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novicewetshaver's shave journal

straight razor shave #2
todays straight razor shave went a bit better than yesterdays. i stropped my razor 20 on the linen side and then 40 on the leather side to start out with. For todays soap i used b&m spice melange, it took a lot of water, i did around 6 and a 1/2 tsp to 1/2 tsp of product and it created a really creamy slick lather. i did 1 pass on face with the straight razor. the right side was a bit easier to shave today and i was able to get half down the neck on the right side, getting under my nose proved challenging, the blade seems gynormus for those smaller spaces, chin area wasnt too bad. i switched to the left and did the side burn and cheek area but was having prblems getting the blade angled correctly for the area. i rinsed the blade and dried it and proceeded with a 3 shave pass with my gilliette fatboy, I got a few nicks here and there and slight irratation around the chin area and the bottom of the neck area. over all a decent shave

todays gear
B&M spice melange flavor 7 tsp of water added slowly
Double duck straight razor ( i think its a 5/8, but matt can correct me if im wrong. not sure of the exact specifics on the blade, i forgot :( )
gillette fatboy settings 7 and 9
captains choice lather bowl
thayer's witch hazle in Rose flavor
B&M spice melange aftershave
B&M spice melange aftershave balm

i think i will give the straight another try tomrrow and see how it goes. my face doesnt feel to beat up from todays shave.
 
straight shave #3
for todays shave i did another straight shave. i did the right side of my face and chin and about half way down my neck on the right side, which was slight easier today althought when i got towards the neck area i was feeling a bit of resistance, could have been the lather or maybe the angle. i notice that i cant angel the blade too much with out it feeling like its going to bite my face. i switched over to the left side and did the side burns and part of my chin, but could quite get some of the curves around my chin area and it was a bit more challenging trying to make the curve from chin to the neck area so i stopped and switched over to my fat boy. relahtered and did a normal shave. i tried to keep the pressure quite lite between the starwight and the fatboy for all passes. For today's soap i used wholly kaw's timmerman's red, i really enjoyed the soap althought i think i might have pushed it a bit too far i added about 4 tsp of water but prbly should have stopped at 3 and a 1/2 tsp. the stuff smells really good, although i ran out of lather on my last pass so i had to get some more soap from the tub to make enough for my head shave. head shave went quite well. i only had mild irration around the chin area and my face post shave feel felt really nice although i did feel like an aftershave balm would have been nice. i only got the soap and the a/s but i will be picking up a balm from whlly kaw later on today. over all a pretty good shave with a wonderful new FLAVOR of soap.

todays gear
Double duck wonderedge 5/8 1 pass
gillette fatboy 7 and 9
Thayer's witch hazel Rose flavor
timmerman's red flavor soap
timmerman's red aftershave
captain's choice shave bowl.
 
novicewetshaver said:
i notice that i cant angel the blade too much with out it feeling like its going to bite my face.
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In general, you don’t want the blade angled that much anyway…the spine should be angled not more than a spine width or two off your skin. If you do shave with anything steeper, that’s where experience and a super light touch will help…though you’re asking for trouble regardless at that point IMO 😂
 
a slightly rough but very satisfying shave with shannon's soaps
for todays shave i used shannon's indogo reserve soap, my first time with her soaps. i really enjoyed the scent it was quite pleasant. i mixed 1/2 tsp with about 4 and 1/2 tsp of water wich was a bit too much. i started off the shave with my double duck straight razor for the right side of my face and a bit in the neck area, but something just felt off perhaps i had overhydrated the lather because it felt like there was a lot of resistnace when try to cut the whiskers. i switched over to my gilltette fatboy and did a 4 shave pass. for the first pass the razor felt like it was tugging, so i switched over to a fresh feather blade and the shave seem to go a bit better. i finished up the shave and my face felt slightlly irratated but very well hydrated even though i think i may have broken the lather or made it slightly too thin. so i emptied out my lather bowl and repeated my lathering process but this time i only used 3 and 1/2 tsp for my head shave shave. i got a very slick creamy lather shiny lather and it felt very hydrating and my gillette fatboy seemed to glide while shaving with no resistance. my head felt very well hydrated and i had no irratation with it. i was suprised that after the shave i didnt feel like i needed a post shave balm. i used some thayers witchhazel aftershave balm in lavender to give the scent a bit of a darker note to it and finished off with the matching aftershave. My skin post shave feels very soothed and hydrated. I'm going to see if i can produce this with more shaves. i think 3 and 1/2 tsp of water might be where i need to stop adding water to my lathers. over all a pretty damn good shave.
 
