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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
Today I had to teach a class and I needed to give my face a break, so I decided to see just how good of a one pass have I could get with the QShave.
Today's Shave: Shave #33
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
Total Razor on Face Time: 5 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).
I decided to lather in the bowl before my shower (as usual) but to shave in the shower to save time. My one pass was WTG at 2.5 on the razor. This put at about CCS+ on the face and the neck. No redness and no irritation to speak of. Maybe this week I'll try a 2 pass to see where that gets me in the irritation department. I remain impressed with the QShave. One pass gave me decent shave that I know wouldn't have happened with a cart. I did use the cart to touch up some areas around my mouth (corners, top lip, bottom lip)
On the personal side, below are pictures of a project I was involved with where a guy found an original tomahawk head metal detecting and wanted me to mount it on a handle that looked like it was as old and beat-up as the head. His vision was for the whole thing to look like it was well used and left in a dry cave or set in an old barn on top of a beam for 150 years. This was a fun project and the guy was really happy with it when I was finished. To take something new and make it look really old is just too much fun for me and the challenge is the best part.
Today's Shave: Shave #33
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
Total Razor on Face Time: 5 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).
I decided to lather in the bowl before my shower (as usual) but to shave in the shower to save time. My one pass was WTG at 2.5 on the razor. This put at about CCS+ on the face and the neck. No redness and no irritation to speak of. Maybe this week I'll try a 2 pass to see where that gets me in the irritation department. I remain impressed with the QShave. One pass gave me decent shave that I know wouldn't have happened with a cart. I did use the cart to touch up some areas around my mouth (corners, top lip, bottom lip)
On the personal side, below are pictures of a project I was involved with where a guy found an original tomahawk head metal detecting and wanted me to mount it on a handle that looked like it was as old and beat-up as the head. His vision was for the whole thing to look like it was well used and left in a dry cave or set in an old barn on top of a beam for 150 years. This was a fun project and the guy was really happy with it when I was finished. To take something new and make it look really old is just too much fun for me and the challenge is the best part.
Man that hawk is beautiful!
Thanks everyone! Sure love the challenge of making something look old. Makes you kinda wonder if it didn't already do some massive "shaving" historically.
Sunday's are always a challenge and a fight for our one bathroom, so I usually don't have time for a good shave. Rather that use my cart like usual, I brought the QShave in the shower and decided to see how it did with canned shaving cream. The goal for Saturday and today was to see how well the QShave does when I need a quick shave. Just because time is a factor doesn't mean I should totally be deprived of a good shave, right?
Today's Shave: Shave #34
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Gillette Nacet
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Canned Shaving Cream
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Total Razor on Face Time: 9 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. CC Sandalwood AS on the mammoth fur.
I must say, I really hate how the canned stuff feels on my face. It feels dry, but I had to try it so that I know if it will work in a pinch. I had to resist pulling out a shaving soap and getting a good lather knowing it would only take a few minutes, but this was an experiment of sorts so I had to stick with my original plan. Today I wanted to see if the QShave performed well on a two pass shave with the handicap of operating on the canned stuff. WTG pass was nice and the XTG pass was nice as well. Some cart clean-up around the mouth and chin and I was done. A solid DFS that was comfortable and irritation free. No mammoth painting, but I did splash on some of the last little bits of CC Sandalwood AS that Shawn PIF'd me a while back. I love that scent and a little on the chest hairs will last all day for me and is usually still present the next morning when the hot shower water hits it.
This got me to rethink my morning shaves a bit. I think I'm going to limit them to 2 passes and see how I like the feel throughout the day. I'm obviously doing something wrong with my 3rd pass (ATG) which is causing all the irritation. If I do the 3rd pass with my cart I have no irritation problems on my neck - weird. Every DE I've used gives me irritation on the 3rd pass. I'd also like to compare the 2 shave pass with cold water shaving vs. the shower shaving. Based on post shave feel, I still believe the cold water shaving gets the closer shave. We'll see.
On deck for tomorrow is a new shaving soap and a new blade. I'll have a themed picture too that is appropriate to the shaving soap. I brought out some of my old and old looking stuff to mix in with the shaving stuff.
.
Sunday's are always a challenge and a fight for our one bathroom, so I usually don't have time for a good shave. Rather that use my cart like usual, I brought the QShave in the shower and decided to see how it did with canned shaving cream. The goal for Saturday and today was to see how well the QShave does when I need a quick shave. Just because time is a factor doesn't mean I should totally be deprived of a good shave, right?
