6th shave already, the fever is getting stronger
And I need to get more medicine :D
So I got the full line of proraso products: preshave, soap, cream, aftershave balm and gel for the nicks, and a nice razor and brush stand to give them a prominent place in my bedroom.
I got my first full morning shave this sunday, which started with a nice hot shower. The goal was to start slowly getting me in a schedule so I can incorporate shaving in my rather busy morning routine (which happily involves my 3 kids). Of course, at the moment I would have to get up about 45 minutes earlier but I'm slowly shaving some time off the shave itself.
I dressed, put on the preshave by proraso which is very nice and cooling and started creating a lather with a little more glycerine than the previous time. It foamed up well. I Rubbed it in, a little bit better than the days before, I got that tip from Lynn's dvd which arrived a couple of days ago. It helps the lather do it's magic on the skin and the hairs. I like the dvd, it's nice to just sit back and watch it, but loads of the information is also on this forum. It's good to have the basics in one place though.
I Stropped on the canvas and on the leather, with my gf lazily watching from the bed, commenting on my sharp things obsession and laughing about the amount of detail I was giving her.
She's a keen observer and pointed out that I wasn't doing the x-pattern correctly, which seems normal, since men are not so good at talking and doing other things at the same time as women ;)
The shave went very well and I did 3 passes, WTG, XTG and ATG (as well as I could) but I really need to give my skin a rest for about four days now. This will be very hard to do, since I'm longing for the next shave already.
My neck feels smooth, but definitely not BBS. I think I'm a long way from getting there. There is a little irritation and some tiny things between a nick and a weeper. Definitely give my neck a day or three to recover. The cheeks are very smooth, in all directions :rock:
I watched a video by LX_Emergency (fellow dutchman and fellow knife enthousiast) about the coupe de maitre and found this to be the best so far. His scooping motion - from the nose down to the lip - explanation totally improved my technique a 100%. Of course, this is still easily obtainable at this point in my str8 razor shaving career!
After the shave I first cleaned my altar of hairlessness. I'm using a sponge to wipe my razor, which I found to be a lot easier than using the hand towel, not to mention that it's less of a mess for my laundry service, which has to deal with three kids already (4 according to my gf :)). The sponge functions as an easy cleaning help also. Some will question the hygienic aspects of this, but I'll see how it goes, for the moment, I just rinse it well.
My blade seems to need a littlebit of a polish, there are some tiny dark stains in the blade. I'll read up on this today. I might not have cleaned it enough the first 2 times. I set it in it's new home, a nice razor stand, at 45 degrees angle relative to the front of the shelf it's on, all part of my newly developed compulsive disorder ;)
It's time for the alum. Wet it, and put it all over the face. This time, it's definitely beyond the comfortable stinging level. I'll have to give my skin tow days to recover from this shave. I put on my after shave balm from proraso after I put the alum on. I like it, but found the nivea balm I've been using so far to be a littlebit more moisturizing.
THe skin looked pretty good after this, the watery feeling of the balm, combined with the freshly shaven face is sooooo nice. But I'll definitely have to give my skin a day's rest...
So I'm showing off my latest and greatest shaving results to my gf with a good response! When she feels my skin, it feels great!!
I'm ready for another shave tomorrow :D;)
