Thread: Righty Tighty; Lefty Loosey

Shave #27 Continued - That was Close - Too Close

About 15 hours after my shave and I am still BBS on face and DFS+ on neck - which would be great, but I've got quite a bit of irritation. Unusual for me, as even with a somewhat abusive shave I normally endure only minimal irritation. I think I'm having a reaction to one of the new skin products in combination with a slightly irritating shave. Maybe the Controfuoco Shave Balm, or possibly the Ogallala Soap. (I really hope it is not the soap, as I instantly fell in love with it).

So,...looks like I'll be resting the skin for a few days again.

....yep, that's definitely an allergic reaction...

Shave #28 - Back on the Horse

Well, that blew giant steaming chunks - but, after a rough shave, followed by a skin reaction to one of my shave products, I finally got my skin back into good enough shape to try another shave today. I had a bad case of alligator skin; dry, scaly and red skin from an allergic reaction to the aftershave balm I used last time. Guess that'll get gifted to a friend. Also, I had scabs from where I peeled skin off the point of my chin. (I don't think I was even aware of that at the time of the shave, it kind of showed up a day or two later). Anyway, I spent the last 5-6 days applying a lot of my wife's Aloe Vera & Seaweed Hydrating Gel to my face trying to get things back in order. And, what did I learn from all this?...

Truthfully, maybe not too much. I'm a bit of a slow study. But, I do need to remember to respect the blade. It seems like I may have gotten so used to not hurting myself that I forgot that of course you can bang yourself up pretty good while shaving with a straight. Most of my problems came from an allergic reaction, but my skin wouldn't have been so sensitive if I'd been gentler in my shaving. So, when shaving; confidence is good, overconfidence is bad.

"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." Mark Twain

The down time was not a total waste. I watched quite a few shave videos, always a nice way to waste time. But, it is also helpful - here's one I kinda liked:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-bEuBjF_RaM

Since I had lots of whiskers, I was able to give the growth pattern on my neck another close look. Found more things I never realized, and it will lead to fresh experiments on how I shave my neck over the next few shaves:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbl4eYNW7lg

But, for today my only goal was to get in, get it shaved and get out without irritating my skin any further.

Ogallala Bay Rum, Limes and Peppercorns Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (19)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum

I did a 3-pass shave with all my efforts being focused on maintaining a gentle stroke and good angle. I did not really want to experiment too much, nor was I looking for a really close shave - just wanted to cutaway some of the pretty thick growth I had going on. I went with my DOVO as it revels in cutting high timber. I also took a bit of a chance on the Ogallala Shave Soap as it could have been the culprit in my skin reaction from the last shave, but I was pretty confident it was the Controfuoco shave balm I used. It is now about an hour after my shave and no skin irritation, so hopefully I am right.

I made some slight alterations to my passes, trying to see if I could get similar results to what I have been getting, with a bit less work:

Pass #1 (N-S) - I simplified this pass by not bothering with a guillotine stroke on the neck. I simply went straight down. Today, with the heavy growth, I was able to thin things out pretty well in the first pass. But, of course I was simply seeking progressive reduction and did not attempt to shave everything off.

Pass #2 (Nose to ear and S-N on the neck) - my sideways passes on the face usually go pretty well. Puffed out my cheeks to get a good angle on the particularly tough whiskers I have in the hollows of my cheeks. And, I paid extra attention to being gentle when going crossways on my chin, since I think this must be where I peeled some skin off last shave (think of pairing an apple). I went straight S-N on the neck, turns out on my right side this is approximately XTG, while on my left it is approximately ATG.

