"My" shave log

[jlmraider]

I wanted a place to make notes on my shaves. Feel free to join in, log your shaves, ask questions, leave comments, etc. The more the merrier.

SOTD 10-16-2013

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
Shark Super Stainless (2) then drugstore blade(1)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Clubman styptic pencil
Gillette ASL

I've decided the current combo with Shark Super Stainless blades doesn't work for me. I haven't completely given up on them, I hope to acquire more razors in the future and maybe they'll work well with a different razor. I stopped part-way through this shave and dumped the Shark (one previous and uncomfortable shave on it) and switched back to the drugstore blades I have been primarily using and finished with just one WTG pass. Taking a couple days to recover from this and the last shave with the shark.

 

[countrybois]

SOTD 10-18-2013

Edwin Jagger DE89
Personna Lab Blue(5)
Van Der Hagen Luxury soap
Muhle Silvertip Fibre 21mm
Nivea Sensitive ASB

This is my 3rd shave with the Muhle Sythetic. It is super smooth on the face, not sure if it will break in or not, but it doesn't seem to 'splay' as much as I would like for face lathering. Is that too much backbone?? idk...I am kind of wishing I would have went with the 23mm instead. I am working through a sampling of blades and, so far, am really pleased with the Personna. Overall this 2-pass shave was uneventful, which is good. I shave every day except Saturday and vary between 2-pass and 3-pass depending on what the day holds in store and how close a shave I want for the day.

 

[Geofw]

SOTD 10-18-2013

Razor = Edwin Jagger DE 39
Blade = Personna Blue
Brush = Edwin Jagger Best Badger
Shave Cream = TOBS Mr Taylor

I have always wet shaved and have worked my way through most of the cartridge systems over the many many years of shaving.
I shave everyday and like to rotate blades and shaving creams. My favorite blades (at the moment) are the Personna Blue and Gillette Silver Blue, I have recently purchases 100 of each. I can easily get 6 to 7 shaves from one of these blades.
I really enjoy my shaving regime now, much more enjoyable than with the cartridge sytem.
I bowl lather after soaking the brush in my shaving bowl filled with hot water for a couple of minutes, to soften the brush and warm the bowl.
I normally do 2 passes, sometime 3 depending on how my face feels and my plans are for the day.
My favorite shaving creams are TOBS Jermyn St, TOBS Sandalwood and my everyday cream TOBS Mr Taylor.
I have tried Van Der Hagen Luxury soap and soap samples from Mikes and Mystic Waters. They seem like hard work to get a good lather, so I keep going back to the creams.

I sometimes use Nivea replenishing balm if my skin feels dry or tender.

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-18-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
drugstore blade (2)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Clubman Pinaud AS

Couldn't wait to get to my shave tonight. After taking a break from shaving last night, I was eager to get back at it. After reading through some other forums today I decided to try to improve my lather. While I showered, I soaked my brush in my mug while it was sitting in the sink of hot water in order to soften the bristles (I'll keep this technique, I like the softer, warm bristles) and warm the mug. After my shower, I shook out my brush and loaded it with a good bit of soap. I left a small amount of water in the mug and built up a lather. My goal here was to reduce the amount of water I typically use in order to get a thicker, richer lather. My shave was uneventful for the most part all except for my blade skipping a bit on my head. I think I went a bit overboard with my water reduction and the soap dried on my skin leaving a coating that didn't provide the slide I wanted. Also, I normally have lather left over in my mug, but tonight I had to reload my brush and rebuild more lather to get through my shave. I'll have to keep playing around with it to get the lather just right I think. OH YEAH, nearly forgot... tonight was my first night using Clubman Pinaud, I believe I like it. I may cut it with witch hazel, the scent is a bit stronger than expected but I like it. It also keeps me honest and lets me know when I put too much pressure on my neck (which I did tonight).

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-19-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
drugstore blade (3)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Clubman Pinaud AS

Rather uneventful shave. I went back to using my typical amount of water for my lather and this yielded a foam that worked better for me. I continue to catch myself using bad habits back from when I was using cartridges. (too much pressure, improper strokes, etc...) The Pinaud didn't reveal too many issues with this shave.

