As I continue to experiment with wet shaving, I've determined what I call my "benchmark shave". This is not necessarily the best possible shave, but one that always gives consistently good (but not "perfect") results. This helps me to "recalibrate" after I've tried something new. Next shave I do the benchmark and can fairly quickly tell if the "new" thing was better or not. If I find a new thing that is consistently better, that would become the new benchmark.
Here is my current benchmark:
Shower and use moisturizing shampoo on my beard
Don't towel dry my face (although it gets "air dried" a bit before I get started)
Lukewarm water throughout except for the final (cold) rinse
Gillette Tech razor
Shark SS blade, lightly palm stropped
Institut Karite soap, loaded heavily on the brush and bowl lathered
Parker "100% Pure Badger" Brush
Two careful passes WTG and then mostly ATG (XTG in a few tough spots) and a little touch up
L'Oreal Men's Expert Comfort Max ASB
...this consistently leaves me BBS on the cheeks, DFS on the neck, skin feeling smooth and comfortable with no irritation of any sort. I typically also get either no nicks or maybe one tiny weeper if I'm not careful enough.
It has been several weeks since I've found anything consistently better, but I'll keep trying for awhile, there are so many combinations still to try!
Here is my current benchmark:
Shower and use moisturizing shampoo on my beard
Don't towel dry my face (although it gets "air dried" a bit before I get started)
Lukewarm water throughout except for the final (cold) rinse
Gillette Tech razor
Shark SS blade, lightly palm stropped
Institut Karite soap, loaded heavily on the brush and bowl lathered
Parker "100% Pure Badger" Brush
Two careful passes WTG and then mostly ATG (XTG in a few tough spots) and a little touch up
L'Oreal Men's Expert Comfort Max ASB
...this consistently leaves me BBS on the cheeks, DFS on the neck, skin feeling smooth and comfortable with no irritation of any sort. I typically also get either no nicks or maybe one tiny weeper if I'm not careful enough.
It has been several weeks since I've found anything consistently better, but I'll keep trying for awhile, there are so many combinations still to try!