Good call starting the lather over! Do you dump the extra water in to build your lather all at once or do you add it a little at a time?
 
@novicewetshaver
When I was developing my skills with new and different hardware I found that limiting the changes in the consumable products helped me acclimate better on the gear.

You may want to consider using a soap you like and have become comfortable with for a whole week to see if the practice can work for you.

It might have been overboard, but when I committed to 100 consecutive shaves to learn straights, I used the same soap the whole time.

I also did the same as you are by using partials in the beginning and completing with a more familiar tool.

Keep up the good work, you’ll get there.
 
for todays shave i agian used shannons soaps, but i went with 3 and a 1/2 tsp of water instead of yesterdays 4 and a half tsps. i used my double duck for the first pass and there was much less resistance and much more glide today. i was able to get underneath the chin area and neck area on both sides for the first pass. alhtough my left side did give me a bit of troublle. i went on to do another 3 passes with my d/e. i noticed tho that towards the end of the shave the lather thinned out too much so tomrrow im going to try adding only to add 3 tsps of water to the mix and see how that goes. the lather was lookingg pretty thin by the time i did my head shave. i ended the shave with some thayers lavender flavror as well as some of cbls skin tonic unscented and finished off with the matching aftershave. over a pretty good shave if not slightly rough. we will see what tomrrow brings.
 
Playin with lather
I got some island estate bay rum from milkcrate a few weeks back and decided to do a test lather with it today. i didnt really feel like shaving today so i decided to lather it up and see how it performed on the hand. i used half a teaspoon scoop to 3 and 1/2 teaspoons of water. It created a pretty dense creamy lather, really thick. i was quite surprised, i added another 1/2 teaspoon and got a r3eally shiny thick creamy lather. seemed to be pretty slick and it didnt seem like the lather was breaking even with 4 tsp of water. i did notice that when i was done experimenting there was still quite a bit of soap on the bottom of my captain choices bowl in one of the grooves. i think i need a new shave bowl. Sometimes i have the hardest time getting the soap out of the grooves no matter hard i scrub at it with my brush. been thinking about getting a copper bowl. the scent on the soap didnt seem to stick around much after the lather, im hoping the aftershave will have a bit more staying power when i get some. thats all i got for today.
 
With me, I get too many cuts and "Knicks"(as I called it in the other forum). Sometimes zero of each which puts a smile on my face. I've been on a good streak lately. Pressure has been a problem for me. Easy does it, I should keep saying. I'm clean-shaven and that's how it will always be from here on out.
 
knicks are a problem for me as well. usually around the chin and moustache area. depending on the soap im using i can have dry or tight skin as well. but i havent had tight skin in a whle so i guess thats a plus.
 
another partial straightt shave.
for todays shave i decided to give that cooper and french i got a try. i used about 1/2 tsp of product to about 3 tsp of water added slowly. i couldnt really get creamy lather from it tho. i got a very thin foamy lather. coulndt seem to get this one to do what i wanted after about the three tries. i did a three pass rough shave and a 2 pass head shave. the head shave went a bit better, i siwtched over to a synthetic brush for the head shave and the lather came out a bit better. Not sure if im going to keep this one or not. maybe i can get a better lather tomrrow. i did a 1 pass straight shave only going partially down the neck area. left side still giving me some trouble. i think i will try a dfferent soap out for tomrrows shave. face feels a bit rough. finished the shave off with some lavender flavored withc hazel and some old goat aftershave balm. hopefully tomrrow will be a better shave.
 
Getting back into the swing of things with shaving. came down with the second bout of the covid a few weeks ago but it was a lot milder and im doing a lot better know. For today's shave i went with seaforth spiced. i love that stuff, great scent. i started out with some pretty dry soap on the bottom of the bowl and loaded it like i hated it, this seems to be working much better as i seem to get more of the product into the brush. i did about 3 tsp of water to 1/2 tsp of prodcut and that seemed to work really well. ive been trying to get match the consistancy and look of barberdave and matt's lathers to my own. i have been getting better lathers doing it this rather than trying to make super sheeny youtube lathers. i dont know how some of those youtubers make there lathers but i can never get mine to look like theres, specifically iamcbd, but i think im getting there in terms of lather. i did my first pass with my double duck today. i stropped it 20 on the rough side and 40 on the smoother side of the strop and then did the cheek and chin area of my face for the first pass. im getting a bit better with the right side and holding the straight, but i still struggle a bit when going left handed. i did three additional passes with my gillette fatboy set to setting seven and then a clean up pass on setting 9. i also used some of PAA'S the cube to boost the lather a bit and my face didnt feel so beat up after the shave, i think this paired with slightly less water is helpling. i finshed off the shave with thayers lavender witch hazel and then the matching aftershave and paraso's aftershave balm. Was looking forward to the zoom call meeting, but i had to do some errands today and take my mother to a few stores and by the time i got i was beat from dealin with all these california drivers. i will try to make the next one, hope tonights zoom call was a good one. talk to you fine folks later on, looking forward to seeing more barberdave's and matts shaving vidoes for the week, you guys make straight razor shaving look easy. anyways im off to play some fallout before i call it a night.
 
