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



Round Two: Blade-meister vs. Vaskhod (Drago)

I decided to give old Drago another try since some blades don't hit their prime until shave #2.

Today's Shave:

Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956) DE
Blade: Voskhod Teflon Coated
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Mystic Waters Sandlewood Coconut
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap

Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, leave face wet to dry on it's own, Nivea AS balm on face only.

Upon my initial WTG pass the blade actually felt smoother and much more toned down than yesterday. I thought "Hmmm, maybe Drago isn't so bad afterall." Once I started my XTG pass I noticed a lot of pulling and studdering across my skin. Since my lather was spot on and slick I had no choice but to find fault with the blade. While each pass cut more stubble than yesterday I couldn't escape feeling like this blade isn't very sharp. I have pretty heavy stubble. The ATG pass on the face only just served to further make for an uncomfortable shave. I had a lot of clean-up to attempt gingerly just to get DFS on all areas with some cart clean-up as well. I also had 2 weepers again this morning in different spots. They were gone by the time I got to the Witch Hazel. Overall, my shave feels like a blade now two shaves past it's last and I've got a lot of redness. When you can feel a little sting from WH, you know you did something wrong I can firmly say my Vaskhod days are over for now. I think when my technique is better I'll revisit them. It makes me reconsider trying a feather blade.

I did however make two observations this morning. I timed my lather in the bowl and it takes me about 4 minutes to get the good lather that works for me. The other observation has to do with the Voskhod
blade. I think it's not as sharp as the Gillette and Astra I've used in the past. I've never had studdering across the skin so I think what is happening is that I am applying pressure to keep the blade cutting and this is what is likely causing the bad feeling shave. I think the studdering would likely be caused by two things: A dry lather/face or a dull blade. Others can chime in to tell me if I'm close to being right on that. I think the lack of sharpness is causing the blade to pin-ball off some of my beard grown instead of cutting through it. That's why I'm feeling pulling, not getting the smoothness I'm used to, and feeling irritation as slight pressure is applied to keep the blade cutting.

This is the worst shave I've had since starting wet shaving with the DE. Adriaaaaaaaaane!!!!

What I changed: Today after rinsing with cold water I'd scoop some residual soap & rub it into the water droplets left on the face to create a sort of wet slickness pre applying my lather. It didn't dry my face at all and felt more like prep to make it more slick under the lather.
 
The blade could very well be the culprit with the tugging and pulling. The rubbing the lather on your face before bit is something I do and I know Spider does as well.
 
Sorry for the irritation today!

If the issue is prep, is it likely that you are not keeping your face hydrated after the shower, while you build lather and get your gear ready? Not washing your face between passes? Even just a splash of water on the face for every minute you don’t have lather on it would help.

How long do your passes take? Is the lather drying on your face?

If it’s the blade, then your observations may be right, you may be over compensating with pressure to force the cut.

Admittedly I don’t think I’ve ever had a DE blade skip and stutter one my face. I’ve had it be catchy and tuggy. The only time I feel a hint of chatter is usually with my razors that don’t support the blade fully, usually TTOs like yours; it happens rarely though.
 
I just want to share, I've been chuckling to myself for some time now when I read your journal. Jut the title of it, when I do a quick glace I read as the beginning of a joke. "A newbie walks into a bar..."
 
I happen to like Voskhod blades...but not for an everyday shaver. You are right...they are not sharp blades compared to most. I find them super smooth though and grab one when I want an effortless shave. They obviously are not working for you...so pitch it and move on. Just when you have developed your technique a bit...revisit this blade again. You might be surprised!
 
Did I send you some Nacet blades? We seem to have very similar tastes in what works for us and what doesn't. If I didn't I'll throw some in your next package this weekend. They aren't the absolute sharpest on the market, but for me they have a very nice balance of sharp and smooth.
 
DocHoliday0831 said:
The blade could very well be the culprit with the tugging and pulling. The rubbing the lather on your face before bit is something I do and I know Spider does as well.
Click to expand...

I really like that process and yeah I got it from KJ and from some youtube vids I watched.
GearNoir said:
Sorry for the irritation today!

If the issue is prep, is it likely that you are not keeping your face hydrated after the shower, while you build lather and get your gear ready? Not washing your face between passes? Even just a splash of water on the face for every minute you don’t have lather on it would help.

Here's my prep: Get out of the shower, pat my face dry, then dry off. I immediately step to the sink and splash with cold water and wet my face. I leave it wet while I lather up my soap in the bowl. I also splash with cold water in between passes. I also keep my razor wet so it's not dry too. I've noticed that my blade can get dryish if I don't rinse it half way through a pass.

NurseDave said:
I just want to share, I've been chuckling to myself for some time now when I read your journal. Jut the title of it, when I do a quick glace I read as the beginning of a joke. "A newbie walks into a bar..."
Click to expand...

A newbie walks into a wet shave bar and asks for directions "Hey, you guys look pretty sharp, how can I shave some time off my trip to town?"
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Click to expand...
 
ShawnF said:
Did I send you some Nacet blades? We seem to have very similar tastes in what works for us and what doesn't. If I didn't I'll throw some in your next package this weekend. They aren't the absolute sharpest on the market, but for me they have a very nice balance of sharp and smooth.
Click to expand...

Nope, no Nacet blades. Yeah Shawn, we seem to have the same old buzzard tough beard growth. I'll try anything. Right now Gillette SB's are my favorite blade. I still have many to try though. After today's rough shave, I may have to pop in a Gillette SB just to recover and try another type next week. I'm sure my poor shaving skills are at least 50% to blame
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Thanks Shawn! I'm beginning work on your special project this weekend.
 
