Thread: First Shave!

Hey, congrats on the first shave! I definitely second the use of cremo in the pre shave routine to help slick up the shave and reduce irritation. That would be great if you transferred to Portland. There are certainly more than a few friendly straight shavers out here and I have nothing but good thing to say about the city and its surrounding areas! Definitely keep us updated on your shaving endeavors and your possible move to Portland!

Originally Posted by portlandrazorco

Hey, congrats on the first shave! I definitely second the use of cremo in the pre shave routine to help slick up the shave and reduce irritation. That would be great if you transferred to Portland. There are certainly more than a few friendly straight shavers out here and I have nothing but good thing to say about the city and its surrounding areas! Definitely keep us updated on your shaving endeavors and your possible move to Portland!

Will do. I plan to shave proper tonight after a long shower and see how it goes with a properly hydrated face. I still need to see if I can find some pre-shave somewhere in town. I plan to be in Portland for the wedding on July 11-12, so I am hoping to get some shopping in. I need to work on my car and Portland seems to be a hub for performance parts, so I don't know if I will spend more on parts for the car or shaving equipment. Either way SWMBO is probably not going to be happy, lol. I'll let her go to Victoria Secrets and splurge to take some of the heat off of me though.

Originally Posted by Saxxon

Yea it's taking me about 30 minutes. And I'm not a morning person so I wake up at the very last minute lol

I am a morning-ish person, but my day starts at 05:25 so i shave in the evenings, i can get a morning shave in if have to, but i prefer to not have pressure

So I had my after shower shave 2 nights ago. And I didn't notice much of a difference between that and the soaking the face for a few minutes before shaving that I have already done. On the downside I did nick my strop pretty good but luckily it is near the top and doesn't affect the stropping of the blade. Got to careless and started the downward stroke without flipping the blade. I am just glad I caught myself before I cut all the way thru the stop. I still need to get some pre shave and I am hoping that helps the little pulling I am still getting. But as a newbie I am aware that it is very unlikely that it is the blade and that it is my technique, or improper stropping (which I think I have down a little now) or just improper pre shave prep. watching some videos I am still unable to get the kind of lather some people get. I am unable to get it as think and mine seems to dry out on my face rather quickly. I will lather my whole face and as I am done with one cheek the rest of my face is visible again with little lather left.

Generally, the problem with the lather drying on your face is due to not enough water in the mix. Some soaps/creams are water hogs. Just when you think it can't take more it wants another drink. One test I do as I am whipping up a lather is after about a minute and a half of whipping and adding water is to push the brush down on the bottom of the bowl. If, when I pull up and feel a slight resistance, I know I'm getting there. A little more mixing and adding water and I'm good to go.

Have you been staring out with a few drops of glycerin in the bowl? Readily available just about everywhere it helps build a good lather.

I recently tried a soap from Mexico. I thought my water bill was going to double before I got a usable lather from it. But it was a smooth shave with it after all.

Hang in there. Sometimes it's just good to practice lather making when you have an odd moment and can concentrate just on that part of shaving prep.

By the way, will send you a PM in a couple of days of Portland area sources for shaving gear, etc so you can breeze thru them when you are in town.

I will look for some Glycerin. Haven't come across that tidbit of info yet. and I think you are right about not enough water. I always thought that adding more water would make it to liquidy (not a word I know) and not foam as much. I will give it a try.

I appreciate the shop info. would be nice to hit some up while I can.