Pass #3 (ATG; S-N on face and S-N scything on the neck) - I started with the neck, holding the razor in my left hand with the scales straight, like a kamisori, I went S-N on the right side of my neck. With my head laid against my left shoulder, I started with the blade parallel to the floor, and scythed through a 90 degree stroke, with the heel forming the pivot point and the toe traveling through an arc ending with my blade nearly vertical. The hair on the right side of my neck grows left to right almost parallel to the floor, so this scything motion gives a very good ATG pass. On the left side of the neck I have a patch of hair that grows left to right and slightly upward. This is simple to attack. I just go over the area with a downward stroke, angling the blade slightly to give me the ATG attack I'm looking for. The rest of the left side of my neck goes predominantly downwards with a slight left to right bias. Today I attacked it with a scything stroke. Starting with the blade in my right hand and parallel to the floor, the toe formed the pivot point and the heel travelled through the upward arc. This worked fine, but I think maybe it is not necessary on my left side and I could get by with an upward stroke, guillotining slightly from right to left. For the ATG pass on my face I altered my hold on the razor. Normally I just continue up my face from the neck maintaining the kamisori type hold and using the opposite hand. This time I tried folding the razor and lightly gripping it with the same hand as the side of the face. Frankly both ways seem to work pretty well for me, but this new style allows me to reach over my head and stretch my skin upwards rather than stretching it downwards. This is an advantage as stretching the skin downwards (when the hairs are growing downwards) lays the hairs down, while stretching upwards pops the hairs up. Also, I found this grip more comfortable for the Fool's Pass. So more experimentation is needed.

Results: First and foremost, no irritation! The soap hasn't caused any problems. My skin feels good. My cheeks and chin are BBS. Mustache mostly BBS, but I didn't do such a good job on the coup d'maitre so some hairs remain right under the nose. Soul patch DFS. Left side of neck and underside of chin DFS+. Right side of neck DFS+/BBS. Of course I could have cleaned this up for an all over BBS, but today we're just aiming for decent with no irritation, and it looks like that has been achieved.

I guess I should have introduced the videos, I thought the titles would show up in the link.

Video #1 - Skin stretching for straight razor shaving. I found it quite useful.

Video #2 - Attacking the trouble spots on the neck. He uses a DE, but what he is doing could equally be done with a straight razor.

Shave #29 - Good Enough

Just a quick Sunday evening 3-passer that mostly repeated my last shave.

Ogallala Bay Rum, Lime and Peppercorns Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
J. A. Henkels 94 - 9/16" (5)
Captain's Choice Bay Rum AS Splash
Baxter of California AS Balm

Results: Cheeks BBS, everything else DFS. No irritation. I actually had some problems with my lather today and I think that accounts for the slightly lesser results than I'm used to.

*Not sure how I managed to make my most recent posts appear in a wide format, at least on my device. Nor, any idea how to change it back, or if I even ought to.

Shave #30 - A Month of Shaves

I have spent a fair amount of my straight razor shaving time considering macro-shaving, specifically the shave routine I want to get into. I think I have finally come up with something that ought to work for me. Mon. - Wed. I will do quick 2-pass shaves in the evening to try and maintain a DFS. (My skill level precludes me from hoping for anything better than DFS from a 2-pass shave). I teach classes Mon. - Thurs., so this should keep me presentable in front of my students. I have tried to wake up early and do my shave in the morning, but there is nothing in Hell's arsenal that will get me out of bed a second earlier than necessary. Thurs. evening either a 2-passer or a luxurious 4-passer to celebrate the coming weekend. And, then likely no shave until Sunday night when I will have a long multi-pass shave aiming at BBS. Just because I really do enjoy the sensation of lopping off a good deal of growth and seeking a very close shave.

Truth be told I haven't shaved daily since I was a swabby in the navy - quite a long time ago. I had been just letting it go until the whiskers irritated me, then grabbing a quick half-baked cartridge shave and starting the cycle all over. Not sure what my skin will think of me when I start shaving daily for 5 days/week. I don't remember it bothering me when I was in the navy, but my beard was pretty soft then. We will see how it goes.

Today is a DFS maintenance day.

L'Occitane Shave Soap
TOBS Badger Brush
WISS 9/16" Ugly Duckling (6)
Alum
Gentlemen's Tonic AS Balm

I did a N-S pass, followed by a S-N pass with leftward scything strokes on the neck. I then did a touch up pass on the neck and under the chin. I tried to do the shave quickly. Normally speed is not a priority. I was doing pretty well, but then the wife started doing housework and I slowed right down.

On the upward pass on my soul patch I tried following the advice on the stretching video and just left my lips slack and relaxed rather than stretching the skin. This really seemed to help. Normally I find it terribly difficult to go upwards in this region, but it was easier this time.

Results: A very good DFS everywhere achieved in a reasonable time. No irritation.

