PPPS: Patrick Pursues Perfect Shaves

[pdillon]

37/37 of 365 in 2022
Bruce with Leviathan
Sabre Level 1 with GEM PTFE (7)
Aveda ASB
Very nice shave with the level one. Skin is clearing up nicely, just a little bit of irritation continuing to heal. If this is going to be my go to setup I can live with it. Instead of prematurely focusing on whether it is boring, I should focus on whether I can add a third pass on my neck without irritation or start using the Level 2 daily, which is not out of the question at all.

I have heard that GEM blades behave differently than DE blades as they wear: GEM blades just become duller. I might be noticing this as I am now kn shave 6, but the blade is still plenty comfortable.

The Leviathan is really on its last legs. I think my next lather on deck may be the Proraso Single Blade wood and spice. I have not used a cream in years, so it may be fun to try this.

It will be hard to follow the Leviathan.

 

[pdillon]

38/38 of 365 in 2022
Paladin 2XL with Proraso SB W&S
Sabre Level 1 with GEM PTFE (1)
Bump Patrol followed by Aveda ASB followed by Vetyver EDT

Not a great shave due to a bit of a tough transition to the Proraso. The Leviathan was just a sliver so I decided to lather the Proraso on top of the last speck.

Also because it was a new lather, I decided to switch to a fresh GEM blade which in retrospect was probably a mistake. The duller blade may have been a bit gentler. In general I find the GEM blade very gentle on my skin, but I think it needs a decent lather; an Astra in one of my DEs would probably have been better.

The lather was not bad: it was incredibly slick but there was little protection. I think the Paladin was hiding lather, very badly; and I must not have used enough product. Tomorrow I will try at least double that amount.

A fair amount of irritation on my neck; and the shave was not very close; but it will clear up and I think I will get a better feel for the Proraso.

 

[pdillon]

39/39 for 365 in 2022
SOC with Proraso Single Blade Wood & Spice
English Flat-bottom Tech on Timeless Crown
Bump Patrol followed by Aveda ASB followed by L'Occitane Eau de Baux

I used about double the amount of cream today and the lather was better. Still noticeably less protection than Leviathan. The cream could probably have used more water. The return of the Semogue Owners' Club and Captain's Choice bowl!

Decent shave. Irritation from yesterday is subsiding a bit. Should be better once I get the Proraso dialed in. Really don't care for the scent, though.

 

[pdillon]

40/40 of 365 in 2022
SOC with Proraso Single Blade Wood and Spice
Timeless Ti .95 SB with Gillette Platinum (4)
Aveda ASB

Wanted to get back to a more aggressive DE but didn't want to mess with the lingering irritation. Timeless .95 seems like the perfect call. Decent shave but I can still feel a fair amount of beard even on the face. I think I am still dialing in the cream. Much more water today and it was definitely better, but not great. I know I need to be patient. It took a while to get Leviathan going right.

 

[pdillon]

41/41 of 365 in 2022
SOC with Proraso Single Blade Wood and Spice
Sabre L1 with GEM PTFE (2)
Aveda ASB
That's more like it from the Proraso. I actually threw out my first lather, as I continued to add water and it fluffed up quite a bit. For the second go, I minimized agitation: just used the tips of the brush and did not mash it. Added a tiny bit of water but tried to keep it low structure. Definitely not great, but good. It is interesting to me how the lather itself affects the closeness of the shaves. Since using this lather my shaves have been so much less efficient. But definitely happy with today's shave. Comfortable enough and no new irritation.

 

[pdillon]

42/42 of 365 in 2022

Chisel & Hound Gentleman with Proraso Single-blade Wood & Spice
Timeless Ti .68 with Feather (1)
Aveda ASB

Wonderful shave today! Definitely the closest since switching to the Proraso.

The C&H Fanchurian is wonderfully soft. It did well with the Proraso and did not seem to hide too much lather. The Proraso was good but I am probably not hydrating it enough. There was at one point where I put my razor on a patch of lather on my neck and it felt perfect. I need to get that quality everywhere on the face. I think the issue is that I'm either impatient or too afraid of getting too much water in. I need to keep doing what I'm doing but just add a little more water and work it for a bit longer. I just don't want it to fluff up too much as I work it

Wow, Feather! A nice return to a blade I used exclusively for years. The closeness on this shave is superb and it was comfortable to boot. The lingering bumps on my neck looked a little red during the shave. Afterward, the irritation looked fine. The real test will be how the irritation is looking tomorrow throughout the day. But this was a very nice surprise how pleasant and effective this was!

