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Straight shave #4

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Nice work! I didn't know for the 4th pass ATG.
 
That final pass ATG can be done - provided your beard had been well prepped in the first place. Supposedly, you still have some soap left on your skin, so when you wet your face for that final pass, the water should still be fairly lubricating. Using oil only for your final pass is a similar concept.
 
Nice shave! Oh...and looks like you need some more Proraso!

Already got a new bottle waiting, that is one AS I don't want to run out of stock :001_smile

You are too creative. Love the Sherlock Holmes, one of my favorite reads.

Yes, me too - and I was really happy to find this reproduction at sale in a bookshop a couple of years ago. There is nothing wrong with the translations I've read, but I just love the original language of these.

Nice work! I didn't know for the 4th pass ATG.

I didn't either until recently, but I just thought that would be too harsh/rough on the skin, but as mentioned curiosity got the best of me :biggrin1:

That final pass ATG can be done - provided your beard had been well prepped in the first place. Supposedly, you still have some soap left on your skin, so when you wet your face for that final pass, the water should still be fairly lubricating. Using oil only for your final pass is a similar concept.

That makes sense, I always find it takes quite some water to wash off all the soap after a shave. It was definitely better than expected.
 
Last day of the Easter vacation, and it became quite a easy-going one. It took about the same time as normal, because my 5-year old niece wanted to take part in the lathering process and wanted to try the lather as well, and I couldn't say no :biggrin1: - besides they have to be marked (sorry, but I'm not sure about the proper English word) in an early age.


The easy-going two-pass shave

Japanese Rice Bowl
Art of Shaving Pure Badger
Le Grelot 6/8"

Edwin Jagger Premium Shaving Cream, Sandalwood
Floid Suave After Shave (Spanish)

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Right, after some days with DE's (felt the urge :biggrin1:), I'm back at the straights, mainly because I honed two "new" ones last night and my only way to test after it cuts arm-hair, is a shave.

The shave wasn't bad, no tugging and no irritation, but I still felt the edge could have been better. It is now late afternoon here, and the shave could definitely be closer - so I just might have to give it some more laps on the coticule.


Today's stuff

Focus Bowl
Gillette Standard Boar Brush
No Name 6/8" straight (from Sheffield)

Proraso Pre-shave Cream (green)
Fitjar Fjellheim Shaving Soap
Møller's Aloe & Witch Hazel
Nivea for Men Replenishing After Shave Balm


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Thank you.
It doesn't show on the picture, but it actually balances on its own, it doesn't touch the bowl. I tried to get it to show, but the composition didn't work out.

Today I tried out the other razor I honed, and it was clearly better. It was really smooth and although it is a very light razor it performed very well, so well that I forgot to pay attention so I had a visit from a "friend" called nick :lol:
I even dared to try out the water-only ATG again and it went well, a bit of irritation to one side of the neck, but that was an operator fault, I went over it too many times.

Got another freshly honed razor for tomorrow to try out :001_rolle


Today's nice shave

Custom Made Scuttle
Semogue 2009 LE
No Name 5/8" straight (from Solingen)

Tabac Shaving Soap
Møller's Aloe & Witch Hazel
Tabac After Shave Lotion

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Damn nice pictures Soren. And that certainly looks like one well used Semogue.

Thank you.

The Semogue has seen some action, but I'm still not quite satisfied with it. It has become really soft, but it still hogs lather like crazy and even if I shake it well before lathering, the lather for the third pass gets watery/thin.
I can't face lather with it unless I'm applying more soap during the shave and that I am not accustomed nor willing to do.
The best use of it so far, has been with a superlather, that was awesome :w00t:, but I'm sticking to soaps and bowl lathering with this one.
I like the size of it, but in an overall perspective it is outperformed by my Omega 11137 which is just as soft, and I can face lather with that one without a problem.


Now for today's shave, which was a proof of that two negatives doesn't always makes a positive.
An amateur with little patience does not give a good result. The straight I used for today's shave has been a "female dog" to hone. No matter how many laps I gave it, it wouldn't cut arm hairs. Finally I got there the other evening (sort of) and I finished it off on the coticule.
Today's shave however showed that I should have continued honing. It doesn't give me any irritation so it is sharp to some extent, but it doesn't give a close shave either - so it is back to the BBW and coticule for some more laps.
Lesson learned (which I already knew): don't rush it, because you can't.


Newly but not closely shaven with

Custom Made Scuttle
Edwin Jagger Silvertip
Ern 6/8" Straight

T&H Luxury Shaving Soap
Møller's Aloe & Witch Hazel
Christian Dior Fahrenheit After Shave Lotion

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Well, to get a nice start to the week I chose some stuff I know works well.

The shave was comfortable and close today, a small nick in the chin and I'm wondering how Kirk Douglas managed to shaved his.

Gear of the day

Music
Faith Hill - Breathe

Hardware
Japanese Rice Bowl
Omega 11137 Boar Brush
Le Grelot 6/8" Straight

Software
La Toja Shave Stick
Møller's Aloe & Witch Hazel
Floid Suave After Shave (Spanish)


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Trying out a whole lot of new stuff - scuttle, soap and AS today.

I finally got some MWF to see what all the hype is about, and I'm not quite sure I understand. It is of course not fair to make a final judgement based on one shave, but it didn't gave a better lather than any of my other hard soaps, and I'm not sure I'm keen on the scent. It will of course have to be out in the open for a couple of days, the scent is always pretty strong when you first open a soap.
The AS however was a very pleasant surprise as I had anticipated a stronger menthol scent, but it was quite mild actually - liked it a lot.

