I've been using my new DE, a Muhle R89, for about three weeks now. I was pretty pleased with making the transition and getting some DFS. In my free time, over that same time, I've been spending time reviewing the posts here trying to learn how to make my shaves better.
This morning, I took a nice shower, put some conditioner on my face, and made sure I had a good pre-shave prep working. As I was showering, my brush was soaking in hot water along with my lather bowl.
After the shower, I loaded up the Muhle with a new Derby (first try with one), and worked some decent EJ Sea Buckthorn lather up. As I lathered my face, I started thinking "slow and light." As I started my first pass, I stopped worrying about how much hair I was removing and tried to focus instead on making sure that I used no pressure at all and moved the razor in slow short strokes WTG. I felt like that first pass was not doing much hair reduction, but everytime I'd get anxious or impatient, I forced myself to set the razor down and focus back on going slow and light.
In the end, I did four passes. One WTG, one XTG, one ATG and a final/touch-up going XTG the other direction. I had zero blood and got my best shave to date. I even found that I was able to shave my worst problem area, a mole on my neck right at the corner of my jaw, without any issues!
I'm drinking the Kool-Aid now, and loving it. I can't wait to shave tomorrow and see if I can possibly recreate the experience!
This morning, I took a nice shower, put some conditioner on my face, and made sure I had a good pre-shave prep working. As I was showering, my brush was soaking in hot water along with my lather bowl.
After the shower, I loaded up the Muhle with a new Derby (first try with one), and worked some decent EJ Sea Buckthorn lather up. As I lathered my face, I started thinking "slow and light." As I started my first pass, I stopped worrying about how much hair I was removing and tried to focus instead on making sure that I used no pressure at all and moved the razor in slow short strokes WTG. I felt like that first pass was not doing much hair reduction, but everytime I'd get anxious or impatient, I forced myself to set the razor down and focus back on going slow and light.
In the end, I did four passes. One WTG, one XTG, one ATG and a final/touch-up going XTG the other direction. I had zero blood and got my best shave to date. I even found that I was able to shave my worst problem area, a mole on my neck right at the corner of my jaw, without any issues!
I'm drinking the Kool-Aid now, and loving it. I can't wait to shave tomorrow and see if I can possibly recreate the experience!