The Wanderer's Journey

[AimlessWanderer]

Edwin Jagger: Aloe Vera
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.22

Just a couple of "normal" shaves for now. I need better vision and coordination if I'm to attempt to divorce the tache from the beard. That's been another consideration in mind too ... maintenance of the gap between the tache and beard.

I'd need to maintain a sufficiently narrow gap, that it doesn't matter if that area doesn't get shaved for a while. I can handle a double edged razor most days, so long as I pick whichever part of that day, I am most functional. However, I cannot be certain of being safe to wield the shavette safely and accurately enough, even once a week.

If I can, then great.

If not, then tough luck, it's not getting done.

I don't think it will matter too much, having stubble in that area, but we'll have to judge that at the time. Till then, nice easy shaves are all I'll be doing. I haven't even bothered serving up the next small portion of tub soap yet, or for that matter, even deciding what that next serving will be.

I think, without checking, I have three tubs started, plus ... six (?) full unstarted tubs, and a few samples. I've used Phoenix and Beau for the last two servings, as I think I have more soaps of theirs with scents befitting the time of year. I know my two Wickham soaps are more summer scented, and can't remember what the others are at the moment... nor be bothered digging them all out for a sniff test.

No rush. The mug soap and cream that's in there, do a damn fine job anyway.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

T.F.S: Shave & Roses - Dracaris
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.23

Did I just shave with rose scented couscous?

It still has that same grainy texture, even when squished into the pewter soap dish.

This is the first time in several months, that I have used a soap that is completely new to me i.e. not just a different flavour of something I've used before. As such, my first attempt at making the lather was ludicrously bad. A watery bubbly mess.

Despite that, I painted it in the face anyway, kind of as a preshave, which dispensed with all the superfluous water, allowing me to reload properly. The lather was still wetter than normal for the first pass, but thickened up considerably by the time I lathered for the second time.

Duly noted. This is a soap that might need aa little extra time to meld with the water. I've used soaps like this before.

Performance wise, it was very good. Not so impressed with the scent... which lingers somewhat too. I may warm to it in time, or grow to completely loathe it. We shall see. It smells like one of those weird shops or market stalls that sells "alternative" clothes, and fortune telling stuff, and bubble pipes. That strange waft of every single type of joss stick and incense they sell, all quietly creeping into your nose at the same time, with the scent of roses just slightly taking the lead.

It might be something I need to air out for a while...

 

[JoWolf]

T.F.S: Shave & Roses - Dracaris
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.23

Did I just shave with rose scented couscous?

View attachment 1368383

It still has that same grainy texture, even when squished into the pewter soap dish.

View attachment 1368384

This is the first time in several months, that I have used a soap that is completely new to me i.e. not just a different flavour of something I've used before. As such, my first attempt at making the lather was ludicrously bad. A watery bubbly mess.

Despite that, I painted it in the face anyway, kind of as a preshave, which dispensed with all the superfluous water, allowing me to reload properly. The lather was still wetter than normal for the first pass, but thickened up considerably by the time I lathered for the second time.

Duly noted. This is a soap that might need aa little extra time to meld with the water. I've used soaps like this before.

Performance wise, it was very good. Not so impressed with the scent... which lingers somewhat too. I may warm to it in time, or grow to completely loathe it. We shall see. It smells like one of those weird shops or market stalls that sells "alternative" clothes, and fortune telling stuff, and bubble pipes. That strange waft of every single type of joss stick and incense they sell, all quietly creeping into your nose at the same time, with the scent of roses just slightly taking the lead.

It might be something I need to air out for a while...

It looks exactly like the steel cut oats I simmer for breakfast Al.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

T.F.S: Shave & Roses - Dracaris
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.24

Second shave with the stinky porridge.

Didn't seem quite as noxious as yesterday, but I've left the lid off on purpose, to air out some of the "aggressive hippy" scent.

"Wear these flowers, or I'll kneecap you, you short haired freak!"

Most disconcerting.

Also, there were a number of noticeable "grains" of soap in the lather at first, which explains why the lather changed significantly yesterday. As in, the first pass lather was with the bit that binds the grains together, and it wasn't till the second pass that the grains dissolved into the mix... or something along those lines.

