Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

**MisterMoo** · 08-30-2013, 01:42 PM

Originally Posted by BobH

Makes me just shudder.Bob

I turned it off. Too scary for me. The wife likes horror movies - she might like it.

So, what kind of barber shaves do they do over there in Taiwan?

**TaipeiJake** · 08-31-2013, 02:13 AM

Hi MisterMoo,

I'm not aware of any barber shops offering shaves in Taipei. There probably is some old barber somewhere with a long neglected kamisori that he used to use to shave Japanese officers. But, hep. B is endemic here, so I'd think twice.

There is really no shaving culture here. I suppose because the Taiwanese are not hirsute. All you can buy are cartridge razors. Most stores keep the cartridges under lock and key, as they are 2x-3x more expensive than in N. America. I guess there's a theft issue. And, the only shave cream available is canned goop, and not much choice of goop. After much hunting I finally found a perfumer that carries some Truefitt & Hill, even so, they just had 6-7 tubes of shave cream, most past expiry, this for a city of over 2 million.

My avatar shows me getting a barber shop shave, but that was in Hong Kong. I guess because of the British influence, they have some shops offering this service.

**TaipeiJake** · 08-31-2013, 02:22 AM

Oh, excuse me, I just looked it up. Greater Taipei has 6.9 million people...missed that one by a wide margin. 6.9 Million people and not a puck of shave soap among them.

**TaipeiJake** · 09-02-2013, 10:55 AM

Shave #10.5 - The Air Shave

Milk of 1000 Virgin's Shave Soap
Custom Silvertip Badger Brush
Maestro Livi Custom 7/8"
Glen Grant 1936/50 Year Old Scotch used as AS Splash

I pulled out the Maestro Livi Custom for today's shave. Gave the slight smile a few laps on my Great-Great Grandfather's Escher to make sure the edge was perfect. It is a large blade, heavy, substantial, but so well balanced - it feels like shaving with a feather. I addressed myself in the mirror, pulled the skin and commenced the first stroke. Shaving Nirvana...

....Okay, it was all a daydream...

Things have been hectic around the house, SWMBO has been packing for a 3 week business trip to Canada. I dare not pull out my straight razor to shave. My shaving cubbyhole/sink is actually outside the bathroom, in the hallway - no door. She is like a human tornado. I'm scared if I try to shave, she'll bump into me with her suitcases, try to move my shave arm to get to the medicine cabinet, etc. I'm sporting 2-3 days growth and won't be able to get to it until she's flying.

But, besides standing in front of the mirror fantasy shaving, I have also spent some time in front of the mirror practicing stretching my skin in various ways and directions. Noting whether it makes the stubble stand up or lie down. I've actually learned quite a bit from this exercise. I also found out that the grain of the beard on my neck is a bit more complex than I thought. Predominantly it grows left-right and slightly downward, until reaching the base of my neck where it swerves and runs left-right parallel to the floor. However, there is a large patch on the left side of my neck that grows upwards and slightly left-right. I never knew this before. As I stood in front of the mirror, making shaving faces and tugging my facial skin this way and that, I garnered a few strange looks from the wife - she's thinking early onset dementia. But, I'd recommend this little exercise. Grow some stubble and have a close look at what is really going on.

I also found some great shaving videos from Jockey, a member here.

Part I:

Straight Shaving Tutorial v3.0 Part 1 - YouTube

**TaipeiJake** · 09-02-2013, 05:25 PM

Shave #11 - The World's Lamest Celebration of Temporary Bachelorhood

Finally got the wife on her way to Vancouver. How do I celebrate my little piece of liberation? A night of drinking with the boys? A trip to the combat zone? Or, even the more sedate Scotch and Cubans at a lounge? No! I stay home and have a long luxurious shave. Can you say "encroaching middle age"? Ain't that a kick in the nutmegs!

T&H 1805 Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (10)
Gentleman's Tonic AS Balm

I don't know what to say. This shave was revelatory. At the end of two passes I could almost have washed up and stopped. It was pretty darn smooth. I did my normal three passes though and did a bit of farting around on my neck trying to copy Jockey's guillotine stroke on the neck. I'm not totally sure that's what it is called, but like a Gillette Slide. Gave myself a minor (self-sealing) nick doing this upwards on my neck.

Why this shave is such a revelation is because my face is so smooth right now, and I didn't really work at it. And, it is the least irritation I have ever gotten from a shave! Ever! But, I don't know what I changed. Thought I was doing everything more or less the same as before....It's just (rather mysteriously) so much better.

Result: BBS on face, DFS on neck with large spots that are BBS. No irritation. Very Happy. Going to celebrate with some Bruichladdich and a Cuban Partagas (inside the house) cause that's how us bachelors roll.