novicewetshaver said:
Getting back into the swing of things with shaving. came down with the second bout of the covid a few weeks ago but it was a lot milder and im doing a lot better know. For today's shave i went with seaforth spiced. i love that stuff, great scent. i started out with some pretty dry soap on the bottom of the bowl and loaded it like i hated it, this seems to be working much better as i seem to get more of the product into the brush. i did about 3 tsp of water to 1/2 tsp of prodcut and that seemed to work really well. ive been trying to get match the consistancy and look of barberdave and matt's lathers to my own. i have been getting better lathers doing it this rather than trying to make super sheeny youtube lathers. i dont know how some of those youtubers make there lathers but i can never get mine to look like theres, specifically iamcbd, but i think im getting there in terms of lather. i did my first pass with my double duck today. i stropped it 20 on the rough side and 40 on the smoother side of the strop and then did the cheek and chin area of my face for the first pass. im getting a bit better with the right side and holding the straight, but i still struggle a bit when going left handed. i did three additional passes with my gillette fatboy set to setting seven and then a clean up pass on setting 9. i also used some of PAA'S the cube to boost the lather a bit and my face didnt feel so beat up after the shave, i think this paired with slightly less water is helpling. i finshed off the shave with thayers lavender witch hazel and then the matching aftershave and paraso's aftershave balm. Was looking forward to the zoom call meeting, but i had to do some errands today and take my mother to a few stores and by the time i got i was beat from dealin with all these california drivers. i will try to make the next one, hope tonights zoom call was a good one. talk to you fine folks later on, looking forward to seeing more barberdave's and matts shaving vidoes for the week, you guys make straight razor shaving look easy. anyways im off to play some fallout before i call it a night.
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I definitely make cutting myself look easy 😂

Thanks for the kind words my friend.
 
afternoon shave a square point wedge and some bay rum
For todays shave i tried out a new straight razor courtesy of @Luecke3262. Ive been using my goldedge for most of my shave, still doing only one pass with it but i wanted to try out a wedge to see how they compared, the wedge seemed to be over all a lot more smoother and less toothy. it didnt feel like it was going to bite me which was nice. it seemed easier to handle and was more manuverable than my full hollow. today felt like a bay rum day so i went with stirlings bay rum. for my second and third pass i switched over to my fatboy and got a decent shave. finished off with thayers lavender and stirlings aftershave and there balm. thanks again for the wedge matt, enoyed it.
 
First Pass Complete
For today i decided to mix things up a bit. ive been using alot of seaforth spice lately as well shannon's soap indigo oud and her bay rum. But today felt like a cubebe day, and i wanted to get some more practice with this particular soap. i started off with 1/2 ts of soap to 2 and a half tsp of water. it created a pretty fluffy pillowy lather but it didnt seem to have much sheen to it so i applied it to my face and worked it in and then painted some more water into it. this seemed to work pretty good, the soap felt well hydrated on the face and was pretty slick. i used my goldedge today stopped 30 and sixty times and then proceeded with my shave. i was able to do 1 pass without the razor feeling like it was sticking to the soap, not the best first pass but i was able to get all the way to the bottom of my neck today, the left side was a bit rough and felt like i was white knuckling the straight razor. i finished off the shave with my gillette fatboy which was decent. got a few nicks and slight irratation around the chin moustache area. trying to figure out whether i should set the aggression on the razor down some and see how that works out. always have trouble around the moustache area/chin area on setting 7. i will say that i enjoyed the straight more today than other days and more than the fatboy, or perhaps i just need more practice with the soap. i normally get a good shave with shannons soaps and seaforth spiced, although i have been using PAA's cube with those shaves and it seems to help, need to look for an alternative to that one tho. i finished off the shave with thayer's rose flavored witch hazel and the cubebe aftershave and finished with some paraso aftershave balm(love this stuff, really helps when i have a bad shave). Need to get better at using the left for shaving and get better at taking the curves with the straight then i can move onto the second and third pass.
 
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