A little navel-gazing at the end of a month of shaves:

1). This is a right enjoyable way to shave. As an extremely young man I can remember looking forward to needing to shave. The reality never lived up to my prepubescent ideas. Indeed shaving has been a perpetual thorn in my side. But, with a straight razor it is a manual skill that needs to be learned and improved on - that in itself is enjoyable. Presumably when you reach a certain level of physical competence than shaving should become a transcendent zen-like experience. Also nice.

2). Most us modern men have done a poor job preserving any masculine rituals. Little things we might do that make us feel (in a personally and socially positive way) like men. Straight razor shaving is one of these rituals. It is nice to have a gentle and positive reminder of your masculinity.

3). It is not as dangerous as it may seem. For millennia men have been shaving with some version of an open edge razor when they came of age. Few have killed themselves this way. No reason to think you will off yourself either.

4). It is not as hard as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong - I still have a long ways to go before I'm totally satisfied with my straight razor shaving skills. And, hopefully that day will never come, because that is when straight razor shaving becomes nothing but a dull daily chore. However, in a reasonable length of time, I've been able to get reasonable results. I assume this is pretty normal or no one would bother shaving with a straight.

5). There is no need to explode in every direction all at one time. At the very beginning, I thought by this time I would need to have stropped my razors with pastes a couple of times and maybe have hit the hones at least once. Not so! My razors remain plenty sharp and should remain so for quite a while yet, before there is any need to hit my pasted strop....And hones?...a long ways away. I don't know, but if you're like me, I have a tendency when starting something new to try to run in all directions at once. Buying razors, strops, pastes, hones willy-nilly, with little idea of what is really needed, or what I really want. But there is no rush. You can really take your time to get a sense of what you need or want. At the beginning all of this is unnecessary and you can keep it very simple for a few months while wetting the feet.

*When I started this journal, I thought maybe I would keep it going about a week. Then I thought maybe a month would be a good place to stop. Now I can't decide if I should stop or not.

Shave #31 - Cool and Mentholated

Went out for dinner with my wife and one of her friends who just got in from America. We ate spiced food outdoors. And, yes the weather has eased up,but for a Canadian, it was still too hot an experience. So by the time I got home I was looking forward to a cool shower and a mentholated shave.

Proraso (Green) Pre Shave Cream
Proraso (Green Tubed) Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
DOVO Palisander 6/8" (20)
Baxter of California AS Balm

Two passes and a bit of extra clean up under the chin. I'm DFS+ and very refreshed.

Every 10 shaves I do some extra stropping, 3 times my normal amount. So, since today's shave was #20 on the DOVO, I did 60 laps on the scrub leather and 180 laps on the premium leather....I don't know if this is necessary,...I'm just making this stuff up as I go along. Also, finally got my hands on some metal polish (MAAS), so I polished out the water stains, then I protected the blade with an application of Marine Tuf-Cloth (Tuf-Glide with a bit of salt resistance). Hopefully everything will continue to go great with the DOVO.

Shave #32 - The Most Amazing Lather EVER!!!

Kinda enjoying this daily shaving thing. Just as taking multiple passes is regarded as progressive beard reduction, daily shaving can likewise be regarded as progressive beard reduction, ie. today I will try to hit the things I missed yesterday. And, the use of different blades, with different shave characteristics, in rotation adds to the feeling of trying to accomplish things on this day missed on a previous day, essentially daily progressive beard reduction.

Billy Jealousy Hydroplane (Sample) + T&H 1805 Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
J. A. Henkels 94 - 9/16" (6)
Baxter of California AS Balm

I had a sample of Billy Jealousy Hydroplane from my recent Fendrihan purchase, so I decided to try it. Super weird stuff! Basically it seems to be some type of a lotion that you can use in lieu of lather to shave. It holds a tremendous amount of water, and is super slick. But, I didn't like it. It doesn't lather and it is so slick and drippy that it dribbled everywhere. However, I mixed some Truefitt & Hill Shave Cream with it to make the best über lather I've ever seen. This lather was super creamy, with an amazingly comfortable oily feel on the skin, the best cushioning I can remember and a super slick glide for the razor. Just AWESOME!!!

