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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
You guys crack me up.
Trying to shame me out of using the Venus eh......
Alright, out comes the flint bladed SR for tomorrow's shave
I do think a mammoth hair on my chest withered up and fell off during the shave this morning, but I should get some credit for at least smelling manly by using the MW Sandlewood Coconut to do a final wash of the face.
I'm not sure BBS is worth losing my man card Dave!
Trying to shame me out of using the Venus eh......
I do think a mammoth hair on my chest withered up and fell off during the shave this morning, but I should get some credit for at least smelling manly by using the MW Sandlewood Coconut to do a final wash of the face.
I'm not sure BBS is worth losing my man card Dave!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Mike you'll learn to be selective in what to share and what not to depending on how much razzing you want ? I chose to stay in the closet about my venus shaves lol
You guys crack me up.
Trying to shame me out of using the Venus eh......Alright, out comes the flint bladed SR for tomorrow's shave
I do think a mammoth hair on my chest withered up and fell off during the shave this morning, but I should get some credit for at least smelling manly by using the MW Sandlewood Coconut to do a final wash of the face.
I'm not sure BBS is worth losing my man card Dave!
If you drag out a flint bladed SR tomorrow and shave with it as a newbie on video I will personally deliver my Man Card to you.
I have plenty of flint DocHoliday. I'm thinking a nice sharp flake would work
Boy, I'd surly pick up a good cut or 10 or maybe 15 if I tried that. I'm having enough trouble with the DE
In theory, it should work better than a steel SR blade because when you look at a flake of flint under an electron microscope the edge is a single layer of crystalline silicate structure. Steel no matter how sharp shows up looking like a pitted moonscape under the electron microscope because it is a forged item. If, straight blade could be taken off and mounted to a SR set-up it should work.
Hey Dave, I gotta pay my dues if I want to earn the right to razz others when the opportunity comes
I don't mind a little good natured ribbing.
In theory, it should work better than a steel SR blade because when you look at a flake of flint under an electron microscope the edge is a single layer of crystalline silicate structure. Steel no matter how sharp shows up looking like a pitted moonscape under the electron microscope because it is a forged item. If, straight blade could be taken off and mounted to a SR set-up it should work.
Mike you'll learn to be selective in what to share and what not to depending on how much razzing you wantI chose to stay in the closet about my venus shaves lol
Hey Dave, I gotta pay my dues if I want to earn the right to razz others when the opportunity comes
Well, and luckily you recently proved you don't shave your legs, cause that was up in the air too.Mike you'll learn to be selective in what to share and what not to depending on how much razzing you wantI chose to stay in the closet about my venus shaves lol
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Haha, when you gonna video lathering the mammoth with your leftover lather?
I didn't learn about fae lathering until about 6 months to a year in. Once I learned it, I was like, Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?!?! I find it much easier to get the lather correct, when building it on my face, because you build and add water until it feels right.... and then it is right, no question. It's also slightly faster, since you are skipping a step.
Conversely, if you bowl lather until it looks right, it may not always be right for what you want. Then you spend more time trying to get it right on your face. Watch a few of my recent videos to see how I face lather. Unless I'm working off a sample, that's what I do almost every time.
Hey hey, that was the new guy that likes to shave with lady's razors!
You asked for it................Mammoth hair!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Not buying what you're selling ???
Dangerousdon - thanks. I'm giving it a good effort. The way I look at it, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. You don't see many unhappy wet shavers, but boy I've seen a lot of miserable cart shavers with really badly irritated necks with 2 day growth because they just can't bear to hack away at it again. Kinda makes you want to be a "Wet Shaving Evangelist" and preach the gospel of good shaving to them
You could do that, but soon you'll have your friends running when they see you coming!
Good job on your shaving. ?
How did you get Chewbacca in your shirt, or was it an Ewok, ROFL
That's just a day's growth after shaving my chest the day before
Actually, it's a genuine piece of black bear fur I stuck in there
It's destined to become a winter hat soon.
Ok, back to some serious journal entries here. I decided to post photos when I change things up a bit. I went with a southwestern theme here with some of my goodies I have around the house. Even the flint ridge flint knife has a Cholla cactus handle, pine pitch glue, and an intestine haft. The petroglyph rock came from Death Valley, CA and was made by Princess Littlefoot, one of the last true petroglyph carvers I know from the area.
Today's Shave:
Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956)
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Mystic Waters Sandlewood Coconut
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Post Shave: Hot water rinse in the shower, cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand 14% alcohol), Cold rinse, leave face wet to dry on it's own, Nivea AS balm on face only.
I first want to thank Dave from KY for PIF'ing me the Gillette SS razor and the Maggarts brush. Dave also sent me a bunch of blades to try and another badger brush. A big thanks to Dave for his generosity! This is what makes TSC different and for a newbie it's a very welcoming thing. Being the sole provider for my family, there just isn't a bunch of money to stock a shaving den and I doubt I'd be where I am without the TSC generosity.
Onto the shave. I sorta broke my rule of changing too much in one shave, but I couldn't control myself after getting Dave's PIF box of goodies. Before starting I really took time to map my beard growth. I felt my face in all directions and really got a good look at the direction of growth on my neck in particular looking in the mirror. This helped me figure out that the hair on my neck grows in a diagonal line upward from my adam's apple toward my ear. Hmmmm, so my XTG pass has actually been an ATG pass on my neck!!! More on this later.
