Bay Rum for the win!!!
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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
No Shave Saturday was in effect yesterday so I had a good amount of growth for the Variant to chew on this morning. Time to get to work!
Today's Shave: Shave #118
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 15 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jac
k AS balm to the face only. Mammoth painting.
I'm severely low on the MW Bay Rum and had to push the sides down to try to cover the bare plastic of the bottom of my soap container. Time to re-order for sure. I got a super good lather worked up and did my passes on a new blade. First, second, and third passes felt great. I love shaving after a day of no shaving. I get the closest shaves on those days. I did have to set the razor at 3.5 to be sure I'd be getting all the beard growth from skipping shaving yesterday. One thing I changed up was that I have been using the Micro Touch One DE razor to shave under my nose, but I decided to get the old Gillette SS out and put a new Nacet blade in it. I think it performs much better than the MTO razor and will give me a closer shave.
I did a fairly good clean-up, but really there wasn't much. I'd say I finally achieved DBBS everywhere but one little spot and that was at least BBS- What a great feeling shave.
On the personal side of things, the guy I know that has been wet shaving for years only using William's soap (which isn't a bad soap) really fell in love with the CBL TSC soap I PIF'd him. He also loved the Uncle Jon's Gravity as well. He's got a taste of tallow based artisan soaps and couldn't stop talking about how great they performed. I told him there's a bazillion more soaps out there that perform well and that he really needs to try them out. He hasn't tried any of the blades or razors I gave him, but plans to soon. He really thought that William's mug soap was all there was.
Today's Shave: Shave #118
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 15 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jac
k AS balm to the face only. Mammoth painting.
I'm severely low on the MW Bay Rum and had to push the sides down to try to cover the bare plastic of the bottom of my soap container. Time to re-order for sure. I got a super good lather worked up and did my passes on a new blade. First, second, and third passes felt great. I love shaving after a day of no shaving. I get the closest shaves on those days. I did have to set the razor at 3.5 to be sure I'd be getting all the beard growth from skipping shaving yesterday. One thing I changed up was that I have been using the Micro Touch One DE razor to shave under my nose, but I decided to get the old Gillette SS out and put a new Nacet blade in it. I think it performs much better than the MTO razor and will give me a closer shave.
I did a fairly good clean-up, but really there wasn't much. I'd say I finally achieved DBBS everywhere but one little spot and that was at least BBS- What a great feeling shave.
On the personal side of things, the guy I know that has been wet shaving for years only using William's soap (which isn't a bad soap) really fell in love with the CBL TSC soap I PIF'd him. He also loved the Uncle Jon's Gravity as well. He's got a taste of tallow based artisan soaps and couldn't stop talking about how great they performed. I told him there's a bazillion more soaps out there that perform well and that he really needs to try them out. He hasn't tried any of the blades or razors I gave him, but plans to soon. He really thought that William's mug soap was all there was.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
???
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
I always feel like I get the best shaves after a day off too.
Nice to see you broadening your friends horizons with some goodies too!
Good stuff Mike!
Nice to see you broadening your friends horizons with some goodies too!
Good stuff Mike!
Passing on your experience and wisdom. Good show!
It sure does feel good to bless someone else like I've been blessed here on TSC. I look at my daily drivers and they consist of mostly PIF'd items that I've grown to love. Don's brush, KJ's bowl, Every Man Jack AS balm & Mystic Water Lavender Lime soap, KY Dave's Gillette SS. Then there's the soaps from PIF's too. I have two other guys I'm working on to try wet shaving as well. One guy shaves his head so he's a little reluctant, but his two best buddies are now wet shavers so the peer pressure is solidly there now
Today's Shave: Shave #119
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: Mystic Water Lavender Lime
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 11 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack AS balm to the face only. No Mammoth painting.
After yesterday's DBBS shave I knew I wouldn't be able to duplicate it, so I just settled into the shave with a good lather which actually turned out to be more bubbly than I normally work up which made it want to disappear a bit if I didn't hurry up. Those that have disappearing issues with MW soap should try to thicken it up and try not to get very many bubbles in it. Ultimately, I think I somehow got too much water in the lathering bowl at the very beginning.
Still doing 3 pass shaves every day, so today was no exception. First pass was normal, but the second pass I could feel a little bit too much blade action so I started paying attention to pressure and relaxing into a zen like state. This allowed my shave to seem to flow well. The third pass was fine and I did about 80 seconds of clean-up before making myself stop. BBS everywhere except one area on my neck that is DFS.
