This is a good technique.
How to get a comfortable shave
- Thread starter TheBeast
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The continuous motion thing is good - starting the stroke before gently landing the plane. Think Scully on the Hudson.
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- #23
After the "breakthrough" shave that I had, things started to spiral Down Once again and after two Bad shaves in a row it seems like it's time for another 2-3 days break.
Maybe even don't try to shave Every day now at all and just Stick to a great shave Every couple of days, then eventually somehow build up consistency and try to go from there.
Maybe even don't try to shave Every day now at all and just Stick to a great shave Every couple of days, then eventually somehow build up consistency and try to go from there.
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- #24
ANOTHER GREAT SHAVE
And this one was SMOOOTH. It felt like gently wiping away the lather away. I could not tell (for the first time ever after like 3 years of DE and shavette) that I had a blade to my skin. The beard was being taken off cleanly, closely, consistently. Amazing. At least on my cheeks.
Around the jawline I am still a little hesitant, not absolutely sure about my strokes, but this time I had much more trust in the process and could really tell the difference.
My neck wasnt spot on. I am still finding the right way to work around all the curves, mainly hollow areas. Not really close nor consistant there, but the real evaluation will be when the bumps (don't) show up.
There was a little bit of alum burn but no red or itchy skin. My skin currently isn't at it's best with another round of breakouts so thats quite acceptable.
And here is how I achieved it:
Same prep and maximum focus. Also a new edge.
I went back to my Naniwa 8k SS. No slurry, until it got a little sticky. After it felt like there was no benefit of working the 8k anymore, I stropped on the coarse side of the leather, then the smooth side.
And theeeeen I took the razor to my brand new balsa strop loaded with 0.5 micron diamond paste. After a few minutes I stropped again, first coarse, then smooth leather. The bevel faces were very nicely polished, the closest I ever got to mirror finnish. The HHT wasnt as violent, more silent and with less pop, both in the sound and the feel in the fingertips, just a smooth cut, both thin and thick hairs. Treetoping almost felt somehow less effortless. And the shave was just spectacular.
A little mistake was made as I forgot that I only got the 0.5 micron and no 0.25, but maybe for the better, since I really like this 0.5 finnish. So, I will load the other two balsa strops as my pastes will arrive and try out the 0.25 finnish, then a 0.1. For now, I will go back to the 0.5 micron balsa for a few minutes after Every shave, probably around 50-70 laps and see how it affetcs the shave.
Some pics because why not...
And this one was SMOOOTH. It felt like gently wiping away the lather away. I could not tell (for the first time ever after like 3 years of DE and shavette) that I had a blade to my skin. The beard was being taken off cleanly, closely, consistently. Amazing. At least on my cheeks.
Around the jawline I am still a little hesitant, not absolutely sure about my strokes, but this time I had much more trust in the process and could really tell the difference.
My neck wasnt spot on. I am still finding the right way to work around all the curves, mainly hollow areas. Not really close nor consistant there, but the real evaluation will be when the bumps (don't) show up.
There was a little bit of alum burn but no red or itchy skin. My skin currently isn't at it's best with another round of breakouts so thats quite acceptable.
And here is how I achieved it:
Same prep and maximum focus. Also a new edge.
I went back to my Naniwa 8k SS. No slurry, until it got a little sticky. After it felt like there was no benefit of working the 8k anymore, I stropped on the coarse side of the leather, then the smooth side.
And theeeeen I took the razor to my brand new balsa strop loaded with 0.5 micron diamond paste. After a few minutes I stropped again, first coarse, then smooth leather. The bevel faces were very nicely polished, the closest I ever got to mirror finnish. The HHT wasnt as violent, more silent and with less pop, both in the sound and the feel in the fingertips, just a smooth cut, both thin and thick hairs. Treetoping almost felt somehow less effortless. And the shave was just spectacular.
A little mistake was made as I forgot that I only got the 0.5 micron and no 0.25, but maybe for the better, since I really like this 0.5 finnish. So, I will load the other two balsa strops as my pastes will arrive and try out the 0.25 finnish, then a 0.1. For now, I will go back to the 0.5 micron balsa for a few minutes after Every shave, probably around 50-70 laps and see how it affetcs the shave.
Some pics because why not...
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- #25
This entry is to organize my process of thought regarding the razor bumps on my neck, as they have appeared even after such a nice shave as I had yesterday.
First of all, my skin currently is not doing well overall, so Im not surprised to see them. Some hairs didnt even grow out since the shave before that, so thats also acceptable. But I have noticed some details that when recognized, could possibly lead to improvement in the shave.
As I have hollow parts of skin underneath the jawline, I tend to make any grimace that will straighten those parts, with addition of stretching the skin. This results in presenting a fairly flat section of the skin for the edge. That skin is also taut, so the edge should slide along smoothly. And it does when done correctly.
