Learning to shave - all over again

[wazabees]

I figured I could make an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my blade evaluation process, or I could start writing about it. And probably get some valuable input from the community to boot. I'm not much of a writer, so bear with me.

Took my first wobbling steps into the world of wet shaving maybe 7 or 8 years ago. It didn't stick. Now I'm back and ready to try again. I already posted about all the stuff I've amassed over the years and in starting over, I've ordered a couple of goodies and I've gotten a pack of blade samples.

Currently waiting for a Merkur 34C and some fresh cream to show up. Next update when I receive the goodies.

 

[dexutter]

Excellent! Pics of the goodies when they arrive!

 

[wazabees]

Excellent! Pics of the goodies when they arrive!

But of course, dexutter!

View attachment 659041

Order(s) arrived today! Not really sure where to begin, to be honest. But I'm thinking a shave this evening using the 34C and an Astra SP blade. I'll start carefully with 3 brutal ATG passes and then.. nah. Maybe a WTG pass and we'll see how I feel afterwards.

I have a few artisan soaps on the way too. A Norwegian one called Brutalt Bra and two Haslinger soaps. Tomorrow will tell what my face looks like and whether or not I'll get busy on the for-sale forums if it doesn't go to plan.

 

[dexutter]

Sounds like an excellent shave! TOBS (Mr. Taylor, St. James, and Grapefruit I've tried) is about as safe as possible for a good shave! It's my go to when my face feels beaten up or I'm trying out a blade that hasn't performed great. And I've heard awesome things about the Avocado! Also, I'm a big Astra SP fan! Good Luck!

 

[wazabees]

Click image for larger version.


Everything I read about the Simpson Wee Scot brush was true. You will not believe how little it actually is until you take it out of its packaging. It's tiny! I hope the photo above can put it into perspective - most of you know how big a DE blade is.

I'll need to do some testing with this brush, so I'll continue using my synthetic for actual shaves until I get the hang of this one.

 

[wazabees]

Click image for larger version.


First shave today! And it wasn't bad. Not bad at all. As you can see from the kit in the photo above, I'm trying to keep it really simple. Merkur 34C, Astra SP blade, soap and a mild aftershave.

Prep: Had a quick shower, washed face using Musgo Real glycerin lime oil soap. Or MR GLO as I've heard it referred to. Decided to mix the lather in a bowl and stupidly stuck the brush into the shaving cream bowl. It picked up far too much cream and I think I whipped up enough lather for an army. Didn't take too long to get a (IMHO) decent lather. At the very least, much nicer than any canned goop.

Shave: Lathered up. I have a moustache and a goatee, so for obvious reasons I didn't lather everything. I relaxed as best I could, but I had a lot of thoughts popping up. "Don't push too hard. Listen carefully to the scratchy noise of beard removal. It's beard reduction, not beard removal. Er. Which way does it grow here again?" I completed a WTG pass and .. no nicks! No tugging either. A smooth shave indeed. I checked around for irritation or weepers. Maybe a nick I'd missed. Nope, none of the above. So, deciding to not push my luck, I just did some cleanup, using short strokes. Washed away the lather and used cooold water to finish up.

I'd call this a socially acceptable shave. I'd be happy to go to work like that. I can tell by stroking my hand against the grain that there is a fair amount more that can come off. But I'm satisfied for today. No irritation or razor burn either. Next shave tomorrow evening.

Post: Rubbed the alum block over my face to see if there was any sting. And no, no sting. A shave using a cartridge stings far more. Then I applied some after-shave and declared it a success.

Lessons learned: Don't overthink it. It's only shaving. Don't rush it. Learn how to hold the razor properly, the layout of your face and get better at the basics first. Then get creative with other soaps, brushes and blades.

 

[labrax]

Nice shave, gear and journal!

The Wee Scot is small - nice job of using the blade as perspective in the photo.

Keep going - before log you will be a master of the DE.

Sent via Tapatalk from phone

 

[dexutter]

Great shave! Sticking to the basics is great! Your a more patient man than I! Keep it up!

 

[wazabees]

Second DE shave this morning

Yup, this morning. Early this morning. I got up early even though I have the day off from work! So, feeling a bit groggy, I had myself a nice shower. The shaving gear used was pretty much the same as my first shave. The only thing I changed was that I washed my face with the MR GLO soap after showering. I decided to not leave the soap in the shower because I think it'd melt and disappear a lot quicker.