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-20-2013 (Face)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
drugstore blade (4)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Clubman Pinaud AS

Feeling tired tonight so just went with a face shave. I really focused on not applying pressure, especially when going over my neck. While even taking care and focusing on my pressure I still had some irritation from tonight's shave. (which I felt slightly even before I splashed on my Pinaud). My guess is that the blade had enough and I'll be using a fresh blade on my next shave. Thinking of trying a different brand from my variety pack...

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-21-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
Astra superior platinum (1)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Gillette ASL

Tried out a different blade for the time tonight. The Astra SP did a great job. Nice and smooth on the strokes. I only went with a single WTG pass on my face and a 2 pass ATG to WTG on my head. I figured it would be a good method to alternate between the two in order to ease up irritation in my skin. I didn't use the Pinaud tonight, see my other thread from tonight for more details. (boils down to a scent issue)

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-22-2013 (Face)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
Astra SP (2)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Clubman Pinaud AS

Did a three pass shave on my face this time. WTG XTG and ATG. The Astra blade cut smooth and my lather was just about perfect. I think I can definitely add the Astras to the approved column. I used the clubman AS again because I just like the way it leaves my skin feeling, but the scent really is a negative for me. The lingering baby powder scent just... for me its awful. I'm going to try out some different AS and I'm sure there's some out there that will work. I'll check with my guys in my unit to see if they need/want the clubman, if not I may PIF or just keep it on the shelf for a bit. Overall great shave, no major nicks (I think I saw two little dots of blood that didn't last through the second lather) and the irritation was at zero, even on the neck. BBS

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-23-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
Astra SP (3)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Witch Hazel and Gillette ASL

Single WTG pass on the face, and two pass WTG ATG on the head. Everything went pretty smooth until closer to the end. I think some water got into my mug from the sink and thinned out my lather. It didn't ruin the shave just had to take a little more care. Went with witch hazel for healing and Gillette ASL for scent and moisturizing. This will do until my next AS gets in. Astra SP did well.

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-24-2013 (Face)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
Astra SP (4)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
Witch Hazel and Gillette ASL

Three passes on the face, WTG then XTG then ATG. The XTG pass was rough on the neck (my hair grows at kind of an angle on my neck) For future second passes on my neck I may try shaving up towards my chin then go sideways on a third pass. I'm wondering if I have reached the lifetime of the Astra Blade. I figure if I get 3 days worth of shaves on a single blade I'm still doing well. That includes one or two head shaves and the price per blade still equals out to a good price per shave. My new AS should be here tomorrow, excited to try it out.

Also, after reading up on it in the forums here, I took a different approach to building my lather. Previously I soaked my brush while in the shower, swirled it over my soap real well, and then swirled in a mug with a little water in it. I saw some notes from some of you in other threads about being too rough on the brushes (something I hadn't given much thought to) and also soaking the soap for a few seconds before loading the brush. So, tonight I soaked my soap for about 30 seconds and took it easy on the brush. Getting a good lather was easier and there weren't any boar hairs left on my face (I noticed a couple in the past). If I were shaving my head I would have probably ran out of lather, but I'll keep that in mind moving forward.

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-25-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
7 a.m. Plus HI Platinum Durablade (1)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
English Leather AS

I attempted to repeat the lather process I used last night, and everything started out well. Once I had my fresh blade loaded and was just about ready to get to shaving, I managed to tip my mug that was sitting in the sink of hot water. The mug filled with water nearly to the top. I considered dumping it completely and starting a fresh lather, but I figured I could salvage it. The water didn't mix completely with the lather I had in the cup so I poured out the majority of the water, and whipped the lather some more in the mug. I should have started over on the lather, but It was fluffy, white, so I went with it. What this lather was missing that last nights had was the slickness. Last nights lather left a slick coating on my skin after making a pass with the razor, tonight this was not the case. My razor skipped across my skin in quite a few places. I got through the shave with out chewing my skin up too bad but only did a WTG pass on my face. I did a WTG and ATG on my head, but I've always felt my head was tougher than my face (hard also, probably the cause of not making a fresh lather) I felt the blade performed well, and I'm eager to see how well it does with a good lather. Finally, I used English Leather for my after shave tonight, the sent is subtle and appealing. I'll give it some time and a few more uses to see if I notice the "baby powder softening" that turned me off of Pinaud Clubman.

