Now that I've stopped all this bleeding...
...I can actually put down the styptic long enough to post.
Wow, I learned so much from tonight's shave that I feel like a *complete* newb again, instead of the semi-newb I thought I was.
It all started day before yesterday. I got my Hess 44 stainless back from being honed by Lynn on the same day that my Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouqet shaving cream showed up. I thought I'd hit straight shaving nirvana two nights ago with that combination.
Fast forward to tonight. I had the Hess 44, an unused shavette, a Hill & Sons that I had finished on a 12k chinese and .25 diamond paste, and a Puma 85 that I had freshly sharpened on my new Shaptons (1k, 4k, 8k, 16k stone, then right to 100 leather). Yup, it was gonna be a shave-off tonight, and wow... what a shave-off it was; I shaved off stuff that just wasn't meant to be shaved off.
Again, I was excited to use the Penhaligon's cream after the results I got the first time. So I started off with the Pen's cream, and my newly Shaptoned kitty. Wow, was I disappointed. I couldn't even get the hair on my chin to shave WTG *at all*. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Empty set. And where I *could* get some whiskers off, it wasn't very close, nor comfortable. Hmm. So I finished the WTG (except for the chin) with the kitty, then reached for my Hill & Son to finish the chin, which did work, but it wasn't as comfy as it usually is. (That Hill & Son is a *great* shaver. If you ever get the chance to pick one up, *do it* :) )
So I applied another layer of Pen's, and started the ATG pass with the Hill & Sons, as I already knew how the Hess felt with the Pens from two night's previous. Imagine my surprise when it wasn't nearly as comfortable as it normally is when I use Tabac instead of the Pens with that same blade. Hmm again.
So now I reach for the cream bowl, dump it out, and whip up a fresh batch of Tabac. Now the Hill & Son shaves buttery smooth ATG. Just like old times. Hmm yet again. If my Hill & Sons feels this good with Tabac, how will the Lynn honed Hess feel? Well, to say it was an epiphany moment is an understatement. The Tabac soap just wiped the floor with that snooty Pen cream. The Hess and Tabac were literally a "velvet squeegee" combination. So much better than the Pen's, I was stunned.
At this point (about half way through my second pass), my face is majorly irritated, with numerous weepers. After doing half a face ATG with the Hess/Tabac combo, I reached for the unused shavette I got about a week ago. In one of the recent shavette vs. straight discussion threads, someone mentioned something that kinda stuck in my head... he said something about how if you can't keep track of *one* spike point on a regular straight, you're gonna be bloodied by the *two* spike points on a shavette. Yup, that was one smart guy. Previous to the shavette, I prided myself on only cutting myself twice since I started straight shaving. I'm not talking about weepers, I'm talking about real "damn, that stings" *cuts*. Well, I more than doubled that amount tonight with that shavette. Yup, keeping track of two spike points really is a challenge. But when it wasn't trying to sever what it was touching, the shave was.... marvelous. Yet another epiphany moment. It was even better than the Hess. Smoooooth. No irritation, and literally *no* pressure required. Next time, I'll take the suggestion someone had about using shavettes to heart: dull the corners first. Duh.
Lessons learned:
1. If you've ever wondered just how good that fifty dollar fancy jar of Pen's Blenheim cream is, you can stop now: IMO, it smells faaaar better than it works, and Tabac gives a MUCH more comfortable shave.
2. Expensive stones doth not a honer make.
3. Round the corners off of a shavette blade prior to shaving.
4. You only *think* you can match a honemeister's edge.
5. Buy low, sell high.
What a humbling night. Especially since I couldn't improve on the edge I had gotten off of the 12k Chinese with my new expensive Shapton set up. Ah, well... I guess that just means I gotta practice more. Darn. ;)
Thanks for listening to my ramblings...