BUT, this does make it cut a little too close in order to avoid bumps/ingrowns. Its most likely because when the skin is stretched, more of the hair is revealed and when it is cut at skin level at that time, it falls underneath the skin level into its little shaft as the skin relaxes. I also noticed that when shaving, it does not seem as close as it could get. But about an hour after the shave, the skin oil levels re-balance, the skin becomes more "plump" and the hairs somehow fall even deeper into their shafts. And thats great for when you want to get a close shave. And I do, just not as close.
So, as my hair grows extremely flat and after the shave ends up below skin surface, naturally, it results in bumps.
In order to improve this, based on the very few fabolous shaves Ive had so far, I should not stretch as much. But it is very tempting to stretch as much as possible, since that makes the edge so much more comfortable, effortless, effective... Maybe the way to go is to find a way of stretching as little as possible while still having a reasonably comfrotable shave.
For future shaves, this will be my goal, to flatten out the hollow parts of the skin underneath my jawline, without stretching so much that shave is too close and results in bumps.
First of all, my skin currently is not doing well overall, so Im not surprised to see them. Some hairs didnt even grow out since the shave before that, so thats also acceptable. But I have noticed some details that when recognized, could possibly lead to improvement in the shave.
As I have hollow parts of skin underneath the jawline, I tend to make any grimace that will straighten those parts, with addition of stretching the skin. This results in presenting a fairly flat section of the skin for the edge. That skin is also taut, so the edge should slide along smoothly. And it does when done correctly.
BUT, this does make it cut a little too close in order to avoid bumps/ingrowns. Its most likely because when the skin is stretched, more of the hair is revealed and when it is cut at skin level at that time, it falls underneath the skin level into its little shaft as the skin relaxes. I also noticed that when shaving, it does not seem as close as it could get. But about an hour after the shave, the skin oil levels re-balance, the skin becomes more "plump" and the hairs somehow fall even deeper into their shafts. And thats great for when you want to get a close shave. And I do, just not as close.
So, as my hair grows extremely flat and after the shave ends up below skin surface, naturally, it results in bumps.
In order to improve this, based on the very few fabolous shaves Ive had so far, I should not stretch as much. But it is very tempting to stretch as much as possible, since that makes the edge so much more comfortable, effortless, effective... Maybe the way to go is to find a way of stretching as little as possible while still having a reasonably comfrotable shave.
For future shaves, this will be my goal, to flatten out the hollow parts of the skin underneath my jawline, without stretching so much that shave is too close and results in bumps.
Have you experimented with a simple one-pass with-the-grain shave?
Ron R
I survived a lathey foreman
Interesting review, all I can suggest is wet your face prior to applying the lather to keep the skin hydrated and buy a good atomizer mister if your lathered already. I use a mister every once in while while making lather and it is great and lather is great.
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- #28
All my shaves are one pass, WTG.
I will only go for a cleanup second pass so only touch places where I left lots of whiskers. And only if the shave so far didn't cause any discomfort.
But my neck isn't a 100% WTG because my grain is swirly around the adam's apple, then from center towards the ear, at the lower nech about 45° upwards as Well, below the jawline nearly horizontal. Quie tricky to find the perfect stroke with a SR. Generally I try to hit Every stroke as close to WTG as possible.
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- #29
Always wetting before applying pre-shave or lather.
Funny enough I got gifted a mister. Albeit a little one, when placed on the sink, the mist only reached somewhere below the chest. So I kept bending now every few seconds to re-hydrate the lather. Work quite Well, just wasnt comforabtle and since then I didnt want to buy another. Also my bathroom is tiny, the sink as well...
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- #30
A very interesting lesson learned.
Last shave was with MWF. It was my first time with this soap so it took some time to get it where I want my lather to generally be. Still, it was not as dense as I prefer my lalther, but it was quite comfortable to shave with. Altough I think I prefer Proraso White. Maybe I will find a better way to get MWF to perform to its best when I use it more.
The shave was alright and there was quite some alum feedback. No irritation and so far only a few hairs that struggle to grow out cleanly. I am a perfectionist, so I will not rate it 100%. But it's miles better than what it used to be.
But the point is, I felt some tingles even before applying alum. And I spent about 5-7 minutes painting the lather on my face while adding water to see how the MWF will behave. That got me thinking that my face might just not like having any kind of lather on it for too long. I might react to an ingredient that is in all soaps, or my water is too hard, or I'm reacting to something in the water. Basically my skin is not comfortable when it's lathered or wet for too long. And it prefers to have some cream applied, or just it's natural oils, which are stripped with use of my water / shaving soap. And it turns out, there is something to it.
