Thread: Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

Shave #131.1 - Wetting a Dry Lather

Tried combining the Castle Forbes Pre-Shave with the C&E Shave Cream to see if the lather could be made lubricating...

Castle Forbes Pre-Shave
C&E West Indian Lime Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Astra Platinum (2)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum
C&E West Indian slime AS Balm

...and, yes, the Castle Forbes does make this shave cream much more lubricating and useful. Still, if you started with a more lubricating cream, you'd get better results, but this will allow me to more comfortably burn through this cream.

BBS after 3 passes on the face and 4 on the neck.

Shave #132 - Back to Earth

Petal Pushers Fancy Sandalwood Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
WISS Ugly Duckling 9/16" (34)
Hulk's Smash
Gentlemen'so Tonic AS Balm

Another quick 2-passer. As I was shaving, it felt like I was doing a poorer job than the last few shaves. The result is actually only marginally worse than my other shaves; face DFS+ and neck DFS--.

I'm not prepared to say the lower result was from forgetting to use the Castle Forbes Pre-Shave, though possibly that contributed. But, I didn't do such a good job lathering the soap, it ended up being a quite dry lather. I believe that was user error.

Shave #132.1 - A 5-Star Shave

When I began this thread I promised myself some stars if/when it reached 15,000 views. Passed that milestone this week, so I voted myself some stars. Not too vain, I hope. Fortunately, this shave really was a 5-star shave.

Castle Forbes Pre-Shave
PPF Sandalwood Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Astra Platinum (3)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

My, by now standard, DE shave, 3 passes on the face and 4 on the neck, finds me baby bottom smooth everywhere. Luxurious!

Originally Posted by TaipeiJake

Shave #128.1 -

C&E West Indian Lime Shave Cream
Semogue 2012
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Feather (4)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

After 4 shaves the Feather is beginning to go off a bit - I have an overall DFS+. Although, the C&E Shave Cream might be partially to blame. It is the most drying, unlubricating, lather in my collection.

I haven't been terribly impressed with my C&E sandalwood, i just made it part of a mess of different soaps that I usually uberlather with, not the worst soap I have used but definately not worth the money

Hi Ed,

Yeah, I have to agree with you about the C&E. My West Indian Lime Shave Cream is by far my favorite smelling lather, but the performance is just not that wonderful for me. I really want to love it, but I just can't. I hadn't thought of trying to über lather with it, but that might be the ticket. My CADE soap would let the West Indian Lime scent shine through, and maybe it would fix the lubricating problems I have with the cream. Thanks for the idea.

Shave #133 - X'mas Season Shave at the Onzen

Well, Taiwan is a sucky place to live during Christmas. It is just a regular workday. Nothing special. But, this year my regular weekly schedule does not have class time on Friday. So, this year I didn't have to work Boxing Day. My wife and I decided to head to Miaoli/Sanyi (苗栗三義) in Central Taiwan for a couple days in an onzen (hot springs hotel).


Me in Sanyi waiting for our ride into the mountains to our onzen. Not sure why I looked like that. I was not feeling sad at all.

Why is the fact I'm shaving in an onzen important? Well, you'll see in a second...

Proraso Green Pre/Post Shave
Proraso Green Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
WISS Ugly Duckling 9/16" (35)
Alum
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

First let me say, this was an awesome shave. I did a 4-passer. I had time and access to abundant hot water, so it seemed like the thing to do. I'm BBS on both the face and neck. I applied the pre-shave between each pass. I've never done that before. It seemed to help a bit.

But, there were a couple of things that raised the quality of this shave, substantially, and have nothing to do with my technique or equipment. First, my home is equipped with a small, Asian style, electrical water heater, which is fine for much of the year, but during winter I only get 4-5 minutes of hot water to shower. When you're trying to clean up, do beard prep, and hot water shave, it is a problem.

Also, my shave cave is not so much a den as a nook, an extremely small nook that I share with my wife's cosmetics, hair dryers, medicines, ... etc. ... etc. I normally struggle to create enough counter space to set my razor down, and, very importantly, there is no space for me to raise my elbows to pull my skin and hold the razor in the most natural way (the perils of living in Asia). Of course, I've adapted, but when I get a chance to really spread my wings in a natural way, my shave improves.

The bathroom in the onzen is huge. Actually, the bathroom is bigger than my entire apartment. Not sure if that will really come across in the picture.


Bathroom in my current room. Some good shaving to be had here.


Tomorrow we'll switch rooms, each is a bit different, possibly to this room. Looks like I'll have to shave again tomorrow.

Well. Merry Christmas to you all. I hope that you each get a chance to enjoy the warmth of hearth and home during this special time.

Shave 133.1 - Nope, Didn't Do It

Okay, so I got way relaxed at the onzen and didn't shave again while there. So I'm back home, and ...

PPF Sandalwood Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Astra Platinum (4)
Hulk's Smash

The blade was going off a bit, but still a reasonable shave - comfortable and close enough, mostly BBS with DFS++ patches.

I'm going to share another vacation pic, please excuse the hair, it's a bad case of bed head.


This is a pretty traditional Taiwanese breakfast. It is congee accompanied with various veggies, many of them pickled. Frankly, I have always found it very stomach turning in the morning. Not sure why, I actually like Hong Kong style congee.

Ooops, just realized there is no congee in the above photo, so here is another photo. The congee is the bowl right in front of me.

Shave #134 - Shavette Shavin'

Today was a post-workout steamy shower followed by a shave with my shavette.

Castle Forbes Pre-Shave
PPF Sandalwood Shave Soap
Semogue 2012
Don Jae Chopper + Gillette Blue (2)
Alum/styptic
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

A generally very nice 2-passer. Straight N-S followed by a S-N pass, nothing fancy, but good results - face (BBS), neck (DFS+). Unfortunately the shave was slightly marred by a minor cut going S-N on the neck. I think my 47 year old, fat, gravity dragged down, elasticity deprived folds of neck skin just decided to bunch up in front of the razor blade's corner. A minor ding - c'est la vie.

Great thread. Thanks for doing this. Just read the whole thing and picked up a lot of tips and had several ah ha moments. Good stuff!

Shave #134.1 - Post-Jog Shave

First let me say, thank you Kimel for the kind words. I'm glad to hear that you got something out of this journal. Welcome to SRP and good luck with your own shaving journey.

Today's shave was done after I showered post-jog. I hate jogging, but SWMBO wanted to go, and wanted company. What can ya do?

Castle Forbes Pre-Shave
Klar Seifen Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
Edwin Jagger DE89L + Personna Precision (1)
Hulk's Smash
L'Occitane Cedre & Oranger AS Balm

BBS, except a patch on my jawline in front of my right ear that I couldn't get. Not sure what the problem was, I actually went over the area multiple time, and then decided to give up before I hurt myself.