Thread: Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

Your on the right track. I had the same problem when it came to getting my weak hand to perform. Keep going it will work out sooner than you think.

Okay, shave #3 today.

I lathered up some l'Occitane shaving soap. My wife bought it for me. I live in Taipei and have not been able to find any other soaps since the Taylor's of Old Bond Street store went out of business. I've been a wet shaver since 12, and it took me months to learn to lather this stuff. But now, creamy goodness with a beautiful protected glide.

Did a WTG pass and all went smoothly. Never one to miss a chance to push my luck, I moved on to a XTG pass. No problems again. So, why not an ATG pass? I was probably really pushing my luck here, but the lather was nice and I didn't want to stop. The ATG pass went OK, my least smooth pass, but no traumas or anything. Just a bit hard to get used to the feel.

End result: a (reasonably) passable shave. I didn't go and do touch ups and there are a couple places that could have used it - but, I figured I'd done enough. The shave looks good, some spots are BBS the rest is decent enough. No nicks, nor much skin irritation. Happy!

Darren

Shave #4: One Step Forward and a Stumble Back

L'Occitane Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8"
Mach III
Alum Block
Genleman's Tonic Aftershave Balm

I guess I'm going to do a bit of a shave journal here for a few days, it helps me to think about the shave afterwards. So, this is more about personal (shave) self awareness than saying anything meaningful or useful. But, you're welcome to watch my journey for the next few days, should you choose.

I wasn't planning to shave today, but there is a big ole typhoon going through Taipei today. so it is a typhoon day - think snow day, only wetter. I was stuck inside with not much to do. So I figured why not break out the razor and have a go. Threw a wet towel with a few drops of Pomelo smelling essential oil in the freezer, for post shave, and began to set up.

Whipped up a good lather with a couple more drops of Pomelo oil, very hot towel on the face, lathered, stropped my razor, hot toweled the lather off, relathered and commenced a WTG pass. Right from the start I just wasn't feeling it. I didn't feel nearly as sure footed as my last shave. By the time I was coming to the end of my North - South pass I was all but convinced I was going to slice myself. (I didn't).

Not sure why the shave went this way, but after the WTG pass, I packed it in and finished up with my Mach III.

FAIL

Cleaned the DOVO, stropped it and put it away. The stropping was better today, did kind of a windshield wiper motion and some small X-strokes that for unknown reasons helped me to be smooth, as compared to just straight back and forth. (I'm using the SRD Modular Paddle Strop. I like it and it seems good for learning. Someday I want a hanging strop. Looks so cool. But, Asian homes are so small I can't think of a place where I could hang it and actually have space to strop).

The only thing of interest this shave is I started instinctively doing some short scything strokes on the neck, not planned just happened. (Looked on this site after the shave to find out if what I was doing was a thing and if it had a name). Also learned not to bother pushing a straight razor shave onto myself at this point.

Darren

"Just wasn't feeling it" = low concentration = painful mistakes. Always best to stop when this is happening. Don't push yourself too fast you'll enjoy the journey much better.

Shave #5- Dog River Dave's Rainy Day Shave

Yesterday I went out for scotch and cigars, came home and looked at my shave gear, and went "nah", bad idea. (I generally shave in the evenings). So today I got up, did a bit of running around including buying some Truefitt & Hill shave cream. A very slow and painful search on the Internet (in Chinese) revealed one place in Taipei with some shaving supplies, beyond canned goop.

Got home before the giant thunderstorm, but in a DVD of Corner Gas, to remind me of home and contemplated a shave.

Truefitt & Hill 1805 Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO (Bismark) Palisander 6/8"
Alum Block
Gentleman's Tonic Aftershave Balm

Did a wet towel prep and began lathering up the T&H cream. I was so stoked to find this stuff. I've learned to work with l'Occitane soap, but I've never loved it. The T&H produced a gorgeous lather with no problems - nice smell too.

Started with a North-South pass, WTG on my face, somewhat across the grain on my neck. (My neck grows from left to right). At first I tried to follow the grain on my neck, but I couldn't figure out how to get the razor in there without decapitating myself. So now I'm just going N-S until I get better. This first pass went great! Anything I shaved with my right hand came away shockingly smooth. Left hand much improved. Very satisfied up to here.

I then proceeded to a XTG pass, from ear to nose on the left side, and then ear to nose on the right side. My DOVO, which really sings, was quiet on the cheeks, finding its voice again when I hit the chin and mustache. I went upwards on the neck kinda XTG-ish. Nice pass. The only time I felt noticeable awkwardness this shave was trying to go upwards on the right side of my neck with my left hand. At this point, the shave was surprisingly okay looking and feeling. But, not really there yet, and I was enjoying myself.

I finished up with a S-N, ATG-ish, pass. No problems besides a very minor weeper on my chin. I went upwards on the neck again, this time my left hand cooperated with me.

The Alum was pretty mute, except over the weeper.

The quality of the shave stunned me. My cheeks are BBS. Mustache and chin are very good. Underneath the chin I can feel a couple whiskers, but even under the chin is pretty good. And, most amazingly for me is my neck is good. I have an egg shaped patch on the left side of my neck, around the carotid, that I always needs to touched up with some ATG razor buffing - it's pretty smooth now.

