- Thread starter
- #21
Tuesday evening
I've been wanting to return to shaving a little more frequently, more often every 2 days, whenever possible. My beard doesn't grow especially fast or thick but by 48 hours, I'm feeling like I need to do something about it. Upon my recent return to wet shaving, I was rather haphazard in my approach, believing that my hiatus of a couple years would be forgotten and I'd easily step back into the excellent and easy shaves I'd remembered. How easy it is to be overconfident in a task that requires a fair amount of muscle memory, technique and touch to get a reasonable result.
Those first few weeks back were filled with randomly changing razors, blades and soaps, expecting nothing short of a consistently smooth and comfortable shave, every time. What I ended up with was routine irritation, lots of weepers and a few nicks and overall inconsistent results. I began taking the unlearned beginners attitude towards improvement...I bought more blade samples, a few soaps, another DE razor and a few AS options. Can you guess how much that helped?
Predictably I enjoyed experimenting with a number of new scents (something I've never really done my entire life) but the quality of my shaves went nowhere. So I jumped back onto a few forums and discussion groups, lurking a lot and participating just a bit. Evenutally I began to see the message routinely given to newbies in the midst of GAD while chasing their ideal shave. In my first post in this journal, I ended with a short list of focal points, starting with.... 1. Technique really is EVERYTHING. You can't buy it, you can only develop it.
I was beginning to have some reasonable success with the Gamechanger 0.76 so I decided to set aside the Maggard V2 I started with and the Slims I had used for the longest time. I also decided to give just a few, highly recommended blades, multiple shaves (at least 2-3 blades worth) before moving on. Yes, I was looking for a grail combination while understanding that a proficient shaver is able to get good to excellent results with nearly any combination by using their technique and experience. In combination with the Gamechanger, for me, the Feathers were pretty good, the Accuforges were just better enough to be noticeable and then the Treet white carbons gave me the consistently smooth and efficient shaves I'd been looking for. Enough so that after going through five blades, I bought a hundred of them (my first large blade purchase). Today I'm on my second Permasharp blade, fifth shave total. These are about the same, for me, as the Accuforge blades. I would be happy with either of these two but they will be my second tier.
Tonight I went back to the Mudder Focker and loaded more heavily. I really do like the light scent on this soap but I need to work a good bit more on the loading and hydration. I started with a well hydrated, well lathered face but the second pass lather was about half as good and the final pass was pretty thin... just enough to get through...just! All part of the endless learning process.
Enjoy the ride,
Jay
I've been wanting to return to shaving a little more frequently, more often every 2 days, whenever possible. My beard doesn't grow especially fast or thick but by 48 hours, I'm feeling like I need to do something about it. Upon my recent return to wet shaving, I was rather haphazard in my approach, believing that my hiatus of a couple years would be forgotten and I'd easily step back into the excellent and easy shaves I'd remembered. How easy it is to be overconfident in a task that requires a fair amount of muscle memory, technique and touch to get a reasonable result.
Those first few weeks back were filled with randomly changing razors, blades and soaps, expecting nothing short of a consistently smooth and comfortable shave, every time. What I ended up with was routine irritation, lots of weepers and a few nicks and overall inconsistent results. I began taking the unlearned beginners attitude towards improvement...I bought more blade samples, a few soaps, another DE razor and a few AS options. Can you guess how much that helped?
Predictably I enjoyed experimenting with a number of new scents (something I've never really done my entire life) but the quality of my shaves went nowhere. So I jumped back onto a few forums and discussion groups, lurking a lot and participating just a bit. Evenutally I began to see the message routinely given to newbies in the midst of GAD while chasing their ideal shave. In my first post in this journal, I ended with a short list of focal points, starting with.... 1. Technique really is EVERYTHING. You can't buy it, you can only develop it.
I was beginning to have some reasonable success with the Gamechanger 0.76 so I decided to set aside the Maggard V2 I started with and the Slims I had used for the longest time. I also decided to give just a few, highly recommended blades, multiple shaves (at least 2-3 blades worth) before moving on. Yes, I was looking for a grail combination while understanding that a proficient shaver is able to get good to excellent results with nearly any combination by using their technique and experience. In combination with the Gamechanger, for me, the Feathers were pretty good, the Accuforges were just better enough to be noticeable and then the Treet white carbons gave me the consistently smooth and efficient shaves I'd been looking for. Enough so that after going through five blades, I bought a hundred of them (my first large blade purchase). Today I'm on my second Permasharp blade, fifth shave total. These are about the same, for me, as the Accuforge blades. I would be happy with either of these two but they will be my second tier.
Tonight I went back to the Mudder Focker and loaded more heavily. I really do like the light scent on this soap but I need to work a good bit more on the loading and hydration. I started with a well hydrated, well lathered face but the second pass lather was about half as good and the final pass was pretty thin... just enough to get through...just! All part of the endless learning process.
Enjoy the ride,
Jay
