The adventures of a new shaver first wet shave feb 10, 2018

[apriliamille]

Hi, Mike. Welcome aboard! That looks like a great selection of soaps and blades to keep you busy for a while.

I know TJ loves his RX (and who can blame him?). I went a slightly different direction with SE and got an ATT SE1. These stainless steel razors ain't cheap . . . but the important difference, really is the Artists' Club blades they take, and there are less expensive razor options for those as well.

Most of all, have fun.

i will have to sit on the SE pondering mode for a while more. got tracking on my last goal DE razor and it should be here in the next few days. this is the one time I'm glad i have not wanted a wolfman. i would go batty trying to figure out how to acquire one.

 

[apriliamille]

final DE inventory.
Viking's blade Vulcan
AS-D2
Timeless SS .68 scalloped bar and head
Rocnel elite titanium
Charcoal L2 safety bar (tracking shows arriving soon)

 

[apriliamille]

Hi, Mike. Welcome aboard! That looks like a great selection of soaps and blades to keep you busy for a while.

snip
Most of all, have fun.

sometimes I wish I had not gotten the SV soaps and the Boellis soap. i enjoy the entire shave experience with these that i find it a little difficult to use the others anymore. my ssad will pretty much be restocking those as i get low

 

[apriliamille]

roommate called me at work and left a message for me that fedex came and had her sign for a package. my SV tracking shows delivered and signed by her. the SV grail shave bowl is now in my home. I Cant wait to get home tonight and play with it a bit.

 

[apriliamille]

P.S. i saw in the club section the SV thread. someone had one killer beautiful Straight razor. sure looks pretty. i wonder if ill ever get into that world

 

[apriliamille]

I fell behind due to being occupied
Wednesday was
stirling unscent pre shave soap
Boellis panaman 1924
rocnel with a 2 shave feather
thayers
stirling dunshire balm

it was an incredible shave. i did a three pass with no razor burn. i did wtg, xtg and atg
i worked on making a more of a layer/barrier of lather between each pass and worked on "gliding the top cap" along the barrier in attempts to see where the angle limits of the razor are.

still having to keep a goatee while i wait for the chin break out is still healing and im not going to risk cross contaminate with other areas of my face

im loving my progress as it seems im seeing / imagining a better shave each time. not sure if it is a better shave but it sure felt good. not bbs as im not worrying about that until probably end of april. but dfs in my view

 

[apriliamille]

And lights shined and trumpets do whatever they do and there was much rejoicing my rad is done as the charcoal goods is here. Queue the happy dance

 

[Tokyospike]

It sure enough is pretty . . .

 

[apriliamille]

so i took the charcoal for a quasi spin today
i put a polsilver in it and found out the polsilver fits in the rocnel
i did left side of face with the Charcoal which is a L2 safety bar and right side with the Rocnel
skipped the goatee until that heals up. (see prior post not due to shaving incident)
both have a new polsilver. i did drag it on a foam peanut from packaging just incase since i dont drink anymore and dont have a wine cork (first time with polsilver so wanted to do something even if it was a placebo)

1. PAA unscented pre shave soap rubbed and lathered then unrinsed
2. warm towel for 2 minutes
3. drug the soap bar ATG and left it
4. SV 70th bowl lather. no face lather until my chin heals up to prevent cross contanimation
5. wtg then xtg then atg
6 only thayers no post balm or anything so i can see how my face feels between the two in an hour or so
both sides felt the same after i was done shaving. another dfs in my books

take aways from my observations.

rocnel blade to me had more feedback
charcoal i could have sworn i heard sound in the handle while it was cutting
of course the charcoal is a lot smaller and weighs less maybe this is why i hear that in the handle
then again i could be crazy and assumed i heard something in the handle

rocnel was easier to let the razor glide due to weight
charcoal was a little confusing trying to let it glide due to its smaller size
the charcoal feels way more agile. of course its smaller

 

[apriliamille]

i put up a post on the DE threads about what blades i have tested in the Rocnel with no effort in mounting

Rapira Platinum Lux
Nacet
Personna Platinum in the UK packaging
Astra SP
Personna Platinum in the Red Box
GSB
Polsilver
Feather
Kai will fit snugly on the external guide posts. snug enough that it "assumed the blade angle position with out the baseplate on it (if that makes sense). there was no effort to put it on as i just put it on and slightly pressed and it was fit. taking off was no issue either with my fingers and did not need any tools but i think it will score the external posts on removal

 

[apriliamille]

post Friday shave left side with the charcoal goods L2 (first shave with it) right side with the rocnel
my left side had some neck burn and a few bumps. my right side had some neck warmth. i ended up putting some balm on. this was the first shave experience i have had with the polsilvers plus 1st shave on each blade. too early to tell if the polsilvers are constant rough or if it was a first shave break in on the edge. or it could just be i have never used polsilvers..

 

[apriliamille]

with my for science research on the blade sample pack. im rather glad i have options for blades that will fit all my razors

 

[apriliamille]

it was a toss up shave this morning pre church

1. charcoal goods l2 straight bar with a 1 shave polsilver
2 stirling unscent pre shave soap
3 SV 70th
4 thayers
5 stirling dunshire balm with a bit of sv mango butter today


i can officially say i have my first BBS
bowl lather due to still having issue with chin so no face lather till that heals up
rubbed pre soap into skin and then used a hot rag to saturate
1 wtg 2 xtg 3 atg
cool water on rag rinse
thayers, then dunshire then the mango

the lack of stubble feels incredible. dont think ive had a shave this close ever.

however my face feels warm and i had 2 weepers. so i think i over did the shaving with a new razor and got some skin irritation.

