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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving

Boy I sure didn't want to get up today, but luckily I'd set up my shave for the morning last night before going to bed. This Sunday will be shave # 100! I'll have to think about how to make it special. I'm open to suggestions from my TSC family.

Today's Shave: Shave #95

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic smaller brush knot
Soap: Mystic Water Lavender Lime
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 17 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face onl
y, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face and neck. Honey Bee Black Tie Cologne. Mammoth Painting.

I didn't load the brush as long this morning and it was evident in the volume of lather that was produced. I should have probably went back in form more product, but aw the heck with it. The lather I did work up was par for the course.

I set the razor at 3.0 and got to work. I really wanted a BBS shave this morning, but really didn't want to put the time in to get there if that makes sense to anyone. I didn't sleep well last night and honestly I just felt like quitting the whole the thing this morning.....until I snapped to my senses, fluffed out the mammoth hairs on the chest, and quit being a baby. A 3 pass shave was in order today so the WTG pass went well and I paid extra attention to pressure / blade angle. I really think my blade angle has been too steep lately. I noticed that when my razor hits thick growth I tend to drag my angle a little too steep. I'm learning to recognize this and end the shaving stroke there and start at that spot with another stroke and the correct angle. I'm also learning that moving my head while doing the shaving stroke helps keep the razor angle correct longer. Anyways, my second pass was my hybrid XTG on the face and ATG on the neck. I really went carefully and too my time on this second pass. My third pass was ATG south to north / XTG nose to ear. I tried to make that one big long J shaving stroke starting on the bottom of the neck on up to the face. This works well for me. I had a long clean-up session and this is usually where my problems are caused, so this shave I really pretended all clean-up was just me trying to take the shaving lather off with NO pressure, lost of J hooking and some blade buffing. Overall, BBS everywhere with a few tiny spots on the adam's apple that were DFS+.

PIF Item Review: The Honey Bee Black Tie cologne was something I got from KJ's PIF that I won. I knew when I on boxed the PIF stuff that this was a keeper and a winner so I've taken my time to get to actually using it. All I can say is this is a classic and manly scent. Black Tie is the perfect name for it because I really want to save this cologne for times when I wear a suit and tie. I knew it was good, and it didn't disappoint. The only thing I didn't care for is that it's a spray bottle. I really don't like spray bottles because I like to control the amount coming out. With a dab type bottle where you pour it out, you can always go for more but with spray bottles once it's out you are stuck with that amount. I do a dribble 1/4 spray and go from there. Not a huge deal with a scent like that.
 
Blade-meister said:
Boy I sure didn't want to get up today, but luckily I'd set up my shave for the morning last night before going to bed. This Sunday will be shave # 100! I'll have to think about how to make it special. I'm open to suggestions from my TSC family.

Today's Shave: Shave #95

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic smaller brush knot
Soap: Mystic Water Lavender Lime
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower
Total Razor on Face Time: 17 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face and neck. Honey Bee Black Tie Cologne. Mammoth Painting.

I didn't load the brush as long this morning and it was evident in the volume of lather that was produced. I should have probably went back in form more product, but aw the heck with it. The lather I did work up was par for the course.

I set the razor at 3.0 and got to work. I really wanted a BBS shave this morning, but really didn't want to put the time in to get there if that makes sense to anyone. I didn't sleep well last night and honestly I just felt like quitting the whole the thing this morning.....until I snapped to my senses, fluffed out the mammoth hairs on the chest, and quit being a baby. A 3 pass shave was in order today so the WTG pass went well and I paid extra attention to pressure / blade angle. I really think my blade angle has been too steep lately. I noticed that when my razor hits thick growth I tend to drag my angle a little too steep. I'm learning to recognize this and end the shaving stroke there and start at that spot with another stroke and the correct angle. I'm also learning that moving my head while doing the shaving stroke helps keep the razor angle correct longer. Anyways, my second pass was my hybrid XTG on the face and ATG on the neck. I really went carefully and too my time on this second pass. My third pass was ATG south to north / XTG nose to ear. I tried to make that one big long J shaving stroke starting on the bottom of the neck on up to the face. This works well for me. I had a long clean-up session and this is usually where my problems are caused, so this shave I really pretended all clean-up was just me trying to take the shaving lather off with NO pressure, lost of J hooking and some blade buffing. Overall, BBS everywhere with a few tiny spots on the adam's apple that were DFS+.