I didn't realize just how much I was cleaning up with every pass until I made myself just do the passes straight up. I really believe all my irritation problems were caused from clean-up, clean-up, clean-up and oh yeah, one last clean-up. I actually get the same results by doing a final clean-up at the end, just without the redness and irritation. Also, it's been a couple of weeks now that I've stopped putting anything on my neck and my neck looks normal now after shaves. It actually feels great to just riding on the post shave feel of the shaving soap.
Today's Shave: Shave #119
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: Mystic Water Lavender Lime
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 11 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack AS balm to the face only. No Mammoth painting.
After yesterday's DBBS shave I knew I wouldn't be able to duplicate it, so I just settled into the shave with a good lather which actually turned out to be more bubbly than I normally work up which made it want to disappear a bit if I didn't hurry up. Those that have disappearing issues with MW soap should try to thicken it up and try not to get very many bubbles in it. Ultimately, I think I somehow got too much water in the lathering bowl at the very beginning.
Still doing 3 pass shaves every day, so today was no exception. First pass was normal, but the second pass I could feel a little bit too much blade action so I started paying attention to pressure and relaxing into a zen like state. This allowed my shave to seem to flow well. The third pass was fine and I did about 80 seconds of clean-up before making myself stop. BBS everywhere except one area on my neck that is DFS.
I didn't realize just how much I was cleaning up with every pass until I made myself just do the passes straight up. I really believe all my irritation problems were caused from clean-up, clean-up, clean-up and oh yeah, one last clean-up. I actually get the same results by doing a final clean-up at the end, just without the redness and irritation. Also, it's been a couple of weeks now that I've stopped putting anything on my neck and my neck looks normal now after shaves. It actually feels great to just riding on the post shave feel of the shaving soap.
Oh, and I skipped mammoth painting today because citrus really doesn't paint well
Back to the cold again this morning. I woke up to 12 degrees this morning on the old thermometer outside. We are ready for spring up here in the People's Republic of New York State. We had a gloomy, cloudy, rainy summer from July on where I live and we've had a pretty gloomy & snowy winter. The hope of spring, maple syrup, and birds chirping is all that gets us out of bed these days......that and a good shave waiting
Today's Shave: Shave #120
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: WSP Black Vanille (Chambers Black)
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 13 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack AS balm to the face only. Mammoth painting.
I got my shave ready last night so it's always nice to stumble into the bathroom and not have to figure out what soap I'm using that day, etc. I lathered up a great bowl of goodness and the smell of the soap and everything always wakes me up in a pleasant way.
After a nice hot shower I got to the shave. Today I was slated for my longer 3 pass shave which allows more time for clean-up. All 3 passes went well. I had the razor set at 3.5 for the first and second passes before shifting it down to 2.5 on the third pass and then 1.5 on the clean-up. Keeping the razor setting higher on the second pass felt better so I will continue on with this and see how it works. Though I'm trying not to do any clean-up in the 3 passes I found today that I must do some J hooking on the neck so that I get smooth there. All in all, a great shave and BBS everywhere. I had one tiny little weeper on my chin that appeared for a few seconds and then the soap tackled it and shut it down.
On the personal side of things, I'm in the midst of heavy pre-op physical therapy in preparation for the hip replacement coming up in March. The saying "Pain is weakness leaving the body" comes to mind a lot during the PT. I have a morale patch with that saying on it and plan to wear it on my hat when I take my first steps after surgery. Your whole day your body does everything it can do to avoid making your hip do all the things the PT is making it do and the hip lets you know it's not happy at all. I have to stop when it really makes things hurt to the point where I'm really having a hard time managing life. My Physical Therapist keeps asking me about pain and it just seems silly to me because there's nothing I can do to this hip that matters now as everything will soon be cut out and ground out that is causing the pain, so lets just go all out and do what needs to be done. The pain grows more mammoth hair
Today's Shave: Shave #120
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: WSP Black Vanille (Chambers Black)
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 13 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack AS balm to the face only. Mammoth painting.
I got my shave ready last night so it's always nice to stumble into the bathroom and not have to figure out what soap I'm using that day, etc. I lathered up a great bowl of goodness and the smell of the soap and everything always wakes me up in a pleasant way.