The bottom line is, it smells like a crazy person, and behaves accordingly. I'm still trying to reason with it though.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

St James of London Black Pepper and Lime
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.25

Certainly not the most shaves I've ever had from a Wilkie, but definitely the most shaves I have counted on one. The Infinity Blades of years past, never had their shaves counted, but I do know that a pack of five blades often lasted more than a year. Maybe with less frequent shaves than I do today though. Hooray for shave journals too, as not being a strictly routined person, as some folks here are, the dice which I had been failing to turn, still showed shave 21.

The T.F.S Dracaris is currently lidless and airing out. Hopefully the potency of the scent will fade a little. It's too bold a scent for me at present, as you may have discerned from earlier posts. It's a good performer though, once the porridge grains have dissolved.

As for the Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera mug soap, It's a perfectly acceptable soap. Scent free, essentially, with decent performance and post shave feel. However, it is distinctly outperformed by the others I have been using. Phoenix and Beau, the St James of London, and even the stinky couscous, has it beaten in lather quality, particularly as blade shave counts rise.

That does NOT mean the Jagger mug soaps is a poor soap. If that was the only soap in play, I would be very happy with it indeed. It just doesn't perform to quite the same level as the tub soaps and creams that I've used lately. It will still get used though, as will the other three flavours of it in the stockpile. I still enjoy using it, AND enjoy not taking the higher performance of the others for granted.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Edwin Jagger: Aloe Vera
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.27

90 second zero patience special.

Turn cold tap on slow
Flick brush through running water twice
Four or five laps round the soap
Quick paint and swirl on dry face
Flick brush through running water
Quick paint and swirl again
Dump brush, grab razor
Quick wet of razor, and one pass shave
Ignore tugging
Quick rinse of razor, brush and face
Turn off tap
Walk out

Sometimes, that's enough.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

T.F.S. Shave & Roses: Dracaris
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.27
Dovo shavette

21 hours later, I was ready for a more attentive shave. I revisited the stinky porridge for today's lather, and while I got a sudden blast of the scent at first, I found it less distracting than before, and was able to focus a little more on the shave.

In fact, I felt so able to concentrate on the shave, I decided to grab the Dovo Shavette, and resume my utterly half-arsed and yet ludicrously complicated project of separating tache from beard.

What. A. Shambles!!!

The dividing line was widened from the provisional 1/8" or so, so that is became more distinctly visible. It was certainly the most ridiculously complicated shave that I have ever attempted. Not only was I not really sure what I was meant to be attempting to remove or leave, I was utterly clueless as to how to go about it.

The result? Incomplete.

Asymmetrical, patchy, lines not straight, manic beard and tache growth direction, but no blood loss. It looks abysmal, frankly, but I haven't given up yet. Nor have I any clue as to how to "fix" it though. Again, both the "what" and the "how" elude me.

To be honest, I'm still getting over the shock of the stupidity in thinking that this was a good idea.

Lessons learned:

• The usual intuitive smiles and facial contortions to tighten skin, are all well and good, until the face returns to it's neutral position, and then all the lines are completely wonky, and nothing is where it was meant to be.
• It's crucial, but no easy feat, to keep all the tache on one aide of the divide, and all the Goatee on the other. they kept reaching over, and giving the other a hug.
• For this to work well, the goatee needs to be both longer again, and braided.
• I REALLY need to spend more time figuring out whether the handle should be above or below the shavette blade (I.e. which way around the shavette should be) on either side of the face, and then which grip to adopt to control it there.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Oops. That last shave should have been No.28 on that blade.

Also, I have definitely removed a chunk of beard that should have stayed, on the left hand side. No further widening of the divide, until that area has filled back in a bit.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Today, I find myself torn between shaving, and not shaving.

With a little extra time for the frizzy madness to settle into its natural chaos, I've gotten a clearer indication of where more needs to be removed, and also where regrowth is required, to regain some symmetry. It will still take more time to settle on an actual style though, or indeed decide whether it was all a big mistake.

The blessing here though, ironically, is Covid. Face masks are required again here, and so it is the perfect time to make a complete pigs ear of the facial topiary.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I had a partial shave earlier today. Enough to clear the bulk of the beard free area, but not right up to the usual beard boundary, and not in the new gap. I have a family event to attend in a couple of weeks, and so I have a bit of time to come up with some kind of "intentional" look. Till then, I have the face masks to hide behind.

