NewBlader's new shaver's shaving journal

[NewBlader]

Not sure precisely what the number is at this point but I'll say #75. It's really going well. I now understand why advocates say you can get a smooth, no-irritation shave with a straight. You can. It works. I'm now taking about 15 minutes. I normally am doing WTG and XTG only, no ATG. This doesn't result in an absolutely smooth shave but it is (I hope) going to let my skin recover from years of Fusion abuse. Certainly my skin feels better than ever. I can do ATG pass as well and it results in a super-smooth shave, but I would rather give my skin more chance to recover from Fusions.

I'm having some success with touch-up honing. I got some 1000 grit wet or dry sand paper and used that to lap my 1200 Naniwa and that really helped. It's necessary to lap these things before use.

To lap it, I taped the wet-or-dry paper to a smooth counter top, put on some water, and used a circular motion a dozen times. The Naniwa material is fairly soft so it worked quickly.

After that I did about 8 to 10 strokes on the Naniwa. Just enough pressure to keep the blade / edge flat. It worked fine, and it made it shave much better the next day.

I'll continue to do that occasionally to learn how to feel it.

NewBlader, for what it's worth thanks for the journal. I am just starting out (4 shaves) and it is helpful to read about your journey. Hopefully it is helping with whatever daily stresses you are dealing with! I know for me it is relaxing already even though my shaves are, well like I have only used a straight 4 times

Yeah at this point straight shaving does help me relax some. Things are stressful sometimes, that's all there is to it. Keep at it with the straight, they really work and (for me) are a great way to shave.

 

[NewBlader]

Another great shave today! I added ATG pass today and it does get smooth! It also causes a bit more stress on the skin. I think I'll stick with mainly WTG / XTG passes. I'm not getting nicks anymore and I am getting smooth shaves. I still have some spots (tip of the chin, some area near the neck) that are hard to get but it's getting better.

 

[NewBlader]

I tried my new Revisor today. It worked quite well. Feels a lot more solid than the 5/8 DOVOs I've been using. The Revisor is 6/8 and also thicker / heavier.

However the blade is not sharp. The factory edge on it is too dull. It shaved but I needed to finish with a DOVO that I had honed. I may try to hone this Revisor and use it again. All in all, a good, smooth shave today.

I did try Col. Konk lather again today. This time I had a lot more success. I guess I had more patience and spent about a minute lathering it and it worked pretty well. I'll try it some more.

I finished my tub of Taylor of Old Bond Street Eton cream. It was pretty good but I like Proraso better, and Proraso is cheaper. I used the empty TOBS bowl as the lathering bowl with some Col Konk and that may have helped. And now I've figured out how to get better results with Col. Konk. I did use my brush, something I haven't used for a long time. It's a synthetic brush. I refuse to buy a badger brush.

 

[NewBlader]

Another great shave! This time with my stainless DOVO. Apparently my touch-up honing worked. It's sharp, it cuts, I get a smooth comfortable shave. I do miss some spots but it's getting better. I can see that, as with many things, there's an initial learning curve to get the basic operation down (takes probably two or three months) and then there will be a longer, slower learning curve of improvements.

Used Col. Konk today, it was good! It only takes about a minute to lather it. My first round with using a brush was not good because shaving was taking so long that the lather dried up, which Col Konk seemed to do. Now that I'm a lot faster, the lather is more usable.

 

[NewBlader]

I'm still working on this honing thing. I tried again with my first razor, the plain steel DOVO, which definitely needs honing. I gave it a dozen passes on a Naniwa 12k stone, and it doesn't seem any sharper. I can press it into the pad of my thumb and it doesn't do anything. It feels as dull as a pocket knife blade in fact. I tried shaving with it and it didn't cut very well. I'm not sure what to do. I finished my shave with the stainless DOVO and had a good result.

Any suggestions on honing?

 

[NewBlader]

I'm not exact on the count, but anyway...

I figured out a few things about honing.

First, the skin on my thumb pad is not a good indicator of sharpness. A professionally honed blade doesn't cut my thumb pad skin easily. Any blade feels dull. I don't think it's because I have particularly thick skin there, it just is the way it is.

Second, I can get a razor to pass the hanging hair test, but that test doesn't necessarily mean much.

