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

[cmh737]

This running commentary is awesome! I agree completely and could really go and on about it. A quick story: a couple of years ago, when I was on a 4 day trip, my iPhone completely died the first night. I "had" to go the next 3 days without one till I got home and could get to a store. Let me just say that it was some of the greatest 3 days I've had in recent memory!

 

[MilkCrate]

Deep thinking indeed. Great stuff and I completely agree!

 

[dangerousdon]

Yup...this is a really nice conversation. All in all...it is my opinion that everyone needs to "unplug" every so often. Evenn if you can't go on vacation...just set aside a day or two and literally unplug and turn off all your electronics. I won't get into electromagnetic radiation and all. But even beyond all that...turning everything off for a couple of days is just good for the soul!

 

[Graybeard57]

Most men I see today walk around with what looks like 3 days of growth on their faces because it's in style and they can just buzz their face with an electric shaver with an attachment and go on their way. If you are clean shaven today, it's like you are almost viewed as odd - add in a buzz cut like me and they think you are even stranger (mammoth painting doesn't help this situation )

Three or four summers ago I was sitting in a football stadium next to a gentleman who had shaved his legs and arms, but not his face and neck. I thought, What the heck? Here's a guy who obviously enjoys being clean shaven every visible inch of skin but not his face & neck?! I found it odd.

 

[Blade-meister]

This running commentary is awesome! I agree completely and could really go and on about it. A quick story: a couple of years ago, when I was on a 4 day trip, my iPhone completely died the first night. I "had" to go the next 3 days without one till I got home and could get to a store. Let me just say that it was some of the greatest 3 days I've had in recent memory!

Great story. I hear people telling different versions of your story all the time so there's something to unplugging for sure. I think sometimes we just need circumstances to show us how much we are missing when we are tied to technology too much. Years ago I was going through a divorce and needed to clear my head. I told everyone where I was going and got up really early to go out in the woods. It took me 2 1/2 hours just to clear my head of the urgent thoughts that were causing my stress and grief. Soon I slowed down and began to look around noticing the smallest of things on the forest floor. I got to see a squadron of ducks fly right into the water cove I was sitting on. There's something about the wild of nature that reset me that day. I was out so long that I all of the sudden heard my name being yelled out. Yup, since I'd missed lunch everyone thought the worst and I had a search party looking for me. I found peace out there and a renewed mind. People pay big bucks to a therapist for that stuff.

Three or four summers ago I was sitting in a football stadium next to a gentleman who had shaved his legs and arms, but not his face and neck. I thought, What the heck? Here's a guy who obviously enjoys being clean shaven every visible inch of skin but not his face & neck?! I found it odd.

Now that's an incredible story! I'd go through a few blades if I attempted that

On the personal side, I had an unproductive day at the cabin on Saturday. We had rain in the morning and then in the afternoon I had a hard time navigating the ladder with full sheets of plywood. The slight incline in front of the cabin is just enough to make the long extension ladder I have feel like it's not on solid ground. Being a veteran of 3 ladder falls in my past (one from the height of a house roof) I get the tingling of my spidey senses in situations like that. I did get the final rafter cut and up as well as another piece of plywood up but that's about it. I think I did figure out a system to get more done this Saturday when my flintknapping friend Bruce stops by to help me. We hope to put the proper facia on it and get all the plywood up.

Had a great shave this morning after not shaving yesterday. The Kamisori felt great on that first pass. The other passes saw my Variant DE set to 5.0 which is a personal high setting for me. That's mole cutting territory with a DE!

 

[Spider]

Great discussion guys.... reminds me how much I miss camping. Been way too long. I really need to get out soon and unplug completely, at least for a day or two. Spending time at the lake this summer, I sort of did, but I relized I was still on my phone a little bit at night and a couple times during the day. I didn't totally go without.... which I really should have.

 

[uacowboy]

I was asked to Cook for a college group retreat the first weekend of OCT. The location is up in the mountains and, last i was there, cell signal is non existent. My phone will only be used as an alarm clock to wake me up in the morning and possibly for a few pictures. beyond that i will be totally unplugged from friday evening till sunday afternoon. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Majorrich]

No data?!