Today's Shave: Shave #34
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Gillette Nacet
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Canned Shaving Cream
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Total Razor on Face Time: 9 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. CC Sandalwood AS on the mammoth fur.
I must say, I really hate how the canned stuff feels on my face. It feels dry, but I had to try it so that I know if it will work in a pinch. I had to resist pulling out a shaving soap and getting a good lather knowing it would only take a few minutes, but this was an experiment of sorts so I had to stick with my original plan. Today I wanted to see if the QShave performed well on a two pass shave with the handicap of operating on the canned stuff. WTG pass was nice and the XTG pass was nice as well. Some cart clean-up around the mouth and chin and I was done. A solid DFS that was comfortable and irritation free. No mammoth painting, but I did splash on some of the last little bits of CC Sandalwood AS that Shawn PIF'd me a while back. I love that scent and a little on the chest hairs will last all day for me and is usually still present the next morning when the hot shower water hits it.
This got me to rethink my morning shaves a bit. I think I'm going to limit them to 2 passes and see how I like the feel throughout the day. I'm obviously doing something wrong with my 3rd pass (ATG) which is causing all the irritation. If I do the 3rd pass with my cart I have no irritation problems on my neck - weird. Every DE I've used gives me irritation on the 3rd pass. I'd also like to compare the 2 shave pass with cold water shaving vs. the shower shaving. Based on post shave feel, I still believe the cold water shaving gets the closer shave. We'll see.
On deck for tomorrow is a new shaving soap and a new blade. I'll have a themed picture too that is appropriate to the shaving soap. I brought out some of my old and old looking stuff to mix in with the shaving stuff.
.
Today I branched out into a different blade and soap.
Today's Shave: Shave #35
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Lord Platinum Class
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Wild West Shaving Company - Aces & Eights
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Total Razor on Face Time: 11 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.
So as promised I'm sticking to the 2 pass shave this week to see what I get. I had a little trouble lathering this soap up before my shower and I think I added too much water, but it looked good in the bowl so I went with it. The smell was much more muted during the lathering than when you smell it out of the puck, and this was a good effect. I like the smell of this soap. The bourbon smell mellows and the lavender/vanilla rise up to balance things out to a pleasant smell that's manly (I'm not a floral type guy). All of the scents WW offers look appealing to a guy who's into the crafts I'm into. Anyways, the lather seemed thin to me but the tallow was definitely there for slickness. Mammoth painting worked just fine, but the scent didn't last as long as others.
The WTG pass seemed rough to me. The Lord blade seemed aggressive to me. I probably should have backed the setting down to 2.0, but I left it at 2.5. The XTG shave was a tiny bit less aggressive feeling. Only a tiny bit of redness on my cheeks, but the neck was fine. I did no clean-up at all so that I can see where the 2 pass leaves me. The face was DFS and the neck was CCS-. I'm not sure I can tollerate my neck being this rough still so I'll see how the day goes. Overall, a good shave. I want to give the Lord blade a few more shaves before passing judgment. I'm thinking right now Gillette blades are rising to the top for me. The Nacet I pitched this morning probably had a few more shaves left on it.
Today's Shave: Shave #35
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Lord Platinum Class
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Wild West Shaving Company - Aces & Eights
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Total Razor on Face Time: 11 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.
So as promised I'm sticking to the 2 pass shave this week to see what I get. I had a little trouble lathering this soap up before my shower and I think I added too much water, but it looked good in the bowl so I went with it. The smell was much more muted during the lathering than when you smell it out of the puck, and this was a good effect. I like the smell of this soap. The bourbon smell mellows and the lavender/vanilla rise up to balance things out to a pleasant smell that's manly (I'm not a floral type guy). All of the scents WW offers look appealing to a guy who's into the crafts I'm into. Anyways, the lather seemed thin to me but the tallow was definitely there for slickness. Mammoth painting worked just fine, but the scent didn't last as long as others.
The WTG pass seemed rough to me. The Lord blade seemed aggressive to me. I probably should have backed the setting down to 2.0, but I left it at 2.5. The XTG shave was a tiny bit less aggressive feeling. Only a tiny bit of redness on my cheeks, but the neck was fine. I did no clean-up at all so that I can see where the 2 pass leaves me. The face was DFS and the neck was CCS-. I'm not sure I can tollerate my neck being this rough still so I'll see how the day goes. Overall, a good shave. I want to give the Lord blade a few more shaves before passing judgment. I'm thinking right now Gillette blades are rising to the top for me. The Nacet I pitched this morning probably had a few more shaves left on it.
