Okay, since I'm trying to improve, I found it helpful to collect my daily shaving experiences in a thread to see how I progress. So here goes nothing;
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Okay, since I'm trying to improve, I found it helpful to collect my daily shaving experiences in a thread to see how I progress. So here goes nothing;
First ever straight shave;
Dovo 5/8 Silver Steel Ebony
EJ Best Badger Brush (the one that's all the rave over at B&B)
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
10 cuts, mainly due to;
No prep, I was an idiot and lathered directly on my dry face (dunno why I did it, was in a hurry to try the straight) :D
Semi-dull razor, it tugged at the whiskers quite a lot.
Haphazard shave, didn't really do it in any specific order or nothing, which isn't normal for me either.
The only new thing was the bloody razor, and it messed up my whole routine that I had down with the Mach3. Tomorrow I'll get up damned early and I think I'm gonna limit myself to the cheeks, and I'm gonna do it post shower, with 2 hot towels, in 3 different passes! I'm also gonna do it in half-centimeter strokes. :)
I also have a bottle of T&H Pre-Shave oil, since I liked the effect of the AoE oil I tried earlier, and a styptic pencil on order as of today, I'm probably getting it by friday! :)
Dovo 5/8 Silver Steel Ebony
EJ Best Badger Brush (the one that's all the rave over at B&B)
TAoS Unscented Cream
Better prep today, and freshly honed razor; less tugging, only 2 cuts today, mostly because I was less of an idiot. :)
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush (the one that's all the rave over at B&B)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Tuscany
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Boss XY aftershave
Better still today, felt like I was shaving instead of just cutting up my face... :)
Routine;
Hot water wash
Olive Oil Rub
Lather on face
Strop razor
Shave N to S on cheeks and neck
Relather and restrop
S to N on cheeks, N to S on neck
Relather
S to N on cheeks and neck, paying attention to the jawline
Relather
Finish up the hard spots with the Mach3
Cold Water Rince
Alcohol AS splash
Think you got the wrong thread mate? :D
I have re-named this to your Private shave journal so there is no more confusion to the regular SOTD thread... this should actually go in the newbies corner so I will move it there and leave you a re-direct
Any questions please feel free to PM me
Yeah, I thought about it and it is more appropriate, thanks Glenn! :)
You are most welcome !!!
I like the idea of posting your progress throughout your shaves! It`s great for people starting out and seeing how the new straight shaver progresses.
Keep it up and you`ll be having great shaves for the rest of your life!
Dave
Yeah, I started calculating the costs for the gillette systems and saw that I could spend 400€ per year on shaving gear and still not spend more money than on cartridges. I think I should post the spreadsheet here so people really can calculate for themselves how much money it costs... :)
Definitely do it! I occassionally think of how much money I would`ve spent on disposables...(it helps me justify more hones and accessories :D).
Dave
Okay here's the sheet!
shaving - Google Docs
If you want it to calculate anything you need to pm me so I can mail it to you!
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Nivea Extreme Comfort ABS
Knize Ten EdT for scent
Much better today, the stropping yesterday and today really sharpened things up, so today I actually had a somewhat comfortable shave! Hurray! ^^
Okay, I've done some more stropping, and it's getting there, now I can do an ATG stroke on my neck with just water without any irritation. I just tried it, and it was kinda comfortable, so tomorrows shave is gonna be great! ^^
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Nivea Extreme Comfort ABS
GFT Eucris EdT for scent (Too geriatric according to GF, I'm not using that one again)
Todays shave was comparable to a good Mach3+gel shave, so I'm very pleased. It was the first time that the shave felt "natural", like this actually was a good way of shaving, and something I can do without having to go millimeters per minute, which was nice.
I also worked out a part of my lathering routine. Earlier I just used to swirl the brush around on the soap (creating a mess). Today I grabbed the brush by the bristles and swirled for a long time, without generating any real lather on the soap, which reduced the mess to almost nil. :D
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Nivea Replenishing AABS (Alcohol Aftershave Balm)
I had a very nice shave today, and found a way to completely eliminate stinging from the aftershave, a technique I picked up from a member here who's name I can't remember (sorry... :()
Here's the full routine so you can see how everything fits together.
Fill sink with hot water, put brush and bowl in there to soak.
Strop the razor 20 laps.
Build lather in the bowl
Wash face with hot water and apply lather
Strop 20 more laps.
Start shaving, N-S for the whole face (I have a goatee and mustache so I only really shave cheeks and neck)
Reapply lather
Strop 20 laps
Shave again, this time S-N
WWR
Reapply lather
Strop 20 laps
Shave again, this time S-N on the neck, and then touch-up on the cheeks (mostly ATG on the sideburns)
WWR
Reapply lather
Rinse and dry razor, strop 20 laps
Wash out shaving brush and bowl
Clean the soap bowl and put away
CWR
Pat dry with towel
Apply aftershave.
Normally I skip the last lather pass, and just do a CWR, which makes the AS sting like hell. Today I added the WWR and the lather, and I couldn't feel the AS at all... Weird, but I'm happy!
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Calvin Klein Escape AS
A bit better still, went for more BBS which resulted in a bit more sting (higher alcohol content and one pass more), but after half an hour my face was irritant free once again. My little honing session yesterday (coticule with real light slurry and than water) seem to have gotten the blade sharper (it had some really small nicks in two places) but I think a couple more hundred laps on the water coticule might get it even sharper. :) I'm really dying to see how gugi's shave-ready blade compares to mine, mines already stickier on the TPT than a Gillette Swede DE blade... :)
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
T&H Pre-shave oil
Nivea Replenishing AABS
Today's shave wasn't very comfortable as I shaved yesterday evening as well, which is too much abrasion for my skin. I also did an alum rub yesterday which also left me a bit dry this morning. I'm also wondering if the T&H doesn't work with my skin, since I've only been using it for the last two shaves... :/ It's def. worse than AOS's oil, so my next pre-shave is going to be theirs.
All in all I did shave, but with the expense of having a quite red face afterward. It was a very uniform redness, so it's better than the normal razor-burn I sometimes get... :)
The SOTD picQuote:
Originally Posted by Stuggi
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3518/...fdb13ba6d9.jpg
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Nivea Extreme Comfort ABS
Nice overall shave, I did the first pass on half my face with gugi's Shumate, and then went with the Dovo, didn't feel much different, the Shumate tugged more on the ATG on the neck, the Dovo was a bit less smooth than the Shumate on the not so bushy areas. :D
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Nivea Replenishing ABS
Adidas Victory League EdT (damn fine scent, sadly the brand and the ugly label let's it down)
Not much to report, other than lowest irritation-level yet! :D
Dovo 5/8" Silver Steel Ebony
EJ 19mm Best Badger Brush
Dr. Harris Arlington Soap
Nivea Replenishing ABS
Boss XY AS for scent
Today I skipped my left cheek to allow it to heal, and instead did a 5-pass shave on my neck. I've never been this BBS on my neck, and the irritation level is still less than yesterday. :D
(Oh, and feel free to comment as well, it's getting a bit lonely in here :D)
At what point does this just become your own SOTD? Why not post there?
Oh yeah, congrats on your progress.
Because the main SOTD resets every week, so progress is hard to track. When I feel I'm not getting dramatically better per shave, I'll start posting there instead. :)
Understood. I wasn't trying to be a dick, just wondering.
No offense taken mate! :)