The Wanderer's Journey
- Thread starter AimlessWanderer
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AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
48 hours growth, and 72 hours of soaking the Goodfellas Smile Italian Lemon soap. The soap hadn't quite swelled to fill the dish, but had at least softened enough, that I could squash it a little to make up the remaining distance.
I collected a little water in the Simpson Trafalgar, and proceeded to load. It looked great, and no diminishing of the scent. It applied really well too. Zero performance. Seriously. It felt like I was cutting dry and trying to rip the air from my face.
Have I killed it? Surely not. It can't be the blade, as the last shave with that was excellent. I had to abort less than halfway through the pass, rinsed the brush, and loaded again. Again, it looked and felt fantastic, but it was only through gritted teeth and sheer determination that I managed to complete the pass. It did however feel better than the first attempt though. Maybe there had been some separation of ingreients at the surface?
I rinsed again, loaded again, and face lathered again. I also dismantled the razor, and rinsed the blade clean. Second vertical pass, opposite direction to pass one, the right hand side of my face shaved well enough, but the left was snatching again. Not as bad, but really really not good. For the third pass, I used the same lather, but switched the blade. Very nice pass. Did the blade go. From hero to zero in the last 48 hours, or did the soap just appear better because I'd already removed the thickest growth? Not entirely sure. I suppose I'll find out next shave.
Surprisingly, no post shave was needed, so while the hair roots were being tormented, the skin remained intact. Not the greatest shave, but a shave nonetheless. The result was certainly more rewarding than the process. The blade had done less than half the 32 shaves I've had from one of these in the past, and the soap had only been subjected to water, so the drama seemed all rather unnecessary. Not to worry, more shaves await.
I collected a little water in the Simpson Trafalgar, and proceeded to load. It looked great, and no diminishing of the scent. It applied really well too. Zero performance. Seriously. It felt like I was cutting dry and trying to rip the air from my face.
Have I killed it? Surely not. It can't be the blade, as the last shave with that was excellent. I had to abort less than halfway through the pass, rinsed the brush, and loaded again. Again, it looked and felt fantastic, but it was only through gritted teeth and sheer determination that I managed to complete the pass. It did however feel better than the first attempt though. Maybe there had been some separation of ingreients at the surface?
I rinsed again, loaded again, and face lathered again. I also dismantled the razor, and rinsed the blade clean. Second vertical pass, opposite direction to pass one, the right hand side of my face shaved well enough, but the left was snatching again. Not as bad, but really really not good. For the third pass, I used the same lather, but switched the blade. Very nice pass. Did the blade go. From hero to zero in the last 48 hours, or did the soap just appear better because I'd already removed the thickest growth? Not entirely sure. I suppose I'll find out next shave.
Surprisingly, no post shave was needed, so while the hair roots were being tormented, the skin remained intact. Not the greatest shave, but a shave nonetheless. The result was certainly more rewarding than the process. The blade had done less than half the 32 shaves I've had from one of these in the past, and the soap had only been subjected to water, so the drama seemed all rather unnecessary. Not to worry, more shaves await.
My money's on soap killer Al. I wouldn't be soaking any soap at all. Certainly not for 3 days.
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- #3,404
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I'll find out tomorrow.
The stubble is still too short to fret over today, and shaving tomorrow will replicate better the conditions of the last shave. Then we'll see whether the soap has settled down and/or if the fresh blade restores the shave to its proper standard.
Fingers crossed. Better a dud blade (or a one-off bad shave) than bad soap. Not that you don't have a small amount in reserve.
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- #3,406
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Indeed! I have both soap and blades in reserve. The lather improved with each load yesterday, and of course the fresh blade led to improvements too. If tomorrow's shave is without fault, I won't know for certain how much blame lay with which product for yesterday's struggles, but I don't much care either. So long as the obstacles are removed, and I get a great shave, or even just a pleasant and rewarding shave, I'll be happy.
I've not given up on the Mixed Midget either. I just want to go into the next shave with that with happy skin, and a good razor/blade combo. I don't want to compound problems, and always want to be working from great shaves as the datum point, whenever I'm working to improve something that's not as good as I'd like it to be. Be that challenges with brush, razor, soap/lather, or anything else.
I have experienced some soaps that do improve with a good soaking. Williams Mug Soap is one.
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- #3,408
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Goodfellas Smile Italian Lemon is not dead, but it is changed, and needs relearning. Shaved today on 48 hours growth, and the first pass was rough, but the second and third were better. I rehydrated the lather for the second pass, almost to the point of overhydrating it, but by the end of the third pass, it had thickened right up again. It just needs a change of approach, I think.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I've no idea what "killing a soap" means. However, I have used soap which needed to be bloomed. To me, that means just putting some hot water (a little bit of it) on top of the puck while I shower, and then pouring the water off before loading the brush.
