Clubman it is! I'll give it a try for sure.
The Shaving Cadre
Welcome to The Shaving Cadre, a forum dedicated to gentlemanly discourse about wet shaving and other topics of common interests. Membership is always free so register today and join in the fun
An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
Late night last night with elections and all so I elected to do a cart shave this morning to save time and get everyone out the door on time.
Before you click off, I do think today was a milestone of sorts. After shaving with the QShave twice I can confidently say that I finally get a better shave with it than I do with the carts. I was noticing this morning that I'm smooth BBS with the cart, but the QShave is much closer and the shave lasts longer. The QShave actually feels better than the cart which is another milestone. As I was shaving with the cart this morning I was thinking about how it just didn't feel nice at all compared to my newly acquired QShave. So this is probably the tipping point. Once I figure out my neck with the QS it will be time to say goodbye to carts even on the clean-up passes. I'm 80 % there now thanks to my TSC family!
Before you click off, I do think today was a milestone of sorts. After shaving with the QShave twice I can confidently say that I finally get a better shave with it than I do with the carts. I was noticing this morning that I'm smooth BBS with the cart, but the QShave is much closer and the shave lasts longer. The QShave actually feels better than the cart which is another milestone. As I was shaving with the cart this morning I was thinking about how it just didn't feel nice at all compared to my newly acquired QShave. So this is probably the tipping point. Once I figure out my neck with the QS it will be time to say goodbye to carts even on the clean-up passes. I'm 80 % there now thanks to my TSC family!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Good to hear Mike ! Congratulations !!
Wooohooo!
This is the point where the edge of the rabbit hole becomes very very slippery grasshopper. Please guard yourself adequately!
We should have a par-tay! Congrats on the realization!
Should I gird my loins before or after painting the mammoth?
How do we have a par-tay on the forum Don?
How do we have a par-tay on the forum Don?
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Today's shave was not stellar and it's my fault.
Today's Shave: Shave #31
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: What The Puck Blue Ba
rbershop
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap / Pre-Shave Oil
Total Razor on Face Time: 14 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only. Mammoth painting (MP) with a bit of baby powder on the collar area of the neck.
I changed stuff up just a tiny bit today by trying the PS oil. It certainly made things slick but I noticed it did affect the lather in the aspect that it sorta watered it down like a "lather suppressant". WTG pass felt really great and the oil seemed to really help things be slick. I didn't like the slickness that it caused on the razor handle, but I just had to be careful with how much lather I let ride on the cap. XTG pass I decided to adjust the razor to 2.5 from 2.0. Felt great and noticed more audio feedback than when doing the XTG pass on 2.0 the last time I shaved. I jumped up to 3.0 on the ATG pass (yeah, wincing or shaking your head aren't you) and it didn't feel horrible at all so I think I was ok still. Since I'm trying to break-up with the cart totally I did my normal neck clean-up with the QShave instead. Here's were I made my mistakes. The extra gap saw me snipping a mole that normally isn't a problem. Afterwards I had redness & irritation.....dang! I think my biggest mistake was not shifting the razor back down to 2.0 for clean-up work so the razor wasn't so aggressive. My dusting of baby powder felt like I was dumping insulation fibers around my neck so I had to get that off ASAP. Overall, BBS in most places with quite a few DFS spots - not a bad shave, but not on par with my 30th. I'm not sure how I should adjust the shave aggressiveness I guess. I thought your start low and adjust upward for a closer shave. I definitely think I need to shift the aggressiveness down for any sort of clean-up work or blade buffing.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the WTP Blue Barbershop soap. I like it a lot. It does lack the luxury of tallow soaps in my opinion but the scent is classic and it lathers really well for me. I was able to get a thick, shiny lather in a couple of minutes. I think it is a solid performer. Mammoth painting does preserve the scent all day. I'm not getting that luxur
ious after shave feel from it like I do the tallow soaps.
What I Changed: Used PS oil, shifted razor setting from 2.0 to 2.5 and finally to 3.0.