 

[Raven Koenes]

I had a partial shave earlier today. Enough to clear the bulk of the beard free area, but not right up to the usual beard boundary, and not in the new gap. I have a family event to attend in a couple of weeks, and so I have a bit of time to come up with some kind of "intentional" look. Till then, I have the face masks to hide behind.

A partial shave, now that's funny! I got half dressed this morning and partially combed my hair. This could be a thing!

 

[AimlessWanderer]

A partial shave, now that's funny! I got half dressed this morning and partially combed my hair. This could be a thing!

Half-dressed... genius idea, Rave!!!

If I shave lopsided again while wearing one boot, when I put the other boot on, and stand level, the beard should square back up again.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

T.F.S. Shave & Roses: Dracaris
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.30

Two passes outside the beard boundary, but no work between tache and goatee today. the blade felt very tuggy on the first pass, but felt fine on the second. Whether that was a fault of mine, the lather, or the blade, wasn't clear. I was tempted to ditch the blade, but didn't.

I was planning on shaving earlier, before I went for my Covid booster jab, early this afternoon. Then I realised how pointless it would be to look well shaved beneath a face mask... so I shaved when I got back instead.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

T.F.S. Shave & Roses: Dracaris
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.31

The brain must have been a little foggy yesterday, after the jaunt to get the Covid booster. Today, I remembered that this is a rather slow transforming soap, which may have accounted for yesterday's poor start.

Today, I loaded the brush as normal, then dipped the tip of the brush in the sink, stood the brush on its handle, and waited a minute or so before face lathering. Sure enough, today's lather was excellent.

All it needed was a little time and patience. Glad I didn't ditch the blade after all.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Edwin Jagger: Aloe Vera
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.32

Today's shave was a looooong shave.

Although the T.F.S Dracaris has aired out nicely now, I wanted something almost scent free today. I was going to be focusing on the facial topiary, and didn't want any distractions.

My first pass was pretty standard outside the beard and tache zone, but I did some tidying up attempts in the gap between the two. I didn't use the Dovo shavette this time though, as I wanted to see if I could work in that area with just the daily Jagger DE3D14.

As previous attempts to form a separate tache and goatee has led to some asymmetry, I had to slightly reduce the inside of the tache on one side, and the outside of the goatee on the other, to try to balance it up. It was actually easier to use the Jagger than the Dovo, as I seem to have to stretch the skin more with a shavette, which causes as many problems as it solves.

This is still all a work in progress, I'm still figuring it out on the go, and it's all hidden with a face mask in public areas anyway, but this is where it currently stands.



That's left completely "wild", with no waxes, balms, braiding, or elastic bands. The camera also makes it look a fair bit worse than it does in the mirror, possibly due to the slight "fish eye" effect, and the white balance/colour rendering is wonky too.

However, despite the erratic directions of the hairs themselves, the shaved/unshaved footprint is now more symmetrical, so I can start playing around with tache shape now. Deciding how long the horseshoe is, whether I taper the end, or curl/flare it out. The outside edge of the tache isnt rigidly defined yet either, to give me a bit more flexibility on where I trim next.

 

[JoWolf]

Definitely a clean canvas or in your case a hairy canvas to work with Al. My fingers are twitching for scissors. I would have the three hair stands delineated sharper for sure. If you are going to continue braiding or using a ring keeper. I would have the beard set that way before moustache trimming is under taken. That way you will be able to view and adjust to your preferred symmetry between moustache and brush. The soul patch while in my opinion necessary has to be done last for balance between the two hair stands. Coming into the Yuletide opens options for interesting rings. Candy Cane?

Another suggestion Al. Have you ever sketched out the shape on paper may give or add to choices and inspiration rather than just viewing different model photos. As you already know pen in hand can open unseen doors. No pressure Al. Has to be in order for Christmas

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Has to be in order for Christmas

It actually has to be in order a week prior, at the latest, John. There's a milestone birthday (not mine) to attend. However, as I know my facial hair takes a while to settle after trimming, I really need it in some semblance of order a few days earlier.

