Quote Originally Posted by DZEC View Post
You have clearly gained a lot of confidence since shave 12. You are much less likely to cut yourself if your hands aren’t shaking while you shave ; )

I am impressed that you are so adept at shaving with both hands this early on in your SR journey. I didn’t start shaving with both hands early on and as a result generally shave using only my dominant hand. Well done.

I noticed that you frequently cleaned your blade using a towel. If your lather is well hydrated, it should easily rinse off the blade under running water. That and the appearance of the lather on your face indicate to me that you could still work more water into it. If it sticks to the blade like a paste, it’s too dry.

I spend much more time working the lather into my face with the brush than you did, even when I build the lather in a bowl, and I add a couple of drops of hot water to my brush before each application. That works the lather into the facial hairs and hydrates the hairs more completely. It takes only a few additional minutes, but there is a big payoff in softening the beard hairs and lubricating the skin.

I really like that Cognac and Cuban Cigars soap. Great scent. Great slickness. Canadian makers!

Try shaving with longer strokes. Some of your short strokes looked like they used a slicing action and that can be dangerous. THe straight razor shaving action pushes the sharp blade through the hairs rather than slicing them off like a knife through bread. That’s why SR honers strive to remove as many striations from the edge as possible - to eliminate any “toothiness”.

The angle of attack you use seems about right. I find I use about 30° on my cheeks WTG and reduce to about 10° ATG and on my neck.

You scared me a few times as you were struggling to change your grip - you were moving that Outback-sharpened blade awfully close to your face and it was wide open.

Thank you for sharing your journey. New SR shavers will learn a lot by watching your videos and following this thread.
Thanks DZEC,

I do feel more confident than I did, maybe too confident eh?

I really enjoy shaving now I don't use a cartridge any more. I actually threw my cartridge in the trash the day my Dovo arrived, I hadn't even tried it. Yes, I am that stupid LOL.

When I think back only 8 shaves to my 12th, I used to stand in the shower nervous because I knew I was going to shave soon. Now I wish I could do it twice a day.

If any new shaver benefits from my journey I will consider it an honour. I have had so much help and advice I would be very happy to help in anyway I can.

Steve