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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
I dunno. Seems hardly fair that you get to keep all your fingers on the back of Shawn's experiences.
Shawn's story about his finger is just a story. He lost his finger in Mt. Doom after someone bit it off, or at least that's what he told me.
Here in the north we have our heating systems cranking out dry heat. Some mornings I can literally feel my face drying out as the heating duct pumps out hot air while I'm shaving.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Humidifier
Shawn's story about his finger is just a story. He lost his finger in Mt. Doom after someone bit it off, or at least that's what he told me.
I had to make something up to make it sound cooler though.
I'm not numbering this shave because I just decided to do a quick cart shave in the shower. I did try the Speick Shaving Cream and used my red salsa bowl / smaller Maggard synthetic brush to lather it up. I thought it performed pretty well. It smells mentholish, but I didn't feel any cooling effect from it. I did a 2 pass cart shave and got a good CCS from it. Post shave I did the usual with witch hazel, bootlegger's bay rum AS, and Every Man Jack post shave balm. I gotta say, it was a decent shave. I had to either do that or skip shaving all together so I could get going on some blacksmith forging projects.
I forged two nice hooks for the new possibles bag and to hang up my powder horns in a meaningful way that looks period. I ordered straps for the powder horns so now they look pretty proper. When I finish them and get them mounted I'll post some pictures. I also finished a pair of tongs that were 1/2 done and sitting around the shop. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it took some time for both.
I forged two nice hooks for the new possibles bag and to hang up my powder horns in a meaningful way that looks period. I ordered straps for the powder horns so now they look pretty proper. When I finish them and get them mounted I'll post some pictures. I also finished a pair of tongs that were 1/2 done and sitting around the shop. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it took some time for both.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
PLEASE, NO PICS of the half done thongs..................................................scratch that..................TONGS. Scared me for a minute
Oh man, thongs and blacksmithing just don't mesh on any level
Since I disappointed Nurse Dave in my last post
I thought I'd better do a proper shave this morning to keep my man card.
Today's Shave: Shave #81
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Black Salsa Bowl (plastic) w/ textured rings inside
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 11 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Bootlegger's Bay Rum (Master + S-70). Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.
Ah yes, the old reliable set up was called up this morning. After yesterday's quick cart shave, I had some ample stubble to shave with this morning. This is one of the huge differences I see between wet shaving and cart shaving for me......the closeness lasts waaaaay longer. I can get a perfect 2 pass cart shave that is BBS but by noon I've got some sandpaper starting on the cheeks and neck whereas right now at 7 pm I'm just getting some sandpaper in those areas. Anyways, back to the shave.
I set up my usual 2.0 up on the Variant and got to work. WTG was great and loved the audio feedback from the longer stubble growth. XTG pass was set at 2.5 and ATG shifted back down to 2.0. Super great feeling shave. BBS all over.
On the post shave, I really think I've figured out something more that really works well for me. I've talked before about patting the neck after the AS application and that seems to be the trick for me to get the right amount of glycerin left over to not be tacky. Cutting the Master Bay Rum with the S-70 really helps as well, but if left straight up 50/50 there's still that tacky glycerin post shave feel. Patting with the towel after waiting for about 5 minutes for the AS to dry as much as it will is perfect. About the time it takes me to pick up all my shaving gear, and the neck is ready to patted to take care of the excess glycerin that might be hanging around.
Today's Shave: Shave #81
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Black Salsa Bowl (plastic) w/ textured rings inside
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 11 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Bootlegger's Bay Rum (Master + S-70). Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.
Ah yes, the old reliable set up was called up this morning. After yesterday's quick cart shave, I had some ample stubble to shave with this morning. This is one of the huge differences I see between wet shaving and cart shaving for me......the closeness lasts waaaaay longer. I can get a perfect 2 pass cart shave that is BBS but by noon I've got some sandpaper starting on the cheeks and neck whereas right now at 7 pm I'm just getting some sandpaper in those areas. Anyways, back to the shave.
I set up my usual 2.0 up on the Variant and got to work. WTG was great and loved the audio feedback from the longer stubble growth. XTG pass was set at 2.5 and ATG shifted back down to 2.0. Super great feeling shave. BBS all over.
On the post shave, I really think I've figured out something more that really works well for me. I've talked before about patting the neck after the AS application and that seems to be the trick for me to get the right amount of glycerin left over to not be tacky. Cutting the Master Bay Rum with the S-70 really helps as well, but if left straight up 50/50 there's still that tacky glycerin post shave feel. Patting with the towel after waiting for about 5 minutes for the AS to dry as much as it will is perfect. About the time it takes me to pick up all my shaving gear, and the neck is ready to patted to take care of the excess glycerin that might be hanging around.
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Could try adding a small amount of witch hazel into the bay rum mixture. Do it on a small sample portion first. It’ll change the scent a little, but maybe it’ll help? I don’t get stickiness at all from Bootlegger’s BR, which just has the additional Pinaud Virgin Island BR added. I don’t remember getting it from any of them individually either. Weird!
