Treated Myself

[srv524]

Last night I "treated" myself. I haven't been able to shave for 3 days since the last time I did I cut into my chin a little bit and irritated my moustache area (which I concluded was due to improper blade angle, yet when I went back and used between #5 and #6 angles it was better this time...) so needless to say I had a good amount of stubble.
I try to do the hot, moist towel for 2 minutes beforehand and some of Kyle's Prep, but after reading all of the pre-shave rituals that everyone has on here I varied it up a bit:

1) Hot shower, 10 minutes. Kept running the hot water over my face.
2) Washed conditioner into my face then washed it off whilst in the shower.
3) During the shower, I had the brush soaking in scalding hot water in the sink for the duration of the shave (10 minutes or so). I also had my VDH soap in my mug with a little water on it which also sat in the hot water.
4) Toweled off then splashed hot water on my face again.
5) Lathered up my face with the boar brush then placed a hot, moist towel over it. Did this for 2-3 minutes, re-heating towel with water every minute or so.
6) When done with this, washed off the face with the towel to clean away excess debris, dead skin cells, etc...
7) Re-lathered and shaved.

The problem I'm encountering is I can't get a good deep lather. I've read Jim's lathering ritual, watched mantic's youtube preps, everything I can get my hands on. I just can't tell when it's rich and creamy or too watery/too dry, etc.

Anyways, I paid proper attention to the blade angle for my whole shave. Instead of doing longer strokes, I did shorter strokes between #5 and #6 so that half of the Weishi (I know, I know...) blade was on my face. I made slow, short strokes, concentrating on blade angle and movement. My pattern was:
a) n-s
b) s-n
c) Angled- jaw to between the eyes at a 45 degree angle. First time using this, but I got a good result out of it. Not sure if it's because of the prep or just because that's how I've realized my hair grows in.

Only exceptions were moustache area (n-s then side-side). Still having problems with this because I can't go ATG, only XTG and WTG, so I have a good amount of stubble left over.

Then I washed off the face with ice cold water for 15 seconds (never did this before and I don't know why) before applying Afta. I'm thinking about switching to Witch Hazel, but for now I use Afta after-shave cream with Aloe, one of the best I've ever used.

Shave was overall one of the best I've had DE shaving, if not the best. I had 3 days of stubble, yet with the shave prep, adjusted blade angles and stroke speeds, I was able to get a great shave. Even the chin area, a great nemesis of mine, got done very well. All with only a couple really small cuts, compared to the cuts I usually get.

All this with a Weishi razor (trying to get a Merkur 34C) and Derby blades (want to get Iradium).

 

[JPM]

Congrats! Sounds awesome.

 

[elsmooth]

Great post, and congrats on treating yourself.

I noticed you made a comment about not being able to lather your VDH well. In my den I have both glycerin-based soaps (like your VDH, I think) and a triple-milled from TOBS. The TOBS is much easier for me to get a better lather, and for a while, I couldn't replicate the quality when lathering the glycerin-based soap. Then, through some help on these boards, I realized I wasn't loading my brush with enough soap, and my brush was too wet at the beginning.

Try the following...when your brush is finished soaking, give it a few shakes, and then a squeeze. Then, for loading, take your time...I mean, really put the time in. My TOBS takes 15-20 seconds, and my glycerin-based...if I'm smart I'll load for closer to 2 minutes. Then, I hit the bowl with a vengence, and add water very sparingly (keep from over saturating my lather).

Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[sodajerk]

Try this with your lather. Don't squeeze the brush, just shake it a couple of times. Load it with a LOT of soap - much more than you really need. Then, in a bowl, whip the brush till you get some lather. Sprinkle in some more water (what falls off your wet finger tips) and whip again. Repeat one more time. Brush it on your face and if it's right, it is really, really slick, the brush will feel different to your hand and to your face. Just adjust the amount of water, up or down, until you get a really slick lather. You'll know when you hit it right because the razor will feel like there's no blade in it! Good luck!!

 

[srv524]

Great post, and congrats on treating yourself.

I noticed you made a comment about not being able to lather your VDH well. In my den I have both glycerin-based soaps (like your VDH, I think) and a triple-milled from TOBS. The TOBS is much easier for me to get a better lather, and for a while, I couldn't replicate the quality when lathering the glycerin-based soap. Then, through some help on these boards, I realized I wasn't loading my brush with enough soap, and my brush was too wet at the beginning.

Try the following...when your brush is finished soaking, give it a few shakes, and then a squeeze. Then, for loading, take your time...I mean, really put the time in. My TOBS takes 15-20 seconds, and my glycerin-based...if I'm smart I'll load for closer to 2 minutes. Then, I hit the bowl with a vengence, and add water very sparingly (keep from over saturating my lather).

Good luck, and keep us posted!

That's what I try to do...I use Jim's lathering for this where I let the brush soak, squeeze the bristles vigorously then give it a few good shakes. I go to the brush, alternating clockwise and counter-clockwise as well as a few plunges. Once I feel that I have built up enough soap (I go about 1 min, so I'll have to try the 2-3 min mark as you recommended) I move to a bowl (another new move since I used to just go from the soap bowl) and mix in the bowl for 2 minutes or so, adding little water as I feel needed.
I think the problem is probably not building up enough soap, so I'll give that a try next time. Thanks!

