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Kingfisher's open blade (straight razors and shavettes) journey
- Thread starter kingfisher
- Start date
86/123 today.
Went back to the trusty Noonan. Used Soapy Science again (can't get enough, I guess, lol) in Lollipop Citrus. Bloomed it first. Wonderful. Actually made too much lather and was sad to wash it down the drain. Washed my hands with what was left before I let it go down the drain, though, which was nice. You can learn a lot about the qualities of a soap lather by washing your hands with it, I've found.
Anyway, back to the shave. Felt great. No tugging or discomfort. Reduction was not as good as some of my earlier shaves. I wonder whether this is a sign that the edge is dulling ever so slightly?
In any case, though, three passes on the cheeks, two on the neck, jawline clean-up with the AS-D2 and I was good to go.
Tomorrow I'll be back to Stirling Peach and a DE. Can't decide whether to stick with the AS-D2 or go to something else. Guess I'll figure it out tomorrow morning.
Have a good weekend, gents.
Went back to the trusty Noonan. Used Soapy Science again (can't get enough, I guess, lol) in Lollipop Citrus. Bloomed it first. Wonderful. Actually made too much lather and was sad to wash it down the drain. Washed my hands with what was left before I let it go down the drain, though, which was nice. You can learn a lot about the qualities of a soap lather by washing your hands with it, I've found.
Anyway, back to the shave. Felt great. No tugging or discomfort. Reduction was not as good as some of my earlier shaves. I wonder whether this is a sign that the edge is dulling ever so slightly?
In any case, though, three passes on the cheeks, two on the neck, jawline clean-up with the AS-D2 and I was good to go.
Tomorrow I'll be back to Stirling Peach and a DE. Can't decide whether to stick with the AS-D2 or go to something else. Guess I'll figure it out tomorrow morning.
Have a good weekend, gents.
Sounds like you are doing well with the AS-D2! I would stick with it!
This morning's shave was stellar. Two passes with the AS-D2 on the UFO Kaiser short. Lather was Stirling Peach (yum!).
Just two observations.
1) At first the straight razor seemed unwieldy, and the fact that your hand is not where the blade is seemed odd, to say the least. In other words, when you are shaving the cheek right in front of the ear, your hand is actually near the front part of your cheek. With DE and SE, the hand is just below the blade.
Today, using the AS-D2, I realized that to get your hand into position to shave the part right in front of the ear on the right side, using your right hand, you really have to move the shoulder joint and bend the elbow. It's not a problem, just an observation. It's actually a lot easier to get that part just below the sideburn using a straight razor.
2) In the past, when I used DEs mostly, I didn't like "blade feel." I deliberately chose razors without much blade feel. I even sold my Blackland Blackbird razor because it had too much blade feel, even though I never got anything but great shaves with it.
Shaving with a straight razor has given me an entirely new appreciation for blade feel. The crazy thing is that now when I shave with a DE or SE, the blade is pretty much all I feel. Even on a mild razor like the AS-D2. I guess I have trained my face to feel the blade. So now, even with the AS-D2 or another DE, I am altering my pressure and angle minutely based on the feel of the blade on my face.
The end result is that I get better shaves with less irritation by feeling the blade, as opposed to trying to not feel the blade. This is truly a 180 for me.
Anyway, a great two-pass shave. The only downside was that on this morning's shave I was able to see a tiny bit of the bottom of the container in the center of my Stirling Peach soap. I'm not sure, because I've never kept count before, but my guess is that on a wide-mouth container like Stirling uses, seeing the bottom of the middle means the puck is approximately half gone. That's just a guess, though.
Anyway, have a great day.
Just two observations.
1) At first the straight razor seemed unwieldy, and the fact that your hand is not where the blade is seemed odd, to say the least. In other words, when you are shaving the cheek right in front of the ear, your hand is actually near the front part of your cheek. With DE and SE, the hand is just below the blade.
Today, using the AS-D2, I realized that to get your hand into position to shave the part right in front of the ear on the right side, using your right hand, you really have to move the shoulder joint and bend the elbow. It's not a problem, just an observation. It's actually a lot easier to get that part just below the sideburn using a straight razor.
2) In the past, when I used DEs mostly, I didn't like "blade feel." I deliberately chose razors without much blade feel. I even sold my Blackland Blackbird razor because it had too much blade feel, even though I never got anything but great shaves with it.
Shaving with a straight razor has given me an entirely new appreciation for blade feel. The crazy thing is that now when I shave with a DE or SE, the blade is pretty much all I feel. Even on a mild razor like the AS-D2. I guess I have trained my face to feel the blade. So now, even with the AS-D2 or another DE, I am altering my pressure and angle minutely based on the feel of the blade on my face.
The end result is that I get better shaves with less irritation by feeling the blade, as opposed to trying to not feel the blade. This is truly a 180 for me.
Anyway, a great two-pass shave. The only downside was that on this morning's shave I was able to see a tiny bit of the bottom of the container in the center of my Stirling Peach soap. I'm not sure, because I've never kept count before, but my guess is that on a wide-mouth container like Stirling uses, seeing the bottom of the middle means the puck is approximately half gone. That's just a guess, though.