Second shave with the same blade. I was mindful of being very careful again, listening closely to the whiskers being cut. A WTG pass went very smoothly and no irritation. Rubbing my face WTG told me it was nice and smooth. Not so rubbing against the grain. Decided to brave another pass, this time XTG. Another smooth pass! I was feeling a bit bold so I applied lather to my cheeks to try touching up a little ATG. Again, no problem! I left my neck alone after the XTG pass as I thought I'd get some irritation if I went ATG. Rinsed with cold water and ran the alum bar across my face. A little more sting than my first shave, but not bad at all! Splashed my face with cold water again and applied the Nivea after shave. I was feeling pretty stoked! I'd shaved like my grandfather (great grandfather?) again and there was no blood, no razor burn and no irritation!

I'm going to try for a third shave using the same blade and I'll see how I get on. I'll also stick with the Astra SP blades for a few more shaves before I try another one. So far it really seems the Merkur 34C and the Astra blades agree with my face. Couldn't be happier and I felt refreshed and ready to face the day.

 

[dexutter]

Nice! Keep it up!

 

[wazabees]

They said...

Click for larger


"Start using DE razors" they said. "It'll be cheaper" they said. Nobody warned me about all the ADs! SAD. ASAD. RAD. RBAD. The list goes on. I don't have it TOO bad yet. I'm after a few artisan soaps at the moment and have one on the way in the mail. I'll stick with the Merkur 34C, the ToOBS cream and I'll stick with my sampler pack. First I want to be consistent with razor, lather and brush and just try different blades. When I find those top 2-3 blades, I'll start mixing it up with creams, soaps, etc. Sounds expensive.

 

[wazabees]

Nice! Keep it up!

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[wazabees]

The last several days have been miserable! I had water damage to my kitchen a little while ago. Thursday last week worked came to tear up the floor and basically destroy the kitchen. They pulled away the laminate (not my choice, it was there when I bought the apartment!) and underneath they found tiles. Happy days, right? Naw. They found more moisture and decided to remove the tiles too. And then sand the remnants of cement and stuff. And due to poor sealing of the doorways our entire apartment is covered in cement dust. The saga continues tomorrow and we'll see where it ends up!

Anyway, on to shaving. I had my third shave using the Merkur 34C on Saturday last week.

Of the three so far, this was the least awesome. I blame my lather making skills this time. I suppose it could have been the blade (3rd shave) but the lather did feel off. Maybe I didn't add enough cream to the bowl. Most likely I was very distracted from everything going on with the kitchen. Had a shower and washed my face with the Musgo glycerin soap. ToOBS avocado shaving cream and lathered up. The first WTG pass went OK so I went half-heartedly for another pass and then did some touch-ups. The good thing is that I didn't get any nicks, cuts or irritation. The downside was that I didn't feel all that satisfied with my shave.

On to tonight! After I'm done writing this I'm going to clear my mind, be happy with the work I did to clean up tons of dust (tons still remain...) and have a shower and a shave. This will be my fourth shave, and the fourth time using the same blade. I'm going to replace the blade after this shave and see if I notice any difference with tomorrow's shave. Wish me luck.

 

[wazabees]

Oh man, that was rough!

Just finished the fourth shave. Go me! And it was quite a rough one. I prepped my usual way, warm shower, washed face with Musgo and made lather from ToOBS avocado cream. Applied lather and started shaving. Nice and relaxed and not in a hurry. Something is wrong. Something feels wrong. Almost harsh. Okay, fine. The blade must be dead now, so I stop mid-shave, rinse my face and switch the blade for a fresh Astra SP. Applied lather again and off I went. Nope! Still harsh and very uncomfortable. I really felt like grabbing my ol' 5-blade fusion ninja cartridge right then.

But no. Next thing to investigate was the lather. It felt a bit odd. Rubbing it between my fingers, it felt kind of scratchy. Okay, new lather it is. Maybe I added too much water to my first lather attempt. I added more cream and whipped up a nice and thick lather. This felt a lot different on my fingers, very slick. I lathered up my face and off I went with the razor again.

Ahh, yes. There's that comfortable and familiar sound of whiskers being mowed down. No tugging, no discomfort. I finished one WTG pass and one slightly XTG and decided to leave it at that. My face had had enough. I rubbed the alum block over my face, and the right side of my neck felt like it had gotten a beating. I'll know in the morning how bad of a beating I suppose. I now have a socially acceptable shave. I can go to work tomorrow and not feel unkempt. But it's a far cry from what I think a DFS is and waaay off BBS. I won't be going after a BBS for some time, but a DFS would be nice!

Thanks for reading and good night!

 

[labrax]

Could there have been cement dust in the brush when you made the first lather? Very strange that it was gritty. Good job of stopping and checking things out.

Sounds like the last two shaves were not the best - don't get down on yourself though - as all of us experience them. You are learning - both the DE razors and the lather making with the shaving soap. Although we typically use both in shaving - they are two separate skills you are working on. In think you should focus on the fact you identified the issue and fixed it and carried on with the shave.


