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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving

I think I'm hitting that 3-5 minute window after the shower. I thought I really liked cold water shaving until I had my shave this morning. I must say though, I still enjoyed the shave and I think I enjoy the post shave more because I can cold rinse, then WH is splashed on. I get ready a little more while the WH sits on there, then another cold rinse followed by some Nivea.

I will say, mammoth painting in the shower is not as effective as out of the shower. I think the rinse from the shower is too powerful and washes too much of the goodness away. My official recommendation as Mammoth Chief of The High Order of Mammoth Painters is.........don't paint in the shower
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I can't shave unless it is immediately right out of the shower. I grab the towel, patting off enough water that I'm not dripping and leave my face wet, then go immediately to the shave. I finish drying my hair and whatever is left after the shave. I've been mainly face lathering, so I do that when I step up to the sink, but if you are building in a bowl maybe have it ready beforehand.

If I try to do any other prep type of shave, like just washing my face, forget it. My whiskers will be like a wire brush and it will pull and irritate no matter what I use. Soap, pre-shave oils, razor, hot towel.... none of it helps. I have to shave right after a shower if I want it to be enjoyable.
 
Interesting Shawn. I'm not sure I'm sprinting to the sink to shave right after my shower. I like to dry off first and have even tried leaving my face wet out of the shower. Perhaps I'll try lathering a bowl up before my shower so it's ready to go when I jump out. That would save me 3-4 minutes right there.

I think what I'm trying to figure out is how to incorporate what works so well shower shaving into my sink shave. Dave touched on what I believe is the key to what's happening. In the shower, my face is wet, moist, and warm. This environment doesn't change at all through the whole shave. So, how do I bring that consistency into my sink shave? The first little piece is what Shawn suggested. If I lather in my bowl before my shower I'll be shaving in 2 minutes after I get out of my shower. I'll see if this makes a difference.

Today's shave was a cart because we had to get everyone out of the house at the same time. That's usually Wednesdays, but we had to shift it this week. Nice, BBS on the face & neck. Post shave felt wonderful, and there's no redness or irritation anywhere.

On the personal side of things. I cut my own hair. Years ago I thought "Why am I paying X amount every 3 or 4 weeks for someone to cut my hair?" At the time I made a deal with my wife to allow me to dump the hair cut money into my flintknapping fund to support that hobby a little. Now, 16 years later I'm still cutting my hair but that money isn't going to hobbies anymore because my business supports the hobby now.

Up until now I'd been tossing the clippers when they got dull. I'd get several years out of a $30 pair of Wahl clippers so I figured they'd more than paid for themselves. Well this time I decided it can't be too hard to sharpen the blades so I got out my knife sharpening stones and worked from medium grit to fine and honed the clipper blades. It's super easy and once you put it all back together/ realign the blades you wonder why you didn't try this before! I got a really nice hair cut and it went so much faster. Of course, I just have a military type haircut so it's not rocket science but it's also not just a #1 buzz cut on the whole head either and I have my wife come in and touch up the back of my head.

Here's a picture of my first shaving brush. It's an old Every Ready badger that has seen a long hard life. I found it when cleaning out an old estate more than 10 years ago and saved it for some reason. Shawn rescued me for this brush and it made a huge difference in lathering!



 
Blade-meister said:
Up until now I'd been tossing the clippers when they got dull. I'd get several years out of a $30 pair of Wahl clippers so I figured they'd more than paid for themselves. Well this time I decided it can't be too hard to sharpen the blades so I got out my knife sharpening stones and worked from medium grit to fine and honed the clipper blades. It's super easy and once you put it all back together/ realign the blades you wonder why you didn't try this before! I got a really nice hair cut and it went so much faster. Of course, I just have a military type haircut so it's not rocket science but it's also not just a #1 buzz cut on the whole head either and I have my wife come in and touch up the back of my head.
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I cut my own hair too. Have since I was 10 years old, when I first gave myself a buzz cut the day that school got out. Since then I've probably had 10 haircuts that I did not do myself. When I went to college, I joined Air Force ROTC and needed to get a military haircut, so I went to the barber and had them give me a high and tight. Once I saw how they cut my hair, I cut my own hair the same way for the next 24 years. Trimming the back is a piece of cake, I just hold up a hand mirror in front me with my back to the mirror. Takes my 10 minutes or less.

I've never even considered re-sharpening the blades, because I don't think they've ever needed it. I'm on my 3rd set of clippers, and I use them until the motor gives out. At this point, I think it'd be weird to have someone else cut my hair.
 
Great bit of ingenuity sharpening your clipper blades! I’d never have thought to do that, not that I have the tools anyway.

Good shave today, even if it was a cart! ?
 
Spider said:
I cut my own hair too. Have since I was 10 years old, when I first gave myself a buzz cut the day that school got out. Since then I've probably had 10 haircuts that I did not do myself. When I went to college, I joined Air Force ROTC and needed to get a military haircut, so I went to the barber and had them give me a high and tight. Once I saw how they cut my hair, I cut my own hair the same way for the next 24 years. Trimming the back is a piece of cake, I just hold up a hand mirror in front me with my back to the mirror. Takes my 10 minutes or less.

I've never even considered re-sharpening the blades, because I don't think they've ever needed it. I'm on my 3rd set of clippers, and I use them until the motor gives out. At this point, I think it'd be weird to have someone else cut my hair.
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No wonder I like your shaving style so much KJ
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I do my back of my head all by feel and mentally imagining what I'm doing back there. My wife usually says it looks good, but I have her run the clippers right up the back anyways. My journey was an evolution of sorts. I have the high and tight look of an officer who can get it cut as high as I want on the top. I then use a pair of chunking shears to thin out the top so it spikes with gel. No mohawk though
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Sharpening is super easy fellas. You take the clipper head apart with 2 screws and just hold the teeth level on a set of sharpening stones and move it back and forth. I use oil for lub and have used my Lansky knife sharpening stones. I don't set the stones in the Lansky, but just flip them over and set them on my workbench. It only takes a few passes on medium and fine to get the two setts of clippers out of the box sharp. There's Youtube vids on it that I watched just to be sure I didn't screw it up. It's way easier than sharpening my daily pocket knife.
 
Much respect for using that brush...but I'm glad Shawn saved you from it! It looks like it has seen better days...but that handle looks prime for having another knot set in it!
 
DocHoliday0831 said:
This is a task i have become quite the proficient person at. I find it really easy now to get one almost as sharp as a straight razor.
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Do you use a Lansky? It doesn't work well on my chisel grind & tanto tip daily carry. I find I get a better sharpening job freehand with that type of blade. Lansky works well for everything else though.
 
dangerousdon said:
Much respect for using that brush...but I'm glad Shawn saved you from it! It looks like it has seen better days...but that handle looks prime for having another knot set in it!
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Yeah, I showed it to Shawn and he took pitty on me and we worked out a trade deal for the Simpson. It is worthy of having another knot for sure.
 
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