 

[apriliamille]

have had two shaves since last entry. just have not had the urge to post about it
been doing that shave of week club so ive used the charcoal l2 with polsilver, SV 70th doap

they have been good shaves. but an odd anomaly tuesday . tuesday shave was pretty dang close my face felt warm but no rash. when i was going to bed i washed my face with my mitchells bath soap and i had several areas on my neck started to bleed like delayed weepers. guess that razor was right on the ahem razors edge and put me on borderline weepers during the shave
. i didnt really have much to shave today on thursday. the l2 sure seems to get closer then my other razors but i do come away with some redness. probably need more time on the l2 with angles and what not

been using my new envy 28 badger brush and face lathering. lather feels off. the shaves are good . its not as "peeky" and feels more wet but definately slippery.

 

[apriliamille]

went on a little bit of a soap frenzy this week.
ordered some soap commander samples of respect, vision and confidence
ordered from PAA on the whim. im on the emailer for that and when he mentioned the atomic bay rum in the jug i figured why the heck not. ordered the combo of the atomic bay rum AS in the 6 oz jug and the shave soap to go with it

also was a little curious about some different styles of soap so i ordered oleo in the duck fat their pineapple/coconut/rum in a tub and a sample of their tiramisu.

also ordered a donkey milk. the wholly kaw in the new flavor of lav sublime. i guess its new the website said it would start shipping yesterday.

 

[apriliamille]

yup i think im on a bay and rum kick
stopped by local shave store on the way home
so right now i have Stirling and B & M Bay Rum
i have the atomic bay rum soap and aftershave jug on the way
also have oleo pineapple/coconut/rum on the way

and im debating the tallow and steel west indies

i wish the chiseled face rhino was still being producted

 

[apriliamille]

well i broke my own rule
i did two shaves in a row one saturday and one sunday

both days were

stirling unscent preshave soap
timeless .68 scallop with polsilver 2 shaves on it (now 3 and 4 on it and then tossed it im aiming for 4 or 5 with this blade and i got a slight tug so blade bin it went)
B&M Bay rum
thayers
SV Cosmo AS sample i got from SV with my last order (Saturday shave)
SV 70th AS sample i got from SV with my last order (Sunday)

Saturday shave was WTG, XTG from chin to ears direction both sides then ATG. not bad no weepers pretty decent shave
Sunday shave was WTG, XTG from ears to chin direction both sides, ATG. Another good shave no weepers

I broke my rule and shaved two days in a row as my birthday is in 2 weeks and i figured id get some AS for my birthday. since i have not really used AS much i wanted to see the experience and if i can handle it before i place my birthday order. i also rubbed a little on both arms of each so i can compare scents over the time to see what i might like better. its a tough one to choose. but i might get 70th first as it kind of reminds me of Aqua Di Gio which i love.

got a burn both days. Saturday i got a little neck rash where my horizontal fold line is if i tuck my chin to my chest
im about half an hour into Sunday shave and no neck rash yet. but i also wonder if its due to a light growth.

This also makes me ponder if its better for the skin to do a daily light growth shave vs an alternate days shave with extra growth.

 

[apriliamille]

i am also troubled after today shave as my shave session is speeding up with my gained experience with DE shaving and lather making and im not too thrilled about it. i started DE for the therapeutic and boutique pamper myself moment. so the moment is getting shorter per shave session. i am going to need to focus on slowing down so i can enjoy it to the fullest. when i first started i was probably in the 20-30 minute range now i noticed today i was at the 10 minute mark.

 

[apriliamille]

Mail Call.
Oleo Canard Caribbean Dream soap
WK new lav sublime soap
PAA Atomic Bay rum soap
PAA Atomic Bay Rum AS
Oleo Canard Treviso soap sample

i did hand lathers with them all. They all lathered just fine nothing weird or difficult
Scents:

The Caribbean Dream in the puck had a heavy coconut hit to me while lathering i could smell the pineapple i could not smell the rum but i think my nose was overloaded by the treviso sniff test. see the treviso note i type

The Lav sublime i think the name fits perfectly. in the puck i smelled lavender first with a tease of lime (sub lime) during the lather it didnt fall off or change to me

Atomic Bay Rum soap. it was a mild scent probably due to no cloves. it does not punch you in the face like the stirling. so far i have 3 BR with more to come. in scent strength i give it Stirling, B&M then Atomic. the lather stayed flatline on the scent nothing jumped out over the others for me.

Treviso; holy smokes !!!! this is a cappuccino overload. while i was working with the other soaps i had to take it out of the bathroom as i was having a hard time smelling anything else. i put it in my bedroom and the bedroom smells like cappuccino. and will smell like it for a while as i need the pucks to dry out from my hand lather tests

 

[apriliamille]

i forgot the Atomic BR AS
the jug and corks were a very nice touch. it comes waxed over with a mini transport cork. i dont drink anymore so i dont have a wine bottle opener but after some knife work i got the wax that was melted all over the top removed and the cork removed. the photo shows the display cork there is a baggy with a display cork and a orifice insert. the baggy said dont use the display cork until its empty. i put the cork in for photo. you can see some wax residue on the top of the handle but i ended up removing all the wax. once i put in the orifice i did not know how to keep it sealed so alcohol or what not will evaporate. i placed my timeless razor stand on top of it to prevent air transfer.

i love the smell and i love how it feels on my face.