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06-12-2010, 02:32 AM #1Still learning
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- Jun 2010
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3rd shave under my belt!
Had my 3rd shave today, man am I loving this!
Like I said before, my strop came in just after my 2nd shave a few days ago. Unfortunately, it needed a lot of breaking in before I could actually strop a razor on it. See thread here. I don't know if I got a lemon, or if this is normal for a new strop to require so much work to get into a usable condition. In any case, I finally got it in working order and in the mean time had gotten a lot of practice under my belt.
I have to say, this video helped me more than anything when it came to stropping.
YouTube - straight razor stropping
Besides having an awesome accent, using his way of holding the razor (which took awhile to get used to) allowed more control over how much pressure I had on the strop. Before I was holding it the way he demonstrates around 1:30, and I had very little control over pressure.
After reviewing the stropping tutorials and practicing quite a bit, I began getting more and more comfortable with the strop. Quick strokes with light, controlled pressure, and slow flipping concentrating on getting a good grip before the next stroke. The strop was sounding nice and even; very zippy sound on the linen side, and a nice even higher pitch on the leather side.
The one problem I did have was a tendency to lift the razor up spine first before I finished with my last stroke. Each time I did this, I'd go back to the linen side and start over. Now I'm very conscious of turning the razor edge up before I lift it off the strop. Ok, so I was able to get stropping down. I'm not stropping super fast or anything, but I'm glad I'm able to get my razor into shaveable condition again.
So I decide to use the dovo prima today. I boil up a cup of water and leave my brush in it while I take a nice shower. In the shower I wash my face really well and let the conditioner sit in my beard for 4-5 minutes.
I get out of the shower and start my lather. I experimented earlier with Col. Conk, but that lather simply cannot match the KissMyFace shave soap, so I'm sticking with whats best. This time I shook the water out of my brush and did not get the runny lather I got last time. I ended up having to add a few drops of water to get it to lather up better, but I think that is better than having to start over because of runny lather. So I get a good lather going and really work it into my face for a few minutes. This soap smells really nice so I find it enjoyable to take my time and really work it in good. I know the exfoliating action is key, so I'm very conscious of working all around the roots of all my growth.
So I finish my lather and grab the dovo.
OMG what a difference a good stropping makes! With the lightest touch, I slid that blade down my cheek and it just cut through those hairs like a hot knife through butter! Oh this was pure joy! Hearing those hairs just "pop pop pop pop pop!" and not even feel the slightest tug on my skin! I just had the biggest grin on my face and I just don't think I can ever go back to a mach3 again. When I tried my left hand this time, I had a much easier time on that side too! I was worried that I'd never get used to the left hand, but with such a sharp blade (and a bit more experience) it went rather well. I shaved my entire left side with my left hand, and even though it went a little slower, I got the job done. Oh, and not a single nick or cut to speak of! Damn this rocks!!!!! 
The upper lip and chin are still tough spots for me, although it did go a bit easier. I noticed I was using more of the toe end during my shaves, so I rightly figured the heel end would be sharper by this point and started using that. That helped with my upper lip and the flat parts of my chin, but the point of my chin was still a pain in the ass. Going really slow, almost hair by hair I slowly worked my way around my chin, re lathering numerous times. . I've got a very curvy chin, so the proper angle in one spot is way to steep or shallow 1/4 away. There doesn't seem to be any grain direction either, it all just pokes out 90 degrees from my skin. Oh well, I think the chin is destined to be a pain. Always has been in the past, so can't really expect much different here.
So anyway, the job is done and I rinse off really well with cold water and splash on the Bay Rum. (OUCH
) I dry off my blade and give it a post shave strop to get the gunk off and sit down to write about it. So far I am really enjoying the straight shaving experience.
I've even acquired 2 more razors to compliment my Dovo and John Williams, but fear I'm going to have to try and get a refund on one. The good one is a Wester Bros. Blue Steel 29. I'm going to have to send it away for a proper honing, as the edge has some very light rust on the edge when looked at under the microscope. The bad one was advertised as a Robeson, but turned out to be a no name razor with an old Robeson certificate of authenticity.
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06-12-2010, 03:17 AM
#2
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- Mar 2010
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- St. Louis, Illinois side
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Keep up the good work! It is good to know there are other newbs out there like me.I'm looking forward to reading more of you posts.
_Will
06-12-2010, 04:12 AM
#3
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Cool post & thanks for the info!
06-12-2010, 04:22 AM
#4
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- Jun 2010
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- Florida
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Great thread bud!
I had my first shave a couple hours ago.
My face is slightly uncomfortable right now but I'm proud as I had no knicks and had pretty decent beard reduction.
Thanks again, threads like this really help out new guys like myself
06-13-2010, 11:48 PM
#5
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- Jun 2010
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Scuttle on the cheep.
No shave today, but I did put together a nice little scuttle today so I thought I'd share.