Sent via Tapatalk from phone

 

[wazabees]

Could there have been cement dust in the brush when you made the first lather? Very strange that it was gritty. Good job of stopping and checking things out.

Sounds like the last two shaves were not the best - don't get down on yourself though - as all of us experience them. You are learning - both the DE razors and the lather making with the shaving soap. Although we typically use both in shaving - they are two separate skills you are working on. In think you should focus on the fact you identified the issue and fixed it and carried on with the shave.

Thanks for commenting! It's somewhat unlikely but not impossible there was some dust in the brush. The dust was however incredibly fine and shouldn't have felt gritty. I think I described the feeling of the lather wrong - it was the opposite of slick.
I'm not too down about it and I'm definitely not throwing in the towel like I did many years ago when I tried my old slim adjustable. I'll keep going and learning!

Today my face feels perfectly fine! No dry skin and no razor burn. I'd call that a successful albeit rough shave.

 

[dexutter]

Well done on the investigation. I've had 1 or 2 bad TOBS days. There is no shame on dumping and trying again. My issue is leaving it too dry, when I do it feels very friction-y. But when it's right, it glides! Sorry about the kitchen, water is tough, destroys everything!

 

[wazabees]

Fifth and sixth shave, aftershaves and blades!

Had my fifth DE shave on Thursday. It appears I shave every 2-3 days at the moment. It was an OK shave this time! I took my time with the lather and used the standard staples (Merkur 34C, Astra SP blade (2nd shave), ToOBS avocado shaving cream, synthetic brush, alum, Nivea sensitive AS). I still haven't nicked myself or seen any weepers. It was a close enough shave, perfectly acceptable.

My sixth DE shave was yesterday. I had a shower first and washed my face using glycerin soap and used most of the standard staples mentioned above. The only exception was that I used my the Simpson Wee Scot brush to whip up a lather in a bowl. I feel the Wee Scot is far better for me considering I have a goatee and moustache. This was another great shave and I feel it's time for me to switch it up a little, with a new blade. I consider this a socially acceptable shave.

I've been learning a lot, especially regarding how I hold the razor and listening carefully to whiskers being shaved off. But I'd like to experiment some more and I don't quite know how to proceed! What are my options then?

I have more soaps and creams to try with DE shaving!

Soaps and creams

• Haslinger Salbei (sage) hard soap
• Haslinger Aloe Vera hard soap
• XPEC Original Shaving Cream Sample
• ToOBS Shaving Cream Sample
• Brutalt Bra Barbersåpe - artisan soap from Norway

Pre-shave

• Proraso Sandalwood pre-shave
• Proraso sensitive pre-shave

Blades

• Gillette - Platinum
• Kai - Stainless Steel
• Personna - Lab Blue
• Personna - Platinum (Israeli Reds)
• Rapira - Swedish Super Steel
• Wilkinson Sword

Things on order!

• Aqua Velva AS splash
• Myrsol Balsamic AS splash
• Myrsol Lemon AS splash
• Haslinger sheepmilk and lanolin soap
• Meißner Tremonia Dark Limes cream sample
• Meißner Tremonia Mint Ice Menthol cream sample

Err... wow. So I have a lot of things to try! And I don't know if I should start with testing other blades and leaving the rest the same or if I should keep using Astra SP and change up the shaving creams/soaps.
I'll likely try blades, so next up is the Gillette! I'm going alphabetically with my initial trial pack. I have some Feathers too, but I'll save those for later.

 

[wazabees]

And the seventh shave

Tonight's shave felt kind of rough, and there are a few possible reasons for this. I decided to try a new blade and it felt like it didn't quite cut the whiskers very well. The rest of the set-up was as previously, the same cream, brush, etc. The possible reasons for this not being the most awesome shave;
1. The new blade, Gillette Platinum
2. The lather wasn't quite right
3. I shaved too soon. I don't usually shave more than two or three times a week

By process of elimination, I'll keep the blade, use the same cream but I'll hold off on my next shave until Tuesday. Wish me luck.

Edit: What do I mean by a rough shave? My face felt quite tender after the shave, and it felt irritated. Now, several hours later, it doesn't feel too bad. I don't think I have razor burn, but I did have a weeper on my jaw line near my ear after the shave. I have a fair amount of stubble left on my face, if I feel my face ATG, but it's a socially acceptable shave.

 

[labrax]

Hey there,

I think you are on the right track just changing one of the variables. If you can get good results with the same razor and soap then that leaves the blades and brush that you can change around.

You are making good progress - you are only 7 shaves in - so there will bad shaves mixed in there, but you will improve and before long you will have 50, then 100+ shaves and have it nailed down.

Sent via Tapatalk from phone