I usually do not bloom soaps, but some seem to need it and/or work better for doing it. My guess is the soaps needing it are either old and dried out or super hard soaps (triple milled or similar) to begin with. In general I think blooming soaps a waste of time and maybe a waste of soap, but there are occasions requiring it in my experience.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I usually do not bloom soaps, but some seem to need it and/or work better for doing it. My guess is the soaps needing it are either old and dried out or super hard soaps (triple milled or similar) to begin with. In general I think blooming soaps a waste of time and maybe a waste of soap, but there are occasions requiring it in my experience.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Interesting. Noted.
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- #3,411
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Well that was a rather ridiculous shave.
Where to begin?
Yesterday I realised I need to relearn this soap, now that it's been soaked, swelled, and been moulded to the dish. As there was some tugginess going off, and "protective" lathers can cause that for me, I decided to load less soap than yesterday. I dipped the brush in water, and shook out the excess, before doing a load of maybe half the number of seconds than yesterday, and well under a quarter of the time that was needed to load when the soap was a dry puck, and everything kind of worked as expected.
The lather was a little bubbly to start with, but that calmed down very quickly with painting strokes. It was very thin, both in terms of density, and in terms of the distance from skin to surface as the brush passed. It showed some promise, but looked like it might be a bit too thin for a good performance, but was in need of effort, rather than more product. As I applied more effort, the lather got thicker, but also water started running from the base of the knot. I stopped, shook the water into the sink, and continued. Thicker lather at the tips, more water at the base. Stop. Shake. I repeated this a few more times.
The lather really bulked up, and it was quite clear that it was now too thick for my shaves. By which I mean too dense. A pressureless shave with this lather, would definitely have the cap and comb floating, leading to tugging. That was NOT apparent on the two previous shaves with the super-hydrated puck, when I had loaded significantly more soap. I don't fully understand that, but them's the facts. Deal with it. I had to.
So, now I had to try and get more water back in again. Dipped the tips, picked up some water, and painted it on top of the white shaveproof armour. It looked like it had collapsed, but with very little effort, recovered, and laid off with painting strokes to both the moderate density and low height off the skin that I aim for. The lather now looked like it did the last two times I shaved, but despite loading for half the time, there was probably double the amount of lather on the brush after applying the first lather. Does not compute. Stop thinking, start shaving.
Brush down, razor up, and a reasonably good first pass. Nothing terrific, but certainly better than the first pass on the last two shaves. Better lather, or just shaving on 24 hour stubble, instead of 48? Don't know. Don't care. Don't analyse it back to being broken again. Razor down, brush up, and the second lathering left me with lather that seemed too dense again. No water escaping this time, but a little more water needed introducing. Did that, and the second pass was fine. Probably the expected calibre of second pass that I would expect off any half decent soap. The brush now looked like it had enough lather for at least another three passes.
I stopped there though. Two lathered passes was enough brain addling for one day. I did repeat some vertical strokes on the right hand side with just water, and there was plenty of residual slickness. Reasonably close shave, very good post shave feel, with no desire to use anything further on my skin. I happened to rinse the brush clean before I rinsed off my face. Not intentional, it just happened that way. By the time I'd done that, the lather on my face looked like it would deflect a razor about as well as Batfink's wings deflect bullets.
So the lessons from today's shave, was start with less soap. A lot less. Why the brush appeared to separate out the water before letting me reincorporate it again, I don't know. I'd sure the brush was fairly dry when I loaded, but I'll try starting with less soap and less water next time I use these two.
A shorter load that yields more lather, and a brush that removes water from lather.
Where to begin?
- I do not understand this brush
- I do not understand this soap anymore
- Despite not knowing what the heck is going off, I still seem to be able to navigate towards a decent shave
Yesterday I realised I need to relearn this soap, now that it's been soaked, swelled, and been moulded to the dish. As there was some tugginess going off, and "protective" lathers can cause that for me, I decided to load less soap than yesterday. I dipped the brush in water, and shook out the excess, before doing a load of maybe half the number of seconds than yesterday, and well under a quarter of the time that was needed to load when the soap was a dry puck, and everything kind of worked as expected.