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-27-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
7 a.m. Plus HI Platinum Durablade (2) to Shark super chrome (1)
Edwin Jagger Sandalwood Soap
Van der Hagen Boar brush
English Leather AS

I skipped Saturday nights shave due to a lack of time, got home late from dinner. Made a good lather tonight (didn't ruin it by fill the mug with water). During my shave I realized that one side of my blade was more uncomfortable than the other. Not sure if I overused one side or if maybe it was made this way. I usually try to spin my razor around a few times during my shave to try to wear both sides evenly, but maybe I didn't last shave... idk. Regardless, it go to the point where both sides were ineffective so I ended up switching it out. I managed to get a good shave on my face before switching. I went three passes WTG, XTG, and ATG. I paid special attention to my neck where it grows in different directions in different sections. This proved to be effective at getting a good shave with little to no irritation. I got about half of my head done on the first pass when I decided to switch the blade. I wanted to try a new one and hesitantly chose the Shark Super Chrome. I worried that this Shark blade will be as uncomfortable as the Shark Super Stainless. It wasn't, it got everything that the 7 a.m. missed and with no irritation. WTG and ATG on my head. Good shave overall, just wish the 7 a.m. would have lasted longer.

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-28-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
Shark super chrome (2) then Crystal Stainless Steel (1)
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Van der Hagen Boar brush
English Leather AS

I was happy to find that the PIF from Riff Raff was waiting in my mailbox when I got home this evening. Included were a few different soaps and razor blades. Very generous PIF and I appreciate it so much. I was really eager to try out "da Fat" but not before giving my LOTH a chance to smell one of the other soaps that was bacon scented. She wasn't as excited about it as I was.

While I showered my brush and mug were in hot water, warming up. When I got out I soaked the Wool Fat soap in some water for about 20-30 seconds to soften it up a bit. I loaded up my brush and went to lathering in my mug being careful to get the water content right. It may have been in my technique but it was most likely the soap but tonight's lather was better than what I've had before with my EJ. I'm not saying the EJ is bad, but tonight the MWF was better. My skin had a better slick protective coating that I don't typically get with the EJ. I'll definitely be adding another puck of MWF to my Christmas list (y'know, for a backup).

I have a professional dinner tomorrow evening and wanted to get a good shave tonight in preparation. So I shaved head and face again tonight. I went 3 passes on my face W-X-ATG but as I started the third pass, my blade edge declined rapidly. Disappointed, I tossed it and pulled the next option out of the drawer, the Crystal. It started out rough at first, all I had left on my face was part of my neck, and it was slightly irritated from the previous blade. Once I transitioned my my head I wanted to see how the blade would do in a single ATG pass, one to test it and two to save some time. It did great, cutting smooth and missing very little. The AS revealed how irritated the Shark blade had left me and I think I may limit these blades to one shave in the future. Good shave tonight, exciting to try out the famed MWF I've read so much about and not disappointed in it's performance. I'll get some pictures up maybe tomorrow.

 

[jlmraider]

SOTD 10-30-2013 (Face and Head)

Vintage Gillette '53 Super Speed
Crystal Stainless Steel (2) attempted Astra Superior Stainless finished with Astra Superior Platinum (I think)
Mitchell's Wool Fat
Van der Hagen Boar brush
English Leather AS

My lather got "bubbly" as the shave went on and the blade gave out sooner than I would have liked. Tried out the Astra Superior Stainless for the first time, I think it will be in the no column. Overall a rough shave with all the adjustment and the lather "going bad" but I've had worse. Work more with the lather and most likely be more consistent with my blade selection.