PIF Item Review: The Honey Bee Black Tie cologne was something I got from KJ's PIF that I won. I knew when I on boxed the PIF stuff that this was a keeper and a winner so I've taken my time to get to actually using it. All I can say is this is a classic and manly scent. Black Tie is the perfect name for it because I really want to save this cologne for times when I wear a suit and tie. I knew it was good, and it didn't disappoint. The only thing I didn't care for is that it's a spray bottle. I really don't like spray bottles because I like to control the amount coming out. With a dab type bottle where you pour it out, you can always go for more but with spray bottles once it's out you are stuck with that amount. I do a dribble 1/4 spray and go from there. Not a huge deal with a scent like that.
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Congratulations on the great shave. The MW Lavender Lime sounds good. I've always found spray cologne easier to control the amount, but that's just my preference. Enjoy your shaves!
 
GearNoir said:
Upcoming 100th? Woohoo!
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I'm wondering how to make #100 special. If I try a bunch of new stuff it might suck, so I'm leaning toward using my favorites with a new blade.

NurseDave said:
Sweet, you'll be an expert come Sunday!
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Yeah, well, I might not be a newbie at 100 shaves but certainly not an expert. Perhaps not a rank amateur would be more appropriate.
 
Blade-meister said:
I'm wondering how to make #100 special. If I try a bunch of new stuff it might suck, so I'm leaning toward using my favorites with a new blade.
Click to expand...

I’ve done that a couple of times, going to my absolute favorites or back to approximate the setup that got me started.
 
This morning was another morning where I just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep. Oh well, gotta make the donuts.......and wet shave.

Today's Shave: Shave #96

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic smaller brush knot
Soap: Mystic Water Sandalwood Coconut
Bowl: Red 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. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face and neck. Mammoth Painting.

I have a pretty fresh sample of Sandalwood Coconut, but it really is hard for me to build my usual lather from the half-puck shape for some reason. Blooming it like I normally like to do with MW doesn't work very well, but I eventually got a decent lather built in the bowl. I was really tempted to try a face lather this morning.

Though a dangerous thing for me to do, I've been reading up on the correct blade angle thinking maybe I'm riding the safety bar side of things and that's what is causing some redness in areas. I went back to square one and just held the razor handle at 90 degrees with the cap against my face and kept tilting it until I could feel it cut and tried to maintain that angle for the 3.0 WTG pass. I hated it. I felt like I was riding the cap and didn't feel like I accomplished as much as my normal angle. Experiment failure button was blinking furiously on my bathroom mirror. I finished my 2 pass shave day with the usual XTG/ATG shaving stroke but it felt terrible. I shifted down to 2.0 for extensive clean-up just to get DFS+ in most areas. Perhaps my angle is just fine. If it ain't broke don't try to fix it I guess.

Mammoth painting was disappointing this morning as well. The SWC soap sorta just smelled like playdough by the time I was done shaving and didn't really leave much of a residual scent behind. The last sample I had of this would cause half the house to smell like coconut but this sample is barely there. It could just be I'm not able to load enough product or that I haven't really dug into the sample far enough yet.

What a depressing journal entry eh? It was just one of those mornings I question why I get up and do this every morning
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GearNoir said:
I’ve done that a couple of times, going to my absolute favorites or back to approximate the setup that got me started.
Click to expand...

Hmmm Chris, got me thinking about replicating that first shave. I'm not sure I want to go back to the Micro Touch One though
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Last night I got the first good night's sleep in over a week. It felt great, and I woke up ready to face the day and my shave. I'd gotten everything ready last night so my shave was waiting for me when I got to the bathroom. The hip is acting up on me due to some pre-surgical PT so I almost had to bring the cane to work this morning.

Today's Shave: Shave #97

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic smaller brush knot
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower, application of raw Bay Rum soap to face.
Total Razor on Face Time: 16 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Bootlegger's Bay Rum AS (50/50 mix of Master & S-70) to neck only. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face only. Mammoth Painting.

I lathered up a great bowl of goodness in no time. After my shower I did something different. I dipped my fingers on the puck of MW Bay Rum and got the raw product on my finger tips. Then I rubbed it into my face and neck. Nothing that would produce any bubbles, just a nice slick layer of soap. Nothing thick, just a light application.

