some nice looking steel there!
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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving
- Thread starter Blade-meister
- Start date
I was going to give him a month or two before suggesting that
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Nice stuff there Mike and surviving to fight another day is a good strategy sometimes
Hmmmm shaving with a tomahawk. Maybe a staged photo would be funny. I actually made a novelty folding flint knife that looks like it could be a crude straight razor used to torture some poor soul. I might pull that out for tomorrow's post.
If my memory serves me correct...we have a certain member and hobbyist of TSC that had a video at another place where he shaved with a hatchet. Calling Eric...calling @Smattayu!!!
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Yeah, we need that posted here !!
Love your journal. You are approaching this logically, which is best, IMO. One mistake I once made was not tightening a Gillette TTO that last quarter-turn. If you're confident you did, yeah, I'd blame the blade.
PM me and I'll send you some blades I've found to be sharp.
PM me and I'll send you some blades I've found to be sharp.
I could have sworn it was posted on TSC somewhere. I'll see if I can dig it out.
A busy weekend so Saturday was a break from shaving and Sunday saw me using a cart and shaving in the shower. So today I was ready to jump back in.
Today's Shave:
Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956) DE
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Mystic Water Sandlewood Coconut (Sadly the last of this sample!)
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to face and neck, And of course "Mammoth Painting" to retain that wonderful MW soap scent!
So today I was excited to get back at the wet shaving. My face redness and irritation were gone thanks to a break from wet shaving on the weekend. I changed my grip to pinching the razor handle with my fingers with no index finger resting on the handle at all but only involved in pinching the handle with the other 3 fingers I used. I found out really fast that I liked this grip and had the most control the closer toward the top that I was without leaving the knurling. With this grip I found myself moving my head more to maintain the perfect angle I had going vs moving the razor. Overall, I'm heading in a better direction with this grip and will keep trying to perfect it until I find what works best. The grip change was a positive overall.
My WTG pass felt great. No redness at all. My XTG pass was good but I could feel some redness coming back in the usual areas. Was I foolish? Yeah, probably, but I went for a full ATG pass on the neck and face. I went very slow on the neck paying attention to maintaining the least amount of pressure that I could and bull frogging when needed. I know, I know, what the heck Mike, you just got rid of the redness and irritation on the weekend and you go and do an ATG on your neck? Yes, I deserve 50 lashes with a wet shaving towel for sure. I even did some clean-up and blade buffing in my pursuit of BBS. I achieved BBS to DFS+ on the neck and face but at the cost of redness and some slight irritation. The witch hazel helped and I decided to do a cold rinse, dry my face and apply Nivea AS Balm on my whole face and neck. At
first I thought the neck was a mistake, but after it dried it feels better. I ended this shave kicking myself and feeling kind of discouraged wishing I'd just played it a little safer today.
Since the shave I've done a lot of thinking. I think what's been hard for me is that I came from BBS cart shaving and having to settle for CCS or DFS due to my poor technique with the DE. I know it's all me and the operator error button is flashing wildly when I'm shaving My wife just shakes her head and wonders why I don't just go back to the cart which takes less time and has better results. I guess I'm just stubborn and want to figure this out because in the end I think I'll get much quicker at (I'm spending about 25 minutes a shave now) shaving with a better feeling shave. Then I got to thinking more and you know, it took me 10 years of cart shaving to finally find a process / razor/ shaving cream that got me to excellent shaves. That was 10 years of enduring lesser shaves and coping with irritation. I've been at this a whole couple of months so it's really unfair of me to compare the two processes. Where will I be after 10 years of wet shaving? Certainly better than my cart shaves I'm sure. I'm thinking I'm going to have to just give-up the need for BBS shaves in order to allow myself to learn wet shaving properly. Most guys I talk to had truly horrible cart shaving experiences so when they do their first WTG pass wet shaveing they are in heaven so the progression only gets better from there. I have the opposite situation.