I tried to watch my angles closely today. My DOVO has a very thick spine, and I realized that if I angle it 2 or more spine widths from my face, that creates a lot of scrapping. For my razor, and face, 1/2 to 1 spine width seems to be a sweet spot WTG and XTG. ATG I just lay the whole blade against my face or angle it really slightly. That seemed to work okay too.

After the shave I noticed some waterspots on the blade. This is the first time I've had this come up. Perhaps because this shave I ran the blade under water instead of toweling the lather off, which is what I did before. Are these a problem? How do I get rid of them?

Darren

Originally Posted by TaipeiJake

Shave #5- Dog River Dave's Rainy Day Shave

Yesterday I went out for scotch and cigars, came home and looked at my shave gear, and went "nah", bad idea. (I generally shave in the evenings). So today I got up, did a bit of running around including buying some Truefitt & Hill shave cream. A very slow and painful search on the Internet (in Chinese) revealed one place in Taipei with some shaving supplies, beyond canned goop.

Got home before the giant thunderstorm, but in a DVD of Corner Gas, to remind me of home and contemplated a shave.

Truefitt & Hill 1805 Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO (Bismark) Palisander 6/8"
Alum Block
Gentleman's Tonic Aftershave Balm

Did a wet towel prep and began lathering up the T&H cream. I was so stoked to find this stuff. I've learned to work with l'Occitane soap, but I've never loved it. The T&H produced a gorgeous lather with no problems - nice smell too.

Started with a North-South pass, WTG on my face, somewhat across the grain on my neck. (My neck grows from left to right). At first I tried to follow the grain on my neck, but I couldn't figure out how to get the razor in there without decapitating myself. So now I'm just going N-S until I get better. This first pass went great! Anything I shaved with my right hand came away shockingly smooth. Left hand much improved. Very satisfied up to here.

I then proceeded to a XTG pass, from ear to nose on the left side, and then ear to nose on the right side. My DOVO, which really sings, was quiet on the cheeks, finding its voice again when I hit the chin and mustache. I went upwards on the neck kinda XTG-ish. Nice pass. The only time I felt noticeable awkwardness this shave was trying to go upwards on the right side of my neck with my left hand. At this point, the shave was surprisingly okay looking and feeling. But, not really there yet, and I was enjoying myself.

I finished up with a S-N, ATG-ish, pass. No problems besides a very minor weeper on my chin. I went upwards on the neck again, this time my left hand cooperated with me.

The Alum was pretty mute, except over the weeper.

The quality of the shave stunned me. My cheeks are BBS. Mustache and chin are very good. Underneath the chin I can feel a couple whiskers, but even under the chin is pretty good. And, most amazingly for me is my neck is good. I have an egg shaped patch on the left side of my neck, around the carotid, that I always needs to touched up with some ATG razor buffing - it's pretty smooth now.

I tried to watch my angles closely today. My DOVO has a very thick spine, and I realized that if I angle it 2 or more spine widths from my face, that creates a lot of scrapping. For my razor, and face, 1/2 to 1 spine width seems to be a sweet spot WTG and XTG. ATG I just lay the whole blade against my face or angle it really slightly. That seemed to work okay too.

After the shave I noticed some waterspots on the blade. This is the first time I've had this come up. Perhaps because this shave I ran the blade under water instead of toweling the lather off, which is what I did before. Are these a problem? How do I get rid of them?

Darren

You are enjoying yourself, which is very important. It means you will persevere until you master the beast. You are experimenting with different strokes and getting places missed with your last shave, all good signs. I'm glad you're using both hands because for me learning how to use them has paid dividends.

Definitely towel drive the blade after washing it off. What I do to make sure all water and soap residue is gone is strop after the shave. Water spots are hard to remove, and I will defer to other members as to how they address them. I don't let them accumulate on my blade.

I'm a right hander, but my left was the most steady in the beginning...go figure. Now, I don't even think about which hand I'm using.

Darren

Keep experimenting till you have most all the iffy things figured out. Everyone's face and style of shaving is different, you have to find out what works for you. Looks like you are off to a good start so far.

I use a sponge instead of a towel to wipe the lather off the blade as I shave but at the end run the blade under the running tap. I then dry the blade with wadded up toilet paper and dry between the scales too. I then place the razor on a towel open to air dry for a few hours before putting it away. So far no trouble with water spots.

If you do get water spots the can be buffed out with some metal polish. If your blade has any gold or etchings on it the metal polish will remove those too. The metal polish may also effect your shaving edge.

Bob

Once I found out that I'd have to cut 1/2" into the skin to cut the jugular, I wasn't nearly as nervous with my left hand LOL

Thanks guys,

I'm not to sure why I developed water spots this time. It literally happened in the course of the shave, beginning to wonder if the new shave soap might be the culprit. I'll try it again tomorrow, this time just wiping my blade in between strokes to see if that works better for me. And, I guess I'll have to hunt for some metal polish. Would Tuff Glide help with this?

Darren

PS - Yes, I'm definitely having fun with this, plus I have a bit of time on my hands now, before the new semester starts. Everything is fun and games during summer vacation.