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Steve's Journal: The Saga Continues....
- Thread starter SteveChuckFrank
- Start date
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
Hey everyone, checking in again to let you all know I'm still alive lol.
Thanks for all the advice! I do typically try to ride the cap, or get as close that as possible. I tried a steep angle a few times and it wasn't really for me. I felt that, not only did I get a fair amount of irritation, but the shave also wasn't very close. So, back to the shallow angle I went.
My biggest adversary is rushing, and too much pressure. As Dave says, just when you think you're shaving with no pressure, you still aren't! But I'll get there. My shaves have been getting better when I take my time and pay attention, I just don't always have that extra time to do so!
I've also tried some different things to get a closer shave on my neck, as that's always noticeably different than the rest of my face. Turning my head different ways, stretching the skin. Anything to try to get a flat surface, as I feel that's the main issue. It almost feels like certain areas are missed because the razor can't follow the curve. I think I found a pretty good technique by kind of leaning forward and looking straight ahead. If anyone has any special tricks, I'm all ears!
Also, after trying a few Stirling soap samples and comparing them to others that I've tried, I'm not impressed. It's a great soap, don't get me wrong. And I would definitely buy Stirling soap if I wanted a specific scent they offered. I just don't think they're quite as good as some people say. I'm currently getting much better results from RazoRock and WSP. But as everything else goes with this hobby, YMMV!!!
Hope everyone is doing well!
Thanks for all the advice! I do typically try to ride the cap, or get as close that as possible. I tried a steep angle a few times and it wasn't really for me. I felt that, not only did I get a fair amount of irritation, but the shave also wasn't very close. So, back to the shallow angle I went.
My biggest adversary is rushing, and too much pressure. As Dave says, just when you think you're shaving with no pressure, you still aren't! But I'll get there. My shaves have been getting better when I take my time and pay attention, I just don't always have that extra time to do so!
I've also tried some different things to get a closer shave on my neck, as that's always noticeably different than the rest of my face. Turning my head different ways, stretching the skin. Anything to try to get a flat surface, as I feel that's the main issue. It almost feels like certain areas are missed because the razor can't follow the curve. I think I found a pretty good technique by kind of leaning forward and looking straight ahead. If anyone has any special tricks, I'm all ears!
Also, after trying a few Stirling soap samples and comparing them to others that I've tried, I'm not impressed. It's a great soap, don't get me wrong. And I would definitely buy Stirling soap if I wanted a specific scent they offered. I just don't think they're quite as good as some people say. I'm currently getting much better results from RazoRock and WSP. But as everything else goes with this hobby, YMMV!!!
Hope everyone is doing well!
WSP is a beast of a soap and is hard to beat. Razorock also is no slouch. so if you compare those two to stirling both win at my house too performance wise but Stirling is high tier 2 low tier 1 for sure
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
I agree with that 100%. I wouldn't say Stirling is bad at all, but I've seen a lot of people say that it can't be beat performance wise.
I had the same problem with the neck. Without thinking about it, I would apply more pressure to try to get a flat surface to shave with. And no matter how far I twisted my neck or stretched it got me a flat surface. I also found with skin stretching came more irritation. I now usually employ the double chin method. You need to have experienced a decent amount of cookies and pizza in your life to get this to work. Instead of trying to make my neck longer, I make it shorter. Look forward and tilt my head slightly down, purposefully making the neck more meaty and almost pushing out the dips and hills rather than trying to stretch them away. You'll see this on the 3rd neck pass on my videos.
Performance wise, yes.... but based strickly on slickness, it is hard to beat. That's where Stirling shines!
I believe Dave called that the Bull frogging technique in his video.
I havent had enough cookies or pizza yet then i cant do that one at all
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
I'm still a few slices away from being able to employ the double chin technique haha.
Dave in KY
Shave Newbie
Hey Steve, I spent the 1st 21 years of my life in Levittown. Sounds like nearby to you. Dave did a video I think in the tutorial section that discusses some options that might help. I've always employed them when I have time with decent results. Gillette Slide, J-Hooking, Buffing and the Bull Frogging already spoke of. Cheers
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
Yeah Levittown isn't too far away! I'll have to check out the tutorial. Thanks for the tip! I'm not getting bad shaves, just looking to improve.
MilkCrate
"I am a Milk Crate with Dreams"
I'm going to pretend that I didn't read this.
<scooby do>ruh ro</scooby do>
SteveChuckFrank
Close Enough*
Hey guys, checking in again. It's been a while. The real estate gig is starting to cool off for now, so I have some free time. I was so busy over the summer (which is usually slow) that I even won Agent of the Month in my office for the month of July! Not bad for the new guy haha!