What I Changed: Today was all about a change in grip. I decided to change my post shave balm application to right after my last cold rinse. My hope was to lock in some moisture and sooth some redness.
What's Coming Next: A lot of you have been overly generous in PIF's to me to help me figure it all out so I will be trying out some new blades, a Tech razor, PSO's, and some new soaps. Some CBL soap is headed my way so I am super excited to give it a try since my MW Sandalwood Coconut is officially gone as of today. Thanks to all who have been PIF'ing me great stuff to try. Whatever successes I make, you all will share a part of the credit.
On the personal side of things, here's a picture of me with my primitive long bow and a primitive arrow I made that has a flint arrowhead. I only wear that buckskin shirt for demos and when I go into schools to do programs for kids so don't expect to see any shaving pictures with the buckskin shirt in the future I teach an arrow making class this weekend at a local historical society.
Today's Shave:
Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956) DE
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Mystic Water Sandlewood Coconut (Sadly the last of this sample!)
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to face and neck, And of course "Mammoth Painting" to retain that wonderful MW soap scent!
So today I was excited to get back at the wet shaving. My face redness and irritation were gone thanks to a break from wet shaving on the weekend. I changed my grip to pinching the razor handle with my fingers with no index finger resting on the handle at all but only involved in pinching the handle with the other 3 fingers I used. I found out really fast that I liked this grip and had the most control the closer toward the top that I was without leaving the knurling. With this grip I found myself moving my head more to maintain the perfect angle I had going vs moving the razor. Overall, I'm heading in a better direction with this grip and will keep trying to perfect it until I find what works best. The grip change was a positive overall.
My WTG pass felt great. No redness at all. My XTG pass was good but I could feel some redness coming back in the usual areas. Was I foolish? Yeah, probably, but I went for a full ATG pass on the neck and face. I went very slow on the neck paying attention to maintaining the least amount of pressure that I could and bull frogging when needed. I know, I know, what the heck Mike, you just got rid of the redness and irritation on the weekend and you go and do an ATG on your neck? Yes, I deserve 50 lashes with a wet shaving towel for sure. I even did some clean-up and blade buffing in my pursuit of BBS. I achieved BBS to DFS+ on the neck and face but at the cost of redness and some slight irritation. The witch hazel helped and I decided to do a cold rinse, dry my face and apply Nivea AS Balm on my whole face and neck. At
first I thought the neck was a mistake, but after it dried it feels better. I ended this shave kicking myself and feeling kind of discouraged wishing I'd just played it a little safer today.
Since the shave I've done a lot of thinking. I think what's been hard for me is that I came from BBS cart shaving and having to settle for CCS or DFS due to my poor technique with the DE. I know it's all me and the operator error button is flashing wildly when I'm shaving My wife just shakes her head and wonders why I don't just go back to the cart which takes less time and has better results. I guess I'm just stubborn and want to figure this out because in the end I think I'll get much quicker at (I'm spending about 25 minutes a shave now) shaving with a better feeling shave. Then I got to thinking more and you know, it took me 10 years of cart shaving to finally find a process / razor/ shaving cream that got me to excellent shaves. That was 10 years of enduring lesser shaves and coping with irritation. I've been at this a whole couple of months so it's really unfair of me to compare the two processes. Where will I be after 10 years of wet shaving? Certainly better than my cart shaves I'm sure. I'm thinking I'm going to have to just give-up the need for BBS shaves in order to allow myself to learn wet shaving properly. Most guys I talk to had truly horrible cart shaving experiences so when they do their first WTG pass wet shaveing they are in heaven so the progression only gets better from there. I have the opposite situation.
What I Changed: Today was all about a change in grip. I decided to change my post shave balm application to right after my last cold rinse. My hope was to lock in some moisture and sooth some redness.
