What Did You Learn From Your SR Shave Today?

[rbscebu]

Second shave with my new Cape 2000. I've discovered I don't like sharp toes.
A decade of DE shaving and I figured out long ago how to get in close to my ears and nostrils with a fat safety razor, so wiggling the middle to 1/3 of a skinny SR into those nooks & gently scraping ain't hard.
Almost every cut I had was from the toe, but good news is, the cuts were shallow, and after jumping in the shower, there's no sign I was cut at all.
Face feels a bit raw, which I suppose means I got a pretty close exfoliation.

Don't be shy with a sharp pointy toe. It just takes a little more practice. This is one of my favoured Spanish point SR's.

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[xmacro]

What's the point of it? (no pun intended)
I don't have trouble shaving above or under my lips with the middle of the blade, I don't understand why a point is useful

 

[rbscebu]

Thanks. My available soaps are rather limited to Proraso green cream, Sanofi cream (Australian), Palmolive stick and Nivea Sensitive cream. I started using a rather wet lathers a while ago. I expect my technique has improved somewhat since then so will give a little less water a go.

Over the last week or so I have been using a not-so-wet Proraso green face lather. Yes, it is now working better than my previous almost dripping wetter lathers.

Thanks @camoloc for the heads up.

 

[rbscebu]

What's the point of it? (no pun intended)
I don't have trouble shaving above or under my lips with the middle of the blade, I don't understand why a point is useful

I find that it's good for shaving XTG just under the nose, around the Adams apple, in the nostrils, on the ears and in the ear canals. All areas that I have difficulty with (or impossible) using other point types.

 

[Tomo]

Over the last week or so I have been using a not-so-wet Proraso green face lather. Yes, it is now working better than my previous almost dripping wetter lathers.

Thanks @camoloc for the heads up.

Plus the lather stays on the blade rather than running down the blade and into the pivot! I’ve never understood the need for dripping wet lather. Normal lather works fine for me.

 

[Tomo]

20-25 minutes is enough for a good SR shave.

Down from 40 in the beginning!

 

[rbscebu]

Plus the lather stays on the blade rather than running down the blade and into the pivot! I’ve never understood the need for dripping wet lather. Normal lather works fine for me.

My lathers have never been running wet, just almost. Early in my technique learning, I found that a wetter lather than a normal SR wetter lather benefited my shaving. As technique improved, I have now returned to the normal SR wetter lather. By normal SR wetter lather, I mean a bit wetter than most DE/SE shavers use.

 

[rbscebu]

20-25 minutes is enough for a good SR shave.

Down from 40 in the beginning!

I'm still a bit worried about you @Tomo that you might not be enjoying your SR shaves. Do you try and rush your love making the same way?

(Hey honey, how was that? I managed it all in almost half the time!)

 

[Tomo]

My lathers have never been running wet, just almost. Early in my technique learning, I found that a wetter lather than a normal SR wetter lather benefited my shaving. As technique improved, I have now returned to the normal SR wetter lather. By normal SR wetter lather, I mean a bit wetter than most DE/SE shavers use.

I make no special adjustments for SR lather. I guess all my lathers are pretty wet though. One thing I can’t stand a runny lather. I like to get them nicely hydrated with a small margin of safety before they go running down the blade or brush. It’s easy to add water.

 

[Tomo]

I'm still a bit worried about you @Tomo that you might not be enjoying your SR shaves. Do you try and rush your love making the same way?

(Hey honey, how was that? I managed it all in almost half the time!)

I can’t help it. I’m German. We like to be efficient.

 

[camoloc]

Over the last week or so I have been using a not-so-wet Proraso green face lather. Yes, it is now working better than my previous almost dripping wetter lathers.

Thanks @camoloc for the heads up.

yes sir, I've found it to be more comfortable. i had to get some time under the belt obviously to arrive at the ability to do this. not having drowned lather allows me to benefit from some of the ingredients in the soap again.

camo

 

[CCR]

My first frame back has taught me more of a rolling x pattern with kind of a hook action with light finger pressure on the blade when honing. Tricky little suckers to hone

 

[CCR]

I'm still a bit worried about you @Tomo that you might not be enjoying your SR shaves. Do you try and rush your love making the same way?

