So long torture, hello shaving! Newbie from England

[19TPL91]

Hey guys,

After the brief excitement of actually being old enough to begin shaving, I quickly realised how horrible it is to my face and have hated it for the past ten years. Cartridges and canned foam do my face no favours, and often left me very irritated (internally and dermatologically...), bleeding and bound to get numerous ingrowing hairs afterwards. I pretty much gave up shaving.

Now, however... after a reasonable amount of research online (and here at B&B particularly), I decided to take the plunge and invest in a few new pieces of equipment to see if I could achieve the enjoyable and luxurious shave you all seem to revel in.

Equipment:
Lord LP1822 safety razor
Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless blades (Green, Russia)
'Best Badger' hair brush (dubious authenticity from China)
Palmolive Palm Extract shave stick (UK version)

So far, I'm not overwhelmed. Yes, it's a more comfortable shave than I'm used to but I'm still finding it irritating (although ingrown hairs are definitely few and far between now). Granted, that may be technique and experience!
The growth pattern of hair on my face is quite random, so I'm slowly learning exactly which direction I need to pass the razor for a WTG pass; obviously chin and upper lip is straight down, but my cheeks vary massively, and could be down, diagonally from my nose to my jaw or even horizontally. It doesn't help I can't see the direction once the I'm all lathered up...

Routine and technique:
1) Shower and wash face with soap and face wash, also soaking razor and brush
2) Wash face again with hot water and flannel, then hang it up outside the window
3) Apply shave stick to face and then working up a lather with the brush

I'm still not entirely certain how well I'm doing here. I've followed the various tutorials and videos I can find, but I don't know if it's a thick enough lather - I usually do it until all the hairs on the brush clump together with lather when I take it away from my face. Also, I often find that the lather is flaking from my neck as I finish each pass - have I taken too long and it's just drying up? Is it not wet enough to begin?​

4) WTG: sideburns, then cheeks, upper lip, chin, neck
5) Rinse, relather
6) XTG: as above
7) Rinse, relather
8) May or may not finish with ATG

More often than not, I don't. I find this is the most likely time to cut myself and that especially on my upper lip the razor catches instead of smooth passes.
​

9) Rinse with hot water, then apply alum block
10) Rinse with cold water, then fetch my flannel in from outside (which is almost freezing cold by this stage) and it's a glorious fresh feeling as I wipe my face down
11) Nivea AS balm

So there you have it! That's me so far, still learning and still unsure to be honest. Any tips, advice or comments would be hugely appreciated.

TPL out!

 

[coase]

3) Apply shave stick to face and then working up a lather with the brush

I'm still not entirely certain how well I'm doing here. I've followed the various tutorials and videos I can find, but I don't know if it's a thick enough lather - I usually do it until all the hairs on the brush clump together with lather when I take it away from my face. Also, I often find that the lather is flaking from my neck as I finish each pass - have I taken too long and it's just drying up? Is it not wet enough to begin?
​

TPL out!

This seems to be a problem. I've never had lather "flake" off. It sounds too dry. You might try bowl lathering so that you can see the consistency. Or conversely, you might lather up once -- probably too dry -- and then wash off the first lather without shaving. Now, leaving the face wet, go ahead and lather up again while working the soap into the added water. Add a couple drops more to the brush as necessary. Alternate painting with circular strokes. See if this helps.

 

[Silverirae]

This seems to be a problem. I've never had lather "flake" off. It sounds too dry. You might try bowl lathering so that you can see the consistency. Or conversely, you might lather up once -- probably too dry -- and then wash off the first lather without shaving. Now, leaving the face wet, go ahead and lather up again while working the soap into the added water. Add a couple drops more to the brush as necessary. Alternate painting with circular strokes. See if this helps.

Good advice here, I agree that it's probably not enough water. Also, I do one wtg and two xtg on my upper lip and am close to bbs from it.

Try not to over wash your face either. The act of shaving exfoliates, and if you wash it too much just prior then it could be giving you a rougher shave. In my experience anyway.

 

[westsider]

This seems to be a problem. I've never had lather "flake" off. It sounds too dry. You might try bowl lathering so that you can see the consistency. Or conversely, you might lather up once -- probably too dry -- and then wash off the first lather without shaving. Now, leaving the face wet, go ahead and lather up again while working the soap into the added water. Add a couple drops more to the brush as necessary. Alternate painting with circular strokes. See if this helps.

+1

 

[BSAGuy]

Hello and welcome, TPL. Great to have you here. B&B is a super forum full of friendly, helpful shavers. You'll learn a lot here.

Sounds like you are doing much better with the shaves much more comfortable and with fewer ingrown hairs. That's two big wins.

Use more product and more water for your lather. Soap is cheap.