 

[dangerousdon]

Years ago I was going through a divorce and needed to clear my head. I told everyone where I was going and got up really early to go out in the woods. It took me 2 1/2 hours just to clear my head of the urgent thoughts that were causing my stress and grief. Soon I slowed down and began to look around noticing the smallest of things on the forest floor. I got to see a squadron of ducks fly right into the water cove I was sitting on. There's something about the wild of nature that reset me that day. I was out so long that I all of the sudden heard my name being yelled out. Yup, since I'd missed lunch everyone thought the worst and I had a search party looking for me. I found peace out there and a renewed mind. People pay big bucks to a therapist for that stuff.

You may not realize it...but I believe you practiced a form of meditation called mindfulness. For me...in the woods or out in the wild is a form of meditation. So easy to get lost in the awesomeness of nature!

 

[uacowboy]

No data?!
View attachment 8803

AND it will be bingo time too!

 

[Blade-meister]

Great discussion guys.... reminds me how much I miss camping. Been way too long. I really need to get out soon and unplug completely, at least for a day or two. Spending time at the lake this summer, I sort of did, but I relized I was still on my phone a little bit at night and a couple times during the day. I didn't totally go without.... which I really should have.

Sounds like you are overdue for some time out in the wild. It's hard to go without the smart phone. I had to carry one for my last job and it seems like a good thing to always have it, but just having it in your pocket is almost like a stress connection. Maybe someone will text me? I wonder what so-in-so is doing? If you don't have it, you don't have the stress connection and you can focus on what is in front of you. I'm so glad I don't need to carry one anymore.

You may not realize it...but I believe you practiced a form of meditation called mindfulness. For me...in the woods or out in the wild is a form of meditation. So easy to get lost in the awesomeness of nature!

Meditation and prayer for sure. One of the things I remember most was noticing this tiny flower right by me that had it's peddles outstretched and curled up waiting for a drop of dew to fall on it. Without relaxing and getting my mind quiet I would not have noticed that little flower and missed the lesson I was being taught by it.

 

[Blade-meister]

Had a really good shave this morning. MW Coconut with my Variant set at 5.0. I'm finding that with the higher setting I'm more conscious of no pressure. I'm also getting more mileage from my blades for some reason. I finished up with some Master Bay Rum AS. I call this the Caribbean shave. My wife grew up in the Cayman's so she approves of the combo. Solid BBS this morning and stuck my head out in the nice 41 degree morning air to get a natural Pacific Rush.

I still struggle from time to time with very minor face irritation on the cheeks. I noticed last week that my "WTG" first pass was actually more of a cross-grained stroke. True north/south in that area is cross-grained, so I've been paying attention to that and found it's helping. This area is tough to figure out though and I have to do 3/4 circle strokes in that area just to get smooth. I've tried skipping that in clean-up and end up with a decent shadow left there and slight sandpaper feel by 10 am.

On a personal note, talking about smooth faces, my younger daughter (well younger by 12 minutes because we have twins) often prays at night that "Daddy will have a really smooth face tomorrow morning." They both hate any scruffiness so I think my wet shaving will train them to find a proper man that shaves some day when they get to that dreaded dating age.

I need to find time to work on that American themed knife. I bought some buffalo head nickles to be inset in the handle with the Indian head on one side and the buffalo on the other. I've always wanted to do that so this is the pilot piece to try it out. I have a killer piece of curly oak for the handle and will put non-functioning brass pins in it. I decide on a coffin handle design and a Bowie knife guard that I will hand forge and fit. It will look like a thin toothpick Bowie except the blade will be red/white & blue glass flintknapped by me. If this dang cabin would get finished I'd have some time to do other stuff!

 

[bentheduck]

I'm not entirely sure how I fell behind, but I'm caught up. Great progress on the cabin. Sucks that you had to correct some mistakes, but it's great that they're fixed now.

I'm looking forward to seeing your vision of the American themed knife come to life!

 

[uacowboy]

Any time i don't shave for a few days my daughter(she's 2) will rub her hand on my face and tell me i need to shave. Then when i do she will feel my face again and ask "it will grow back?" lol

Hurry up on that cabin man! We ALL want to see that knife turn out!