(Hey honey, how was that? I managed it all in almost half the time!)

I always wondered why the girls in school called me Speedy

 

[xmacro]

3rd or 4th shave with the Cape 2000. Every cut, every bloody cut, is caused by the point on the square toe. I can shave ATG under my bottom lip and above my top lip with no problem; around the jaw and chin just fine. But that damnable square pointed toe keeps jabbing me, and I've yet to find any use for it. To be clear, I LIKE the blade going all the way to the toe, I DON'T like the point at the very end
Otherwise the shave was fine, face is smooth with just 2 WTG/XTG passes on cheeks, ATG on neck + around the lips

As for what I learned - just like with DE shaving, blood makes a decent lubricant for touching up some areas when I'm too lazy to re-lather

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

3rd or 4th shave with the Cape 2000. Every cut, every bloody cut, is caused by the point on the square toe. I can shave ATG under my bottom lip and above my top lip with no problem; around the jaw and chin just fine. But that damnable square pointed toe keeps jabbing me, and I've yet to find any use for it. To be clear, I LIKE the blade going all the way to the toe, I DON'T like the point at the very end
Otherwise the shave was fine, face is smooth with just 2 WTG/XTG passes on cheeks, ATG on neck + around the lips

As for what I learned - just like with DE shaving, blood makes a decent lubricant for touching up some areas when I'm too lazy to re-lather

It is very easy to soften the toe by dragging it lightly over glass at a 45 degree angle a few times. The shower door is great for it. I have done it many times and it shows no visible effect, but makes it a lot easier to avoid being bitten, and it still allows you to get into corners that square points are for.

 

[rbscebu]

@xmacro what your need is an exaggerated Spanish point. After that you will find your square point a walk in the park.

 

[Mouette]

Straight shave number 24 - so I am slowly getting the hang of straight shaving.

What did I learn today? Well, a couple of things actually. Firstly, the last two shaves have been with a French frameback that I bought from Fleabay and had sent out for honing (thanks Joseph!). The first shave with it was good and this was wasn't too bad either. Still missing bits and far from BBS. Although a bad nick on Saturday and just a slight weeper today. I learnt that I was getting more blood from my DE shaves than with the straight.

Second thing was the razor itself - a French frameback stamped "P Luent" on the tang with "Garanti" underneath it. P Luent must be the manufacturer and "Le Marin" on the blade although the etching is a bit faint now. The Sailor - very appropriate as I like sailing and spend a lot of time on my boat.

Have spent a lot of time on the internet trying to find out more information on this razor and maker but with no luck. What I did discover was that the French call their straight razors "rasoir coup choux" or just "coup choux". Translated it means cabbage cutter!

Oh, and I did learn one more thing - perhaps I should keep this a secret, but ended up on Produits électroniques, Voitures, Vêtements, Objets de collection, Bons d'achat et autres achats en ligne | eBay - https://www.ebay.fr/ and there are lots and lots of straight razors for sale at quite reasonable prices. I can only see trouble ahead!

cheers
Andrew

 

[rbscebu]

When SR shaving my upper lip WTG I stretch the skin by opening my mouth wide and kind of smile. For some unknown reason I have not been doing this with my Fool's Pass. For the FP I have been stretching the skin by putting my tongue under my upper lip.

This morning for my FP I stretched the same as I would do for my WTG upper lip. I found that that works much better and it is easier to get a BBS finish there.

I still just got a DFS+ result everywhere else.

 

[rbscebu]

@Mouette, you are almost "there". At about SR shave number 30 you will look back and wonder what all that initial intrepidation was about.

 

[Raymondmillbrae]

Yesterday, I confirmed something.

Since my Straightrazor-Fu has gotten strong, I no longer need the final pass with my DE razor to get the tiniest last pieces of hiding facial whiskers. (I cannot leave without a BBS finish on my face or head).

And since the Straightrazor-Fu has totally removed the DE razor from touching the rough whiskers of my face...it ONLY gets used on my head. And the head hair is fine.

So what did I confirm?

I confirmed that I can now get SIX head shaves with a single Personna Med Prep blade on my DE razor when shaving the noggin.