My wife gave me a bit of a DE shaving kit for Christmas, and I've been shaving with it exclusively since then.
Daily for the first week, then I was sick for a week, and every other day this last week (due to time in the mornings).
Coming from a Sensor XL + the canned goop, and shaving roughly once a week, this is like nirvana. Although as before, my face still lets me know how it feels about being shaved. I'd gone down to roughly weekly (to my wife's chagrin), and would always spend the first couple days after a shave with an irritated face, and always with a couple in-grown hairs.
Since switching to DE, I've had 1 in-grown, and that's due to shaving WAY too close on the edge of the jawline (flubbed the holding of razor and had the skin stretched at the time).
So, here's the kit, and heres the general set of steps:
Merkur (HD?)
Merkur blades
TOBS Sandalwood shaving cream
Tweezerman's pure badger
I always shave right after the shower. On the way in, I fill a latte bowl with straight hot water (~130 degF), and let the brush soak while I shower. Then I get out, towel off, dump the water, shake out the brush, and refill the sink with hot water, and start building the lather.
Many thanks to Mantic for his videos. An off-hand comment here made me realize that swirling the brush in the tub of TOBS cream to load it up, plus the water left in the mug/bowl from the pre-soak (which is 1/2 teaspoon or so) and I get amazing lather. First couple of swirls are bubbly (like bubble bath), and then it goes "foom!" with a thick foamy lather.
For each pass, I paint it on with the brush (swirling early on, but my beard is light and thin, although each hair is getting coarser as I get into my 30s). Passes are essentially:
WTG
XTG1
XTG2 (not everywhere)
ATG
Due to the growth directions on my neck, that makes for a complicated bit of passes. For the WTG pass, it's down on the top half, up on the bottom half, and from the adam's apple out for a single strip in the middle.
The XTG passes are chevrons (although I'm trying gillette slides instead, and liking the results). The ATG is pretty much "up" in all areas, as the lower neck doesn't need it.
I get BBS every time on the cheeks, most times on the neck, upper lip, and never on the chin. My chin is bony, and oddly asymmetrical. The squared front of my jaw has an odd divot in the bone, directly under the left corner of my mouth (easily felt with a finger, but only subtly visible). I never noticed it until I started shaving (shaved by feel in the shower for ~10 years).
I always end up with a bit of razor burn on the chin and neck (mostly around the adam's apple, usually more right side than left). I'm certain it's mostly technique (angle/pressure) in both places.
My chin is what drives me up the wall. it's never been easy to shave, although it gave me fewer problems with the Sensor XLs than with the DE. The merkur blades alway seem to catch and pull, regardless of angle. And it grows "out" from the bottom, and fans down/back to the sides and under my chin. Kinda like the pattern made by iron filings at the end of a bar magnet.
I'm going to be hitting an AoS to pick up an Alum block and styptic, and probably some after shave of some kind as well.
I'm planning on sticking to the every-other or more frequent, getting an extended sampler of blades from West Coast or similar, and just practice/practice/practice. Focusing on angle (low as possible), pressure (little as I can), and short strokes. Although I can do 3-4" on my cheeks without worry.
For around the nose and on the chin, just one stroke/pass between lathers? or can you go stroke/stroke/stroke/stroke with REALLY small strokes that heavily overlap (is that where I'm shredding skin)? With a single pass just under the nose, or on the chin, if I don't lots of light, short strokes, and try to do a single longer stroke the blade catches, skips, catches, skips, and then I'm invariably bleeding afterward.
Recommendations?
Thanks much!!!
-n00b
Daily for the first week, then I was sick for a week, and every other day this last week (due to time in the mornings).
Coming from a Sensor XL + the canned goop, and shaving roughly once a week, this is like nirvana. Although as before, my face still lets me know how it feels about being shaved. I'd gone down to roughly weekly (to my wife's chagrin), and would always spend the first couple days after a shave with an irritated face, and always with a couple in-grown hairs.
Since switching to DE, I've had 1 in-grown, and that's due to shaving WAY too close on the edge of the jawline (flubbed the holding of razor and had the skin stretched at the time).
So, here's the kit, and heres the general set of steps:
Merkur (HD?)
Merkur blades
TOBS Sandalwood shaving cream
Tweezerman's pure badger
I always shave right after the shower. On the way in, I fill a latte bowl with straight hot water (~130 degF), and let the brush soak while I shower. Then I get out, towel off, dump the water, shake out the brush, and refill the sink with hot water, and start building the lather.
Many thanks to Mantic for his videos. An off-hand comment here made me realize that swirling the brush in the tub of TOBS cream to load it up, plus the water left in the mug/bowl from the pre-soak (which is 1/2 teaspoon or so) and I get amazing lather. First couple of swirls are bubbly (like bubble bath), and then it goes "foom!" with a thick foamy lather.
For each pass, I paint it on with the brush (swirling early on, but my beard is light and thin, although each hair is getting coarser as I get into my 30s). Passes are essentially:
WTG
XTG1
XTG2 (not everywhere)
ATG
Due to the growth directions on my neck, that makes for a complicated bit of passes. For the WTG pass, it's down on the top half, up on the bottom half, and from the adam's apple out for a single strip in the middle.
The XTG passes are chevrons (although I'm trying gillette slides instead, and liking the results). The ATG is pretty much "up" in all areas, as the lower neck doesn't need it.
I get BBS every time on the cheeks, most times on the neck, upper lip, and never on the chin. My chin is bony, and oddly asymmetrical. The squared front of my jaw has an odd divot in the bone, directly under the left corner of my mouth (easily felt with a finger, but only subtly visible). I never noticed it until I started shaving (shaved by feel in the shower for ~10 years).
I always end up with a bit of razor burn on the chin and neck (mostly around the adam's apple, usually more right side than left). I'm certain it's mostly technique (angle/pressure) in both places.
My chin is what drives me up the wall. it's never been easy to shave, although it gave me fewer problems with the Sensor XLs than with the DE. The merkur blades alway seem to catch and pull, regardless of angle. And it grows "out" from the bottom, and fans down/back to the sides and under my chin. Kinda like the pattern made by iron filings at the end of a bar magnet.
I'm going to be hitting an AoS to pick up an Alum block and styptic, and probably some after shave of some kind as well.
I'm planning on sticking to the every-other or more frequent, getting an extended sampler of blades from West Coast or similar, and just practice/practice/practice. Focusing on angle (low as possible), pressure (little as I can), and short strokes. Although I can do 3-4" on my cheeks without worry.
For around the nose and on the chin, just one stroke/pass between lathers? or can you go stroke/stroke/stroke/stroke with REALLY small strokes that heavily overlap (is that where I'm shredding skin)? With a single pass just under the nose, or on the chin, if I don't lots of light, short strokes, and try to do a single longer stroke the blade catches, skips, catches, skips, and then I'm invariably bleeding afterward.
Recommendations?
Thanks much!!!
-n00b