The last mile

[sirion]

So I've managed to get an irritation-free shave going on (yay!) in 2-3 passes with and across the grain. However, the final result is roughly a Five O'Clock shadow. Against the grain tends to catch a lot, and doesn't really cut much hair as much as it irritates my skin.

How does one go that last step and shave down to the skin without irritation?

Progress set at 3, Merkur Platinum Razor, Taylor Almond Shave Cream, Men-u synthetic brush. Shaving in steam shower, N-S first pass, then wash and reapply lather, N-S or across second pass, wash+reapply, usually try very light against the grain 3rd pass, failure, try again, failure, then try blade buffing my face until I give up.

 

[guenron]

Greetings Gabe,
We have gotten to the point where shaving becomes very personal, i.e. Your face's topography and your beard's nature. No one way works for everyone, otherwise there would only be one way to shave. First the overall goal of shaving with multiple passes is to get as close a shave as possible without committing mayhem on your visage. The general strategy of shaving with multiple passes is to successively reduce the length of the beard remaining from the previous passes. THat means you do not try to shave down to the bare skin on a single pass! I will give you a suggestion or two and then tell you what I found works for me.
General Suggestion 1:
1. Before trying to go across or against the grain, do two separate N-S passes. Ensure that you rinse your face between passes and reapply your lather for each pass. Then continue with your strategy.
General Suggestion 2:
2. Instead of going across the grain, try going on a slight angle, starting up by the ear and finishing down by the chin. Then continue with your strategy.

What works for me:
As I have matured (gotten older?) my beard has become more and more wirey. To achieve the baby's butt smooth standard on a regular and recurring basis, I found that I had to use 4 passes.

• Pass one N-S.
• Pass two first half of the "V." Pass on an angle from ear to chin.
• Pass three second half of the "V". Pass on an angle from up near the bridge of the nose down to the bottom of the ear.
• Pass four S-N.

Second and third passes on the neck are horizontal, starting by the ear side to the centerline on two and starting at the centerline and go out for three. I have some other finesses that I use on the jaw bone, moustache, and chin, but those topics are a later tale if you should decide to use this technique.
Good luck Gabe.

 

[roughrider]

Always remember, do not apply pressure.

 

[Scotto]

You may also want to play with the settings on your razor. For instance, I do two passes (N-S and across grain) on an aggressive setting of "5" and then dial it way down for a S-N pass against the grain. Take it slow and easy, though.

 

[sirion]

Very good advice! I tried Ron's 4-passes with Scotto's dialing way down on the last past and got a successful S-N pass without much death to my face (not perfectly close, but pretty good!). Im guessing if I practice for another week or two in such a manner, I'll probably be in pretty good shape.

 

[guenron]

Very good advice! I tried Ron's 4-passes with Scotto's dialing way down on the last past and got a successful S-N pass without much death to my face (not perfectly close, but pretty good!). Im guessing if I practice for another week or two in such a manner, I'll probably be in pretty good shape.

Bravo! Slow and steady, stay the course!

 

[rtaylor61]

One thing I've learned...you can always go back for another pass to get rid of stubble, but just like driving in reverse, you can' put back the skin you peel off by being too agressive!

Randy

 

[Nick]

Gabe,

That's fantastic news!! Sometimes when my Vision is dialed out too much, and I'm not paying attention, and not pulling tight, I'll still get the swiss cheese pattern bleeding from the s-n pass under my chin, and scuff it up pretty good. Practice makes perfect, and I've found that my best shaves come when I really enjoy myself, and can relax and savor the moment, not over-think it mind you -a hesitant hand with a blade in it can cause damage- but just relax and enjoy the process.

Please keep us informed on your progress.

-Nick

 

[sirion]

Weird!
So I've been trying the things discussed here for a little over a week, and I hadn't really improved much and was getting fairly frustrated, as my shaves just weren't close enough (Basically I could shave down to a 5-o-clock shadow fairly easy, but no closer, which was really irritating when you spend 30 minutes carefully scraping away in order to get just a little closer)

Today I tried something different after my first N-S cut, which was to take some of my old shave cream and slather it on by hand, then apply some lathered taylor's almond on top of it. My old shave cream is a tube of Italian Helan's Vetiver & Rum Shave Cream, and as far as I can tell, it's almond-oil based. (http://www.smallflower.com/product.html?web_area=1&product_id=8782).

I got a relatively comfortable, all-the-way-to-the-skin shave, even after I started doing some aggressive/stupid cuts (blade buffing against the grain at a setting of 3.5 without relathering each time) in amazement to see just how close I could get it. It was really, really, really close, and I didn't give myself razorburn despite the stupid cuts. What on earth is going on here? Why can't I do this with my fancy taylor's almond stuff alone?

