jmreeves journal through SRP

I am going to try and follow suit of some of the others here and hopefully get some thoughts out to help others and also to set of bells and whistles in case I am doing something wrong.

Equipment:
Boars hair brush, walgreens and ugly: $5 bucks
thoughts: wish I had atleast sprung for a $20 dollar badger but it works

walgreens shaving soap:~$1.00
thoughts:Wow what a better feel than gillette foam. Marketing has the world labeled as SUCKERS. That being said I have mamabears soap on order and can't wait to get it.

coffee mug: way to big and hurt my wrist when lathering. ditched it
Ordered a basic $20 dollar mug from SRD. LOVE it

SRD strop and blade set: boker 5/8 king cutter and red 2" strop.~$130(with mug)
thoughts:scroll down

phase I: I initially purchased just a brush and soap and I have been "wet shaving" with disposables for about a month. I will try to recall this month and summarize it.
first week: lather was crap. way to little water and I basically had cake on my face. way to much water the next time and I basically had a big glob of soap over my chin while the rest was bare.

thoughts:this is harder than it looks, hope I can get past this stage. My wrist hurts, surely not everyone else goes through this pain everyday. My wife thinks I am nuts but my 5 yr old now lathers up with me! cool...if only she was a boy.

the biggest issue it seemed was figuring out how much water to leave in the brush. I think I learned alot this last month and have gotten pretty good and making basic lather. I also learned to simply slow down when lathering. mamabears video on her home page really helped my lathering skills.


Phase II: shaving
Ok. I had my first shave yesterday.

Prep: brush soaked in hot water while showering. worked face well in shower with soap and bristle brush.

shave: boker king cutter 5/8". instructions from SRD claims no stropping necessary on first shave. 2 minor cuts that I would label 1 out of 10. I made a pass on both sideburn areas and made a pass on the mustache. I was not able to get the cheek area between sideburns and mustache as I could not figure out the angle. it seemed that I was going to slice my nose off and for some reason my chin just didnt want to line up.

post: C. bigelow aftershave lotion. no burn but wish it wasen't in lotion form as I prefer the "cologne" style aftershave.

thoughts: It helps holding the blade once you realize that the blade can go past 180 degrees. Holy crap this sucker is sharp. Why can't I see my face and I wonder what my blade is doing. Angle? hell Ill be lucky if I can get contact with my face and not cut off limbs...it looked so easy online. Jockey is crazy how do you scoop the mustache, what kind of angle is that?

Day 2:

prep: ok, minor detail but two sides to this strop? Crap, wonder which side to use.
ok, stubear says "30 fabric and 60 leather" I will try that. Hmm I can't hang this anywhere. solved by zip tying to the closet area.
stropping thoughts: I was to slow but that is ok. I couldnt really count and keep all the other thoughts in my head so I am not sure how many passes I did. less with the fabric though. I felt my stropping was fine, probably dulled it some but no MAJOR hiccups.

same shower prep


shave: I realized by simply relaxing that I could get my whole cheek area. I did notice that my blade was slightly more dull and instantly realized it was my stropping. no real tugging on hair but I felt a bit more tension. I did everything but my chin and neck. I really felt like I made progress today. No cuts and I was able to actually focus on my angle rather than crap I cant see my face or how do I even make contact.

I would consider this shave work acceptable but not perfect. Any area that I missed I had to patch up with disposable. Some patches were there simply because I lowered my angle to much and had to go back over it.

post shave: same as day 1


final thoughts: Still figuring out what hone to get but have had some helpful comments on finishing stones

EDIT: all my shaving has been with the grain. several passes simply because I wanted practice and well had patches to fix

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmreeves

I am going to try and follow suit of some of the others here and hopefully get some thoughts out to help others and also to set of bells and whistles in case I am doing something wrong.

