I thought I would take some time to mention the progress I have been making since coming aboard in early January, this after lurking about in November and December.
Since yesterday's shave was excellent CCS approaching DFS in several areas and I would like to pass along many thanks to all the contributions from BB folks. Those who take the time to moderate, make those informative wikis and of course those who post for all of us to learn while having some fun! (especially the post " I found a dead badger!!)
I mentioned when I posted earlier that I had started with a couple of excellent shaves before hitting a wall and having to go back to start. Start of course being that phase most of us realize something is amiss in our technique, lather, blade angle or whatever. Now mind you, I had DE shaved in the 50s thru 70s before the carts took over and with a beard since 1980. It was kept short & neat but one didn't have to strive for a great shave in those days but get it socially acceptable in just a couple of areas. Recently I took beard down to a goatee & stache since it had been around for so long, felt it was time for a change.
I'm now retired so I normally shave every other day and a couple of times in the new DE wet shaving world, I had to go 3 days in order to "let the irritated areas heal" while I went back and re-learned the basics.
For Christmas, I had "self gifted" myself a EJDE 89L razor with some Honey Bee soaps, the brushes were a EJ Best Badger & Omega 80097 Boar, along with some sample blades to try later, a small block of alum, Thayer's Witch Hazel, some Nivea ASB and a few of the standard AS like AQ, OS. Since I had plenty of left over pottery from SWMBO's pottery classes so all set there and I was in business!
So what I did was I continue to follow & read the various forums - from the importance of making good lather right down to watching recommended videos on techniques, blade angle, understanding my face & beard growth etc.
On my off day from shaving I would practice making good lather with the brushes / different soaps which helped in breaking the brushes in and I would go over all aspects of my shave via practice strokes. Each shave (only 2 passes, WTG & XTG) was getting better & better and I could feel the newly shaved areas were getting the beard reduction down with little irritation.
Well, yesterday's shave routine when all was said & done, found me with a BIG grin as one knows when they have done good, a solid CCS
I'm finishing up the Derbys that came with the EJ (use 3 shaves per blade) until technique & knowledge of my products understood and then will look forward to trying the different blades. They are 5 packs of Gillette 7 O' Clock Dark Blues & Blacks, Feathers, Red Personna Israeli, Shark, Nacet, Bolzano.
So hang in there and practice, practice and read BB forums!
My routine for when I shave:
1. Make a bowl of lather - get to choose the soap of the day!
2. Wash & rinse, hot cloth on face, rinse, leave wet
3. Lather up
4. Make 2 passes with slight clean up
5. Rinse & put alum, let set & rinse off
5. Pat dry, put on Nivea ASB
6. Choose & splash the "fragrance of the day!
Gene
Since yesterday's shave was excellent CCS approaching DFS in several areas and I would like to pass along many thanks to all the contributions from BB folks. Those who take the time to moderate, make those informative wikis and of course those who post for all of us to learn while having some fun! (especially the post " I found a dead badger!!)
I mentioned when I posted earlier that I had started with a couple of excellent shaves before hitting a wall and having to go back to start. Start of course being that phase most of us realize something is amiss in our technique, lather, blade angle or whatever. Now mind you, I had DE shaved in the 50s thru 70s before the carts took over and with a beard since 1980. It was kept short & neat but one didn't have to strive for a great shave in those days but get it socially acceptable in just a couple of areas. Recently I took beard down to a goatee & stache since it had been around for so long, felt it was time for a change.
I'm now retired so I normally shave every other day and a couple of times in the new DE wet shaving world, I had to go 3 days in order to "let the irritated areas heal" while I went back and re-learned the basics.
For Christmas, I had "self gifted" myself a EJDE 89L razor with some Honey Bee soaps, the brushes were a EJ Best Badger & Omega 80097 Boar, along with some sample blades to try later, a small block of alum, Thayer's Witch Hazel, some Nivea ASB and a few of the standard AS like AQ, OS. Since I had plenty of left over pottery from SWMBO's pottery classes so all set there and I was in business!
So what I did was I continue to follow & read the various forums - from the importance of making good lather right down to watching recommended videos on techniques, blade angle, understanding my face & beard growth etc.
On my off day from shaving I would practice making good lather with the brushes / different soaps which helped in breaking the brushes in and I would go over all aspects of my shave via practice strokes. Each shave (only 2 passes, WTG & XTG) was getting better & better and I could feel the newly shaved areas were getting the beard reduction down with little irritation.
Well, yesterday's shave routine when all was said & done, found me with a BIG grin as one knows when they have done good, a solid CCS
I'm finishing up the Derbys that came with the EJ (use 3 shaves per blade) until technique & knowledge of my products understood and then will look forward to trying the different blades. They are 5 packs of Gillette 7 O' Clock Dark Blues & Blacks, Feathers, Red Personna Israeli, Shark, Nacet, Bolzano.
So hang in there and practice, practice and read BB forums!
My routine for when I shave:
1. Make a bowl of lather - get to choose the soap of the day!
2. Wash & rinse, hot cloth on face, rinse, leave wet
3. Lather up
4. Make 2 passes with slight clean up
5. Rinse & put alum, let set & rinse off
5. Pat dry, put on Nivea ASB
6. Choose & splash the "fragrance of the day!
Gene