 

[pruby]

I'm just learning too and recently found a couple of things I was doing wrong with the lather. Note all of these are with tallow/palm based soaps, not 'glycerin' soap.

• Being too gentle in the bowl - had to go faster & pump the brush to really build.
• Was using bad soap - one from a small shop, one I made, both with plenty of lather volume but no body. Got some L'Occitane CADE soap & was instantly getting great lather.
• Was picking up too little soap on the brush. Had to work a little bit harder to pick up a decent amount off the surface .

 

[saltypete]

Congrats mate! Treating yourself to a relaxing shave is one of lifes great pleasures.

Pete

 

[srv524]

So I did all of the steps above for the next shave (2 days later), except this time I massaged the pre-lather into my face then did the hot towel for 2-3 min.

I think the problem is my brush...I see videos where they say mix in the soap for 30-60 seconds and add water as necessary; I'm going at it for 1-2 minutes and my brush isn't picking up a lot of soap. Pumping, circular, around the other way, back and forth, to and fro, up and down, side to side, who knows. I have a Tweezerman boar brush, and I've been looking to get a badger for under 30 but all the main sites have em from 35 up to several hundred.

Whilst in the shower, I ran over my stubble again with my hands to outline a new pattern of attack. I go WTG, ATG and XTG but I do mine on different angles and I try to attack more going ATG. I felt this led to a great shave, one of my best ever as I got near-BBS skin. The first 2 shaves weren't the best and the lather was too watery since I can't tell when it's too wet or too dry. On the 3rd, I went straight to the soap bowl (I have a soap bowl then an empty bowl I use to build lather) and worked and worked it until it was soapy then added water little bit at a time. I also used aqua velva at the end as opposed to Afta and it seems better, smoother.

Some notes for next time -

1) Try to get a badger brush

2) Instead of using a soap bowl then empty bowl, stick with soap bowl

3) Don't use Jim's method (dry brush, barely wet soap) - use the standard method of wet brush, shake off a tad, go at the soap.

4) Continue using aqua velva

 

[mblakele]

Tweezerman makes a boar? I thought they only made badgers.

My Omega 10049 and 10066 each do a fine job of picking up soap, and neither costs more that $20 shipped from various retailers. I also have a badger brush, and it works about as well - but cost almost three times as much.

 

[srv524]

Tweezerman makes a boar? I thought they only made badgers.

My Omega 10049 and 10066 each do a fine job of picking up soap, and neither costs more that $20 shipped from various retailers. I also have a badger brush, and it works about as well - but cost almost three times as much.

Hmm...my apologies; I assumed for the $8 price I paid it was boar; guess it is badger (specs from Amazon). Either way, it doesn't seem that great of a brush compared with the quality I see in youtube tutorials. Where did you purchase your Omega, and do you recommend Omega over Tweezerman? I've looked at classicshaving, westcoastshaving and a bunch of other sites and can't find one under say 25 or so.

 

[Barcochris]

A Nice relaxing shave at the end of the day is my treat as well...

 

[srv524]

I think the other problem is that I'm doing every other day because my skin is extra sensitive and I'm trying to get it used to the DE blades before I move on to every day, so more stubble builds up. I think after another week or so I'm going to switch to every day.

 

[mblakele]

Hmm...my apologies; I assumed for the $8 price I paid it was boar; guess it is badger (specs from Amazon). Either way, it doesn't seem that great of a brush compared with the quality I see in youtube tutorials. Where did you purchase your Omega, and do you recommend Omega over Tweezerman? I've looked at classicshaving, westcoastshaving and a bunch of other sites and can't find one under say 25 or so.

I think we're still at odds about badger vs boar. My Omegas are both boars. I bought one from an Amazon vendor and one from West Coast Shaving, but WCS has both models for $9 each: http://westcoastshaving.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=28_39_63 (the 10049 is sold out right now, but the 10048 is almost the same). I've also been recommended to the Omega 81052 (another boar) as a nice option midway between the rather small 10066 and the rather large 10049.

My badger is a Penworks STR1-22 (http://www.penworks.us/?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_73&products_id=216 - but the site seems to be down as I write this message). That's the one that costs much more (close to 5x) what the boars cost. It's nicer-looking, and works about as well.

In summary I think you would get a much better value for $9-20 with a boar rather than a badger. My experience is limited, but somewhere around $50 seems to be the entry point for a good badger brush.

 

[srv524]

I'll have to take a look at that, thanks.

 

[srv524]

Prep and everything is about 35 minutes (about 8-10 for pre-shave and 20-25 for shaving).

I bought a 10 pack of Personnas from Wal-Mart (1.79 US), and compared to my Derby Extras these blades aren't good enough. My derby extras plow through my stubble whereas the Personnas weren't sharp enough and I found myself applying more pressure and going over more areas (further irritation) because those blades weren't doing it for me.