... and it wasn't a resounding success, in fact the whole experience left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled. I started out with images of reviving a centuries old tradition, notions of tapping into the collective male unconscious in order to enjoy the perfect shave, much like all those who have gone before me for I am a man and I have a whole new set of gadgets to play with. I started out with my Merkur Futur ( I know everyone suggests you start with an HD Classic, but that proved somewhat difficult to find iin the UK,) my e shavewhite tea cream and my men u premier synthetic shave brush (apologies to all you badger hair purists, but it had received good reviews and I was in a rush to get started.)
Then the problems began, I shook too much water out of my brush and overcompensated by filling the shave bowl with an excess of water, the resulting lather having the consistency of dish detergent. Also, I am not overly keen on my brush, the bristles felt very coarse on my face, also they seemed to want to go in the opposite direction to what I wanted them to, I know it is a shoddy workman who blames his tools but I can't see this brush working out for me in the long term.
Now to the actual shave, I started on a 3 ( I know you are supposed to start with a 1, but come on I am a man, full steam ahead with my new toys,)
I think that my technique is largely to blame for the poor results not the razor, but I did everything that I was supposed to; I pulled my skin taught with my free hand, rested the futur on my face at a 180 degree angle and slowly lowered it until I felt the blade bite (this never actually happened though) I settled on an approximate 30 degree angle and employed a north south stroke, slowly and smoothly, and nothing, my whiskers were still there.
I was so painstakingly slow that the cream seemed to dry out on my face making progress even more difficult. Also the harder I pressed the worse the results (although at this point I had yet to nick myself.)
So I relathered, the cream was even runnier now) and prepared for a second north south pass, with the blade opened up all the way to 6.
Once again the results were less than impressive, I seem to be having real trouble getting the blade in contact with my stubble. I lightened up on the last few strokes and seemed to be getting more positive results (nothing more impressive than with my mach 3 though.)
Although I didn't notice any pain when shaving afterwards I noticed quite a few small nicks on my chin ( I think the bleeding gave it away.)
So, I am willing to defer to the more experienced on this forum, what advice can you give an over eager rookie who is disillusioned. I know that my lathering needs a lot of work, I soaked my bowl and brush in hot water while I washed my face, emptied the bowl and put an almond sized dollop of cream on the brush and gave it about 40 swirls. Can you suggest a better method? I noticed that the cream seems to hold quite a lot of water, should I just soak the brush and lather straight on my face?
Any advice on how to improve my actual razor technique? Should I try an alternative blade (using the merkurs at the moment)?
My prep was somewhat rushed and I am sure this contributed to the results; I also live in a very hard water area, how big an effect would this have on the outcome? Finally how can I stop my face from drying out so much during the shave?
Sorry for all the questions (and the horrendously long post) but I am eager to learn, and seeing as I can't be trusted to take things slowly, I need your help.
Regards, AJS
Then the problems began, I shook too much water out of my brush and overcompensated by filling the shave bowl with an excess of water, the resulting lather having the consistency of dish detergent. Also, I am not overly keen on my brush, the bristles felt very coarse on my face, also they seemed to want to go in the opposite direction to what I wanted them to, I know it is a shoddy workman who blames his tools but I can't see this brush working out for me in the long term.
Now to the actual shave, I started on a 3 ( I know you are supposed to start with a 1, but come on I am a man, full steam ahead with my new toys,)
I think that my technique is largely to blame for the poor results not the razor, but I did everything that I was supposed to; I pulled my skin taught with my free hand, rested the futur on my face at a 180 degree angle and slowly lowered it until I felt the blade bite (this never actually happened though) I settled on an approximate 30 degree angle and employed a north south stroke, slowly and smoothly, and nothing, my whiskers were still there.
I was so painstakingly slow that the cream seemed to dry out on my face making progress even more difficult. Also the harder I pressed the worse the results (although at this point I had yet to nick myself.)
So I relathered, the cream was even runnier now) and prepared for a second north south pass, with the blade opened up all the way to 6.
Once again the results were less than impressive, I seem to be having real trouble getting the blade in contact with my stubble. I lightened up on the last few strokes and seemed to be getting more positive results (nothing more impressive than with my mach 3 though.)
Although I didn't notice any pain when shaving afterwards I noticed quite a few small nicks on my chin ( I think the bleeding gave it away.)
So, I am willing to defer to the more experienced on this forum, what advice can you give an over eager rookie who is disillusioned. I know that my lathering needs a lot of work, I soaked my bowl and brush in hot water while I washed my face, emptied the bowl and put an almond sized dollop of cream on the brush and gave it about 40 swirls. Can you suggest a better method? I noticed that the cream seems to hold quite a lot of water, should I just soak the brush and lather straight on my face?
Any advice on how to improve my actual razor technique? Should I try an alternative blade (using the merkurs at the moment)?
My prep was somewhat rushed and I am sure this contributed to the results; I also live in a very hard water area, how big an effect would this have on the outcome? Finally how can I stop my face from drying out so much during the shave?
Sorry for all the questions (and the horrendously long post) but I am eager to learn, and seeing as I can't be trusted to take things slowly, I need your help.
Regards, AJS
