DE Shaving Lessons before moving to SR

Ok, so I mentioned earlier in my introduction post that my wife purchased a DE razor for me so it was an easier graduation from cartridge to straight. I have to say, plenty of good lessons so far. I had been wet shaving before with my Mach-3s, and while it enhanced the comfort and quality of the shave, it was simply more refreshing than the Edge gel, but not much better. I did start doing 2-pass shaves with the Mach-3 . . . much closer although not super comfortable.

So, DE lessons learned in the last 3 weeks:

1) Good lather is important! I thought I had a decent one (and I did), but the Mach-3 never really got deep on the whiskers, so I rarely had any issues with nicks or razor burn. Switch to a single blade that sits right to the skin . . . oh yeah - the lather is there for a reason! I had a few irritated spots, so really worked on a good lather the next day and WHAM! Much more comfortable shave, and a heck of a lot closer!!

2) Back to lather - with the cartridges, I could go back over a spot once or twice without any gel or soap, and it wasn't too big of a deal. With DE, I have to be careful not to instinctively go back over a rough spot to change the angle of the stroke. Must wait for the second or third lathering to pass it again! Still learning that lesson! Dry shaving is a bad idea! :p

3) Blade health - already starting to get a feel for what the blade is doing and how it's holding up. With the cartridge razor, first shave or two was good, all of them after pretty much were "tolerable" and then one day, it was just bad (time to change). With this, I can usually tell when part of the blade no longer has the right edge, and it skips, pulls, or nicks. Lovely part about DE shaving . . . toss the blade and get a new one out . . . it's less than a $.50 investment at this point. (I picked up a sampler pack from Vintage Blades LLC so I could try different ones out, so the cost per blade is still a bit higher than buying in bulk.) Hopefully getting this feel will translate somewhat to the Straights.

4) Angles, angles, angles. First couple shaves with the DE were ok, more comfortable overall than the Mach-3 (once i got the lather issue worked out), but not that much closer. Played with the angles a bit more and the lather, and all of sudden, really close shaves. :) While the grip is different, understanding the angles surely can't hurt on the SR front.

5) Passes - as mentioned earlier, taking the time to do a few passes correctly is doing wonders for smoothness. Mostly been doing 3-pass shaves (WTG, XTG, ATG). Have done a few 2 passes, and actually was in a rush this morning and just did one. Still pretty smooth.

So, as the journey continues, the one issue/problem I've had is in keeping enough lather for multiple shave passes on the brush. I've been face lathering off of a soap, and I'm good for two, but the third is problematic. I use a soap and load the brush for usually about 45 seconds or so, and then work up the face lather. That works for two, but by the time I go to the third, it's pretty thin. Would lathering in a mug work better to keep more of it around? Any suggestions?

So what are you using for lather? What kind of brush are you using? I find badger brushes retain much more lather than boar, so I use badger exclusively for face-lathering. A mug or scuttle will surely help produce more volume. Some soaps take more work to load than others to get enough volume. JMO

Badger brush and Col Conk soap. I keep the soap in a bowl, and load it in there, thinking of getting another mug to actually try to lather in and keep the lather. (Also might be a bit easier to keep warm too).

You might try 3 or 4 drops of glycerine in there. Stir it more on the puck. No reason to transfer the brush to an empty mug, I think. Build the lather in the bowl and around the puck. make a 'reserve' so to speak!

I might try that, might need a bowl with higher sides . . . :) I've been focusing on "loading" the brush as much as possible, and didn't want to necessarily dilute the load with the lather right over the puck. But, what that has meant is going back to try to reload the brush and relather for the last shave . . .

I didn't really like the Col Conk soap. I've found that creams are far better for both DE and straight shaving. But this is from 3-4 months experience, so take it with a grain of salt.

Somehow adding salt to the soap sounds like it would chaff. :shrug:

And actually, going to try some different options with the lather . . . just don't want to build up too much yet . . . Wife still owns the medicine cabinet . . .

I hope this vid may be of some help. I keep posting it when someone has trouble with their lathering as it really helped me out. I never have a problem getting enough soap for a 4 pass shave.

Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4zE...AYHiXYBRrIMYJQ

Bob - actually, that was the video that helped me get an actual good lather for the first couple of shaves. :) Wonder if it might be soap vs. my technique/brush?

I find that soaking my badger brush in warm to hot water for 5 minutes while I shower really helps to soften it up and help it to hold a lot more lather when I shave. A cold brush just doesn't seem to work as well, IMHO.

I did try cold water one morning, and while I kind of liked it, the lather didn't not stick around long . . . :p

2 to 5 cents worth coming from a former hot water shaver now a cold/tepid/lukewarm (take your pick) shaver. Water temperature has nothing to do with how good or bad your lather is. It's all technique. Like all things shaving, with building a good lather varies to the tune of the number of stars in the sky. Lather not good? Could be not enough water. Could be too much water. Could be you under-worked it. Could be you over-worked it. Could be your brush (like some have said Badger better). Here we go down the road YMMV.

As Lynn says, "Have fun".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shaotzu

Bob - actually, that was the video that helped me get an actual good lather for the first couple of shaves. :) Wonder if it might be soap vs. my technique/brush?

---

Personally, I find that the type of brush used and for the most part type of cream/soap used doesn't matter as much a technique. Changing to a different brush, soap or cream only means you have to modify your same basic technique to match the requirements of the different components.

If your lather is disappearing you may not have loaded enough soap and/or used too much water so it is too thin and dries out. You could also not have used enough water making the soap dry/pasty and that would make it dry out quickly. You could practice varying your technique a bit to see what works.

Bob