First attempt

[Esuor]

Used a Schick Krona with a Shark blade, Proraso red soap, and a Echolly synthetic brush.

The Proraso never lathered up quite the way I expected. I added water to it several times. Maybe I put too much. I put a layer of water on top, then dumped it and then lathered it in the bowl.

The Krona really disappointed me. It barely cut. When they say it’s a mild shave, they weren’t kidding. I had about 5 days worth of growth on my face. Maybe that was why. After doing a WTG and XTG with the Krona, there was still a lot of hair left over. So I switched to the Assured razor I bought at Dollar Tree, also with a Shark blade. That worked much better. I did a WTG and XTG with it.

I did get myself a couple of times, with a big cut on my Adam’s apple and a couple of spots on the neck and also on the right side at my jawline, which has always been problematic for me. I did learn the only way to get that area is XTG. I ran the alum block over my face which took care of a couple of small weepers but not the big one on the neck, which needed a little more work. I applied some Thayers witch hazel and then followed it up with some “Body Prescriptions” aftershave lotion I have had for a few years.

I’m going to try the Krona again with only a couple of days growth and see how it works. And I really need to focus on shaving on my neck. That has always been the hardest area for me to shave.


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[ackvil]

I don't know how thick your beard is but if I could never get a good shave with only two passes with a 5 -day growth of beard. Keep in mind that DE shaving is a process of beard reduction by multiple passes.

The neck is a tricky area to shave because keeping the right blade angle and little pressure is a challenge. The usual advice is to let the weight of the razor do the job - not put pressure on the blade. To put that in action I have found that using the two fingers and my thumb to hold the razor with another finger resting on the tip of the handle. This results in holding the razor very lightly with no pressure on the razor. You want to hold the razor as lightly as you can without it falling from your hand. I have found that using the right grip on your razor goes a long way in keeping pressure off of the blade. The wiki deals with holding a razor and may help you. You may have to click on each photo to load it.

 

[smudge]

The milder a razor is the more crucial the blade angle and good technique. The Krona is certainly a mild razor, but an excellent one nonetheless. Possibly not the best tool for 5 day's of growth, but it is very capable of BBS shaves with the right blade and proper use. Sounds as though your lather might have been a bit on the thin side too.

I'm sure that if you use it again on 2 day's growth, with nice bubble-free lather and attention to the correct angle, you will have more success.

As ackvil mentioned in the previous post, only a light touch is required, despite it being a very gentle razor.

Good luck.

 

[cyclingsteveb]

Don't pack it in yet! Trial and error will lead to experience and finding what works for you. Once you get the hang of it its all worth it. Enjoy!

 

[Invicta]

Welcome to B&B.
The neck and chin area is tricky for many so keep persevering with technique.

 

[Esuor]

I am not giving up on this by any means. I did get a nice shave on my face and neck and that’s what I am looking for. So I know it’s achievable. I just need to work on techniques a little bit. I know the first time there will always be issues and it will take a few tries to get the hang of it.

Thank you for the razor holding tips.

I had bad razor burn but based on a quick search on how to treat it I went ahead and splashed some tea tree oil on my neck and it almost immediately took care of it. So I will need to find some aftershave that contains tea tree oil. I’ll do a search to see what might work best for me.


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[DEPenguin]

Bear in mind that your skin isn't accustomed to the likes of a single blade and multiple, 'scraping' passes. I had some irritation when I first started, too, but as my technique improved (and I finally learned to use no pressure) the irritation fell away.

You'll get it handled. Clearly you have perseverance and determination. One other thing that might help--not everyone does it--mapping your beard grain. After I did mine, and got the hang of doing each pass according to grain direction, my results improved markedly.

And welcome to the forums!

 

[dmshaver]

Welcome to B & B! Look around & join in.

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!

Some great points above! For me, 5 days growth would mean that I need to use clippers or a cart to get my beard to a point where I could break out my DE to good effect. YMMV for sure.

The main thing IMO is that traditional wet shaving is a skill set that takes a bit of time and effort to acquire! Well worth the effort in the end.

