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Steve's Journal: The Saga Continues....

clyde72 said:
Good shave and picture Steve!

FYI I think it was Dave that recommended putting talc on before bed when you have irritation. It worked for me!

I haven't tried this but I'll give it a shot the next time I have issues.
 
I was going to take the night off tonight to give my face a break, but with the shave mail delivery I couldn't help myself!



Wet Shaving Products delivery! Samples of Mahogany, Barbershop, Gaelic Tweed, and Ol' Kentucky. Full tub of Blackbeard. They also threw in a sample of their handsoap in Barbershop scent.

They all smell amazing. The only one I was disappointed with was Gaelic Tweed. I was expecting a different scent but this is a very clean, plain scent at first sniff. It may develop a bit more once bloomed and lathered, but I expected something totally different. Not a bad scent though.

The Barbershop is more citrus than powder, which doesn't really remind me of a Barbershop, but is still a very good scent to me.

The others are hard for me to describe. Very hard to pin down an overall description, but very good scents none the less.

Tonight I went the Blackbeard. The main scents I picked out from this one were clove and some sort of spice. I wasn't sure what to expect with this scent, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

I also am trying to take everyone's advice and only change one thing at a time, so everything but the soap and AS stayed the same from last night's shave. Kingsley pure badger, Stirling Soap Co. DE...still needs a nickname....razor loaded with an Astra SP. Pre and post routines were also the same.


I did my version of the 4 pass shave 2 hybrid W/XTG passes and 2 A/XTG passes. I got very little irritation, but I did slip on the corner of my mouth and re nicked and previous nick. Otherwise it was a very comfortable shave throughout.

The soap....This stuff is GREAT! The scent is fairly strong, which I like. Most soaps I can't really smell after the second pass is halfway over, this was still going strong after the 4th pass! And it lathered very well. Very quickly and easily. I only added a few drops of water one time. Otherwise I shook the brush twice gently after soaking it while in the shower, and lathered with the water that it soaked up.

I was very impressed with the soap overall. Can't wait to test out the samples!

I also think I may have been using a bad angle this whole time (again). When I first started DE shaving, I though my angle was much too steep. I was getting a lot of irritation, in grown hairs, and weepers. So I adjusted to a much more shallow angle. At the same time I realized I was using unnecessary pressure, which I also corrected. Tonight, I realized that at some point during my 3rd pass I adjusted my angle to be a bit more steep. This wasn't intentional, but when I realized what I had done I also realized that I was getting a much closer shave. It's hard to ask if the angle is what I should've been looking for the hard time, because it's hard to explain accurately.

Ultimately whatever it was worked. For the second time ever using a DE razor, I have achieved a complete BBS shave!!!! No signs of stubble in any direction on my face or neck!

I'm pretty pumped! Now the goal is to do it again tomorrow haha!
 
I haven’t tried the GTB yet. I’ll have to grab a sample and see how I do with the cedar. I do love the smell of gunpowder.
 
Great mail call Steve and wonderful shave with the WSP Blackbeard!! WSP does indeed make a great soap. Gaelic Tweed is their take on Creed Green Irish Tweed (GIT for short), which is what Davidoff Cool Water EdT is based off of.
 
Dagwoodz said:
Great mail call Steve and wonderful shave with the WSP Blackbeard!! WSP does indeed make a great soap. Gaelic Tweed is their take on Creed Green Irish Tweed (GIT for short), which is what Davidoff Cool Water EdT is based off of.

I have Stirling Soap CO's Sharp Dressed Man AS which is also supposed to be based on GIT. I don't think Gaelic Tweed and SDM smell anything alike haha. Could just be me though, I don't have the best sniffer.
 
I forgot to add that when describing Blackbeard to a friend, I used the following statement: I feel like I should be drinking a tankard of ale in Tortuga. The scent is definitely a winner in my book!
 
I almost forgot to congratulate you on the BBS. The first one is awesome!

Every one after that is just ... awesome too!
 