Finally, the important thing is that I do need to use a pasted strop after honing to get a good result. I used 0.25 micron diamond. It really helped. But I'm still not really sure what I'm doing, but at least it seems like I can get a useful and sharp edge.

I did get a new Boeker razor, stainless with olive wood scales. It is beautifully made, excellent QC. And it looks great and shaves well. I recommend it. DOVO seems to have big QC problems these days. The Boeker is a cut above.

I had a very fast shave today, only had five minutes, and was able to get a two-pass shave done. It's not the smoothest but it worked!

 

[thatsilverguy]

I am surprised to hear that the Boker is better-quality than Dovo. I assume it is a New Boker? I have a Dovo "Best Quality" that has always given me great shaves. I will say I have never tried to hone it though - and mine was honed by Jarrod at Superior Shave. I'm sure it will be a while before I am as good as he is.

I started out using Col. Conk soap (almond) as well, and I alternate with AoS shave cream (sandalwood). I usually use the soap when I'm in a hurry and not looking for BBS; the cream when I have more time to "hunt the unicorn" - lol. At 4x the price of Conk you may not feel AoS is a value though. I think that $25 worth of soap and cream will last me the rest of the year though at least.

Looks like you are becoming quite the shaving aficionado, and maybe even a "honemeister".

Good progress man!

 

[NewBlader]

#83 - another good shave, what else to say!

I am surprised to hear that the Boker is better-quality than Dovo. I assume it is a New Boker?

Yes. It's way better finished than the DOVOs I have tried.

I have a Dovo "Best Quality" that has always given me great shaves.

The DOVO blades are fine. I so far don't detect a whole lot of difference from one blade to another. It's all hard steel, and if it's honed well, then that's it. I'm only criticizing stuff like how the scales are aligned and finished, etc.

I started out using Col. Conk soap (almond) as well, and I alternate with AoS shave cream (sandalwood). I usually use the soap when I'm in a hurry and not looking for BBS; the cream when I have more time to "hunt the unicorn" - lol. At 4x the price of Conk you may not feel AoS is a value though. I think that $25 worth of soap and cream will last me the rest of the year though at least.

Col Conk is doing well for me! I also have GFT shaving cream which is a lot more expensive, and Proraso which is cheap, but I'm somehow enjoying Col Conk. The first time I tried it (a few months ago) I didn't like it, but now it's good and I'm getting good lather with my synthetic brush.

Looks like you are becoming quite the shaving aficionado, and maybe even a "honemeister".

Ah, far from it! All I can do now is refresh the blade without needing to send it off to a pro. But I can't really tell the difference and see what my honing is doing. Hanging hair cutting is mostly a gimmick.

Good progress man!

Thank you!

 

[NewBlader]

I did more with the 0.25 micron diamond strop, and whatever I did really worked. I got a smoother shave with less irritation because the blade cut more easily. This is the first time I'm getting a BBS shave with this little "exfoliation". I could tell because the sting from the alcohol splash after was quite minimal. Usually when I do an ATG pass, I do get a great shave but also quite a bit of alcohol sting.

Anyway, straight shaving is great! It works better and better the more you learn it. And there's a lot to learn, too!

 

[Luc]

I did more with the 0.25 micron diamond strop, and whatever I did really worked. I got a smoother shave with less irritation because the blade cut more easily. This is the first time I'm getting a BBS shave with this little "exfoliation". I could tell because the sting from the alcohol splash after was quite minimal. Usually when I do an ATG pass, I do get a great shave but also quite a bit of alcohol sting.

Anyway, straight shaving is great! It works better and better the more you learn it. And there's a lot to learn, too!

Good work! You know the shave is good when the splash barely/doesn't sting!

 

[NewBlader]

Good work! You know the shave is good when the splash barely/doesn't sting!

Yes, how much sting I get is my metric on that. And with my improved honing, I'm now getting extremely smooth shaves with minimal burn afterwards.

Straight shaving - I've finally found my shaving answer.

 

[NewBlader]

Just another excellent straight shave today! I used GFT Skye aftershave. I realize, I don't like it. Too strong of a floral smell, too much bitterness.

 

[NewBlader]

I used my steel Revisor 6/8 today. I gave it 30 laps on a diamond-sprayed balsa strop and that seemed to help quite a bit. It gave a great shave, quite a different feeling from the 5/8 blades. It's a lot heavier and less flexible and I think I could feel a difference. I'm still figuring out what's going on with honing, pastes and so on, to see how they all work together.