A 3 pass shave today was in order. WTG shave went super nice and felt like a shave should feel. I repeated the application of the raw soap again before the second pass after a liberal cold water rinse. XTG/ATG second pass was beautiful as well. On the first two passes I did some minor J hooking along the jaw line. The final pass was ATG on the face and XTG on the neck which is a south to north shaving stroke for me. As I passed the jaw line I hooked the direction toward my ear on the cheeks. This pass felt great even after I realized I forgot to apply the raw soap to my face before lathering up. I took some time to do quality clean-up. When I say quality, I mean that I take time to dip my fingers in the lather bowl and apply new lather and sometimes a little water before heading into clean-up of the rough area. I really took my time and looked for every bit of roughness I could find. I could hear the dolphin and smell her fishy breath, so I was close, but I'm not sure I actually saw the dolphin. I'm saying BBS+ everywhere. A tiny bit of irritation on one corner of my mouth, but otherwise a super great shave. Nurse Dave called it when he said today's shave would be better!

On the personal side of things, it's been interesting weather at my place. I woke up to 40's temps and a heavy rain. Sooo glad it wasn't more snow! That made my driveway a bobsled run though. I locked in the 4 wheel drive and turned off the traction control and we took it sideways most of the way down with me punching the gas a few times to help keep the front of my vehicle somewhat pointed down hill. I have a very steep driveway that is pretty long and ends abruptly at the road. About halfway down I was able to bite the back end of my vehicle in the snow and stop so I could see traffic both ways. Once clear I slide the rest of the way down but managed to get it straight before reaching the road. Boy I hope my driveway clears before trying to get back up it tonight after work!
 
Glad you got some rest Mike...and a great shave to boot!

Steep angles and snowy/icy conditions scare the mess out of me. Such a sense of minimal control sometimes.
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Thanks guys, I'm glad the bronchitis is in the review mirror. I've lived in the north all my life, so it's second nature to know how to steer out of skids and things (fooling around doing donuts in the snow as a young man really helped with that
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), but ice really leaves you with no options but to ride with it out for the most part and try to keep yourself pointing in the right direction. I earned my man card in winter driving during the blizzard of '93 up here. My license plate was pushing snow and I had 3 big hills to drive up and over to get home. Dang, I couldn't even tell where I was it was snowing and blowing so hard. I just kept in the middle of what I thought was the road and didn't let up on the hills. Black ice is the worst. One of the two cars I've totaled was on black ice that I had no way of knowing was there until I came up over a little rise and SURPRISE no traction!
 
Still on a high of winning Eric's PIF I opened the shaving den cabinet doors and decided to go for a second round on the Gravity soap. I just felt like a change, but wanted a decent tallow soap.

Today's Shave: Shave #98

Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic smaller brush knot
Soap: Uncle Jon's Gravity
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower, application of soap to face.
Total Razor on Face Time: 9 minutes

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Bootlegger's B
ay Rum AS (50/50 mix of Master & S-70) to neck only. Every Man Jack Post Shave Balm to the face only.

The Gravity soap wasn't a scent I liked the first time I tried it, but I did enjoy the performance so I've kept it hanging around. To me, performance is equal to scent unless it smells like cat urine
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The Gravity soap lathers really well and really easy so I had a great bowl of lather in no time at all.

I set the razor at my normal 3.0 setting for a 2 pass shave today. Applying the raw soap to my face is something I think I will incorporate into my daily shaving routine. My face is so much slicker and it's got me really considering a try at face lathering. There's a noticeable difference when I rinse my face because it's still slick after a shaving pass. I also believe I get more moisturizing properties out of the soap vs. just using a lather on a wet face. My first WTG pass was very smooth and smooth is the word I kept thinking while shaving this morning. My second WTG/ATG pass was smooth as well. Clean-up involved some J hooking around the jaw line and neck. I could have kept going on the clean-up but then it becomes another "poor" pass so I've learned to quit early. Overall DFS / DFS+ all over. No mammoth painting today as I really don't want the Gravity scent wafting up all day.

It's the only soap that doesn't get the opportunity to mammoth paint. Good call because my wife walked down the hallway and said "Oh man, what's that smell?" She's spoiled with being used to smelling bay rum as soon as she walks down to that end of the house in the morning. I must say though, the soap performs really well, but the scent really confusing me. I just can't identify it. It has vanilla notes but there's something else there that mutes the vanilla and I just don't know what it is. I don't enjoy the scent, yet I don't totally dislike it either. If I could find something in the way of an AS that complimented it but had more of a manly mammoth punch to it I might just have a winning combination. I'd like to get some of the other UJ soap scents.
 
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