I'll have to try that Chris. I only get the real glycerin tackiness from the Master BR. The S-70 doesn't do that. Now if a guy could add just a tough of menthol it might just be the perfect AS
Thats easy. Just add some menthol crystals.Now if a guy could add just a tough of menthol it might just be the perfect AS
Starting the week I decided to go for a repeat of yesterday. My heart wasn't really in it this morning, but I still got a great shave.
Today's Shave: Shave #82
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Black Salsa Bowl (plastic) w/ textured rings inside
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 15 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Bootlegger's Bay Rum (Master + S-70). Every Man Jack Post Shave Ba
lm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.
Some thoughts and recent observations onn the lathering: The last few times I've shaved I've begun just letting a tiny trickle from the faucet drizzle on the end of the brush to lather. I think this mimics having a bowl of water around and dipping the brush tips in it. I could just have a bowl but I'd like really good control of how much and where the water flows onto the brush. I think this is working better than adding drops to the bowl directly. I'm also doing lighter and lighter stirring strokes as the lather builds. I find this makes my lather creamier and eliminates the odd air bubble that might still be hanging around in the lather. As I lighten up the stirring I move higher in the bowl and this seems to "pull" the lather out of the brush more. Could just be me thinking all this helps, but I seem to be getting better lathers. I still squeegie out the lather from the brush so it's all in the bowl and not being hogged by the brush.
All 3 passes were beautiful this morning. BBS all over. One place I've had trouble with since starting to use the Variant is the top lip. I just can't do an ATG pass even set on 1. I have to pull the cart out to do one so there must be something I'm doing wrong. I've tried stretching the lip and that's worse, really bad feeling - kinda like starting your morning shave with the first pass being ATG. I've tried different XTG passes which work to reduce the stubble down to CCS at best. I've gone really slow ATG and it will work, but a few days of that and I've got red spots and soreness in places. The only thing I haven't tried is doing my first WTG pass with the razor jacked up to 3.0 shave as much as I can on the first pass and then shift the razor down to 2.0 for the XTG passes. I may just try that tomorrow. Wow, see how I just answered my own question
Today's Shave: Shave #82
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic (Larger knot from KJ's PIF)
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Black Salsa Bowl (plastic) w/ textured rings inside
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 15 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Bootlegger's Bay Rum (Master + S-70). Every Man Jack Post Shave Ba
lm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.
Some thoughts and recent observations onn the lathering: The last few times I've shaved I've begun just letting a tiny trickle from the faucet drizzle on the end of the brush to lather. I think this mimics having a bowl of water around and dipping the brush tips in it. I could just have a bowl but I'd like really good control of how much and where the water flows onto the brush. I think this is working better than adding drops to the bowl directly. I'm also doing lighter and lighter stirring strokes as the lather builds. I find this makes my lather creamier and eliminates the odd air bubble that might still be hanging around in the lather. As I lighten up the stirring I move higher in the bowl and this seems to "pull" the lather out of the brush more. Could just be me thinking all this helps, but I seem to be getting better lathers. I still squeegie out the lather from the brush so it's all in the bowl and not being hogged by the brush.
All 3 passes were beautiful this morning. BBS all over. One place I've had trouble with since starting to use the Variant is the top lip. I just can't do an ATG pass even set on 1. I have to pull the cart out to do one so there must be something I'm doing wrong. I've tried stretching the lip and that's worse, really bad feeling - kinda like starting your morning shave with the first pass being ATG. I've tried different XTG passes which work to reduce the stubble down to CCS at best. I've gone really slow ATG and it will work, but a few days of that and I've got red spots and soreness in places. The only thing I haven't tried is doing my first WTG pass with the razor jacked up to 3.0 shave as much as I can on the first pass and then shift the razor down to 2.0 for the XTG passes. I may just try that tomorrow. Wow, see how I just answered my own question
Glad we could be here for you.Wow, see how I just answered my own question
Seems like everyone has at least one little area that doesn't go as smoothly as the rest. That's just the way the shaving gods keep your head from getting too big.
Ah the finer points of lather making. Mike be like:
I'm humbled daily by this thing we call wet shaving. I feel like I'm finally getting half of it down and moving a few millimeters away from rank amateur. I certainly have a boatload to learn, but I'm better than I was when I took that first pass with the Micro Touch. I doubt I would have stuck with it without TSC and Shawn as my enabler
That's a great tip KJ. I'll try that one tomorrow. I never really liked dripping it in the bowl because it's just a bunch of water there and I never really felt like it was grabbing out much soap out of the brush. It's getting colder here where I live so I may be setting up a warm scuttle shave for Saturday using the scuttle you PIF'd me. Maybe. I'd like to try warm/hot water shaving again to see if I like it better now that I know a few more things.
I usually think of buffing too late after I'm a little sore on the lip so the idea is not appealing. Hmmm, maybe I'll try it and see. Good suggestion.