 

[pdillon]

43/43 of 365 in 2022

Chisel & Hound with Proraso Single Blade Wood & Spice
CG LVL2 (gen3) with Feather (2)
Aveda ASB

Just ok shave but I am happy with that because I am struggling to get a good lather with this cream. I bailed out on my first lather. The second one got fluffy quickly, so I decided to double down and keep adding water and working it. The result was a rather airy lather.

I am realizing that lather quality is, at least for me at this stage, the most important variable in the shave. I think a wide variety of razors would work well for me if the lather were consistently good.

Not sure what the next step in dialing in the Proraso should be. I will probably review the thread about soft droopy peaks.

 

[pdillon]

44/44 of 365 in 2022

C&H Gentleman with Proraso Wood & Spice
Timeless Ti .68 with Feather (3)
Aveda ASB

The Timeless/Feather combo is superb. Still struggling a lot to get good lather from the proraso cream. My face feels amazing after this shave, I just hope I didn't irritate the heck out of my neck with this subpar lather. Really amazed with how good the Timeless + Feather is. I tried the Feather in the CG LVL 2 but initial impression is I prefer the Timeless.

I tried using much more product today and started with a squeezed out brush. I must be adding too much water although I tried to add it slowly. I am going to try face lathering. That has given me much better results with soap. It feels wrong with cream but I am tired of repeating the same mistakes.

 

[Rosseforp]

I am going to try face lathering. That has given me much better results with soap. It feels wrong with cream but I am tired of repeating the same mistakes.

doug

 

[pdillon]

45/45 of 365 in 2022

C&H Gentleman with Proraso Wood & Spice
Timeless Ti .68 with Feather (4)
Aveda ASB

Face lathering the Proraso seemed to give better lather: it seemed thicker, lower structure as they say; but this shave seemed worse than the previous ones. I'm not sure if the issue here was still the lather, or if the Feather was dead on its fourth shave, which seemed to be the case. There are a fair number of razor bumps spread out across my lower neck. The shave itself was not as close either, which could also be due to the blade or the lather. While the irritation is annoying, it does not look too serious and I'm sure it will clear up soon. Perhaps tomorrow I will try the same shave again with a fresh Feather. I will do this to try to minimize the variables. If I get a decent shave with a fresh blade, then I can continue to work on improving lather with the Proraso. If not, I might need to move on to a different soap.

 

[pdillon]

46/46 of 365 in 2022

C&H Gentleman with Proraso Wood & Spice
Timeless Ti .68 with Feather (1)
Aveda ASB

Ok, seems like the issue was the Feather; so note to self: Feather blades are done after 3 uses max. The shave itself seemed much more comfortable and I really like the Timeless Feather combo. Face lathering definitely seems better, but the lather is still not giving me the results I would hope for. I think I will try a different brush tomorrow. The results for today's shave were fine. I can still feel some stubble. It is interesting when the lather was "bad" (perhaps thin) I was getting very close shaves. Now that I've moved to face lathering and there seems to be a bit more protection, the shaves are not as close. I will have to play with that a bit more.

 

[pdillon]

47/47 of 365 in 2022

Bruce with Proraso Single-blade Wood & Spice
Timeless Ti .68 with Feather (2)
Aveda ASB

Terrific shave today! The Bruce yielded much better results with the Proraso and, as you know, I am loving the Timeless/Feather combo (to my surprise).

So the real revelation today is that the Bruce yielded superior lather more easily than either of my expensive badgers or my boar (SOC). The Bruce was my preferred brush with Leviathan as well. I'm not sure if this is telling me that synths are superior or that perhaps I'm just loading with too much water.