 

[Esuor]

Thank you everyone. I was excited about wet shaving. Still am. The warm welcomes from this group make it even better.


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[TFAshaver]

Hi and welcome,

As someone who is really quite new to wet shaving as well I thought I might give a little help with the Proraso. I do not bloom my soaps (put water on top to soften them up). I like to load the brush more from the soap dish rather than build lather in the soap dish. I usually splay out my brush and swirl it on a puck of soap for a good 30-45 seconds. I also start with a fairly large splay and work towards loading just the tips off the brush. I personally face lather most days. I will shake out most of the water from the brush, just slightly damp. If I give it a good squeeze before I lather I have only a few drops come out of the brush, that is how little water I tend to use. I get a good "paste" like consistency of soap loaded into the brush, then I paint it onto my face. From there I add water by getting the tips of the brush wet and then painting the water onto my face. I usually add water this way 4-8 times to get to a consistency where I can start to see my skin through the soap on my face. At this point I will start to make circular motions to whip up the lather more into a cushion I like. If I am not getting peaks with the soap and it is too tacky, I will keep adding water during the circular motions time. Most days from when I start to load the brush, to when I make my first pass with the razor I will spend about 4+ minutes on the lathering process for the first pass.

The process will change depending on the water that you have (soft or hard), the brush you are using (how broken in it is, and the material: synthetic, boar, horse, badger), the soap or cream you are using, and the type of slickness/cushion you like. It is a process to discover what works for you and what you like. On YouTube there are plenty of wet shaving videos, and everyone likes a different kind of lather in the end. For me it is all about the voluminous cushion I can get for the first pass, and then I let the lather thin a bit as the second, third, and fourth passes happen. To experiment, you can also try lathering in your hand to see how the lather is building, this way you aren't rubbing the brush against your face a ton and irritating your skin. You can also bowl lather. I use a cheap bowl I found in a Daiso that has a little bit of texture inside it.

I hope this helpful and sorry for the long essay here. Good luck with your Wet Shaving experience and please keep us posted on how things go!

 

[Esuor]

Update for you all: I’m still practicing and learning a little more every time. As part of my research I became really interested in the older razors, which is why I bought the Schick Krona as my first razor. I still have had some challenges with that. I also bought that Assured razor from Dollar Tree too just to see how that might work. This past week I purchased a Gillette Super Speed on eBay and it arrived on Wednesday. I used it this morning and it will be my go-to razor. Very comfortable, close shave.


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[Canada]

Update for you all: I’m still practicing and learning a little more every time. As part of my research I became really interested in the older razors, which is why I bought the Schick Krona as my first razor. I still have had some challenges with that. I also bought that Assured razor from Dollar Tree too just to see how that might work. This past week I purchased a Gillette Super Speed on eBay and it arrived on Wednesday. I used it this morning and it will be my go-to razor. Very comfortable, close shave.


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What year is your SS? As for your first post my advice (even though I love Proraso) is to pick up a tube of Nivea Shave Cream or some kind of Cream at the drug store. Creams lather quickly and are pretty much full proof when it comes to building a slick lather on your face. Honestly those Plastic Proraso Bowls are useless. I'd sooner grab a cereal bowl from the kitchen, scoop some Proraso out of the Plastic bowl with a spoon and press it into the bowl cover it some warm water for a minute or two, dump the water out of the bowl shake the excess water out of your brush and go at it. But for some new to shaving I'd go with Cream and come back to the Proraso later. You will enjoy your new Super Speed (I own several). If you touch your wet alum with your dry fingers while shaving you will make your fingers sticky which is better for both stretching your skin and holding your Razor, try it. And feel free to send me that broken Krona and I'll see if I can fix it for you.

