Journal Entry #18
Pre Shave: Hot shower, shampoo'd beard
Shave: Fatip Grande, Astra SP, Kingsley pure badger, CF Ghost Town Barber soap
Post Shave: Cold rinse, alum, cold rinse, witch hazel, Stirling SDM AS
Tonight was more of the same. Took last night off so I had about 36 hours growth. Usually this equates to a better shave for me, but for some reason not tonight. Still not as bad as a few shaves ago though.
I did try a bit steeper of an angle, but not too extreme. It didn't really seem to make a difference one way or the other.
I was very conscious to not apply any pressure. But there were definitely times where I felt that I was applying pressure. Sometimes the razor will stall, and the natural reaction is to apply pressure to keep the razor moving.
I think I'm already ready to move on from the Fatip/Astra combo, but I will continue until Sunday. Sunday is going to be my switch day.
Irritation wise, it was a bit better today as far as the recovery time. Most of the redness was visibly gone within 45 minutes. Some of the bumps were also gone. I also had a few weepers tonight that the cold rinse wasn't taking care of, so I had to break out the alum again. I really don't know if the alum aggravates the irritation or not, but I was trying to not use it for a while to see what happened.
The closeness of the shave could be graded as a close shave, though certainly not comfortable haha, but we'll get there. I am still getting very frustrated, but I refuse to give up!
I will probably take off tomorrow night and have another shave on Saturday morning. I'll be taking a couple to look at houses (their first home!) Saturday afternoon and I'll need to look like a professional. Hopefully I'll be low on the irritation that day, otherwise I'll probably look better if I don't shave haha!
I've also gone back and read some of my entries here. I've realized that lately (out of frustration) there has been a lot of negativity and whiney attitude from me. That's not what I want to portray here. This is supposed to be a place to share and, give and receive advice. Not a place to complain. So I'm making a concerted effort to cry a little less around here haha!
I really do appreciate everyone's advice too. I'm taking it all in and trying to come up with the best mix of it all. You guys are the best! Thank you!
Here's to positive vibes and (hopefully) smooth shaves!!!!