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What did you learn from your last shave?

I prefer a comfortable ‘no nonsense’ shave like today‘s with a Personna lab on day 7 to a ‘high-wire act’ with a Feather blade on day 1! YMMV for sure, but that’s what I prefer first thing in the AM! :a29:
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
:detective: That sounds like a "too thick" lather problem to me.

Of course I could be very wrong, I often am. :letterk1:
I soon learned, after watching a few yogurt consistency lather videos on YouTube, I got much better shaves when I added more water to the soap/cream and ended up with a thinner? lather.

I had an issue with one of the pre-shaves I was using because it thickened up a semi thin lather into something so thick it was annoying.
 
Chin tuck while doing ATG on the neck solves the issue of those couple of pesky stray hairs growing every which way around my Adam's apple.

Tugging with R41 could be a result of too light a touch. Pressing a bit harder didn't cause any irritation or more nicks than usual.
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
Our small hotel ran out of hot water here on Nusa Penida, an island off of Bali.

I had tried cold water shaving a couple times and wasn’t that impressed, but this evening around 7PM, Sunday (12 hours ahead of East coast time), I had a wonderful shave.
 
Our small hotel ran out of hot water here on Nusa Penida, an island off of Bali.

I had tried cold water shaving a couple times and wasn’t that impressed, but this evening around 7PM, Sunday (12 hours ahead of East coast time), I had a wonderful shave.
I have been using only cold water for months. For me it helps diminish neck irritation.

I learned a trick and forgot which member brought it up recently. A preshave face lathering and rinse before a secondary shave lather is fantastic prep. Much thanks member X!
 
I learned that I am incorporating the Blackbird Ti into my regular rotation. After 6 shaves with a Nacet and Bic blade, I am very satisfied with its performance!
 

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I learned that Tatara Nodachi is too much for a daily shaving. I will keep it in rotation but only for longer hair growth. Nodachi (for me) is much more unpredictable then R41 and I can’t go ATG with this razor on my neck.
 

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Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
I have been using only cold water for months. For me it helps diminish neck irritation.

I learned a trick and forgot which member brought it up recently. A preshave face lathering and rinse before a secondary shave lather is fantastic prep. Much thanks member X!
I don’t rinse between passes. For me, it just rinses off the per-shave, but I’m going to keep cold water shaving here to see if I continue to have great shaves repeatedly.
 
I don’t rinse between passes. For me, it just rinses off the per-shave, but I’m going to keep cold water shaving here to see if I continue to have great shaves repeatedly.
Interesting not rinsing. It bugs me, some of my badgers are like sponges and soak up lots of the residual water when I rinse. Last pass, the lather barely paints on unless I squeeze out the brush first. Thanks, I’ll try not rinsing.
 
As I have a number of razors in rotation, I often forget just how amazingly good the Feather AS-D2 razor is, especially with their blade. I normally do the whole shower and ritual shaving thing but after a party last night, well, not into it. Had to shave though so wanted to get it quickly. I was reminded that it doesn't take much to get a great shave if your razor and blade are right for you. Not wanting to think about prep and what I would typically do, I grabbed my $10 Omega 10065 brush, my cheapest soap (but one of my best) - a $3 Arko puck, rinsed my face in cold water a couple times, wetted the brush (not quite long enough at the beginning) and loaded it from the puck. Lather was a bit too thin and dry so I got the brush a little wetter and moved to the bowl. In moments, I had plenty of Arko goodness and got my shave done pretty quickly for me. Terrific shave and the cold water helped me wake up a bit more.

Point is, for all the gear we talk about and lust over, and even though I used an expensive (in my world) razor, I would have gotten an equally good shave for probably no more than $30-35 had I used a common ball end Tech with the same blade, along with Arko and a cheap Omega brush. And you know, a guy really doesn't need to spend more than that to get as good a shave as a guy can get. As I've started using boar again, I find I like what I get from that inexpensive Omega with its red plastic handle as much as I do with my oh-so-luxurious Kent BK8 in the finest silvertip badger. Bottom line? We're all idiots; we should be shaving like our dads or granddads and make DE shaving as inexpensive as we tell our wives it is! ;)
 
I don’t rinse between passes. For me, it just rinses off the per-shave, but I’m going to keep cold water shaving here to see if I continue to have great shaves repeatedly.
I do the one-handed rinse to test how slick things are feeling. I never completely rinse between passes. Never have. Shaving with cold water and rinsing your razor in cold vs. hot water has many benefits IMO, mostly in reducing the risk of irritation. When winter hits (we get real winter here), I move to tepid water unless I can handle the cold on a given day.
 

thombrogan

Lounging On The Isle Of Tugsley.
I don’t think I’ve learned.

A few months ago, “lather up and go” seemed to bring the greatest comfort and satisfaction. Last night, holding a damp facecloth against my whiskers like I learned from @Tallships brought even more comfort and shaving joy.
 
Having recently risked my life with a couple of open comb vintage razors (Gillette Old Type and Gillette The New LC), I'm finding them kinda fun so long as I pay close attention to what I'm doing. No autopilot stuff like with an AS-d2 or Tech. Today, was my first shave with the latter purchased from Chris at Back Roads Gold.
 
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