Until recently, I did not understand the difference between a shaving mug and a scuttle. It was just yesterday or the day before where I came across a thread that enlightened me on the difference. For those who don't know, a scuttle has a separate chamber below the lathering bowl where you put piping hot water to keep everything nice and hot.
So today I make a run to goodwill, where they have shelves upon shelves of cups, bowls, and other kitchen goodies. In my searches I found a two crystal bowls that fit really nicely together, and the larger one was heavily carved giving it a very classy look. In the end I decided for something a little less classy, but more functional. I found a Tabasco bowl that fit the smaller one even more snug than the crystal bowl, had a wider base for more stability as well as hold more hot water, and was ceramic so it would hold the heat better for my 45 minute shaves.
Here are some pics
Separate
Together
With some other shaving goodies.
I was going to wait till tomorrow for my next shave, but I may have to, you know, test this stuff out!
06-14-2010, 01:13 AM
#6
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- Jun 2010
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- Florida
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I hope your thrift store scuttle works as well as mine!
Originally Posted by markevens
No shave today, but I did put together a nice little scuttle today so I thought I'd share.
Until recently, I did not understand the difference between a shaving mug and a scuttle. It was just yesterday or the day before where I came across a thread that enlightened me on the difference. For those who don't know, a scuttle has a separate chamber below the lathering bowl where you put piping hot water to keep everything nice and hot.
So today I make a run to goodwill, where they have shelves upon shelves of cups, bowls, and other kitchen goodies. In my searches I found a two crystal bowls that fit really nicely together, and the larger one was heavily carved giving it a very classy look. In the end I decided for something a little less classy, but more functional. I found a Tabasco bowl that fit the smaller one even more snug than the crystal bowl, had a wider base for more stability as well as hold more hot water, and was ceramic so it would hold the heat better for my 45 minute shaves.
Here are some pics
Separate
Together
With some other shaving goodies.
I was going to wait till tomorrow for my next shave, but I may have to, you know, test this stuff out!
06-15-2010, 07:27 PM
#7
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- Jun 2010
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Thanked: 240
4th shave, different beard prep
Did my 4th shave last night, and the shave was not as nice as last time. I used my Dovo Prima again, as my last shave with it was just phenomenal.
I changed 2 things in my shaving routines, and my shave was not quite as good as the last one so I'm wondering what it could be. My girlfriend was staying the night at her Mom's house and took the conditioner with her, so I didn't get to use it for my beard prep. I also used a different soap, Mitchell's Wool Fat soap instead of the Kissmyface.
The shave went okay, I did the whole face with no nicks, cuts, or razor burn, but the blade simply did not seem to cut as well as the last shave. I don't think its the soap, because it created a rich lather that lasted the whole shave, and the soap has been spoken of highly by others. Oh, and for those wondering, my scuttle kept it nice and warm the whole time as well
Its possible that the lack of conditioner made the difference. I usually let it sit on my beard for about 5 minutes while in the shower, and this time I only washed my beard and left it wet.
Also possible is my stropping technique. I preped my strop with 100 hand strokes to give it some nice oil and soften it up. I then did 30 on the linen and 60 on the leather. On the leather side it did not sound very even. Its like I was getting a good sound on the down stroke, but not a great sound on the up stroke. I also notice that sometimes my grip doesn't feel solid, usually on the up stroke. I'm not sure if its my fingers getting oily or what, but its definitely something I'm going to be working on.
Of course, it could be that my shaving technique is not good either. I notice sometimes I have to remind myself to lighten the touch. Normally I focus on what I've come to call, "the 3 ights," keeping the skin tight, the angle right, and the touch light, but I do notice that I'll occasionally have more pressure against the skin than I need. This usually happens in the harder areas, like my chin or parts of my neck. Everywhere else I'm pretty consistent on keeping a very light touch.
I'm hoping that of any of these, I hope it is either the lack of conditioner or the stropping. If I'm dulling the blade from my 3rd shave with this razor (2nd shave was with my John Williams), then I'm really doing something wrong.
As far as progression of technique, I'm finding the chin area is getting easier. I'm getting a better understanding of the curves and adjusting the angle as I shave it, and using both hands really does allow me to attack it in different ways. I'm still relathering multiple times to keep the area nice and wet and am only cutting a few hairs a stroke. The 'stache area is also a lot easier now as well. Not as easy as the cheeks of course, but hardly a problem at all.
The neck is also a bit of a pain. I don't find it hard per say, but I never get the smoothness that I get with other areas.
The left hand is also developing more comfort and coordination. I find keeping my hand and wrist locked with occasionally making angle adjustments with with my fingers and making the strokes with my arm gives me a lot better control. In contrast with my right I make more wrist adjustments as I shave.
All of this is only using one WTG pass. You may have noticed that I only shave every 3-4 days. I don't need to be clean shaven, so I'm afforded this time between shaves to let my face recover. In addition, I love taking off a few days of growth in a single whack. That said, I think I'll start shaving every other day and see how my face feels with that.
Till next time
