My first SE shave....

[bmc1979]

was a blood bath. When I went to shave tonight I took all my razors out of my mug, lathered up and proceeded to grab my SS Flair. Had a blade out for it when I thought "Hey, I just got some Ted Pella GEM SE blades (thanks to gaj90027 for those and Omnichron whose blades are in the mail) lets give this a try." So I put down the SS and picked up my GEM 1912, loaded up a blade, which took a little to get sitting right and proceeded with a WTG pass. First few passes were smooth and felt pretty good. Took my time and concentrated getting the right angle right. After that was done, gave a little rinse and proceeded to lather up for my ATG pass I usually do next. And here's where the problems started. I don't know what I was doing wrong (I'm thinking angle) but it didn't seem to cut as smoothly and by the time I was done I had the most weepers I've had since starting wet shaving, including the worst one I've ever had right below my nose. Took a little to stop the bleeding but despite that, was I was cleaned up, I actually ended up with a DFS maybe even boardering on BBS. I'm thinking next time, because there felt like a lot of pull on the ATG pass, more so then I've felt with a DE, I'm going to do a XTG pass first to reduce it a little more. I won't say I'm a SE convert but I did enjoy it, even with the massacre.

Another quick thanks to gaj90027 and Omnichron who stepped up right away when I posted about finding SE blades and offered to send me some. I was still pretty new to the board and acts like that show what a good group of people we have.

 

[dcrosso]

I do believe that to meet the required B & B bloodbath terminology, blood has to be running down your neck from your face or chin and reach your neckline. If the blood is actually spurting then you can call it a hemorageing bloodbath. Also a genuine bloodbath does not respond to the stypic pencil and requires constant pressure or a tourniquet. Tourniquets are hard to apply unless it's on the neck and then it has to be released every so often to maintain lucidity.

Massacres are a whole different kind of shaving and require bloodbath terminology and body parts or hunks of flesh.

Sorry to tease you about your bloodbath/massacre, but I'm in a weird place tonight.

My favorite SE is the 1912. When I first started using it I was lucky and only had a few weepers and slight razor rash. I was trying to hurry the shaves and using to much pressure. Take shorter strokes until you get used to how the SE cuts and always listen for the whisker cutting sound that it makes. Good luck, keep practicing.

 

[bmc1979]

No worries. Just for the record the one below my nose was running down my face and was very hard to stop

This morning my face looks great and you can't tell the horror that happened in the bathroom the night before. Not even any irritation, just a DFS.

 

[Dave Deluxe]

My first SE shave was almost successful (they all are now). My problem was taking the original GEM / Ever Ready instructions too literally when it came to the upper lip area. The rest of the shave was great. Another board member clued me in as to how to modify my technique to make the problem upper lip area work for me. Now SE shaving is more effective and trouble free than DE shaving is for me (closer too).

The SE shaving experience becomes rather addictive after a period of time, because of the “barbershop closeness”, compared to DE shaving. If you continue with it you will soon know what I mean.

DD