Congrats on the great shave. I tend to use a bit steeper of an angle with a DE than normal too. It works for some, but not everyone. However, it is easier to get irritation if you are not careful.
 
WSP makes great products. Unfortunately for me, the Barbershop and the Gaelic Tweed both irritated the heck out of my face. I don't do well with certain citrus oils and scents, so I am wondering if maybe both were too heavy on Bergamot or something.

If you like the Gaelic Tweed, I have a 100ml. bottle of the EdP. I have only used it a few times. PM me your address and I will send it to you.
 
Quijote said:
Congrats on the great shave. I tend to use a bit steeper of an angle with a DE than normal too. It works for some, but not everyone. However, it is easier to get irritation if you are not careful.

I’ve heard of the whole steep angle approach but I know it doesn’t work for everyone. I assumed it wouldn’t work for me so I never thought about trying it. It could be that I was Just way too shallow to begin with and now I’m not going steep, just steeper than what I had been doing and now I’m at the average angle that works. Either way I’m gonna keep doing what I did last night as long as it doesn’t cause issues. It might not be the “right” way, but if it works it works haha!
 
SteveChuckFrank said:
It might not be the “right” way, but if it works it works haha!

There really isn't a right or wrong way (unless you start talking side to side motions!), so if it works for you, it's the RIGHT way!! ?
 
Dagwoodz said:
There really isn't a right or wrong way (unless you start talking side to side motions!), so if it works for you, it's the RIGHT way!! ?

Haha I heard a quick zig-zag motion is the best, especially when you apply heavy pressure!!! ???
 
Congrats on the BBS! The first couple few are very special and you never forget them.
 
I've been a bit busy the last few days and haven't been able to post any progress update. So, here's a quick update on the last 2 shaves....

Journal Entry #5 & 6

I've been doing good with not changing too many variables and really dialing in my razor and technique. Still sticking with the Stirling (still accepting nominations for a nickname) and an Astra SP. I believe this is the 3rd and 4th use for this blade.

For Saturday's shave I went with my usual adapted 4 pass shave using my trusty GTB soap. GTB Posse, mount up! I got another BBS shave almost everywhere, a few spots on the neck were still showing signs of stubble against the grain, but I didn't want to cause too much irritation as I was taking a client out to look at houses. I wanted to look presentable, and I figured a little unnoticeable stubble was better than a lot of razor burn! I finished up with some Stirling Sharp Dressed Man and out the door I went.

Today, I went with the same setup, only changing up soaps. I had received a few samples of K Shave Worx soaps from my buddy a few months back. About a month ago I decided to give the Frazzled Kilt scent a try and had what I thought was a bad reaction to an ingredient in the soap. Then a few weeks ago I had the same thing happen with another soap, very similar reaciton, but after a very bad shave with a questionable razor and blade...I decided to accept a challenge to shave with a Dollar Tree DE razor and blade. While it didn't draw blood, it didn't shave very well either. I then revisited that soap while using the Stirling and had no reaction, so I thought the initial run with the Frazzled Kilt may have been the same thing. When I first tried it out, I was still pretty fresh and though maybe the irritation that I though was a reaction was really just a bad shave caused by bad technique.

Turns out I was right.

The Frazzled Kilt gave me no irritation at all. While I did get a good shave, I will say that the WSP soap I started using earlier in the week and GTB are both superior soaps. The K Shave seemed to dry up very quickly on my face and was in constant need of additional water at first. Once I got it dialed in though, it got the job done.

The scent is their version of Irish Tweed, and is one of 3 scents I've smelled that are based on it. None of them smell similar to me haha! This one has more of a cologne kind of feel to it than WSP Gaelic Tweed, but less than Stirling's Sharp Dressed Man. Still good though, I really like all 3 scents but kind of wish they didn't all claim to be based off the same thing because none of them smell alike.

Overall I think I'm really starting to find my stride. It's pretty exciting haha!
 
Great read and shave Steve!

It is best to not change up things at first for sure! There's plenty of time for that!
 
Get your groove Steve. Then start changing variables. Makes it easier to determine where the problems lie.
 
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