Sorry about the lather issues...but give it a try again! A lot of people really like this soap!
First day with a new soap and blade is going to be different, so just give it time. You'll have both dialed in in no time. ?
I'll be using the soap all week for sure and I'll give the Lord blade it's course of use. I'm not prone to give up on things.
That outlaw in the photo is me by the way
That outlaw in the photo is me by the way
Today I decided to give yesterday's set-up another go. Despite wanting to try the 2 pass shave this week, it was far too rough for me and caused neck irritation as I forged yesterday - too rough for me.
Today's Shave: Shave #36
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Lord Platinum Class
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Wild West Shaving Company - Aces & Eights
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap / rubbed some Williams soap on face
Total Razor on Face Time: 14 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.
I lathered in the bowl before the shower. Since yesterday it seemed like my lather was a bit thin, I loaded my brush to the count of about 35. This was the trick. I got a nice creamy lather that was thick and smooth. It's always a bit disconcerting to see this soap lather up a light dirty brown color when used to white, but hey it must be the bourbon
With this scent, what seems to linger is the lavender
. I'd prefer the bourbon and spicy scent do the lingering, but it is a good quality soap.
Since I had like a 60 grit scruff going on this morning I decided to do more beard mapping. On the neck, south to northeast really feels like WTG only up to the jaw line then it's ATG. I thought Ah Ha! I got it now! I also noticed that my true WTG pass on my cheeks is from mouth to ear on both sides. This is important because I see a lot of guys going ear to nose and nose to ear on the same pass. On the left side of my face this kind of pass would be ATG. I still make my first pass N to S and then move on from there. WTG on the face felt really nice and I wonder if the Williams soap rubbed in helped. Next I went for that new pass mouth to ear on both sides and it felt right. ATG is from ear to mouth and then clean-up S to N. When I got to the neck I thought I'd finally figured it all out but from the start that S-NE pass felt horrible so I stopped immediately- nope not the Rosetta stone of my neck. My XTG felt nice and on my neck the S-NE pass was sort of a 2nd XTG pass and felt good. I did ATG on the face only as I knew the redness from being 60 grit scruffy had caused some redness so I reached for the cart to do the ATG on the neck. Overall a great shave with BBS on the face and BBS- or DFS+ on the neck. No additional irritation to the neck accept what was there from being scruffy.
I'm strongly suspecting that the beard grown on my neck is in every direction. I find no other reason for why I can't figure it out. I may just have to accept that if I want BBS on the neck I will have to be using the cart for just the ATG pass - at least for now. 95% of the wet shave experience isn't so bad and I'm getting great shaves on the face and neck for the most part.
What I Changed: Tried a different WTG pass on the neck, PS Williams soap rubbed into all the problem areas
Today's Shave: Shave #36
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Lord Platinum Class
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Wild West Shaving Company - Aces & Eights
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap / rubbed some Williams soap on face
Total Razor on Face Time: 14 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.
I lathered in the bowl before the shower. Since yesterday it seemed like my lather was a bit thin, I loaded my brush to the count of about 35. This was the trick. I got a nice creamy lather that was thick and smooth. It's always a bit disconcerting to see this soap lather up a light dirty brown color when used to white, but hey it must be the bourbon
. I'd prefer the bourbon and spicy scent do the lingering, but it is a good quality soap.
Since I had like a 60 grit scruff going on this morning I decided to do more beard mapping. On the neck, south to northeast really feels like WTG only up to the jaw line then it's ATG. I thought Ah Ha! I got it now! I also noticed that my true WTG pass on my cheeks is from mouth to ear on both sides. This is important because I see a lot of guys going ear to nose and nose to ear on the same pass. On the left side of my face this kind of pass would be ATG. I still make my first pass N to S and then move on from there. WTG on the face felt really nice and I wonder if the Williams soap rubbed in helped. Next I went for that new pass mouth to ear on both sides and it felt right. ATG is from ear to mouth and then clean-up S to N. When I got to the neck I thought I'd finally figured it all out but from the start that S-NE pass felt horrible so I stopped immediately- nope not the Rosetta stone of my neck. My XTG felt nice and on my neck the S-NE pass was sort of a 2nd XTG pass and felt good. I did ATG on the face only as I knew the redness from being 60 grit scruffy had caused some redness so I reached for the cart to do the ATG on the neck. Overall a great shave with BBS on the face and BBS- or DFS+ on the neck. No additional irritation to the neck accept what was there from being scruffy.