The lather was a little bubbly to start with, but that calmed down very quickly with painting strokes. It was very thin, both in terms of density, and in terms of the distance from skin to surface as the brush passed. It showed some promise, but looked like it might be a bit too thin for a good performance, but was in need of effort, rather than more product. As I applied more effort, the lather got thicker, but also water started running from the base of the knot. I stopped, shook the water into the sink, and continued. Thicker lather at the tips, more water at the base. Stop. Shake. I repeated this a few more times.
The lather really bulked up, and it was quite clear that it was now too thick for my shaves. By which I mean too dense. A pressureless shave with this lather, would definitely have the cap and comb floating, leading to tugging. That was NOT apparent on the two previous shaves with the super-hydrated puck, when I had loaded significantly more soap. I don't fully understand that, but them's the facts. Deal with it. I had to.
So, now I had to try and get more water back in again. Dipped the tips, picked up some water, and painted it on top of the white shaveproof armour. It looked like it had collapsed, but with very little effort, recovered, and laid off with painting strokes to both the moderate density and low height off the skin that I aim for. The lather now looked like it did the last two times I shaved, but despite loading for half the time, there was probably double the amount of lather on the brush after applying the first lather. Does not compute. Stop thinking, start shaving.
Brush down, razor up, and a reasonably good first pass. Nothing terrific, but certainly better than the first pass on the last two shaves. Better lather, or just shaving on 24 hour stubble, instead of 48? Don't know. Don't care. Don't analyse it back to being broken again. Razor down, brush up, and the second lathering left me with lather that seemed too dense again. No water escaping this time, but a little more water needed introducing. Did that, and the second pass was fine. Probably the expected calibre of second pass that I would expect off any half decent soap. The brush now looked like it had enough lather for at least another three passes.
I stopped there though. Two lathered passes was enough brain addling for one day. I did repeat some vertical strokes on the right hand side with just water, and there was plenty of residual slickness. Reasonably close shave, very good post shave feel, with no desire to use anything further on my skin. I happened to rinse the brush clean before I rinsed off my face. Not intentional, it just happened that way. By the time I'd done that, the lather on my face looked like it would deflect a razor about as well as Batfink's wings deflect bullets.
So the lessons from today's shave, was start with less soap. A lot less. Why the brush appeared to separate out the water before letting me reincorporate it again, I don't know. I'd sure the brush was fairly dry when I loaded, but I'll try starting with less soap and less water next time I use these two.
- Thread starter
- #3,412
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
Much better shave today. I loaded completely differently. Instead of wetting the brush, I wet the soap, dunking the whole bowl in the sink. I quickly tipped the excess water off the top, and loaded with a bone dry brush for 15-20 laps. After painting that on, and introducing more water to it gradually, I had just enough lather, and it was of the proper density.
It wasn't ecstatically good, but certainly good enough. Two passes done, no post shave needed, and just enough lather for one more pass should I have needed it. We're finally back on track. Now I've got this one sussed out, I can go back and revisit the Mixed Midget and Oatcake scritchfest.
It wasn't ecstatically good, but certainly good enough. Two passes done, no post shave needed, and just enough lather for one more pass should I have needed it. We're finally back on track. Now I've got this one sussed out, I can go back and revisit the Mixed Midget and Oatcake scritchfest.
If you stuck with MWF and a synthetic fiber brush instead of torturing your face long after your curiosity was sated, that’d be fine, too.
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- #3,414
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
But it isn't...
... and won't be until the brush is descritched, and has either started disintegrating in a disappointingly short time again, or has "proven" that my two previous boars might have lasted longer, if I'd allowed some drying time between shaves.
The mistake is mine. Hoping your Mixed Midget soon feels as comfortable as it looks nice.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Al, I may be misreading things. Forgive me if I am.
The natural fiber brushes have to be soaked before loading and lathering if you want to save their knots from premature death. Without the benefit of a good soak the hairs and bristles are subject to breaking during the loading and lathering process.
Obviously all your brushes are yours to do with as you like. None of my business.
I'm a big fan of the Mixed Midgets lather monster properties, but not of its scritch. Cal says the scritch goes away once the knot's used enough times (I think it's Cal who says that), but mine's not been used to that degree. It remains very scritchy in the way I think of as "bad scritch."
I have three mixed boar and badger knots. The Semogue SOC Mistura was by leagues the best straight out of the box brush of the three, and has improved since then. It didn't require any breaking in at all. The 70/30 is a brush I like; I try to convince myself it's broken in after about a hundred uses. It feels deliciously scrubby, but the fact is it still leaves my skin feeling a bit burned it I use it two days in a row so it's still harsh.
All three are lather monsters. Only one is, so far, a great brush.