As for the shaves, I kind of felt like I reached a plateau and wasn't really improving any. I was getting ok shaves, but still had irritation, wasn't as close as I'd like, and was becoming less enjoyable than when I was improving with each shave.
Then I finally watched Dave's video on some of the more intermediate, or even advanced, techniques. Mostly the Gillette Slide and J-Hooking. I realized after watching the video that somewhere along the way, I started implementing a very slight slide naturally without realizing it. After switching to a more exaggerated slide I've gotten a much smoother shave above the jaw line that seems to last much longer.
Now my neck and just below the jawline have always been impossible for me. I can get them to almost DFS but not quite. Consistently I have only been able get those 2 areas to socially acceptable. Which is fine, it still looks ok and really only bothers me because no one else can really notice. Then Dave introduced me to J-Hooking! After the first attempt it was a world of difference. I'd even dare to say DFS+! Now, being that it was my first attempt I did have some unwanted leakage of the red sticky stuff...but as with anything else there is a learning curve to this I'm sure. I'd say for a first timer, only 2 small nicks on the neck is a win in my book. And the next day they were completely healed and not visible. I could still feel a bit of the aftermath, but it wasn't too bad.
The quality of the shave has jumped up though, and that's what I'm excited about. I'm now able to get a very close shave on the neck (and hopefully it will improve with practice) and the irritation has even gone down.
As far as the journal, I have to say I feel a little guilty about posting here. I don't post just to have people comment or anything like that. If people do, they do. And hopefully it's something that I can either learn from or laugh at lol. But if not it's ok too. I just feel bad that I don't have the time to keep up with everyone else's. I tried to catch up on Milkcrate's the other day and I was so far behind I just had to stop lol. Hopefully one day I'll be able to catch up because I do miss hearing about everyone else's experiences.
As for the shaves, I kind of felt like I reached a plateau and wasn't really improving any. I was getting ok shaves, but still had irritation, wasn't as close as I'd like, and was becoming less enjoyable than when I was improving with each shave.
Then I finally watched Dave's video on some of the more intermediate, or even advanced, techniques. Mostly the Gillette Slide and J-Hooking. I realized after watching the video that somewhere along the way, I started implementing a very slight slide naturally without realizing it. After switching to a more exaggerated slide I've gotten a much smoother shave above the jaw line that seems to last much longer.
Now my neck and just below the jawline have always been impossible for me. I can get them to almost DFS but not quite. Consistently I have only been able get those 2 areas to socially acceptable. Which is fine, it still looks ok and really only bothers me because no one else can really notice. Then Dave introduced me to J-Hooking! After the first attempt it was a world of difference. I'd even dare to say DFS+! Now, being that it was my first attempt I did have some unwanted leakage of the red sticky stuff...but as with anything else there is a learning curve to this I'm sure. I'd say for a first timer, only 2 small nicks on the neck is a win in my book. And the next day they were completely healed and not visible. I could still feel a bit of the aftermath, but it wasn't too bad.
The quality of the shave has jumped up though, and that's what I'm excited about. I'm now able to get a very close shave on the neck (and hopefully it will improve with practice) and the irritation has even gone down.
As far as the journal, I have to say I feel a little guilty about posting here. I don't post just to have people comment or anything like that. If people do, they do. And hopefully it's something that I can either learn from or laugh at lol. But if not it's ok too. I just feel bad that I don't have the time to keep up with everyone else's. I tried to catch up on Milkcrate's the other day and I was so far behind I just had to stop lol. Hopefully one day I'll be able to catch up because I do miss hearing about everyone else's experiences.
Congrats on finding some techniques that are working out better for you. If you get the time, you could always watch a few of the member videos and tutorials and pick up some other techniques from them.
No worries on the journals. You make time when you can, and we understand that there isn't always time for the forum. Just know that we do enjoy hearing from you when you do drop by!
No worries on the journals. You make time when you can, and we understand that there isn't always time for the forum. Just know that we do enjoy hearing from you when you do drop by!
That's cool the video helped you find a better shave.
Let has been said, don't worry trying to keep up with everything. Hopefully one day the site will be so big nobody will be able to keep up with everything. Plus some of these guys just post like there's no tomorrow!
Let has been said, don't worry trying to keep up with everything. Hopefully one day the site will be so big nobody will be able to keep up with everything. Plus some of these guys just post like there's no tomorrow!