 

[Esuor]

What year is your SS? As for your first post my advice (even though I love Proraso) is to pick up a tube of Nivea Shave Cream or some kind of Cream at the drug store. Creams lather quickly and are pretty much full proof when it comes to building a slick lather on your face. Honestly those Plastic Proraso Bowls are useless. I'd sooner grab a cereal bowl from the kitchen, scoop some Proraso out of the Plastic bowl with a spoon and press it into the bowl cover it some warm water for a minute or two, dump the water out of the bowl shake the excess water out of your brush and go at it. But for some new to shaving I'd go with Cream and come back to the Proraso later. You will enjoy your new Super Speed (I own several). If you touch your wet alum with your dry fingers while shaving you will make your fingers sticky which is better for both stretching your skin and holding your Razor, try it. And feel free to send me that broken Krona and I'll see if I can fix it for you.

The SS is a 1953. I absolutely loved it. After using it I began to understand why wet shaving can be a pleasurable experience. I had very little razor burn.

I am thinking about trying a cream. Thus far I’ve not been all that impressed with the two soaps I have (Proraso red and Arko). Arko lathers up quickly, which I like. But neither of them give me the lather I would like; I’ve been told that you need enough lather that you can’t see the skin underneath and I have not been able to do that with either one. Maybe it’s technique. Could my brush also be a factor? I have an Echolly synthetic brush which I got on Amazon.

Thanks for the alum tip.

The Krona is in good shape. It just seems a little too mild for my needs. I still may want to give it another shot though.




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[TFAshaver]

The SS is a 1953. I absolutely loved it. After using it I began to understand why wet shaving can be a pleasurable experience. I had very little razor burn.

I am thinking about trying a cream. Thus far I’ve not been all that impressed with the two soaps I have (Proraso red and Arko). Arko lathers up quickly, which I like. But neither of them give me the lather I would like; I’ve been told that you need enough lather that you can’t see the skin underneath and I have not been able to do that with either one. Maybe it’s technique. Could my brush also be a factor? I have an Echolly synthetic brush which I got on Amazon.

Thanks for the alum tip.

The Krona is in good shape. It just seems a little too mild for my needs. I still may want to give it another shot though.




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How long have you been loading your brush in the Proraso or the Arko? You might need to just keep loading. For an experiment go until the soap is almost tacky and thick. It might take a few minutes. Then put it on your face and then thin it out by adding more water. I have been using Williams this week and it literally takes me 4-8 minutes to get a lather I like. Here's a video of me using the Sandalwood Soap from a sample pack I have I start the lathering process and what not at about 5min 30sec:

Hope this is helpful! Good luck with your shaves!

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Having been in your place almost a year ago, I feel your pains. You have to be careful with Proraso. Many soaps like Tabac, Palmolive, and lots of other dense soaps love water, Proraso is not one of them. I love Proraso products but handle them differently, that's all. You want to start with a damp brush, not a soaking wet/dripping one, and load enough by making swirling motions on top of the soap to make a nice paste on the brush. A good way to know when to stop is when you feel your brush start to drag. Then you want to work the lather on your face in gentle small swirls adding drops of water to your brush until its a nice creamy/wet consistency.

As far as blades and razors are concerned, you're going to just have to buy some samples and go from there. Is your stubble coarse? Soft? How sensitive is your skin? Does the mere act of touching your cheek make it beet red for 10 minutes? For me I have tough stubble and skin that veers in the direction of annoying sensitivity. I cannot use the sharpest blades because my face cannot handle them, I had to make a trade-off: less sharpness for less irritation. Compromises! Keep trying, never give up, and let us know how things are going. One day you will enjoy luxurious shaves that give you wings for the rest of the day. But even after that, you'll have the occasional misstep.

If your face sounds like mine, a Maggard V3A head with a fresh Voskhod is pretty awesome, but that's just me.

 

[beddington]

i have a krona its a good razor. except that it always seems to shave skin in certain spots on my neck.

But I have my techs memorized

 

[AllInGoodTime]

One other thing that might help--not everyone does it--mapping your beard grain. After I did mine, and got the hang of doing each pass according to grain direction, my results improved markedly.

And welcome to the forums!

+1!!
The beard mapping was a surprising game changer, letting me go from incomplete and not-close-enough shaves on my neck to DFS with ease. I thought I understood my beard grain until doing it thoroughly. wow!

I don’t have the link handy on my phone, but if you look up the Sharpologist by mantic59 you will find what helped me.

Good luck!