I was inspecting and comparing scratch patterns on razors and the effect of stropping with a little looser strop and more pressure. I noticed that with a strop tight, the edge does not have a great contact with the leather. Adding a little pressure to make sure the contact is solid and loosening the strop a little helps the edge to get better contact. It also polishes the bevel faces far more and improves the feel of HHT, making slice the hair, not pop it.
And so after about 50 laps of stroping with this new (to me) method I wanted to test shave those razors. But I added a little spice to it.
NO PREP, only a splash of water, a dab of proraso green massaged with fingers (no brush). A little more water, a little more massaging and that was it. I only shaved on my upper cheeks.
I preffered 0.5um diamond balsa edge over Naniwa SS 12k edge. It seems to cut smoother, with less scraping effect. And with that 0.5um edge, I even tried a second, XTG pass (I only do one WTG pass when shaving). It was a much closer shave, and just as comfortable as a single WTG pass.
So for my next full shave, I will only wet the face in the shower and make it under 2 minutes. I will prepare the lather to its final stage on my palm and transfer it to my face, paint it with adding water and start shaving after 30 seconds. I will apply the lather only in segments, which I will shave right away. Then wash all the remaining lather thoroughly and dab a tiny touch of creme on the shaved area, so that it doesnt dry out and get irritated.
This might just be another big step so I am very excited.
Last shave was with MWF. It was my first time with this soap so it took some time to get it where I want my lather to generally be. Still, it was not as dense as I prefer my lalther, but it was quite comfortable to shave with. Altough I think I prefer Proraso White. Maybe I will find a better way to get MWF to perform to its best when I use it more.
The shave was alright and there was quite some alum feedback. No irritation and so far only a few hairs that struggle to grow out cleanly. I am a perfectionist, so I will not rate it 100%. But it's miles better than what it used to be.
But the point is, I felt some tingles even before applying alum. And I spent about 5-7 minutes painting the lather on my face while adding water to see how the MWF will behave. That got me thinking that my face might just not like having any kind of lather on it for too long. I might react to an ingredient that is in all soaps, or my water is too hard, or I'm reacting to something in the water. Basically my skin is not comfortable when it's lathered or wet for too long. And it prefers to have some cream applied, or just it's natural oils, which are stripped with use of my water / shaving soap. And it turns out, there is something to it.
I was inspecting and comparing scratch patterns on razors and the effect of stropping with a little looser strop and more pressure. I noticed that with a strop tight, the edge does not have a great contact with the leather. Adding a little pressure to make sure the contact is solid and loosening the strop a little helps the edge to get better contact. It also polishes the bevel faces far more and improves the feel of HHT, making slice the hair, not pop it.
And so after about 50 laps of stroping with this new (to me) method I wanted to test shave those razors. But I added a little spice to it.
NO PREP, only a splash of water, a dab of proraso green massaged with fingers (no brush). A little more water, a little more massaging and that was it. I only shaved on my upper cheeks.
I preffered 0.5um diamond balsa edge over Naniwa SS 12k edge. It seems to cut smoother, with less scraping effect. And with that 0.5um edge, I even tried a second, XTG pass (I only do one WTG pass when shaving). It was a much closer shave, and just as comfortable as a single WTG pass.
So for my next full shave, I will only wet the face in the shower and make it under 2 minutes. I will prepare the lather to its final stage on my palm and transfer it to my face, paint it with adding water and start shaving after 30 seconds. I will apply the lather only in segments, which I will shave right away. Then wash all the remaining lather thoroughly and dab a tiny touch of creme on the shaved area, so that it doesnt dry out and get irritated.
This might just be another big step so I am very excited.
Are you sensitive to lanolin, perhaps? I am, and while I can sometimes get away with using lanolin soaps for one pass, by the second pass it makes my skin itchy and tingly. Once I figured that out my shaves got so much better.
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- #32
Could be. I will put that to the test. Maybe lathering one side of my face with MWF (with lanolin) and the other with Proraso white...
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- #33
What soaps work for you and don't itch and tingle? I'll give them a try.
The two soaps I use all the time are Proraso red and Stirling unscented with beeswax. I've tried a few other vegan soaps, some of them the fragrances bother me a little but nothing like any lanolin soap. Southern Witchcrafts and MdC are pretty good too, although I find MdC a bit drying.
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- #35
I was eyeing that stirling because I love the lather I am able to make with stirling soap (I had the Noir and used All of it). Just a bit of issue to get that one where I am so I'll have to try a little harder. Thanks.
Some of us (paging @Doc Dan ) find that the beeswax is a better performer even than the standard Stirlings.
Stirling sells generous samples at a fair price - good way to try some of their different soaps.
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- #38
I'm not in the US. My favourite eshop does not carry the beeswax or samples. But I sent them an email if they can order some from their supplier.
Yep, we sure do. I mixed some with Cella today for a wonderful shave.
You can get samples from Maggard's in the US and Charmwise in Malaysia.
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