What's Coming Next: A lot of you have been overly generous in PIF's to me to help me figure it all out so I will be trying out some new blades, a Tech razor, PSO's, and some new soaps. Some CBL soap is headed my way so I am super excited to give it a try since my MW Sandalwood Coconut is officially gone as of today. Thanks to all who have been PIF'ing me great stuff to try. Whatever successes I make, you all will share a part of the credit.
On the personal side of things, here's a picture of me with my primitive long bow and a primitive arrow I made that has a flint arrowhead. I only wear that buckskin shirt for demos and when I go into schools to do programs for kids so don't expect to see any shaving pictures with the buckskin shirt in the future I teach an arrow making class this weekend at a local historical society.
That a boy! You ain't part of the group without being stubborn and pushing shave past where you should or changing more than one thing at a time!
Totally get what you're saying about carts are easy and DE is a struggle. You'll hear from all of us that there were struggles with something in the beginning. Is it worth it? That's personal. I had a terrible experience shaving with carts and I could only handle shaving every other day. So it's a no brainer for me. If you were getting great cart shaves, then it's a different choice. This is also a totally different experience when it's a hobby and we do it for the relaxation, the variety of soaps, razor, techniques, etc. Well except Doug. He's crazy and likes to use the same soap every day. But hey, he fits in here too!
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Great progress Mike! Enjoy the shaves my man, no need to speed me up unless you want to.
The arrow making class sound like fun! Cool bow! Do you get to go out and shoot much? My dad and I got into archery a little while, around the same time we were fooling with knapping obsidian. It was a great time.
The arrow making class sound like fun! Cool bow! Do you get to go out and shoot much? My dad and I got into archery a little while, around the same time we were fooling with knapping obsidian. It was a great time.
The grip you described is one that most guys eventually evolve to. It is often recommended that new guys use a longer handled razor and hold it very near the end so you get a better angle and pressure. I don't disagree with that recommendation BUT if the experienced shaver is holding near the top why should the new guy do any different. Sounds to me like you are figuring out how to get the best angle YOUR way.
I honestly can't remember much about my old cartridge days other than I was always searching for something better and not finding it. I do know I struggled for a month or two (maybe more) before things got better and faster. I am sure it won't take much longer before you get the hang of it.
I honestly can't remember much about my old cartridge days other than I was always searching for something better and not finding it. I do know I struggled for a month or two (maybe more) before things got better and faster. I am sure it won't take much longer before you get the hang of it.
I think it speaks to my newfound obsession of wet shaving
I don't get out hunting at all anymore. My bad hip doesn't allow me to walk up hills very well. Oh I can tough-guy through it but I pay dearly for it for several weeks. I once had a flintknapping student kill a doe the first year he started knappiing. He made a nice little obsidian point and put it on an arrow to use with his long bow. He called me from the woods and was so excited. I told him it's probably the first deer to be taken with a chipped arrowhead in 900 or more years.
Wow, so I'm on the right track and doing something right. I will say, wet shaving has a ton of variables to master which is what makes it difficult and alluring all at the same time. I think finding the moment it all falls together on its own is probably really satisfying. Holding near the top just feels better to me. The further down the handle I go the more apt I am to apply more pressure I found.
I have always wanted to learn how to make a traditional archery gear! Awesome stuff!
It's a lot of work TJ. You have to cut the shafts in the dead of winter, bundle them up, and after 6 or 8 months you have to strip the bark off and cull any shaft that looks like it has a flaw. Then you need to straighten them over fire or a source of heat. Fletching by hand without a jig is quite the process. I believe wholeheartedly that the shaft was the most valuable part of the set-up. Most think the flint point is, but a new point can be chipped in 10 or 15 minutes compared to the the hours it takes to make just one arrow shaft. It's fun though.
Today's shave saw some changes on many fronts. So let's get into it.
Today's Shave:
Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956) DE
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Razorock X
XX
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only, And of course "Mammoth Painting" to retain that wonderful XXX soap scent!