Anyway, have a great day.
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Catching up from being way behind Randal!
Great shaves and reads.
To me the journal is a place to record my shaves and my impressions. I can refer back to it and see what I thought about a product or brand. If I'm considering a blind purchase I can search and see if anyone else has any experience with it. I attempt to write in an informative way so others might use my experience to learn, but ultimately it's my journal, and even if no one reads it, it still serves its main purpose for me.
Great shaves and reads.
To me the journal is a place to record my shaves and my impressions. I can refer back to it and see what I thought about a product or brand. If I'm considering a blind purchase I can search and see if anyone else has any experience with it. I attempt to write in an informative way so others might use my experience to learn, but ultimately it's my journal, and even if no one reads it, it still serves its main purpose for me.
more good stuff, you should post your video in the Media Forum
87/124
As luck would have it, yesterday was one of those very rare days in which I didn't shave. We had guests in our home who were leaving in the morning. I had the day off from work. The lawn was overdue for a mowing because of all the rain. We needed to go work-out at the Y. One thing led to another, and by the time I got back from my work-out, it was dinnertime; way too late to shave.
So this morning I had a scruffy-looking face and a more daunting task. For me, daily shaving has always been the easiest, and I have always dreaded the shave after I skipped a day. This has been true regardless of what method/tool I use for the shave. (Yes, I am fully aware that some of you actually ENJOY shaving the longer stubble more; I am not among you.)
Anyway, on to the shave. I lathered up Soapy Science in Doc's Special Blend (figured this might help, because it has wintergreen EO in it, which is a pain reliever, lol), and started the shave. I used the Noonan and Sons blade.
First pass went OK. There was a bit more tugging, especially in the dense areas around the chin and on certain parts of the neck, but not too bad. First pass reduction was reasonable. I did two more passes on the cheeks and one more on the neck, and then cleaned up a bit with my AS-D2.
Overall, not too bad. I had one tiny red spot on the right cheek and possibly one irritated hair follicle on the left cheek. I think I used a bit too much pressure and/or a bit too steep an angle in an attempt to get a more efficient first pass. I should've just trusted the process of beard reduction. I think I was trying to see if I could get most of it on one pass, which was probably a wrong-headed thought process right from the start. The blade is also dulling just a bit, I think. Not sure how many shaves I have on it now since the honing, but it's probably about 8 or 9.
Overall, though, the shave wasn't bad at all. Ended up CCS, at least. The areas of irritation are not large enough to be noticed by anybody but me. I got yet another fantastic lather with the Soapy Science. Really digging this soap. Overall, I'd say it was a win.
Have a great day, gents.
As luck would have it, yesterday was one of those very rare days in which I didn't shave. We had guests in our home who were leaving in the morning. I had the day off from work. The lawn was overdue for a mowing because of all the rain. We needed to go work-out at the Y. One thing led to another, and by the time I got back from my work-out, it was dinnertime; way too late to shave.
So this morning I had a scruffy-looking face and a more daunting task. For me, daily shaving has always been the easiest, and I have always dreaded the shave after I skipped a day. This has been true regardless of what method/tool I use for the shave. (Yes, I am fully aware that some of you actually ENJOY shaving the longer stubble more; I am not among you.)
Anyway, on to the shave. I lathered up Soapy Science in Doc's Special Blend (figured this might help, because it has wintergreen EO in it, which is a pain reliever, lol), and started the shave. I used the Noonan and Sons blade.
First pass went OK. There was a bit more tugging, especially in the dense areas around the chin and on certain parts of the neck, but not too bad. First pass reduction was reasonable. I did two more passes on the cheeks and one more on the neck, and then cleaned up a bit with my AS-D2.
Overall, not too bad. I had one tiny red spot on the right cheek and possibly one irritated hair follicle on the left cheek. I think I used a bit too much pressure and/or a bit too steep an angle in an attempt to get a more efficient first pass. I should've just trusted the process of beard reduction. I think I was trying to see if I could get most of it on one pass, which was probably a wrong-headed thought process right from the start. The blade is also dulling just a bit, I think. Not sure how many shaves I have on it now since the honing, but it's probably about 8 or 9.
Overall, though, the shave wasn't bad at all. Ended up CCS, at least. The areas of irritation are not large enough to be noticed by anybody but me. I got yet another fantastic lather with the Soapy Science. Really digging this soap. Overall, I'd say it was a win.
Have a great day, gents.
Nice Narrative
Nice read and shave Randall!
I don't really have a preference one way or the other so far as to days of growth vs enjoyment of shave. Well maybe just a little toward more growth with a straight just in the satisfaction of seeing the whiskers in the lather when you wipe the blade.
I don't really have a preference one way or the other so far as to days of growth vs enjoyment of shave. Well maybe just a little toward more growth with a straight just in the satisfaction of seeing the whiskers in the lather when you wipe the blade.
Excellent. You are going to love it.
I hope it's a strongly scented peppermint - I'm looking forward to it. I've been hoping to find a really good peppermint shaving soap. I have the AoS Peppermint shaving cream, and it's delightful. But a soap has been elusive since Strop Shoppe closed down.