I'll put some Nacet and Lord platinum blades in there. I find them pretty forgiving, so hopefully they will work well for you.
 
Nice read, and it is your shave. As long as you get where you want to be the hardware does not matter much, you are progressing fine
 
Today's shave was a relief from yesterday's beating. I slipped the Gillette SB in and it was much smoother than the Vaskhod.

Today's Shave:

Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956) DE
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: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, leave face wet to dry on it's own, Nivea AS balm on face only.

Much of the redness from yesterday's shave was gone this morning. Taking yesterday's bad shave into consideration I changed my grip on the SS razor. I have been pinching the handle slightly above the middle of the handle with my middle finger, thumb, and finger next to the middle finger. My index finger always was just resting on top of the handle and along for the ride. This morning I had the index finger off the handle completely so I made sure there was no pressure. WTG pass was smooth and nice as well as the XTG pass. I messed up and forgot to do the XTG pass from the other direction. My ATG pass on the face only was fine as well. More clean-up than normal was needed because of my missed XTG pass from the opposite direction. I even did some clean-up on the neck with the DE. During some clean-up on the neck I nicked a mole there that normally isn't an issue. The Witch Hazel all but took care of that weeper. Cart clean-up in the problem neck areas helped get me where I like to be. Overall, DFS+ on the face and neck with 50% less redness and irritation.

Leaving my index finger off the shaver really did help with the pressure issue, but I'm rethinking my grip. I'm thinking an index finger and thumb pinching grip is probably better. The reason I defaulted to the grip I did is that it's familiar to me in my flintknapping hobby. It's my light grip for percussion billets when I'm taking flakes off so it says "light" to my brain and muscle memory. I'm thinking this grip is incorrect. I'd like to hear some feedback on proper grips preferences from the TSC. This could be my pressure issues. I think my index finger resting on top of the razor handle was not allowing the head of the
razor to move freely without pressure in certain areas. When angles change and my wrist bends, I could be unknowingly applying small amounts of pressure with the index finger. This could be my problem overall with redness.

What I Changed: Returned to the Gillette SB, changed my grip by removing my index finger from riding on top of the razor handle.

I figured I'd start sharing a little more about myself to make the journal entries a little more interesting.

Here's a picture of my anvil I use in my blacksmith forge that's also part of my garage. It's 179 lbs and is a Trenton anvil that was made in Germany for sale in the U.S. under the Trenton trade name. It was manufactured before 1898. There's a saying among us blacksmiths that we are just the current caretakers of our anvils so everything we do with them should be with the next blacksmith in mind. I can't help but wonder if this concept should apply to the vintage razors we all have. I think we are just the latest caretakers of them too.
 
Awesome looking anvil. And yup gotta take good care of the razors. I hope my son uses them one day.
 
Cool anvil!

I grip my razors at about half way or toward the end of the handle, whatever feels natural.

Love GSBs too! Just elite level comfort in blade feel and smoothness of shave!
 
Nice analysis of your shave. Yeah, I would leave the index finger off the top and use your thumb and index and the one next to the index finger to grip. I think you are on the right track.

That is a wonderful looking anvil!
 
NurseDave said:
Well that's just a dang manly thing to own
Click to expand...

Yup, there's nothing that feels more manly than heating up hot steel and working it on the anvil. It's dangerous and beautiful all at the same time. I think what I like best about forging is the fact you can literally make anything for use around the house, garage, or shop. Shawn can attest to this.
 
My grip changes depending on the weight and balance of the given razor. It's all intuitive at this point, I don't even pay attention to my grip. But I do tend to choke up on it, and hold it near the top of the razor. But I also tend to, intentionally, use a little bit of pressure. This is not a good grip if you are trying to reduce pressure. There are several of us that have VLOGs and watching a few of them might be a good way of seeing how our grips are and maybe give you some ideas on different ways to change yours.

That anvil is a Beauty!
Blade-meister said:
I can't help but wonder if this concept should apply to the vintage razors we all have. I think we are just the latest caretakers of them too.
Click to expand...
I concur. I know my collection of razors will be passed on to someone, hopefully family, to enjoy for generations to come.
 
I'll be studying some V-logs and watching how people are gripping their razors.

Today I decided to take a break. I had a collared shirt on yesterday that really irritated my neck where "Drago" had done it's job the other morning. By last night my neck was still quite irritated. I put some Nivea Sensative on it but that didn't really help and actually kind of burned a little even thought there's no alcohol in it. It's kinda funny, but carts are easier right now on my face so I did a nice 3 pass shave with the cart this morning followed by my normal post shave process. I got BBS on the face and neck and the redness was not worsened. The plan is probably to not shave tomorrow and see if my face can recover to jump right back in on Monday. I think sometimes a strategic retreat allows a guy to fight again on another day

On the personal side, here a few of the pipe tomahawks in my personal collection. They were ones I made that I fell in love with and just couldn't part with them. They now hang proudly in my house. I'm now working in a secure facility with no weapons, but my previous job allowed me to have them hanging on my office wall and it was always funny to see people's reactions, especially because I was in charge of facility security.





Making tomahawks made me get interested in forging and blacksmithing. My quest for blacksmithing brought me and Shawn together which brought me here. So in a way, tomahawks are why I'm wet shaving today
 
[QUOTE username=Blade-meister userid=5969045
Making tomahawks made me get interested in forging and blacksmithing. My quest for blacksmithing brought me and Shawn together which brought me here. So in a way, tomahawks are why I'm wet shaving today
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[/QUOTE]
Tomahawks..... the gateway drug!
 
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