Did a 2-pass shave, N-S, S-N, and a bit of touch up around the neck and under the chin. The lather was so great, I didn't want to stop shaving, that's why I did the touch ups. I ended up BBS on the face and DFS+ below the jawline. From a reasonably quick 2-pass shave, it was a win.

Shave #33 - 十十 Day Shave

Today is Double Tens Day (Taiwan's national day), and I celebrated with Shabu-Shabu style hotpot and beer with friends, and then a cool shower and refreshing cool water shave upon returning home. Most my shaves lately have been using cool water.

Proraso (Green) Pre Shave Cream
Proraso (Green Tubed) Shave Cream
TOBS Badger Brush
WISS 9/16" Ugly Duckling (7)
Alum
Baxter of California AS Balm

4-Passes, no touch up, and I'm smooooth. Almost BBS everywhere - there is a patch about the size of a penny over my right carotid artery where I can feel the slightest of bristliness.

The alum complained a bit on my neck, but there is no redness now, so all is good. When I was doing the W-E and E-W passes, through stretching the skin and bending my neck into odd positions, I was able to get the blade against my neck, perpendicular to the floor, allowing for a true ATG pass on the right side of my neck (where the hairs grow parallel to the floor). I believe this, along with some scything, is why my neck is virtually BBS.

I used the Proraso Pre Shave as both a pre and post shave treatment. This stuff is really great on a hot day. For post shave I applied the Proraso first and then put the Baxters over it. Feels nice.

Great shave - I'm smooth, refreshed and relaxed.

A Little Between Shaves Faceturbating

I won't be shaving today, no real need. So, I thought I would examine what stubble has developed in the 20-odd hours since I shaved to see if I can gain some insight into any flaws in my technique. My supposition, possibly flawed, is that areas with more or thicker stubble are areas where my technique was not quite up to the level of other areas. My face was pretty universally smooth post-shave last night, so any differences in stubble growth today should show areas that I need to pay special attention to. Of course, it is possible that the stubble just grows at different rates, and this exercise is simply sound and fury, indicating nothing.

I have a very slight and basically even growth of stubble across my face. Even so, there are some noticeable trends.

The thickest stubble is under my chin, on the left side. This is not a surprise. Under the chin is a trouble spot, but for me it is a bit more specific than that - I have problems only with the left side under my chin. A few shaves back, without really thinking about it, while shaving up the center of my neck, when I reached the chin (of course I was looking up with my chin pointed to the ceiling) I began a 180 degree scything stroke under the chin (right to left, ATG for my right side). Imagine a skateboarder doing an in the air 180 at the top of a half-pipe, and that's what the razor was doing. This seems to do a nice job lopping off the whiskers under the chin on my right side. I didn't naturally begin to make a complimentary stroke on my left side, so last night I purposely started also making this scything pass from left to right ATG for my left side. It worked, and I was smooth last night. But, judging by my stubble growth I would guess my technique on the left side is not as good as the right side. Before doing these scything passes I used to attack under the chin with many many straight S-N passes. It got the area clean, but was difficult and irritating to the skin. Utilizing this upward stroke with an under the chin scythe at the end of the stroke gets me BBS under the chin in 4-passes.

I have two Loonie-sized patches of more stubbly growth on my jawline, just in front of each ear. I know that to attack these areas, which for me have tougher whiskers, I should pull the skin up onto my jawline and then attack the area with W-E or E-W strokes, whichever is ATG. However, for whatever reason, the last few shaves I haven't done this and the pattern of my whisker regrowth shows this lack.

The soul patch is pretty gritty. No real surprise. I am still having problems going S-N in this area. I managed to get it smooth last night with my XTG passes, but just barely.

The mustache is mostly pretty smooth, but closer to the lips there is an increase in the stubble. I was aware last night that the E-W and W-E strokes were not going all the way down to the lips. It shows today. Also I did not attempt a complete Fool's Pass last night. Just a bit at the corners of the mustache. It still feels very uncomfortable like the blade is just going to dig right into the skin.

The rest of my stubble seems to be uniform and even. The big surprise is that the right side of my neck (normally a trouble area) is no different than my cheeks or the left side of my neck. The techniques I used last shave for getting the blade perpendicular to the floor on the right side of my neck, along with scything there, seem to really be paying dividends.