What's new
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

I could have swung the pendulum the other way. I was too watery for a long time and had nice puffy lathers spilling out of the bowl. I wasn't loading the brush enough and adding too much water. So now I'm loading the brush plenty and probably not adding enough water. I'm wondering if part of the problem isn't the blazing bright light on my bathroom mirror. Hmmm, I'll try adding more water and see what happens.
 
I'm glad I didn't know about winning KJ's bathroom sink PIF or I'd have been too excited to shave carefully. I'll tell you this though, I used to sort of fight my covers to get out of bed in the mornings but now wet shaving gets me right up at the alarm. Partly out of necessity because of the added time needed, but partly because I enjoy the shave.

Today's Shave: Shave #64

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Super Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 14 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Dried face and immediately app
lied Nivea AS Balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.

So this morning I added a little more water to my lather even though I hadn't read Shawn's advice yet. Still a nice rich lather but the brush still hogs all the soap & I have to squeegee it out into the bowl to get it to really be present in the bowl. I'm thinking perhaps my synthetic brush is too dry and maybe I need to not wring out so much water. I'll try that tomorrow.

This morning I decided to push the Variant up to a 2.5 setting to start. WTG pass was nice and smooth and felt great. I could tell the 2.5 setting was really closer. I don't generally get any weepers when I shave, but with the Variant I've noticed it seems to prevent weepers and cuts even more than any of the razors I've tried so far. It could be my shaving skills are much better but I'd like to think the Variant also has something to do with it. On my XTG pass I changed up the direction on my neck. I threw in a NE - S pass. What I did is start the pass until I felt like it was starting to go ATG and then backed off the direction until it felt like a XTG pass. It felt really good and the audio feedback told me I was reducing the growth there but not going full on ATG. The final ATG pass felt great and I left the razor setting at 2.5 for all 3 passes. For clean-up I shifted the razor down to 1.5 and spent about 5 minutes getting smooth. BBS+ everywhere. I have some redness though, just a touch on the cheeks but overall a very nice shave. Cleaning up the neck with the Variant is really helping it not be irritated or at least not like it was.

What I Changed: I raised the razor setting to 2.5, I changed my XTG direction on my neck

I think 2.5 was fine but I may not go anymore aggressive than that right now. If I do, it may be a 3.0 for the first WTG pass and then shift it down. I'm really enjoying this razor and I highly recommend it for any beginner that has been wet shaving for a month or so and seem to have the hang of things. If I can use it, I'm certain other newbies can as well.
 
I'm really glad you won my PIF. You do a great job journaling your progression and I think you will enjoy the stuff in the PIF greatly. And it will give you some new tools to try out and discover!

Blade-meister said:
I'm thinking perhaps my synthetic brush is too dry and maybe I need to not wring out so much water. I'll try that tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Just remember, you can always add water, but it's really hard to take water away. I always go in with a mostly shook out brush. You're right though, a synthetic doesn't bring as much water to the party as a badger..... so what I do, one I realize there isn't enough water in my brush to load sufficiently, it to add a few drop of water to the puck while I'm loading. I'll keep adding water this way until I get the load I want. This is especially the case for when I'm using MW soap. always results in a great lather with this method.
 
Getting caught up. Nice reads and seems the shaves are coming along.

Also if you are going to need a cane might as well use one with style!
 
Spider said:
I'm really glad you won my PIF. You do a great job journaling your progression and I think you will enjoy the stuff in the PIF greatly. And it will give you some new tools to try out and discover!
Click to expand...
Spider said:
Just remember, you can always add water, but it's really hard to take water away. I always go in with a mostly shook out brush. You're right though, a synthetic doesn't bring as much water to the party as a badger..... so what I do, one I realize there isn't enough water in my brush to load sufficiently, it to add a few drop of water to the puck while I'm loading. I'll keep adding water this way until I get the load I want. This is especially the case for when I'm using MW soap. always results in a great lather with this method.
Click to expand...