One thing I noticed with the PS oil is that after my second pass, I think the slickness was gone. I could have easily applied more. I'm not sure if that's done by anyone. If all my passes could feel like that first WTG pass I would be one mighty happy wet shaver! The first WTG pass with the oil felt really good.
Today's Shave: Shave #31
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: What The Puck Blue Ba
rbershop
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap / Pre-Shave Oil
Total Razor on Face Time: 14 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only. Mammoth painting (MP) with a bit of baby powder on the collar area of the neck.
I changed stuff up just a tiny bit today by trying the PS oil. It certainly made things slick but I noticed it did affect the lather in the aspect that it sorta watered it down like a "lather suppressant". WTG pass felt really great and the oil seemed to really help things be slick. I didn't like the slickness that it caused on the razor handle, but I just had to be careful with how much lather I let ride on the cap. XTG pass I decided to adjust the razor to 2.5 from 2.0. Felt great and noticed more audio feedback than when doing the XTG pass on 2.0 the last time I shaved. I jumped up to 3.0 on the ATG pass (yeah, wincing or shaking your head aren't you) and it didn't feel horrible at all so I think I was ok still. Since I'm trying to break-up with the cart totally I did my normal neck clean-up with the QShave instead. Here's were I made my mistakes. The extra gap saw me snipping a mole that normally isn't a problem. Afterwards I had redness & irritation.....dang! I think my biggest mistake was not shifting the razor back down to 2.0 for clean-up work so the razor wasn't so aggressive. My dusting of baby powder felt like I was dumping insulation fibers around my neck so I had to get that off ASAP. Overall, BBS in most places with quite a few DFS spots - not a bad shave, but not on par with my 30th. I'm not sure how I should adjust the shave aggressiveness I guess. I thought your start low and adjust upward for a closer shave. I definitely think I need to shift the aggressiveness down for any sort of clean-up work or blade buffing.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the WTP Blue Barbershop soap. I like it a lot. It does lack the luxury of tallow soaps in my opinion but the scent is classic and it lathers really well for me. I was able to get a thick, shiny lather in a couple of minutes. I think it is a solid performer. Mammoth painting does preserve the scent all day. I'm not getting that luxur
ious after shave feel from it like I do the tallow soaps.
What I Changed: Used PS oil, shifted razor setting from 2.0 to 2.5 and finally to 3.0.
One thing I noticed with the PS oil is that after my second pass, I think the slickness was gone. I could have easily applied more. I'm not sure if that's done by anyone. If all my passes could feel like that first WTG pass I would be one mighty happy wet shaver! The first WTG pass with the oil felt really good.
Nice Dave!
Today I decided to switch some minor things up
Today's Shave: Shave #32
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Gillette Nacet
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: What The Puck Blue Barbershop
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap / Pre-Shave Oil
Total Razor on Face Time: 16 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only. Mammoth painting (MP).
Ok, let's try this again. I wrote this one and posted it or thought I did.
I put a new Nacet blade in the QShave this morning and built a lather in my bowl before my shower. This has been working out great to have the lather ready to go after the shower. This morning I decided to apply some PS oil in between each pass just to see if it made a difference. I'm talking only a pea sized dot rubbed into the problem areas and then rubbed into the rest of the neck and face. I also decided to try the razor setting at 2.5 for the entire shave. I did a bit of face lathering with the brush and that seemed to solve the oil vs. lather problem I had yesterday. My WTG pass felt great and saw me staring at my 13 yr old self looking back at me in the mirror
. My face looked so much cleaner and closer. I'm basically a CCS+ after the 1st pass. I also figured out that XTG for my neck is south to north but on my face it's ear to nose and nose to ear. On my face a south to north pass is actually ATG. 2nd pass XTG felt wonderful too and left me at DFS status. My final ATG pass felt great as well and leaves my face BBS and the neck DFS+. I did some clean-up on the neck with the QS that got me BBS on the neck, but with a cost of some redness / red spotted bumps. Of course it never feels bad when you are doing it, but 10 minutes after you are done shaving you realize it. I call that "Shaver's Regret."