Equipment:
Boars hair brush, walgreens and ugly: $5 bucks
thoughts: wish I had atleast sprung for a $20 dollar badger but it works

walgreens shaving soap:~$1.00
thoughts:Wow what a better feel than gillette foam. Marketing has the world labeled as SUCKERS. That being said I have mamabears soap on order and can't wait to get it.

coffee mug: way to big and hurt my wrist when lathering. ditched it
Ordered a basic $20 dollar mug from SRD. LOVE it

SRD strop and blade set: boker 5/8 king cutter and red 2" strop.~$130(with mug)
thoughts:scroll down

phase I: I initially purchased just a brush and soap and I have been "wet shaving" with disposables for about a month. I will try to recall this month and summarize it.
first week: lather was crap. way to little water and I basically had cake on my face. way to much water the next time and I basically had a big glob of soap over my chin while the rest was bare.

thoughts:this is harder than it looks, hope I can get past this stage. My wrist hurts, surely not everyone else goes through this pain everyday. My wife thinks I am nuts but my 5 yr old now lathers up with me! cool...if only she was a boy.

the biggest issue it seemed was figuring out how much water to leave in the brush. I think I learned alot this last month and have gotten pretty good and making basic lather. I also learned to simply slow down when lathering. mamabears video on her home page really helped my lathering skills.


Phase II: shaving
Ok. I had my first shave yesterday.

Prep: brush soaked in hot water while showering. worked face well in shower with soap and bristle brush.

shave: boker king cutter 5/8". instructions from SRD claims no stropping necessary on first shave. 2 minor cuts that I would label 1 out of 10. I made a pass on both sideburn areas and made a pass on the mustache. I was not able to get the cheek area between sideburns and mustache as I could not figure out the angle. it seemed that I was going to slice my nose off and for some reason my chin just didnt want to line up.

post: C. bigelow aftershave lotion. no burn but wish it wasen't in lotion form as I prefer the "cologne" style aftershave.

thoughts: It helps holding the blade once you realize that the blade can go past 180 degrees. Holy crap this sucker is sharp. Why can't I see my face and I wonder what my blade is doing. Angle? hell Ill be lucky if I can get contact with my face and not cut off limbs...it looked so easy online. Jockey is crazy how do you scoop the mustache, what kind of angle is that?

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Scooping that mustache is actually easier than it looks. Just put the blade completely horizontal and liiiiighly touch the skin then rotate the wrist.

Now what I find hard is going ATG on my mustache area....whew that's a butt clencher!

Day 3:
shaved everything but middle neck and chin. 3x WTG no nicks.

I feel a continually learning improvement at this point. My stropping dramatically improved, or so it seemed. I was able to get that nice sound I hear on the videos while stropping.I did hear on an occasion a slight different sound at the end of my stroke and slowed down to prevent any futher noob damage.

Blade did not have an pulling as yesterdays. I attributed this to better stropping and blade angle. I was able to pull on my skin and get the majority of my side neck areas. I am slowly getting better at scooping around the mustache but I still find myself at a 90 degree angle midway down which doesent help.I think if my pressure was any harder I would really cut myself at that angle.Working on getting it to 30. I also notice myself still flatining the blade angle on the cheek areas on occasion. Hopefully experience will improve this.

On my third pass I really focused on the scything motion and noticed a bit more hair removal when I wiped my blade. I think the shave is on par with a disposable when I go wtg at the moment. Not real close but again its wtg. My face felt a little "used" today. I attribute this to a slight heavy pressure which I need to work on as well as getting used to a straight blade. No burning with my normal aftershave.

I was comfortable enough to strop after my shave this time as well and did 30 leather passes. Typically before the shave I do 30 fabric 60 leather.

I am currently planning on a 4000/8000 grit naniwa to start(w/naniwa lapping stone) and maybe for christmas a finishing stone. Still researching.

Great posts!

Lather can be a tough one to get down as there are so many variables. Different soaps, hard or soft water, how much water, how much soap to get on the end of the brush, etc....