I'm strongly suspecting that the beard grown on my neck is in every direction. I find no other reason for why I can't figure it out. I may just have to accept that if I want BBS on the neck I will have to be using the cart for just the ATG pass - at least for now. 95% of the wet shave experience isn't so bad and I'm getting great shaves on the face and neck for the most part.
What I Changed: Tried a different WTG pass on the neck, PS Williams soap rubbed into all the problem areas
Chris with so many new things to try it's easier to keep things fluid. I bet I have over a dozen different types of blades to try. To date I've only tried something like 6 different blades. So far, Gillette is coming out on top for me.
a dozen is a huge understatement. I think I sent like 25-30 different ones
Today is my usual pinched for time morning so a hybrid shave was once again in order with an in-shower shave.
Today's Shave: Shave #37
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Lord Platinum Class
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Wild West Shaving Company - Aces & Eights
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Total Razor on Face Time: 10 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, little bit of CC Sandalwood AS
I lathered up a nice bowl of the Aces & Eights again. I tried loading the brush for about 30 seconds and it really needed more like 40, but I got it nice and thick after some work in the bowl. I noticed immediately that the lather wants to disappear in the hot shower, especially with a hot face that's wet with hot water. I'm thinking this is a tallow problem as I didn't have this with RR's Blue Barber last week. This makes sense because just throw bacon in a frying pan and watch the fat render out and cook away. My showers aren't super hot by any measure, but I think tallow soaps are not the best performers in the shower for me.
The Lord blade seems to be hitting its stride on the 3rd use and still seems plenty sharp but mellowed out some. WTG pass was set at about 2.2 and felt great. XTG pass I set at 2.5 and it felt great as well. I applied what I learned yesterday in the beard mapping on this 2nd pass and it helped. ATG pass on the face was great accept on the top lip under the nose. The blade gap seemed too aggressive so I had to go at it with a hybrid ATG at a slight angle and that worked better. ATG on the neck I used the cart and had no issues with redness or irritation. BBS completely and the shave felt great afterwards. I'll probably stick with the cart just for that one ATG pass on the neck. Everything else is with the DE and this gets me the shave I'm looking for. Someday I'll revisit the ATG pass, but for now I'm happy with this set-up. I can have CCS - DFS- without the cart or BBS using the DE only but with constant neck irritation.....or use the cart for that one pass and get a very nice BBS. I'm fine with BBS and no irritation
Today's Shave: Shave #37
Razor: QShave (Merkur Futur Clone) DE
Blade: Lord Platinum Class
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Wild West Shaving Company - Aces & Eights
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Total Razor on Face Time: 10 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, little bit of CC Sandalwood AS
I lathered up a nice bowl of the Aces & Eights again. I tried loading the brush for about 30 seconds and it really needed more like 40, but I got it nice and thick after some work in the bowl. I noticed immediately that the lather wants to disappear in the hot shower, especially with a hot face that's wet with hot water. I'm thinking this is a tallow problem as I didn't have this with RR's Blue Barber last week. This makes sense because just throw bacon in a frying pan and watch the fat render out and cook away. My showers aren't super hot by any measure, but I think tallow soaps are not the best performers in the shower for me.
The Lord blade seems to be hitting its stride on the 3rd use and still seems plenty sharp but mellowed out some. WTG pass was set at about 2.2 and felt great. XTG pass I set at 2.5 and it felt great as well. I applied what I learned yesterday in the beard mapping on this 2nd pass and it helped. ATG pass on the face was great accept on the top lip under the nose. The blade gap seemed too aggressive so I had to go at it with a hybrid ATG at a slight angle and that worked better. ATG on the neck I used the cart and had no issues with redness or irritation. BBS completely and the shave felt great afterwards. I'll probably stick with the cart just for that one ATG pass on the neck. Everything else is with the DE and this gets me the shave I'm looking for. Someday I'll revisit the ATG pass, but for now I'm happy with this set-up. I can have CCS - DFS- without the cart or BBS using the DE only but with constant neck irritation.....or use the cart for that one pass and get a very nice BBS. I'm fine with BBS and no irritation
I only have about a dozen different blades personally right now, but yeah there are many more than that for sure.
Man, this shave is still feeling super! I'd say I'm still about BBS- Gotta stop touching my face
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Man, this shave is still feeling super! I'd say I'm still about BBS- Gotta stop touching my face
Yea, don’t want to have to nick off pimples!