I've been tempted to give up on the 70/30, but at least one gentleman has reported the knot eventually breaks in. Perhaps that's true of all Mixed Midgets, too, but I doubt I'll ever use mine enough to accomplish the task. After all, it's a very small brush even if it breaks in, and I like big knots (24 mm is barely big enough in my opinion; for me I mean).
Happy shaves,
Jim
The natural fiber brushes have to be soaked before loading and lathering if you want to save their knots from premature death. Without the benefit of a good soak the hairs and bristles are subject to breaking during the loading and lathering process.
Obviously all your brushes are yours to do with as you like. None of my business.
I'm a big fan of the Mixed Midgets lather monster properties, but not of its scritch. Cal says the scritch goes away once the knot's used enough times (I think it's Cal who says that), but mine's not been used to that degree. It remains very scritchy in the way I think of as "bad scritch."
I have three mixed boar and badger knots. The Semogue SOC Mistura was by leagues the best straight out of the box brush of the three, and has improved since then. It didn't require any breaking in at all. The 70/30 is a brush I like; I try to convince myself it's broken in after about a hundred uses. It feels deliciously scrubby, but the fact is it still leaves my skin feeling a bit burned it I use it two days in a row so it's still harsh.
All three are lather monsters. Only one is, so far, a great brush.
I've been tempted to give up on the 70/30, but at least one gentleman has reported the knot eventually breaks in. Perhaps that's true of all Mixed Midgets, too, but I doubt I'll ever use mine enough to accomplish the task. After all, it's a very small brush even if it breaks in, and I like big knots (24 mm is barely big enough in my opinion; for me I mean).
Happy shaves,
Jim
- Thread starter
- #3,417
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I'm not sure if you are or not. The bone dry brush I loaded with on the last shave, after adding water to soap instead of brush, was synthetic. I don't try to use natural brushes dry. Does that change your perspective of what I was doing?
Your Mixed Midget sounds as scritchy as mine, and I totally agree, it's not pleasant. I have to be of the right frame of mind beforehand, to choose to endure the scritch. The boars I had were nowhere near as scritchy. However, if I'm to discover whether periodically allowing the brush to dry out between shaves, will let this brush survive longer than the previous ones, I need to persevere with it, as I'll not be buying any others.
The Midget is there for me to give natural brushes one last try. So far, I am not convinced that natural brushes have any significant future in my bathroom. I do miss the scrub, but synthetics are comfortable from first use, and so far, appear longer lasting (although I have had one bite the dust already).
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Yes.
Although I soak all brushes while I'm in the shower or washing my face at the sink I know synthetics can be run under water or dunked before use (they don't have to be soaked). I also don't know they actually need to be wet before they're loaded (I don't know anything much about synthetics).
Al, I have a good many badgers and a very good collection of boars. I like most of them. Some of my badgers are pretty high end as I have two Zenith Manchurians, a Zenith silvertip, two Simpson Chubbies, and three Shavemacs, as well as the array of Stirling, Yaqi, and Maseto brushes.
It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say the Mistura is perhaps the best of the lot. It's a great knot. I think Cal agrees or is close to agreeing.
Anyway, I wouldn't give up on natural fibers without trying a Mistura, either in the SOC version or the smaller version Cal prefers whatever it's called which I can't remember right now.
In the same vein, I'd tell someone to not give up on synthetics without trying the Omego Evo. Rave would likely agree with that statement (at least currently).
Happy shaves,
Jim
- Thread starter
- #3,419
AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
If you're so minded, there's always one more thing to buy and try. Sadly, I'm not so minded. If I recall correctly, those brushes were well beyond what I feel comfortable paying for a brush, and with no more guarantee off success or suitability, than anyones recommendations of blade, razor, or soap. We all know the differences of opinion we all have with those. As you just pointed out, we can't even all agree on brush size, never mind all the other attributes.
I'm allergic to rabbit holes, they bring me out in tantrums. All that chasing of other people's favourites, only to be disappointed, time and time again. So while I always value your input, Jim, I'm afraid "more shopping" is not the answer for me. If the Midget descritches, and doesn't develop a Bobby Charltan hairstyle, that'll do for me. If I have to start chasing specific natural brushes, to "get the right answer" as to whether natural brushes are for me, then the answer is no, as I don't want to have to keep buying multiples to find one I'm happy with.
I'll give the Mixed Midget a fair chance, by using it till it descritches, or disintegrates, interspersed with ample drying time, while I use something comfortable and hassle free.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I certainly understand where you're coming from, Al.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Happy shaves,
Jim
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