 

[Blade-meister]

Hurry up on that cabin man! We ALL want to see that knife turn out!

The knife will have to be finished before 10/5 because it's got to go to my last show on that date. Sure wish I could hire some roofing guys for a day, they could probably finish it in a day. Oh well, I'm learning a lot and will appreciate it more because it took so looooooong to finish.

I'm not entirely sure how I fell behind, but I'm caught up

I've fallen so miserably behind I gave up Now I skim and try to post something now and then in people's journals. I know I'm missing good stuff though.

 

[HMan]

It's so true about needing to unplug every so often. All this information at our fingertips is a blessing and a curse.
Best thing I've done in a while was a hike in the middle of nowhere with my wife while we were in Greece.

This was before the internet was big, but when my first wife and I separated, I moved back home to California. It had my head pretty messed up, and I wound up buying a tent and pitching it in the backyard. I slept out there every night for about 6 months. It was glorious.

 

[Blade-meister]

It had my head pretty messed up, and I wound up buying a tent and pitching it in the backyard. I slept out there every night for about 6 months. It was glorious.

I was working long hours away from home so I'd leave a light on and the radio playing so that when I finally did return home it wouldn't be dark and quiet. It was a way of feeling welcomed home even though nobody was really there.

Reminds me of a funny little story. After my divorce the girl who lived above me apparently kept tabs on me because when I got married again and was off on my honeymoon she noticed my car had been parked for some time and not moved. She came and knocked on my door, looked in the windows and was worried something had happened to me. She was used to seeing the car gone for long periods of time but not there for long periods of time. She almost called the police to come check. I came and went not knowing that I had people watching out for my comings and goings. There were always lots of rumors going around about me because of my crazy work schedule. I just smiled and let them think what they thought as it was much more inventive than the truth

This morning I got the true honest SR out for the first time and gave it the WTG pass duty. Man that's something how it so smoothly shaves. I didn't have time to mess with being overly careful so I left it with the single pass. Boy I have some learning. In particular practicing being ambidextrous, and proper angle. Using the Kamisori that has the replaceable blades is a different angle for sure. I also need to slicken up my lather a bit more. No cuts though, so all that practice with the Kamisori Feather SS knock-off really helped me understand the art of stopping when you find resistance to the blade's travel path. I also found that with the bathroom fan on and water running the SR didn't have the sound report that my Variant does and I realized just how much I rely on sound to tell me if I'm at the proper shaving angle. I'd definitely like to work with the SR more, but I need time to get my strops together & practice.

 

[Graybeard57]

I came and went not knowing that I had people watching out for my comings and goings. There were always lots of rumors going around about me because of my crazy work schedule. I just smiled and let them think what they thought as it was much more inventive than the truth

The same happened to me when I separated and a year later divorced my first wife. I was attending a Catholic women's college (Carlow, here in Pittsburgh). I was 27 and most classmates were 19 or 20, and apparently I created a buzz around that small campus. I pretty much kept my head down and concentrated on my studies, oblivious and indifferent to the rumors. I eventually revealed my situation to a couple of talkative classmates, who promptly shared it, as I knew they would. It was then I felt free of the burden of the failed marriage. Divorce sucks, that's for sure. It's expensive, and it hurts.

 

[Blade-meister]

Divorce sucks, that's for sure. It's expensive, and it hurts.

You got that right. I make my last payment next month and I've been remarried for 17 years! My first marriage was pretty short, but the repercussions of the divorce have lasted for a couple of decades since I have children from it.

That's funny about the college rumors. I imagine with me that when I'd come home late at night and run a few miles on the treadmill to music they just thought I was weird. The house being closed up for so long it was like 95 degrees in there, but that just gave me a good sweat. If I'd had a tent in the back yard they really would have talked I think the important thing is that you cope in healthy ways that don't involve drowning the sorrow in drugs, alcohol, or loose living. I had friends go that route and they all rebounded, remarried, and divorced again a few times. I have a great wife now and it's great to be in a marriage that works right.

 

[Graybeard57]

My second marriage is solid. Glad yours is, too.