So I've been wet shaving for about 2 months now. Its good for the most part, some times I rush or my technique slips off and I get a few weepers or a cut here or there. I bought my initial kit, aiming to buy something that I would be happy with over the long haul rather than going in low budget and upgrading later. Now that didn't prevent me from becoming an addict and buying any soap I run across or getting on the BST and getting things from people, but I think it was a good starting place.
The brush I bought was from GBS (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083DWIR4/), not a brand I had run across but there are so many people in the brush game, noone has heard of them all. Overall, I find the brush to be a bit too big, but I manage. Recently, say 5 or 6 shaves ago, it started shedding every time I use it, and I'm not talking about 1 or 2 hairs, I'm talking 10-15 every shave. Hairs in the lather bowl, hairs on my face, and hairs hanging out of the brush when I'm done. I shave normally every other day, so 3 or 4 days a week depending. My routine is pretty much: run my sink till the water is hot, fill my bowl and leave it in the sink, plug the sink, put the brush in the bowl, a splash of water on my soap, and a towel in the sink to get wet. I get the towel out and ring it out, and then use that nice hot towel to prep my beard. I generally let it sit on my face for 3-5 minutes, then I go back to the sink, pick up the brush, dump the water out of my bowl into the sink, squeeze out the brush (note it isn't shedding at this point), pour any unabsorbed water from the soap into the bowl, and then make lather. By the end of getting lather made, there are hairs in the lather and the brush is shedding. I shave, trying to pick the hairs off my face when I lather up so they dont clog the razor. When I'm done, I rinse the brush out and squeeze it until I know its clean, fluff it up so it doenst dry in a clump and then hang it on the stand that came with it. A few notes: my water is not hard, and it comes off a commercial boiler at fairly high temp, I'd say depending on the time of day and its level of recovery at the moment, anywhere from 150-180 degrees, particularly high late at night when I normally shave before bed. Am I doing something wrong? Did I just get a bad brush? Any advice on how to address it? I'm about to the point of ordering a new brush or a new knot at least.
JMak
The brush I bought was from GBS (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083DWIR4/), not a brand I had run across but there are so many people in the brush game, noone has heard of them all. Overall, I find the brush to be a bit too big, but I manage. Recently, say 5 or 6 shaves ago, it started shedding every time I use it, and I'm not talking about 1 or 2 hairs, I'm talking 10-15 every shave. Hairs in the lather bowl, hairs on my face, and hairs hanging out of the brush when I'm done. I shave normally every other day, so 3 or 4 days a week depending. My routine is pretty much: run my sink till the water is hot, fill my bowl and leave it in the sink, plug the sink, put the brush in the bowl, a splash of water on my soap, and a towel in the sink to get wet. I get the towel out and ring it out, and then use that nice hot towel to prep my beard. I generally let it sit on my face for 3-5 minutes, then I go back to the sink, pick up the brush, dump the water out of my bowl into the sink, squeeze out the brush (note it isn't shedding at this point), pour any unabsorbed water from the soap into the bowl, and then make lather. By the end of getting lather made, there are hairs in the lather and the brush is shedding. I shave, trying to pick the hairs off my face when I lather up so they dont clog the razor. When I'm done, I rinse the brush out and squeeze it until I know its clean, fluff it up so it doenst dry in a clump and then hang it on the stand that came with it. A few notes: my water is not hard, and it comes off a commercial boiler at fairly high temp, I'd say depending on the time of day and its level of recovery at the moment, anywhere from 150-180 degrees, particularly high late at night when I normally shave before bed. Am I doing something wrong? Did I just get a bad brush? Any advice on how to address it? I'm about to the point of ordering a new brush or a new knot at least.
JMak
