Thread: Cream dries out halfway through shave

I'm no expert but I found Taylor to be great for DE shaving but not slick or cushiony enough for the SR. I mostly use Proraso or Baum.Be for the SR. But there's a never ending supply of great soaps out there most of which I'll never get around to

-steve

After a couple of months, you should have figured out your face map and be able to work more quickly. What exactly is holding you up at this point that your lather is drying out before you can shave your whole face? Are you still trying to shave the same way as your first shave, or have you adapted to what you have learned over time?

I've been using TOBS for a long time, and never had trouble with a DE, but when I started SR shaving it was drying out. Initially, I did two things. One was to shave 1/4 of my face at a time. The other was to add more water to the lather so that it is not so thick (using a bowl). Now that I shave faster, it's much less of a problem, but I still do sections at a time.

Even when I've done face lathering, I'd do sections at a time and closely monitor the thickness of the TOBS. One tip, is I apply a preshave cream before each pass. Was using Poraso, but now use Noxema with some drops of glycerin. This keeps my face from drying, when I do sections at a time.

Lastly, I do find that some of the TOBS seem to lather up differently, with some needing more water, it seems. I use mostly avocado, and occasionally do others like Sandalwood, Rose, and Lemon Lime.

Try the preshave, it may help. Apply it and then face lather, and then reapply, before lathering on next pass.

Thanks to all of the useful comments! I am new to the straight razor and have had the same problem, probably because I take too long still... Anyway, these posts are quite useful!

Yeah, I was ridicously slow, when first using a straight razor. It takes time to figure out what direction to shave, how hard to press, how to get to certain areas, etc.

You'll get there, and some of the drying issues will lessen as a result.