 

[Scotto]

Gabe,

Don't get frustrated; it takes a long time to really get things down, and all of us are still learning. I don't know what to tell you about the shave today - might have been a fluke or there might have been magic. If you like almond oil, I can tell you that Crabtree and Evelyn make a very nice Sweet Almond Oil shave cream and soap. In fact, I shaved with it today.

Back to the shave. I would reiterate some points from above. First, I would stick with one regimen and see how much you can open up the Progress over time. 3.5 is still a bit tame by my personal standards. Crank it up a bit, leave it alone for a few days, repeat, until you find your limits. Be less aggressive on the against the grain passes.

The other point is to really study how your beard grows and tailor your passes to that. For me. my cheek whiskers actually grow somewhat sideways, NW - SE. To account for that, I make sure my across grain passes take the whisker direction into consideration.

Lastly, the real ultra-smoothness is going to come from an against the grain pass, after you have gotten the stubble down on your other passes. Start slow and see what your face will tolerate. You will find over time that you can do more and more after your face has acclimated. Stick with it and keep us posted.

 

[sirion]

I've been trying all sorts of things with technique and what-not, and I can see that technique certainly makes a difference, but this really was a night-and-day difference, and it was absolutely clear that it was the almond oil stuff that made the difference, as the shave was going totally normally (not close, not THAT much hair removed with each pass after the first) until I applied the oil.

Perhaps I'm not preparing the Taylor's Almond lather correctly? It's very very thin, mostly water. I'm taking my brush out of the hot water, shaking it once or twice, applying a half a fingerfull of Taylor's, and swirling round and round in a hot hot bowl until it thickens up. It gets reasonably billowy in the bowl, but when applied to my face, it's very thin. It will actually cease to be visible on the left side of my face if I've been shaving the right side for too long.

Eh?

 

[Scotto]

Your Taylors experience is not normal. It should produce a thick lather that sticks around a long time. Try a bit less water and a bit more cream and see how it goes. Is this a sample, tube, or tub? Also try whipping it longer to get a stable mixture (or work it longer on your face).

Not sure what half a fingerful equates to. I use a dab the size of an almond, more or less.

 

[guenron]

Hi Gabe,
I am not familiar with the Men-u synthetic brush's characteristics. It sounds as though it is holding an excess of water or you are using a bit less shave cream than you should. I am going to make a simple suggestion. Instead of shaving in the steaming shower (back ART!) shave after the shower. Take a cereal bowl, your Men-u synthetic brush, and your Taylors. Fill the bowl with hot tap water and soak the brush for 3 minutes. Drain the bowl. I must "*** U ME" that you are using a tube of Taylors, please correct me if you are not. Put at least a 1" long squib of cream into the bottom of the bowl. Allow your brush to drain without shaking. Now, slowing begin to whip up your lather by mooshing the brush into the squib to deform the squib and partially drive it into the bristles. Begin to beat the bowl with the bristles as though you were beating an egg in slow motion. As the lather begins to build you can increae the tempo and vigor with which you are beating the egg, err, lather!
If this should fail to produce a good, wet, meringue-like lather, we need to adjust either the amount of water or the amount of soap depending upon whether the bowl's contents are too soupy or too dry.
So much depends on the character of the brush and the cream/soap. Having read some others experiences with the Men-u synthetic brush and shave cream, I recall their recounting how concentrated the Men-u cream was. So was the brush manufactured to produce best with highly concentrated cream? (Means you need to adjust amount of reguilar creams up) I know not, but this will give you a good shot at completing the cycle successfully.

 

[sirion]

I'm using a tub o' taylors. The men-u brush seems to hold a crazy amount of water, which is why I shake it out once or twice - i've tried using it without shaking, and I can't make anything except soup. I've switched from scraping some cream out of the tub with the brush to applying a fingerfull to the brush itself, just so I could better measure how much cream I'm using (for the sake of controlling more variables

Will try making a much thicker lather today.

 

[guenron]

I'm using a tub o' taylors. The men-u brush seems to hold a crazy amount of water, which is why I shake it out once or twice - i've tried using it without shaking, and I can't make anything except soup. I've switched from scraping some cream out of the tub with the brush to applying a fingerfull to the brush itself, just so I could better measure how much cream I'm using (for the sake of controlling more variables

Will try making a much thicker lather today.

Gabe,
It sounds as though you are on to resolving the problem. I use a technique in the tub wherein I lightly poke the brush into the surface of the cream and twist approx 180 degrees. This seems to provide an adequate charge of cream in every brush from pure badger to silvertip.
Keep us apprised of your progress. Good luck and good shaving.