 

[NewBlader]

I haven't done an update on this for a while. I think this is shave #91.

I've been using my new Revisor for a few days. I can feel it's not shaving-ready, while the stainless DOVO I have, which I honed, is shaving well (although it has poor QC). Now it's time for me to try some light honing on the Revisor, because I love the way it feels in the hand but it needs to be sharper.

I've figured out how to make use of a brush and Proraso. I had tried it before and wasn't able to get lather. I figured out that I needed a bigger bowl. Now I'm using an empty TOBS shaving cream container and it lathers up very nicely. It makes big rolls of perfect lather. It takes less than a minute and it does help the shave, and it's fun. I now use my synthetic brush every day.

Today I was in a big hurry and I thought, "should I shave at all, or should I limit my shave to 5 minutes?" I opted to set myself a five minute limit, and see what I would get. This five minutes includes stropping, lathering, shaving, and rinsing and alcohol splash.

I basically did a one-and-a-half pass shave in that time. It worked! It's a good fairly good shave. By doing less shaving I ended up with less irritation and only a very light tingle from the alcohol splash. One thing that helped is I have succeeded in getting my DOVO really sharp so it shaves efficiently.

For those who think that straight shaving must always be a big production that takes 45 minutes, no! It can be done very efficiently, perhaps faster than shaving with a cartridge or electric shaver. Shaving is a daily task, not a hobby.

 

[NewBlader]

I'm probably at shave 100+ right now.

I've gotten better at honing. I got a stainless steel Revisor and was able to hone it to an edge that gives a good shave. I'm also much faster than I was. I can do a fast two-pass shave that gives a reasonable result in under ten minutes. And I am using my synthetic brush every day now, because it is fast and the lather is great. Proraso, GFT, whatever, are all good. I'm also getting less of the alcohol burn, because with a sharper blade and better technique, I need to do less passes over the same area.

I now have the following razors:

Two stainless steel DOVOs, one of which I'm going to PIF to someone
One stainless Revisor
One stainless Boeker
One carbon steel Revisor

The Boeker is the stand-out from this group. It is perfectly finished. DOVO QC seems to be greatly lacking. The Revisors are beautiful, and they are 6/8 and thicker, which I like.

All of them work fine with the right honing. I think there's little difference in the results from one or the other razor; the big variables are the skill of the shaver and the skill of the honer.

I'm happy that I can now take a factory blade and get it shave ready. I don't really know what I'm doing but it's working.

I did get this 1939 edition of the practice and science of barbering. It has some great tips in it, and also some great insights into what American attitudes were like before we turned into an entitlement society. Unfortunately I can't find the 1939 edition on-line.

 

[Brent]

Congrats passing the 100 mark!!

 

[NewBlader]

I'm using GFT more. I'm under a lot of stress, and you know, starting the day with a WONDERFUL smelling and feeling shaving lather does help. I know we have "aromatherapy" now. Maybe traditional shaving products are a traditional aromatherapy for stressed out men. GFT also lathers up really nicely with my synthetic brush. I think I might upgrade from my plastic bowl to a nicer ceramic.

Also my honing is getting better. I have now successfully honed my Revisor to get it shave ready and get good shaves. I can't really figure out what I'm doing but it didn't shave well before and now it does shave.

And I can shave pretty fast at this point, or I can take longer and get an excellently smooth shave.

 

[NewBlader]

Ok, today I got my pocket knife back from Benchmade's sharpening service. I'm going to not shave tomorrow so I'll have two days of growth, and then let's see what kind of shave I can get from a Benchmade pocket knife! I think I'll video it. If it works I'll upload it to Youtube. I've never done that before. If I can see it's not possible I'll just finish the shave as normal with a Revisor.

 

[Brent]

Now, that would be documenting the manliest possible shave I can think of, barring blowing off your wiskers with TNT. Let us know how it goes.

 

[NewBlader]

Now, that would be documenting the manliest possible shave I can think of, barring blowing off your wiskers with TNT. Let us know how it goes.

I tried it some. It would work. I'm sure I could shave with it. It would just be slow, take more passes, and the real shaving result would be from doing a careful ATG pass. I'll try it sometime, to get the year 1600 shaving experience, but it needs to be sometime when I have more time.