Thread: Rambling about my progress

Today have been a good day for me shaving-wise and I felt like writing about. It might not be very interesting for you to read but here it comes.

My first honing experience:
Today I thought was the day to refresh my professionally honed razor for the first time. My shaves were still comfortable but the edge didn't feel as keen and my shaves weren't as close as before. And another major reason was that I couldn't wait any longer to try out my new Zulu Grey.
I had read quite a bit about honing as well as watched Lynn's and Glen's videos a few times. I made about 20-30 light strokes with AHT and TPT every once in a while. I have never gotten good results on HHT and AHT with my razor, with the TPT however I felt that the edge was more keen than before. I thought to myself "I have probably made the edge harsh now or something". I didn't do any more passes since I was scared of messing up the edge. The only thing left was TST. And the result: Like a hot knife through butter, and still smooth! I was so glad that I didn't ruin my edge. Now I don't have to be as scared to take it to the hone the next time. I have a lot to learn and I hope that will come with experience.

Better lather:
I have struggled a little bit with getting good lather. But I think it have gotten better and better. I think a more thorough soaking of my brush in warmer water have made a difference as well as more water. I used my Palmolive cream today, it amazes me how good lather I got from it today. I'm lucky the only (SR shaving related) thing that is easily available in my country is so good. I have posted this shave in the "shave of the day" thread.
What is a shame and really annoying is that my Frank Shaving brush looses a lot of hairs every time I shave. Since other people have had good experiences with FS maybe I got a bad example.

Changing oil:
The oil I have used on my razors blade for storing doesn't do a very good job I think. The oil beads, contracts, or what to call it, I hope you understand. And it leaves marks where it has been (not particularly hard to remove with some soap though). It is an environmentally friendly oil intended to prevent rust on bike chains. I will buy some baby oil and try that out.

Enough of my rambling now, have a good day

Good to hear that your first experience with the stone was a good one. One thing that you have to get past in the beginning that was difficult to get past for me was the fear of ruining an edge. I would only work on the couple of eBay cheapies, but would never want to bring my few favorites to the stone. And this was just to higher grit stones as the edges were still nice enough to not need going below 8k. Once you take the step forward with a razor, whether it be to refresh or rehoning, it always feels worth it in the end. Even if I don't improve the edge that much, if any at all, I am always glad I gave myself that much more practice. Plus, as with many people, honing and blade sharpening are quite therapeutic for me.

You might be able to contact the Frank Shaving guys and tell them about your issue. I have heard they are decent folks over there. Especially if the brush loses as much hair as you say.

I stopped trying to fuss with oil. Many people use it, and I'm sure it has its place. However, other options like a homemade desiccator (using silica gel) and the silicone socks over at thesuperiorshave are ones I prefer.

Enough of my rambling now...