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Another new guy (since Christmas)

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
 
Welcome to B&B and congratulations on how things are going so far. I would first recommend that you buy a blade sampler from a vendor like West Coast Shaving to find the best blade for you. Merkur blades don't get much love around here. For the challenging areas, take your time and really focus on your blade angle against your face. Don't press down and let the weight of the razor do the work. The HD is a good razor so take your time with it and get your technique down.
 
Welcome!

For cleaning up my own chin, I pull my lower lip into my mouth. This exposes skin that's normally hard to shave, so I can make a pass or two on it. Sometimes I blade-buff too. Your last description sounds close to blade-buffing to me. Have you seen Mantic's video on advanced techniques?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQco5PWc2JU
 
Welcome to the forum. I would also recommend trying a blade sample pack. I've found that the pairing of a particular blade with a particular razor can make a significant difference.

As to your question about one pass per lather or multiple very short ones ... I'm not entirely sure what you are referring to, but in my own experience I will sometimes make a couple of very short and quick strokes over the same area, especially on my upper lip. It's about like what the above poster mentioned in relation to 'blade buffing' in Mantic's video. But...I only do so if there is still a trace of lather. If the lather is gone, it's time for more.
 
Welcome to B&B, there has been some great advice given and you are doing the right thing in purchasing the sampler pack. Great job!

Practice and take your time.:thumbup1:
 
Welcome aboard sir! My advice would be to try some different blades. Merkurs can be pretty rough for some people. A blade sampler from westcoastshaving might be just what you need. :thumbup1:
 
Thanks for the welcome!!

I've picked up the alum block and styptic pens from AoS (yes, expensive, but readily available). Also hit up the Crabtree and Evelyn and my wife decided she liked their Sienna over the Sandalwood ASB. So now I have that, too. :)

And I ordered the "everything" sampler from west coast shaving. That'll keep me in blades for a good long while (I hope).

And that should quell the ADs for a while.. (I hope).

I saw a fair bit of Mantic's advanced techniques vid, but didn't get to the blade buffing section. I'll go rewatch it to see about that.
 
Welcome! You have some good equipment and I'm glad to hear that it is serving you well. You will find that with each shave you get more proficent and obtain better results.

Pete
 
Welcome to Badger and Blade!

recommendations:

1. Keep at it.
2. Focus on technique
3. Resist the urge to change shaving implements until you satisfy #2
4. Blade sampler
5. Commence AD's if you haven't already. :001_smile
 
The alum block is definitely a good thing. And yeah, it pointed out areas I'd been rougher with than I should have, that I hadn't already seen. 3 nicks today (record for blood, that's for sure). Second shave on that blade, and while I thought I was doing better with the angle/pressure than before, it didn't feel good going over my skin in a lot of places.

There was a noticeable change in the amount of irritation visible before and after the alum block. A lot of the razor burn was quelled by the block. I used the styptic on the more persistent weepers (caught the edge of my lower lip, that one hurt).

The C&E Sienna ASB is good, too. It stung a bit in the more ravaged places, but it quickly subsided.

I'm looking forward to the sampler. Although I'll keep the feathers until last, I think. As it's the full set of blades from West Coast Shaving, I'll need to figure out an order to go through them in... Any recommendations on that?
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Welcome to B&B!

My only recommendation would be to use all the blades before you move to a different brand. Derby would be a good start. I didn't love them but you might!
 
Just got my "Everything" WCS sampler pack in the mail yesterday. Amazing how little room 100+ blades takes up.

Today's shave was a Derby. Wow. I'll not bother with the Merkurs that came in the sampler (or the remaining 4-5 Merkurs in my original pack). SOOOO much nicer.

I'll shave for a week or two with the Derby, and then try something else.
 
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