They way I experimented with how much water to use was using "brush flicks" for units. So for example, I use Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, and I find that the perfect amount of water is to soak my brush, give it one light flick, and the remaining water in the brush is just right to make my lather. Now, this works for me, with the hardness of my water and how much soap I get on my brush. Change those, and the lather will change.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by markevens

Great posts!

Lather can be a tough one to get down as there are so many variables. Different soaps, hard or soft water, how much water, how much soap to get on the end of the brush, etc....

They way I experimented with how much water to use was using "brush flicks" for units. So for example, I use Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, and I find that the perfect amount of water is to soak my brush, give it one light flick, and the remaining water in the brush is just right to make my lather. Now, this works for me, with the hardness of my water and how much soap I get on my brush. Change those, and the lather will change.

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That makes a ton of sense!!!! I will give that a try,thanks! Glad you are enjoying the journal, I enjoyed yours.

First things first! Mamabears awaken lathering soap WOW!!!!

Love this stuff. Brought me back to the days,parden the term, when we would put bengay in the gym shorts. The way it cools the face is amazing. Lathers so much better than my previous cheapo soap. I had so much lather I didn't know what to do with it all. I did follow markevans flick suggestions and I think that helped as well!

I shaved 95% of the face. I have a very angled and prominent jaw line. I simply haven't figured out the best angles to attack right under the chin area. I plan on rewatching some jockey videos today if I find the time.

I nicked myself right under the nose again. I am still trying to master this flick under the nose. This nick is probably a 2.5/10. I do believe the mamabears soap helped the bleeding alot. I did an ATG pass on the cheek areas and found this smooth and easy thus far!!. I was able to start on the areas of the neck that are not right under the chin. not perfect but I managed. I simply need to get a good angle for my jawline I think and keep the skin streched.

I was able to do the chin area fine. aside from right under the chin, which I didn;t bother trying. Chin was a bit more of a struggle and I felt a bit more tugging due to the length of the hair that grows there.

I felt my stropping went fine. I caught myself lifting the blade at the end of each lap or in between laps and slowed down to try and correct this.
I am sure my stropping sucks and is dulling the blade some but I atleast expected it.

I almost didn't put on aftershave because the soap smelled so amazing. My wife. Let's just say when my wife smelled the soap she gave me that "look"!:nj

Quick shave today,relatively speaking. I was in a rush today to get the girls to school on time. I did pace myself while shaving though but only did WTG x2 passes.

I was able to get the entire face aside from my normal trouble spots which I am still using a disposable on. Those spots being the chin right under the jaw and some of the neck but not all of the neck angles. Mustache area went much better today!!! I admit I did not use as much of a flick today. The portion right where the nose hits the skin still had a slight redness so I avoided that area and worked several small stroked angles.

Again, slightly giddy about using mamabears soap, Love it. lather was great.

Stropping is improving, still notice mistakes as I go but I am improving my stropping.

Yeah, one of the things I love about straight shaving is the smell of my face. Quality soap and my bay rum aftershave makes my face smell oh so good!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by markevens

Yeah, one of the things I love about straight shaving is the smell of my face. Quality soap and my bay rum aftershave makes my face smell oh so good!

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Yes, aftershaves are something I want to look more into. I could see myself really spending money in the soap and aftershave area.

My work schedule is 3x12 nights on the weekends so pardon the late updates,almost my friday!

I will say my shave today was the best yet. 3 nicks but they healed by the time I put my co bigelow aftershave on. I decided to go ATG all over. I found ATG on the mustache very helpful as I had more "room" to work with angles and strokes. I did however nick myself twice here. I found ATG on the chin fine but very slow probably due to the length of hair there. I have yet to do ATG right under the chin. Angle still looked a bit complex so I managed several WTG passes as normal.

I will say this shave is the first shave that would make me comfortable in a business meeting and I really liked the results, not perfect but noticeably better.

