Thread: Serious Eureka Moment!

Well, today an odd thing happened which has just changed they way I shave!

I've been struggling with my soap drying out, now I'm fairly sure this is just because as a newbie I shave a little, well, slow! I've been face lathering so thought I'd have a quick test lather in a bowl before I went and showered and did all my usual prep. Well I got an ok lather in the bowl, nothing to write home about, but certainly good enough. Now I just needed to know would it dry out on my face, so I quickly splashed some hot water onto my unwashed chin and started to spread the lather on. All was good, I waited for a bit, lather still usable.....I waited a bit more...eventually I thought it had done well enough so it was time to remove it, well what better way than with a razor?

Now, this is where the revelation starts!!!! Unwashed chin, lightly splashed with hot water and then lathered up shouldn't give a good shave, should it? WRONG!!! Wow unbelievable result, normally it takes 3 good passes to get my chin DFS ish (it's proving the trickiest area), this first WTG pass was amazing. So I quickly lathered the small section of my chin again and went XTG, stunned!!! Fresh lather, ATG.......BBS! So there I am, two day stubble everywhere apart from a small section of my chin, mouth wide open, staring aghast into the mirror at my gleaming chin!

How can this be? I've been scrubbing my face with soap, ex-foliating and showering before I shave, and whilst the results have been pretty reasonable (I guess for a newbie), I've always had little areas that need touching up, or that I seem to struggle with, or hairs that seem to refuse to part company with my face. So now rather than my normal prep I decided to just splash some hot water over my face and proceed with a full three pass shave and wow! What a shave!

During the first WTG pass the blade didn't seem to glide quite as well as it normally does, however its whisker removing efficiency was just out of this world, compared to my normal first pass! Hairs seemed powerless to resist! Normally a fair amount survive. However now they were gone, totally smooth when I rubbed my hand across my face in that direction! The next two passes same result, and as much glide now as my previous prep method. No touch up needed today for BBS apart from on my neck, I can live with that though!

Anyway, sorry for rambling away! From now on my prep will involve no soap, no exfoliant, no olive oil, no snake oil, or indeed anything apart from a splash of hot water!!!!!

Right off to rub my face for the next hour!!!! Thanks for listening

Try a splash of cold water some time just to see if it works for you, sometimes if I'm in a hurry I don't do any prep , and I found a cold water shave works very well for me, YMMV! I always wanted to say that ! Lol. Tc

Congrats. I try to tell people to chill out on the prep, but it usually falls on deaf ears. Maybe guys with oily skin have some inherent advantages. I add warm water alone and finish with a quick second "water-only" pass.

The move to the JimmyHad school of cold/cool water shaving was one of my breakout events.
Yes, that warm lather and all that prep is very very nice, esp in the winter.
But the less irritation, closer and more comfortable shaves and the whole don't have to wake up the servants to build a fire and wait for hot water thing...(just kidding) sold me.

It's never too late...or too early...to come over to the cold side...

I love breakthrough moments. Here's my 2 cents. Not sure the short and sweet water only prep was why you had this result. Of all the things you mentioned I would lean toward a couple of things. First you waited some time after applying the lather before shaving. This will always help to hydrate your whiskers and give you a better result. Some people will lather up and leave it for a minute then wash it off and lather again before the first pass. The key is the delay between first lather and first pass. Also don't discount that you may have made positive strides in your technique. It's not unusual to make a very large leap up the learning curve from one shave to the next. Either way great news.

I've always been of the opinion that the collars should match the cuffs:

A straight razor is about as basic as you can get in terms of shaving implements - just sharp steel, really. No safety bars, no angled guides, no multi-vibrating blades, nothing swish or fancy (besides the occasional ornate scales or fancy but pointless file work and gold wash).

So my prep's always been as basic as you can get as well. A splash of water on the face, then lather up. It's always worked for me. I always use the best quality cream/soap I can get though.

Having said that, I do understand the attraction of the ritualistic self-pampering associated with shaving prep. Why not? Shaving can be a mundane affair, so why not glam it up a bit?

Of course I'm ignoring whatever science is involved in the preparation of beard hairs for cutting them effectively. I cannot claim expertise in that area but I do know enough to know that individuals vary so that what works for some will not work for others, or work to the same extent.

So I think the best thing is always to explore and experiment to see what works best for you, or at least approximates "best" to an acceptable level.

James.

The breakthroughs are wonderful. Mine seemed a long time coming, but were always wonderful when they came. Trying my first couple of Pro edges helped alot. Staying well clear of nick on subsequent shaves helped. Learning to feel what angle works best on what part of the face was huge. There will be more of these breakthroughs. Enjoy every one of them. Jimbo - great post (as usual).

Great post Hippo,
and well put together thoughts James, I could not agree more.

Originally Posted by pinklather

The breakthroughs are wonderful. Mine seemed a long time coming, but were always wonderful when they came. Trying my first couple of Pro edges helped alot. Staying well clear of nick on subsequent shaves helped. Learning to feel what angle works best on what part of the face was huge. There will be more of these breakthroughs. Enjoy every one of them. Jimbo - great post (as usual).

And the longer I have been doing it the slower the breakthrough comes along, also they are not as major, still enjoyable non the less.