Good luck on your journey. You'll catch on quickly.

 

[coyotewhisper]

Hello, welcome to B&B. Glad to see you you are off to a god start, enjoy your shaves.

 

[mswofford]

Welcome to B&B; You have an excellent shave set-up and have proper prep. I can only suggest experimenting with water more. Make sure your face is dripping wet when you apply shave stick and try a very wet brush when you make lather on your face. If your lather is too watery you can rub with the shave stick again and lather some more until your soap/water ratio gives you the lather you want.

 

[xxvaleria]

Welcome to B&B; You have an excellent shave set-up and have proper prep. I can only suggest experimenting with water more. Make sure your face is dripping wet when you apply shave stick and try a very wet brush when you make lather on your face. If your lather is too watery you can rub with the shave stick again and lather some more until your soap/water ratio gives you the lather you want.

Good advice. The secret to a good shave is hydration. Things will improve as you get more practice and work out your technique.

 

[19TPL91]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Seems to be a general consensus that my issues with lather are that it's too dry and not enough soap, so this afternoon I spent a lot more time actually applying the soap to my face until there was quite a thick layer and then repeatedly dipped my brush to make sure it stayed wet. True enough, my worries about the lather being too thin were resolved and there wasn't any flaking at all this time!

I think my main problem going forwards is my slow beard growth - I just want to shave all the time now...

 

[JPerryman]

Congrats on a great shave! Looking forward too much a shave is a good problem to have.

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[celestino]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[PMT]

Welcome bro from across the pond!

 

[19TPL91]

Thanks again.

Also, hopefully a question that isn't too silly: how can I tell if I have a coarse beard? I mean, it sure feels thick and rough to me and I can probably get about two acceptable shaves out of the 7 O'Clock Russian Green blades (although I can only perform an ATG pass the first time I use it, definitely not the second), but I'm really just guessing.
This leads me on to my curiosity about different blades. I don't feel the ones I'm using are particularly sharp, but I've no idea what blades might be suitable. I've had a look at sample packs online but I don't really know what blades I might want to sample and can't really afford to spend too much money (especially given that I just ordered three new shaving soaps, oops!).
I considered a new thread elsewhere, but I'm currently not eligible to post in some of the WTB forums due to my newbie status. I'm in the UK and don't really know where else I can buy blades cheaply.

Edit: spelling.

 

[alex2363]

Thanks again.

Also, hopefully a question that isn't too silly: how can I tell if I have a coarse beard? I mean, it sure feels thick and rough to me and I can probably get about two acceptable shaves out of the 7 O'Clock Russian Green blades (although I can only perform an ATG pass the first time I use it, definitely not the second), but I'm really just guessing.
This leads me on to my curiosity about different blades. I don't feel the ones I'm using are particularly sharp, but I've no idea what blades might be suitable. I've had a look at sample packs online but I don't really know what blades I might want to sample and can't really afford to spend too much money (especially given that I just ordered three new shaving soaps, oops!).
I considered a new thread elsewhere, but I'm currently not eligible to post in some of the WTB forums due to my newbie status. I'm in the UK and don't really know where else I can buy blades cheaply.

Edit: spelling.

Ebay and Amazon have good prices.....and you can buy here too http://badgerandblade.com/vb/forumdisplay.php/247-TryABlade

 

[19TPL91]

Thank you, I ordered a few different blades from TryABlade. I'd already ordered a popular sample pack from Connaught based on someone else's recommendation, but TAB was useful to pick out one or two extra blades that weren't included as well as scoring a few SE blades for the vintage SE I just won on the 'Bay.

TPL

 

[razorrookie01]

Congrats And welcomed to the group.. a lot comes from perfecting technique coming from carts myself I've noticed major ways my technique has effected my outcome more then my equipment

 

[alex2363]

Thank you, I ordered a few different blades from TryABlade. I'd already ordered a popular sample pack from Connaught based on someone else's recommendation, but TAB was useful to pick out one or two extra blades that weren't included as well as scoring a few SE blades for the vintage SE I just won on the 'Bay.

TPL

Keep us updated as to when you get them.

 

[p38thadl]

If you're still finding the growth pattern, I opine that it's too soon to add passes other them WTG, or independently experiment with blades. As long as you have a set up that catches the beard WTG, and exerts a pleasant, vacuum-like traction on the skin, not plucking. Practice pitching and skewing first, until the shave is even and the skin remains completely intact.

 

[alex2363]

Thank you, I ordered a few different blades from TryABlade. I'd already ordered a popular sample pack from Connaught based on someone else's recommendation, but TAB was useful to pick out one or two extra blades that weren't included as well as scoring a few SE blades for the vintage SE I just won on the 'Bay.

TPL

Was it a GEM razor?