What I've been doing is blooming the puck while I get ready for a shower and then pour the bloom water in the lathering bowl. I then add drops of water as needed until I'm getting the lather I'm looking for. I never thought about adding water to the puck while loading the brush. Perhaps when I feel the brush start to get too grabby on the puck is when I should add a few drops of water to the puck.

I'll for sure enjoy all the PIF stuff. I've got some SE's to add to what Shawn gave me so when I get ready to try SE's I'll have more than one to try. Can't wait to try it all. Good stuff to come for sure.
 
Blade-meister said:
Perhaps when I feel the brush start to get too grabby on the puck is when I should add a few drops of water to the puck.
Click to expand...
Exactly!
I'm a face latherer, so when I'm done with this, it's ready for the face, and usually only needs a little more mater added as I'm lathering. If you do this before bowl lathering, it should make your lather come together faster once you hit the bowl.
 
Great advice KJ. Mike, I’ve also started loading a little wetter than before in the last few months because of seeing these guys’ initial load on video. It helps!
 
very good advice KJ! pretty much what I do as well. and congrats on the PIF! It is definitely tough getting folks into wet shaving. at one point, there were friends asking me why I need so many brushes. LOL
 
Sskim3 said:
It is definitely tough getting folks into wet shaving.
Click to expand...

You aren't kidding... I think I had to bug him for about as long as he's been doing it now to get him started.
1f602.png
1f602.png
1f602.png
1f61c.png
 
ShawnF said:
You aren't kidding... I think I had to bug him for about as long as he's been doing it now to get him started.
1f602.png
1f602.png
1f602.png
1f61c.png
Click to expand...

Yeah, Shawn was patient. It's a good thing too, because I really thought it was strange that men had whole rooms full of shaving stuff all arranged out like a store front shelf
1f601.png
Now look at me......I'm one of the crowd with a whole shelf full of wet shaving stuff. If Shawn hadn't sent me a box of free soaps and a razor I probably wouldn't have bothered. I kinda felt obligated to at least try it so I didn't look wimpy. The rest is history for sure.
 
GearNoir said:
Great advice KJ. Mike, I’ve also started loading a little wetter than before in the last few months because of seeing these guys’ initial load on video. It helps!
Click to expand...

Yes Chris, I've been watching more videos lately and trying to focus in on what their lathers look like. I'm still on the thick side so I think I'm over loading the brush. I might need to switch back to badger brushes. I've got one I've never tried and a really nice Simpson from Shawn that I used to use. I guess I'm just partial to the synthetics right now. KJ is sending one in the PIF I won so it will be nice to try another synthetic out and some other badgers.
 
After losing power for several hours in the middle of the night and having to check my electricals, shut the water off in my shop, and trying to get some sleep, I felt less than enthused about getting up this morning and shaving. This called for a need to mix things up a little.....I felt the need for some Gravity.

Today's Shave: Shave #65

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Super Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Uncle Jon's Gravity
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 12 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Dried face and immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only.
Mammoth Painting.

Ok, with a new soap I've never tried it was time to work up a lather. I loaded the brush for about 35 seconds. Since I'd bloomed the puck, I poured the bloom water in my lathering bowl and started. I had the same issue as I did with the MW. This tells me I'm overloading and it needs more water so I added more water which helped, but I still needed to squeegee the soap out of the brush in order to have an ample supply of lather in the bowl. I got there though and it looked good.

I really worked the lather in following the exfoliating advice I'd been given. This did produce a thicker lather on the face, but it seemed to dry out the lather further. I decided to set the razor at 2.8 to see how it went for the WTG pass. It seems the Variant just does a smoother job the higher I set the blade gap. XTG was great until I just clipped the only skin tag I have and it wasn't liking that I'd disturbed it's happy existence on my neck. I didn't hassle the ATG too much but I did again shift the razor down to 2.0 and do the neck. Slow and easy and I don't get a lot of redness and it way outperforms the cart. Unfortunately, I keep failing to learn the lesson that I only get 3 great shaves out of any blade and this was the SB's 4th shave. I guess I keep hoping they will magically last longer and I'll find myself getting 5 great shaves. I think I just need to accept that with my mammoth beard growth that 3 is the magic number. I did some minor clean-up on the 1.5 setting and called it a morning. I didn't feel like chasing BBS but danged if I didn't find it anyways. I do have some irritation from the blade needing to be changed.