So this morning I woke up with an ocular migraine. Weird stuff when you get the flashing thing that works it's way from one eye to the next and followed by a migraine. I almost scrubbed the shave, but decided real men just power through it
The lathering of the XXX was nice. It took more water than the MW I'm used to but I got a nice thick lather with ease and painted up a good lather on my face. I did a little bit more of my careful look at beard mapping. After a ton of looking and feeling I figured out that my true WTG pass on that problem neck area just below the corner of my jaw is a south to northeast pass up toward my ear. But, I found out really quick that this only applies to a section about 2 inches long. Traveling southward any further and that stroke is ATG. Yup, found that out really fast with some irritation. So my WTG pass was really smooth. I liked the XXX a lot. Upon the first lather I got some strong citrus tones like a lemon/lime then that faded into the background some with a warm spicy scent coming through strong. It just smells like a good cologne and mammoth painting retains the scent mostly as the warm mature spicy tones. My XTG pass was really pleasant. I feel like I'm getting the face down great. I had some self restraint this morning and only did an ATG pass on my face and jaw line. If it weren't for my mistake on the neck with that initial WTG pass I would have had little redness at all. With no ATG pass on the neck it feels better but is CCS in the trouble spots. My face was DFS+ with some touch up work after all passes. I skipped touch-
up and blade buffing on the neck and have given up on BBS deciding to let it happen on it's own. DFS is less than what I'm used to, but still very nice.
I'd say the most significant break-through this morning was a change I made in rinsing my razor. Last night I had a few minutes so I watched a couple of KJ's V-logs. Something I noticed was that he's not rinsing his razor off very much. I was making maybe 2 passes and rinsing my razor so that means I was rinsing about 5 or 6 times each pass. I was thinking that would keep the razor wet & slick, but after stopping that and rinsing the razor maybe twice per pass I found the razor was much smoother and slicker. This could be a major piece of my mistake puzzle. I think my history using carts got me in the habit of rinsing my razor a lot due to the carts getting plugged easily with stubble and canned cream. I'd be interested in hearing about how often others rinse their blades during a shaving session.
What I Changed: Found my true WTG direction for the problem area on my neck, less rinsing of the blade during each shaving pass, new shaving soap RR XXX.
Today's Shave:
Razor: Gillette Super Speed (1956) DE
Blade: Gillette SB
Brush: Maggard Razors Synthetic
Soap: Razorock X
XX
Bowl: Walmart Salsa Bowl (plastic)
Pre Shave: Shower / wash with soap
Post Shave: Cold water rinse, Witch Hazel (Walmart Brand), Cold rinse, Dry face, then immediately applied Nivea AS Balm to the face only, And of course "Mammoth Painting" to retain that wonderful XXX soap scent!
So this morning I woke up with an ocular migraine. Weird stuff when you get the flashing thing that works it's way from one eye to the next and followed by a migraine. I almost scrubbed the shave, but decided real men just power through it
up and blade buffing on the neck and have given up on BBS deciding to let it happen on it's own. DFS is less than what I'm used to, but still very nice.
I'd say the most significant break-through this morning was a change I made in rinsing my razor. Last night I had a few minutes so I watched a couple of KJ's V-logs. Something I noticed was that he's not rinsing his razor off very much. I was making maybe 2 passes and rinsing my razor so that means I was rinsing about 5 or 6 times each pass. I was thinking that would keep the razor wet & slick, but after stopping that and rinsing the razor maybe twice per pass I found the razor was much smoother and slicker. This could be a major piece of my mistake puzzle. I think my history using carts got me in the habit of rinsing my razor a lot due to the carts getting plugged easily with stubble and canned cream. I'd be interested in hearing about how often others rinse their blades during a shaving session.
What I Changed: Found my true WTG direction for the problem area on my neck, less rinsing of the blade during each shaving pass, new shaving soap RR XXX.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
If you watch more videos you'll find KJ is an anomaly with no rinsing. Not a bad thing or a good thing, just a different thing ? Do wharever wirks for you.