It's never going to be "neat and tidy" though. The growth is way too manic for that, and I want need to be flexible in how much maintenance the finished form needs, due to fluctuating abilities. Besides which, I don't actually want the "impeccably groomed" look.

Sketching on paper isn't that practical either. I can draw any shape I want, but can't necessarily shave or grow that shape. That's why I'm going for trim a bit, let it settle, then trim a bit more. It's like those sculpture artists that can carve a lump of rock into a bear, or something. It's all well and good saying "just remove everything that isn't the bear", but where that dividing line is, between bear and not bear, seems to change every time you look at it. This feels like that. Except what I'm trying to carve, changes shape three minutes after I've brushed it.

The pic isn't that great either. The right hand side of the tache as seen, almost looks like two out of line bricks. Part of that illusion is variations in colouring, which can make it look like it's an incomplete line. Also some of the out of straight, isn't necessarily all due to out of straight shaving line(some, yes), but Also the hair going wherever the heck it wants.

If I wanted it a defined shape, I'd have to trim it all very short, to have any hope of it staying within the shaved footprint. I don't want that. So I need to find a compromise point that is somehow both untamed, and intentional.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

St James of London Black Pepper and Lime
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.35

Blade ditched.

It was sharp enough to do the external shave, but not keen enough to do the 'tween tache and goatee areas. Too much force (not pressure) needed, and one slip would have been disastrous for the facial hair. So I mowed down the external areas, and left the tricky bits for another day.

Still, almost twice the blade life I've previously counted on a Wilkie. I might try a Feather next.

 

[JoWolf]

St James of London Black Pepper and Lime
Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Wilkinson Sword blade - Shave No.35

Blade ditched.

It was sharp enough to do the external shave, but not keen enough to do the 'tween tache and goatee areas. Too much force (not pressure) needed, and one slip would have been disastrous for the facial hair. So I mowed down the external areas, and left the tricky bits for another day.

Still, almost twice the blade life I've previously counted on a Wilkie. I might try a Feather next.

I have another suggestion Al. Before I even heard of B&B a long time ago I made this purchase while I was using Mach razors which was two years before I had been using Harry’s and now almost three years DE. I have never shaved with one of these disposable razors. No comment on the shave. I use these exclusively dry to trim eyebrows and remove visible ear hair. I used to use them for some dry trim strokes on my moustache. They are extremely light, narrow and I continue to use them. I don’t think you need to buy 52 of ‘em. I don’t think I’ll ever get through the box.

And for anybody who doesn’t think I don’t campaign blades. I do. I just don’t shave with them. On a do-over I would probably just buy a three pack of Bic’s disposable‘s. I have shaved once with a Bic disposable. It was an awful shave, very close to disgusting. But I would use them to dry trim.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Shudder the thought, John.

I moved to double edged razors in my late teens, in order to be rid of things like that. They tugged, pulled, ripped, and caused all kinda of irritation, including ingrown hairs. Well, I actually moved to double edge for a cheaper shave, but getting rid of all the nasty side effects was a huge bonus.

Missing a few days isn't going to hurt anyway, as there's at least one area that needs a bit of regrowth. In fact, both sides of the goatee, could be with being grown a fraction wider, and then trimmed a little more convex. I've kind of finalised what kind of shape I'm going to try for though, and I'll coax it a little nearer throughout the week.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

T.F.S. Shave and Roses: Dracaris Maggards: 22mm synthetic
Feather blade - Shave No.1

I wanted great lather today, and knowing that this can be a slow transforming soap, I loaded the brush before rinsing the face or loading the blade. The wax on this one was of a negligible and easily ignorable level, and I loaded it straight in.

I'm always a little more cautious than usual with a fresh Feather blade, but today, it felt perfectly smooth, and we'll behaved. I shaved all areas with it today, including the void between tache and goatee, and the result was very comfortable, with no post shave needed. Slightly surprising actually, as a new Feather can often need me to add a little calming down fluid to the face afterwards.

I decided not to do any reshaping work though. I'll leave all that for before the family event at the weekend. The more times I try to adjust things, the more opportunities there are for monumentally screwing it up. I am feeling a little more settled with the maintenance aspects of the new shape though.