neck.


Verdict: This shave went well for how little time it took me to complete it. I'm becoming much more comfortable with a DE razor.

 

[FlScott]

Good job on the journal. Have you figured out what is causing the neck irritation?

 

[akamarcus]

Good job on the journal. Have you figured out what is causing the neck irritation?

Thanks. Haven't figured it out yet, but I have a hunch that it just might be the number of passes. It may not be able to handle more than 1. My skin isn't overly sensitive, but I will pay attention when I start a new blade to see if that helps at all. I know for sure that the irritation is more severe when I go ATG or do several XTG passes.

 

[quietearth]

Excellent journal - love your work!

Tomorow morning I will be on shave no. 3, so I'm fascinated to read other people's journeys.

 

[akamarcus]

Excellent journal - love your work!

Tomorow morning I will be on shave no. 3, so I'm fascinated to read other people's journeys.

Thanks! I'm glad some people find some benefit from it.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 7 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (3rd use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: 20 second load, 60 second face lather, 5 second additional load with each pass.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, ATG, followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff - kind of stung today, probably because of the extra pass ATG.


Summary: 3 nicks on my mustache area on the ATG pass. Neck is a bit sensitive right now.


Verdict: A decent shave, but I was disappointed by the nicks. It may have been prevented if: I had a new blade OR I was more experienced OR my face was used to DE shaving.

 

[FlScott]

Thanks. Haven't figured it out yet, but I have a hunch that it just might be the number of passes. It may not be able to handle more than 1. My skin isn't overly sensitive, but I will pay attention when I start a new blade to see if that helps at all. I know for sure that the irritation is more severe when I go ATG or do several XTG passes.

I'm new to DE but I found working on technique really helped with irritation/redness. I didn't think I was applying pressure but that turned out to be incorrect. Slow 1 inch strokes with no pressure. I, also, went to basic N-S, XTG for awhile and that helped out. YMMV

 

[akamarcus]

Day 8 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (4th use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: 30 second load, 60 second face lather, 5 second additional load with each pass.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff


Summary: Neck irritation - more noticeable now that I'm really paying attention to the length and aggressiveness of the strokes.


Verdict: Got to pay more attention to which strokes irritate my neck.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 9 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (1st use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: 30 second load, 60 second face lather, 5 second additional load with each pass.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff


Summary: Neck irritation. Getting closer to irritation-less shaves. 1 nick on my chin, used my styptic pencil from Wally world.


Verdict: I'm going to lay off ATG for a couple of weeks until I can get XTG down and see if that's causing some neck irritation as well.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 10 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (2nd use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: 30 second load, 60 second face lather, 5 second additional load with each pass.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff


Summary: Neck irritation.


Verdict: Not an amazing shave.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 11 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (3rd use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: 30 second load, 60 second face lather, 5 second additional load with each pass.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff


Summary: I redefined the way I do XTG, and it worked out really well. The hair on my neck and jaw line goes W to E, so XTG1 now means S to N and vice versa for XTG2. For my cheeks, the hair grows down, so XTG1 is W to E and vice versa for XTG2, whereas I used to define them as outside to inside and vice versa. I also discovered that my strokes have been much too long on my neck, and that is what has caused the irritation. Today, I tried very short strokes on my neck and there was the least irritation of any shave yet!


Verdict: I'm very happy with this shave, especially since discovering the secret to shaving my neck without irritation.

 

[akamarcus]

Day 12 of shave journal:


Preshave: Shower with 2 minute face wash and hot rinse.
Gear: 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (4th use), Omega boar brush, Palmolive shave stick grated and loaded into soap dish.
Lather: 30 second load, 60 second face lather, 5 second additional load with each pass.
Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, followed by a cold rinse.
Aftershave: Alcohol-based Gillette stuff


Summary: I can now tell the difference between a 4 day-old blade and a brand new one. I am liking Astra SPs and will stick with those for a while. Just got a pack of 100 shipped from Amazon for $8. I'll use these for a few months and then start trying out my blade sampler. Two weepers on my mustache where I went ATG, and one wouldn't stop bleeding even after cold rinse, styptic pencil and AS, so I had to go with TP.


Verdict: I feel like it was a pretty good shave, but 4 days may be too long for me to use these Astras. I can tell my neck is more irritated when the blade has already been used for a few shaves.