The shave itself was what I'm starting to consider normal; close comfortable and pretty much without problems. A small nick and a small spot with a slight irritation, but once again I was going over the same area one too many times.


Equipment of the day

Music
Faith Hill - Take Me As I Am

Hardware
Proshave Scuttle
Frieb Boar Brush
Belbo 7/8" Straight with custom Amboyna Burl scales (Ambrose's beautiful doing :thumbup: :001_wub:)

Software
MWF in Old Spice Mug
Møller's Aloe & Witch Hazel
Proraso Aftershave Lotion


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Well Gents, I will end my shaving journal with this shave.
I think my shaves are getting quite consistent, there is still room for improvement but improvement is slow nowadays, and I'll turn more focus towards my honing skills - I've got 25 straights at the moment and some more on the way :blushing:, so that skill will come in very handy to keep costs down (as if that would be possible :biggrin1:)

To end with shave #66 seems fitting as I was born in the magnificent year of 1966.

Today's shave was really comfortable and close. In my eagerness I did managed to draw a couple of drops of the red stuff, but nothing that would ruin an otherwise fine shave.
The MWF performed as yesterday, and I'll try the tutorial with cold water tomorrow to see if that will make an improvement. I have found though, that MWF is a good soap for making that fourth pass water-only, as the skin is still quite slick even after a quick rinse.

Today's fine shave achieved with:

Music
Tchaikovsky piano concert no. 1 in B with Martha Argerich

Hardware
Custom Made Scuttle
Dovo Pure Badger
George Johan 6/8"

Software
MWF in Old Spice Mug
Thayer's Unscented Witch Hazel
Proraso Aftershave Lotion
Ferrari Black Eau de Toilette


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Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
Great journey Søren and excellent pictures!
 
Thank you Søren for your straight journal. You (and other guys here) engouraged me on my straight way and yesterday was the D day, when I first shaved with straight razor. You proved me there is nothing to fear of (sort of :) ) and my shave was sweet. So I hope that my shave #66 will be as good as yours. Good luck! :thumbup1:
 
Thank you Gentlemen.

I have found this helpful in more than one way. First of course there is the encouragement from you fellow Gentlemen and the advice when things didn't always worked out as planned.
But I've also found that putting the shaves down on virtual paper also helped because I was going through the shave again and thus "analysing" it - without being scientific about it :001_smile

At first I didn't want to do the journal, but just post once in a while (when help was needed), but then it kind of started off by itself, and today I'm really pleased I did this.
It has been a big help for the above mentioned reasons and a major contribution to getting so fast to where I am today.

So thank you to B&B and the Gentlemen who had helped me on the straight (couldn't help it :biggrin1:) way.
 
Soren - I would also like to thank you. Perusing your thread has been a daily pleasure for me. You and I started at about the same time and I have enjoyed keeping up with your progress as it sounds very similar to mine. Well done!! What's next? Soren's honing of the day?
 
nice compendium of shaving! i just finished shave #3 last night... not really happy at all, but i'm determined to keep at it. if you posted this before, i didn't see it... but how many strokes are you stropping, and what kind of strop do you have?
 
Soren - I would also like to thank you. Perusing your thread has been a daily pleasure for me. You and I started at about the same time and I have enjoyed keeping up with your progress as it sounds very similar to mine. Well done!! What's next? Soren's honing of the day?

I read Luc's and Klarion's journals and it is helpful and encouraging to see the development from shave to shave.
I'm glad that you found this helpful, and it is nice to know your progress has been just about the same - reassuring me that I'm not a total dimwit :001_smile

I'm certainly not going to do a honing of the day, as that is an area where a lot of guys here are much better.
The shave-ready straights I've received has had some awesome edges, and it will take a lot more practice to get a constant good edge every time you hone, than to get a good shave with a straight (in my case anyway :001_smile)

I've had a couple of lucky punches, but I'm putting that down to the razor already had a fair edge and not my technique. It will be fun though, and maybe some day...


nice compendium of shaving! i just finished shave #3 last night... not really happy at all, but i'm determined to keep at it. if you posted this before, i didn't see it... but how many strokes are you stropping, and what kind of strop do you have?

First; I've got a linen/leather strop and the amount of strokes depend on the razor - I've found that they don't "edge up" (don't know a better word for it) in a similar way.

My George Johan and Le Grelot gets sharp with 10-15 strokes on the linen followed by 25-30 on leather.
My new Dovo Special though is a whole other matter, here I really have to work to get it stropped properly. This one I give 25-30 on linen and about 75-80 on leather.

All razors get about 10 laps on linen and 15 on leather after each shave - this helps to remove any moisture that might still be on the edge, even after a careful wipe off.

When I use a new straight, I pretty much start with the first set-up and take it from there. Most of my razors are good and ready after that.

But don't mind the exact amount of strokes as you can't strop too much, it is more important that your technique is right. At the beginning I stropped somewhere between 75 to 100 laps, to get the technique right.

If I feel a razor needs a little more I just give it another 25 laps on the leather, it doesn't take long and is quite relaxing - I sometimes catch myself just standing and counting the laps and thinking when I get to 75 that this must be more than 25 and be enough :lol:
 
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