I really liked the way the synthetic brush lathered. It was much softer on my face and I found I could do a bit of face lathering after working up a lather in the bowl. Painting was better for me with the synthetic and I got the best and thickest lather yet from this brush. It was a Spider worthy lather! I think this lather gives me credit on my man card renewal
I really like the Gillette SS razor. It seemed a bit more aggressive than my Micro Touch, but that just made me pay strict attention to finding the no pressure zone. I did a WTG pass which didn't seem as close as the Micro Touch and a little grabby, but then again my first shave with the Gillette SB blade always seems like it's a little grabby. I stuck to a 2 pass shave so then I went XTG. Nothing new on the face, but on my neck I worked from the 4 o'clock position on the neck in a diagonal toward the nose. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, yup, that's it! I think (crossing my fingers) that my irritation was likely being caused by my mistake of thinking I was doing a XTG pass when it was in fact an ATG pass. I could get away with this sort of pass with the cart, but not with the DE. Little to no irritation this shave and I felt like a million bucks after finishing. Time will tell if this is really it or if my dance with Lady Venus yesterday just allowed a day to calm the redness down. Not a super close shave, but CCS everywhere with little to no redness or irritation anywhere in the trouble spots. I can see easily with an ATG pass how I'd be BBS. I also skipped blade buffing of any kind figuring I'd give the SS razor a fair shake without anything weird that could falsely accuse the SS of irritation. A pleasant shave overall and it put me in a good mood this morning.
What I Changed: Mapped my beard growth to find a true XTG pass, used a synthetic brush, used the Gillette SS razor
What's Next? I do not plan to change anything up for the duration of the Gillette SB's blade life. I need to determine if new XTG pass is truly solving my redness issues and if I like the Gillette SS. I'm thinking I'm won over on the synthetic brush's softness and lathering characteristics so I'll be using it for a while I think.
Today's Shave:
Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956)
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Mystic Waters Sandlewood Coconut
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Post Shave: Hot water rinse in the shower, cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand 14% alcohol), Cold rinse, leave face wet to dry on it's own, Nivea AS balm on face only.
I first want to thank Dave from KY for PIF'ing me the Gillette SS razor and the Maggarts brush. Dave also sent me a bunch of blades to try and another badger brush. A big thanks to Dave for his generosity! This is what makes TSC different and for a newbie it's a very welcoming thing. Being the sole provider for my family, there just isn't a bunch of money to stock a shaving den and I doubt I'd be where I am without the TSC generosity.
Onto the shave. I sorta broke my rule of changing too much in one shave, but I couldn't control myself after getting Dave's PIF box of goodies. Before starting I really took time to map my beard growth. I felt my face in all directions and really got a good look at the direction of growth on my neck in particular looking in the mirror. This helped me figure out that the hair on my neck grows in a diagonal line upward from my adam's apple toward my ear. Hmmmm, so my XTG pass has actually been an ATG pass on my neck!!! More on this later.
I really liked the way the synthetic brush lathered. It was much softer on my face and I found I could do a bit of face lathering after working up a lather in the bowl. Painting was better for me with the synthetic and I got the best and thickest lather yet from this brush. It was a Spider worthy lather! I think this lather gives me credit on my man card renewal
I really like the Gillette SS razor. It seemed a bit more aggressive than my Micro Touch, but that just made me pay strict attention to finding the no pressure zone. I did a WTG pass which didn't seem as close as the Micro Touch and a little grabby, but then again my first shave with the Gillette SB blade always seems like it's a little grabby. I stuck to a 2 pass shave so then I went XTG. Nothing new on the face, but on my neck I worked from the 4 o'clock position on the neck in a diagonal toward the nose. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, yup, that's it! I think (crossing my fingers) that my irritation was likely being caused by my mistake of thinking I was doing a XTG pass when it was in fact an ATG pass. I could get away with this sort of pass with the cart, but not with the DE. Little to no irritation this shave and I felt like a million bucks after finishing. Time will tell if this is really it or if my dance with Lady Venus yesterday just allowed a day to calm the redness down. Not a super close shave, but CCS everywhere with little to no redness or irritation anywhere in the trouble spots. I can see easily with an ATG pass how I'd be BBS. I also skipped blade buffing of any kind figuring I'd give the SS razor a fair shake without anything weird that could falsely accuse the SS of irritation. A pleasant shave overall and it put me in a good mood this morning.
What I Changed: Mapped my beard growth to find a true XTG pass, used a synthetic brush, used the Gillette SS razor
What's Next? I do not plan to change anything up for the duration of the Gillette SB's blade life. I need to determine if new XTG pass is truly solving my redness issues and if I like the Gillette SS. I'm thinking I'm won over on the synthetic brush's softness and lathering characteristics so I'll be using it for a while I think.
Nice Shave! Although, I'm a little sad after looking at your pic that you didn't shave with the flint! Of course, when you do try that, it better be on video.
For future reference, it's Maggard Razors, Mystic Water, and all true Witch Hazel is 14% alcohol.
For future reference, it's Maggard Razors, Mystic Water, and all true Witch Hazel is 14% alcohol.
Thanks Spider. Some day you just might see that video
That's one that everyone tells new folks, but everyone breaks.
Nice work on the bread mapping. I'll tell ya, the ATG on the neck is still something that I can struggle with and it took a LONG time to figure out a direction I can shave a third pass without irritation. And my true ATG I have to play by ear on what razor I'm using and now my skin is feeling in that moment.
Now, forget the shave, who made that knife??