I think the PS oil made a difference, but it sure was a little messy. The 2.5 setting seemed like a perfect setting (for now) with my current skill level. I didn't put the WH on my neck because it seems to turn up the brightness level lately when it used to do the opposite. The neck calmed down a bit as the hours ticked by and my shave feels really great. The Nacet blade performed well, and I expect it to be even better on the next shave. It compares to the SB I'm used to and I didn't notice much of a difference between the two blades.
What I Changed: Razor setting increased from 2.0 - 2.5, blade changed to Nacet, PS Oil applied in between passes
On the personal side, we are considering moving to KY or TN but leaning to KY. I'd be interested in hearing from those that live in KY about suggestions of great areas to live (I'm a country person). Send me a PM with your suggestions.
Also, here's a picture of my blacksmith shop / workshop. Right now I just roll the forge out the door and get to work.
Today's Shave: Shave #32
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Gillette Nacet
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: What The Puck Blue Barbershop
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap / Pre-Shave Oil
Total Razor on Face Time: 16 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only. Mammoth painting (MP).
Ok, let's try this again. I wrote this one and posted it or thought I did.
I put a new Nacet blade in the QShave this morning and built a lather in my bowl before my shower. This has been working out great to have the lather ready to go after the shower. This morning I decided to apply some PS oil in between each pass just to see if it made a difference. I'm talking only a pea sized dot rubbed into the problem areas and then rubbed into the rest of the neck and face. I also decided to try the razor setting at 2.5 for the entire shave. I did a bit of face lathering with the brush and that seemed to solve the oil vs. lather problem I had yesterday. My WTG pass felt great and saw me staring at my 13 yr old self looking back at me in the mirror
. My face looked so much cleaner and closer. I'm basically a CCS+ after the 1st pass. I also figured out that XTG for my neck is south to north but on my face it's ear to nose and nose to ear. On my face a south to north pass is actually ATG. 2nd pass XTG felt wonderful too and left me at DFS status. My final ATG pass felt great as well and leaves my face BBS and the neck DFS+. I did some clean-up on the neck with the QS that got me BBS on the neck, but with a cost of some redness / red spotted bumps. Of course it never feels bad when you are doing it, but 10 minutes after you are done shaving you realize it. I call that "Shaver's Regret."I think the PS oil made a difference, but it sure was a little messy. The 2.5 setting seemed like a perfect setting (for now) with my current skill level. I didn't put the WH on my neck because it seems to turn up the brightness level lately when it used to do the opposite. The neck calmed down a bit as the hours ticked by and my shave feels really great. The Nacet blade performed well, and I expect it to be even better on the next shave. It compares to the SB I'm used to and I didn't notice much of a difference between the two blades.
What I Changed: Razor setting increased from 2.0 - 2.5, blade changed to Nacet, PS Oil applied in between passes
On the personal side, we are considering moving to KY or TN but leaning to KY. I'd be interested in hearing from those that live in KY about suggestions of great areas to live (I'm a country person). Send me a PM with your suggestions.
Also, here's a picture of my blacksmith shop / workshop. Right now I just roll the forge out the door and get to work.
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Good looking shop! So clean...
Remember that, or I should say IMO, preshave oil is mainly to help with hydration of the face and whiskers, and it need time to absorb into the skin. If you’re trying to add slickness, it will have to come from the soap you’re shaving with or from adding something in to the shave, like a glycerin soap coating or something.
Remember that, or I should say IMO, preshave oil is mainly to help with hydration of the face and whiskers, and it need time to absorb into the skin. If you’re trying to add slickness, it will have to come from the soap you’re shaving with or from adding something in to the shave, like a glycerin soap coating or something.
Where do you live now?
I live in NY now (upstate not NYC). It's really become an unfriendly state and our values more align with the southern states. I think things are going to get pretty bad up here. Most of the flow is out of NY and not in these days.
Hmmm, that's why I'm a newbie
You caught my shop on a good day! I do normally like order when working so I can find what I need when I need it, but I can be a messy worker too when I'm nose deep in projects.