I think it is the former (synths are better). I have been squeezing my badger brush dry before loading and it has been mess. But first try with the Bruce and it works. Will from Barrister & Mann in the WCS video days he prefers synths. I am inclined to believe him. I really love my badger brushes, the Paladin and Fanchurian both feel incredible. I also love the SOC because I feel like I could just abuse the hell out of it and give it more character. But ultimately I care about results and right now a $10 brush is giving me better better shaves than any of these big guns.

I don't want to jump to conclusions (throw out all my natural hair brushes), but this is going in a direction I didn't foresee. There are different kinds of soaps/creams I have not compared with. For example, how would the Bruce do on a triple-milled soap?

I have only one other synth, which is the Evergoose (Alpha/Bullgoose collaboration). I don't particularly care for the results it produces. I have the B&B contributor's brush in bound which has the Muhle STF knot and is supposedly the best synth. I am doing the GRUYERE year of restraint which is why I haven't already orderded several synthetic brushes. As far as shaving goes, this is probably the cheapesr preference you can have.

 

[pdillon]

48/48 of 365 in 2022

Bruce with Proraso Single-blade Wood & Spice
Sabre LVL 1 with GEM PTFE (3)
Aveda ASB

Very nice shave! Feel like I'm back in the swing of things. Sticking to the safe razors for now, but I might be able to try some more adventurous razors soon now that the cream seems a bit more dialed in.

 

[pdillon]

49/49 of 365 in 2022

Bruce with Proraso Single-blade Wood & Spice
CG LVL 2 with Feather (3)
Aveda ASB

Nice shave. Things are in the right direction. I tried to use less cream in an effort to get runnier lather, but on the first pass the lather visibily dried up. I added a bit more from the tube to the brush and the lather was much better.

Irritation is still clearing up in several spots but I definitely think (hope) it will clear up soon. I think it is just taking a few days since I dialed in the Proraso. Would really like to see it clear up completely so I will try to keep using my "safe" razors (CG LVL2, Timeless, Sabre, Tech and Henson) if I can keep curiosity at bay.

 

[pdillon]

50/50 of 365 in 2022

Bruce with Proraso Single-blade Wood & Spice
Sabre LVL 1 with GEM PTFE (4)
Aveda ASB

Excellent shave from the Sabre. Skin feels amazing after this shave: interesting how the GEM leaves a different (better) face feel than the Feather. The shave itself couldn't have been much better. Daily check in on irritation: headed in the right direction: left side of neck one bump, right side has many but they are clearing up.

 

[pdillon]

51/51 of 365 in 2022

Bruce with Proraso Single-blade Wood & Spice
Timeless Ti .68 w/ Nacet (1)
Aveda ASB followed by Bump Patrol

Nice shave but the neck is still slightly patchy. The Nacet seemed alright. It's hard to know why the irritation is sticking around. Perhaps it is still lingering from before the Proraso was dialed in. Perhaps I still need to dial the Proraso in a bit more. Perhaps the Proraso just isn't great? It could also be razor technique or hardware, but right now I am thinking it is still the soap, and just hoping that it is still lingering; that the irritation is getting better but shaving daily is still irritating it a bit each day.

 

[pdillon]

52/52 of 365 in 2022

Bruce with Proraso Single-blade Wood & Spice
Sabre LVL1 with GEM PTFE (5)
PdP Bergamot & Thyme ASB

Much nicer shave than yesterday. Perhaps it was the Nacet yesterday that led to the irritation. I also tried to squeeze out the Bruce a little more for today's shave and I think the lather was slightly better, but I am guessing yesterday's irritation was due to the Nacet, despite it not being uncomfortable. In any case the Sabre felt great. Of course there is still irritation left over from yesterday but perhaps sticking with the Sabre for a few shaves (although I probably need to change the blade soon) will help it clear up.

 

[thombrogan]

It seems like the Blackland Sabre with the L1 plate treats Your skin the nicest.

 

[pdillon]

It seems like the Blackland Sabre with the L1 plate treats Your skin the nicest.

I am coming to that realization too! I am going to try to show some discipline and stick with the Sabre for some consecutive shaves.

 

[thombrogan]

To keep using my Fatip Grande and Gillette Nacet blades, I’ve been acknowledging all the other mix-and-match combos I’d also like trying and then still keep using the Fatip with a Nacet.