The UJ soap performed very well in my opinion. I'd definitely buy more of it. Perhaps a notch below MW & CBL, but very enjoyable. I can't decide if I like the Gravity scent or not. After mammoth painting I was wondering if I should have done that. After all, old lady perfume isn't how I like to roll out the door. I added some CC Sandalwood AS to the mammoth fur & elsewhere to compliment the Gravity. I think it's livable now, but I just have a hard time figuring out the Gravity scent. Sometimes I think I like it and other times not. The post shave feel of this soap is excellent which makes me really wanting to try some scents I'll enjoy more.

What I Changed: Used a new soap today (Uncle Jon's Gravity), set the razor at 2.8
 
If your lather is thickening/drying while working it into your face, you are probably still "making" it. You probably still have some soap left in the brush that didn't get worked up. Or possibly, like me, your face is sucking water out of the lather.
Either way, don't be afraid to add water while working the lather into your face also if you need it. I just dip my brush tips in my soaking bowl to do this.
Also for your salsa bowl, a dremel or even scratching it up with a utility knife could give you enough rough surface to help with your lather building.
 
In my ongoing quest for the best 2 pass shave, I decided to see what could be done this morning. I must admit, I really hated how last weeks 2 pass shave felt at mid-day and after - really scratchy. I could never be one of those dudes who has a 3 day growth everyday.

Today's Shave: Shave #66

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Parker
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 12 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Dried face and immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.

I looked at other soaps this morning, but since I was trying the Parker blades that came with my Variant I decided not to change another variable. I added more water this morning and the lather did seem much slicker and better than yesterday's. I'd say I added twice the drops of water and probably could have used a few more drops. I also only loaded for 30 seconds vs. 40.

WTG pass felt terrible, like a rake was being used on my face. I had the razor set at 2.5 so I backed it off to 2.0 and finally to 1.5. The Parker blade seemed really aggressive to me. I did some XTG strokes with the WTG pass in an effort to get me to a place where the 2 pass shave works. On the neck my second pass was ATG. I wasn't sure this was a great idea but for the 2 pass shave I think it's the best pass to get the most out of it. On the face my 2nd pass was a straight nose to ear XTG pass. I did some clean-up work after both passes, but tried to limit it so that I wasn't really sneaking in a 3rd pass. Overall, a CCS+ and DFS in some areas on the face and neck. I think I'm close to finding that DFS 2 pass shave. Perhaps a little bit better than last week's 2 pass shave attempt.

What I Changed: Parker blade, ATG pass as second pass, XTG strokes with my WTG pass.
 
Nice job Mike. For the record it's impossible to be a guy who has a 3 day growth everyday. At some point it's 4 days growth or shaved and back to square one.............But I get what you're saying ?
 
Some nice shaves your are having and even with the less than par shaves it seems you are learning a good bit! Glad you tried out the UJ Gravity. I like the soap plenty and think certain aspects of it really out perform other soaps, but I am with you on the scent. I couldn't decide if I liked it or not! Glad you gave it a try at least.
 
Dave in KY said:
Nice job Mike. For the record it's impossible to be a guy who has a 3 day growth everyday. At some point it's 4 days growth or shaved and back to square one.............But I get what you're saying
1f602.png
Click to expand...

I was more thinking of the guys that get at that 3 day growth length and then get trimmers that keep it at that length. It just looks itchy and uncomfortable to me, but hey if they like it that's all that matters. My brothers all shake their heads because I just gotta have a daily clean shave.

I've been working through your video logs and picking up some good things. Thanks for doing that Dave!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top