My stropping experience is unusual. It seems every new day I strop I realize something I have been doing wrong or could have done a lot better. No real blatant damaging mistakes but when I first posted about stropping on the journal I was probably doing a terrible job and probably have only slightly improved but I am noticing a much better strop. Nothing beats the original hone/shave ready blade I got from SRD though.


Sorry for the short blip on the past couple shaves. All WTG no nicks but nothing real close to the skin or exciting either. Good to have more practice under the belt.

Sounds like your learning curve is starting to shorten. Keep up the constant vigil as it will only get better. Nice log. :)

JM, do you work in a hospital? My gf is a nurse, and I'm going into nursing myself, and that sounds like almost the same schedule she has.

Also, most people skip stach ATG. If it works for you, then more power to ya, but most of us are scared of cutting our noses off :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by markevens

JM, do you work in a hospital? My gf is a nurse, and I'm going into nursing myself, and that sounds like almost the same schedule she has.

Also, most people skip stach ATG. If it works for you, then more power to ya, but most of us are scared of cutting our noses off :)

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I used to work in a hospital doing research as a chemist. I moved to industry however and work as a chemist in quality control Lab.

On the stach do most skip ATG and XTG or just ATG? maybe my WTG just sucks.


stropping has improved again. Last few days of shaving were a bit ant-climatic. I managed to still nick myself and I have only a marginal closer shave over the last few days. The good news is it is getting closer. I tried an XTG on one side of my neck that went ok. I also managed ATG on the chin today which was not bad at all. I seem to be having more issues with my neck than with my chin. Lather has been going well, dying out a bit more as I take a bit more time now.

On the stach, most do WTG and XTG.

And yes, shaves will start being a little anti-climactic compared to your first shaves. As a beginner, one really has to focus on muscle control and pay attention to a number of different things at the same time; angles, skin stretching, light touch, etc. Later as these become more engrained, you don't have to concentrate on them so much, and instead you "just shave." So in the beginning, just shaving your whole face is an amazing accomplishment, but later it is less of an acomplishment and more of a simple pleasure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by markevens

On the stach, most do WTG and XTG.

And yes, shaves will start being a little anti-climactic compared to your first shaves. As a beginner, one really has to focus on muscle control and pay attention to a number of different things at the same time; angles, skin stretching, light touch, etc. Later as these become more engrained, you don't have to concentrate on them so much, and instead you "just shave." So in the beginning, just shaving your whole face is an amazing accomplishment, but later it is less of an acomplishment and more of a simple pleasure.

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I think nursing is a great way to go btw. I appreciate your insight on my posts they are very helpful and useful reminders to keep up.

I have a honing question. When should I start to hone? I know I have a ways to go still but I have been researching and researching hones. I think my stropping has dulled the blade some but not enough to hone it. I just know it is not as sharp as when I got it:/

Is this something I can resharpen with a real good stropping session?

I'm a total newb on hones, I just ordered my first ones a few days ago. Generally, you want to hone when stropping isn't giving you a nice edge anymore.

If you've rolled the edge with too much strop pressure, I think it will need a quick touch up. Check out the honing forum for far more expertise than I could give.

Well, I think I will post images, atleast as a treat for my absence. I think the shave today has been one of my better shaves. I managed to cut myself again on my mustache a couple days ago. Also I tried my first ATG on the neck and managed a minor cut but since then not bad.

Some revelations. I have been to shallow on my angle when dealing with the mustache. I think my initial scoop at 90 degrees scared me and I have gone to shallow. last couple of days I am back up between 25 and 35 degrees and the shave is much better. XTG mustache is becoming like my cheeks! My lather has been drying out the last couple days as well. Might be because my shaves are taking a bit longer or too much water. As usual stropping is coming better with time. I have added a few more nicks in my strop since I first began and I am glad that I went with a cheap strop to start. It will likely become pasted.

This shave is from today. everything received WTG and XTG. I tried ATG on my neck on my dominant hand side and was pleased.


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