**BobH** · 09-02-2013, 07:55 PM

Enjoy the success and there is nothing wrong with middle age, just ask any of us who are past it.

Bob

**TaipeiJake** · 09-04-2013, 10:06 AM

Shave #12 - ...And One Step Back

T&H 1805 Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8"
Alum
Gentleman's Tonic AS Balm

The good news is that today's shave was just fine. My normal 3 passer, no nicks and no irritation. A DFS all over, one missed spot on my chin that I didn't notice until now. The bad news is that it is not nearly as nice as my last shave. I won't really be satisfied until I can readily duplicate those results.

Still not sure what I did so right last time. But, I'm developing a bit of a theory. I think it is possible that when I first started shaving I was intimidated by the blade enough that I instinctively decreased the angle, placing the spine very close, too close, to my flesh...the opposite of the normal noob mistake. Then to compensate for the very shallow angle, maybe I was using some pressure. So next shave will be concentrating on no pressure, and a very gentle hold on the blade, which seems to help me reduce pressure.

In other good news, I've been able to send some shaving supplies, from Fendrihan, to my parents (in Canada), for my wife to pick up on the way back to Taiwan. So, in a couple of weeks I should have some new product to play with.

Darren

**TaipeiJake** · 09-06-2013, 05:58 PM

Shave #13 - Trying to Unscrew the Past

All of us, who are worth anything, spend our manhood unlearning the follies of our youth. So it is that I'm trying to unlearn my dependence on the cartridge razor.

Gentlmen's Tonic Pre Shave Oil - Babassu and Bergamot
Gentlemen's Tonic Babassu and Bergamont Shave Cream (sample)
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (12)
Gentlemen's Tonic AS Balm

The new semester is beginning and with it I'll be heading back to teaching. Meetings all day today, so I was looking forward to my evening shave and a bit of me-de-stress time. Great 1st pass (N-S). The 2nd pass (ears to nose on each side of the face) also has improved greatly. Still having to stop and think, sometimes a lot, when looking in the mirror while shaving the right side of my face with my left hand - everything is backwards, inside out and upside down. It is very disorienting trying to readjust the blade angle. The 3rd pass (ATG) is much improved, but still needs a bit of work when doing it on the neck.

Result: As I sit here about a half hour later, the results seem to be better than I originally thought. Cheeks - BBS, mustache - BBS, chin and under the chin - near BBS (missed a spot), and a DFS neck. However, there were about 10 hairs in the corner of each side of my mouth that I ended up taking the cartridge to, just couldn't seem to get them with the straight.

Shaving at night my hands seem to be rock solid and able to maintain a nice light touch on the blade. Sometimes when I shave in the morning, I'm jittering and shaking all over the place like a spastic dog with fleas. Maybe placing a blade to my face is too real a wake up jolt for me.

**TaipeiJake** · 09-07-2013, 02:01 PM

Shave #14 - Fried Chicken and Porn (Day 6 of Bachelorhood)

As the title suggests, I got my evening all mapped out. I love fried chicken. But, first a shave.

L'Occitane Shave Soap
T&H 1805 Shave Cream
Gentlemen's Tonic Pre Shave Oil
WISS 4/8" Ugly Duckling
Alum
Gentlemen's Tonic AS Balm

I've been experimenting with pre shave oil the last couple of shaves. I liked using it with my cartridge, but I'm finding I don't like it for straight razor shaving. If there is any residue on your fingers, your grip on the straight razor is compromised. Also, I think it dries out the lather. It just makes sense to me. We are wet shaving - we do many things to try to get the hair follicles and pores impregnated with water, and to try to hold water on the face. It doesn't make much sense to me to then use an oil product and drive the water away.

Anyway, this shave I started with a l'Occitane lather. However, I had problems with it drying quickly and getting tacky. At least partially, I'm blaming the oil. Since I was having problems I added a bit of T&H and more water to the bowl for a bit of über lather on the second and third passes. It was still drying out unusually quickly. Admittedly l'Occitane soap is a bit hard to work with, but I have lots of experience with it and have worked through most of the problems, and certainly if I add some cream to it, there should be no problems.

Result: DFS all over, a spot of irritation. Lather problems, I suppose, but didn't get BBS results anywhere. The shave is perfectly acceptable, but not as smooth as I tend to get. I have light stubble when running my fingertips against the grain. The skin is a bit irritated, maybe a combination of bad lather with the more cutty/less smooth edge on the WISS.

Ahhh, fried chicken...

**eddy79** · 09-07-2013, 02:54 PM

To answer the question in other posts they mention oil causing lather problems. Hope this helps

Thread: Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

The Following User Says Thank You to BobH For This Useful Post:

Posting Permissions