After a nice hot shower I got to the shave. Today I was slated for my longer 3 pass shave which allows more time for clean-up. All 3 passes went well. I had the razor set at 3.5 for the first and second passes before shifting it down to 2.5 on the third pass and then 1.5 on the clean-up. Keeping the razor setting higher on the second pass felt better so I will continue on with this and see how it works. Though I'm trying not to do any clean-up in the 3 passes I found today that I must do some J hooking on the neck so that I get smooth there. All in all, a great shave and BBS everywhere. I had one tiny little weeper on my chin that appeared for a few seconds and then the soap tackled it and shut it down.
On the personal side of things, I'm in the midst of heavy pre-op physical therapy in preparation for the hip replacement coming up in March. The saying "Pain is weakness leaving the body" comes to mind a lot during the PT. I have a morale patch with that saying on it and plan to wear it on my hat when I take my first steps after surgery. Your whole day your body does everything it can do to avoid making your hip do all the things the PT is making it do and the hip lets you know it's not happy at all. I have to stop when it really makes things hurt to the point where I'm really having a hard time managing life. My Physical Therapist keeps asking me about pain and it just seems silly to me because there's nothing I can do to this hip that matters now as everything will soon be cut out and ground out that is causing the pain, so lets just go all out and do what needs to be done. The pain grows more mammoth hair
Run some GTB on it. You'll be fine ?The pain grows more mammoth hair
When is your surgery?
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
I always set up my shave the night before too. Saves me time in the morning.
Hope the surgery is soon. I know that PT can be awful, but it’s worth it to get you back to normal.
Hope the surgery is soon. I know that PT can be awful, but it’s worth it to get you back to normal.
Run some GTB on it. You'll be fine
When is your surgery?
GTB cures everything! 3/25 is the surgery. I'll be forging at the anvil on 3/26 I'm sure
You could always skip PT an do Yoga?
In all seriousness though...do what you gotta do to get better. March is just around the corner. And the way they do hip replacements now is practically witch craft! A lot better than it used to be!
In all seriousness though...do what you gotta do to get better. March is just around the corner. And the way they do hip replacements now is practically witch craft! A lot better than it used to be!
You could always skip PT an do Yoga?
In all seriousness though...do what you gotta do to get better. March is just around the corner. And the way they do hip replacements now is practically witch craft! A lot better than it used to be!
Ahhh, the smell of goats in the morning, goat milk and goat dung......it would smell like the HIndu Kush. Don't send me your yoga pants to use Don
Yes Don, it's amazing. In 8 minutes they have your incision done, spreaders in, hip dislocated and femoral head sawed off. The procedure only takes 30 minutes. You spend more time in recovery than you do under the knife. Lots of drills, saws, pounding and such. Glad I won't hear, feel or see any of it!
I decided to go with one of my favorites this morning. It just felt like a Bay Rum morning.
Today's Shave: Shave #121
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 10 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack AS balm to the face only. Mammoth painting.
SOBS (Same Old Boring Shave) this morning with a 3 pass shave. I duplicated the razor settings from yesterday but ended up with a little bit of redness on the cheeks. Maybe I blade buffed there too much, maybe it was the settings, I just don't know. I had a new blade in, so I wasn't expecting any irritation at all. BBS everywhere except a few tiny areas on the neck, but I limited clean-up this morning so I'm not surprised to get some DFS areas which really isn't a bad thing. MW Bay Rum mammoth paints so well, so I will be enjoying this soap all day long
Today's Shave: Shave #121
Razor: Parker Variant - Graphite handle
Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
Brush: Eric's Lignum Vitae Hand Turned Brush Handle, 22 mm Boss Knot
Soap: Mystic Water Bay Rum
Bowl: Red Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Wash with soap in the shower . Rub raw soap on face from the puck.
Total Razor on Face Time: 10 minutes
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand) face only, Cold rinse. Every Man Jack AS balm to the face only. Mammoth painting.
SOBS (Same Old Boring Shave) this morning with a 3 pass shave. I duplicated the razor settings from yesterday but ended up with a little bit of redness on the cheeks. Maybe I blade buffed there too much, maybe it was the settings, I just don't know. I had a new blade in, so I wasn't expecting any irritation at all. BBS everywhere except a few tiny areas on the neck, but I limited clean-up this morning so I'm not surprised to get some DFS areas which really isn't a bad thing. MW Bay Rum mammoth paints so well, so I will be enjoying this soap all day long
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Pushed a little today too and a bit of irritation no doubt from the colder temps we got recently after a warm up subsided. Have a good day Mike
