Introduction and 1st shave report
Hi all. My name's Daniel. 21 years old from Chicago. Neat site. My primary source of intel before delving into shaving like a gangster. This is what that intel spurred:
Purchases:
Parker shavette
Shark half blades
Van der Hagen boar brush
Williams Mug soap
1st Shave:
I went against the advice I've seen on here and shaved my whole face my first time out. Took probably 30-40 minutes. No bleeding of any kind. Didn't go against the grain or anything like that, and I've got some rough stubble stalks here and there.
For the most part things went smoothly. The trouble I had was lathering the soap. I just put the puck of Williams in the bottom of a plastic disposable bowl for lack of better option. I put a little hot water on the top to soften it up for a few minutes. I soaked the brush and then just pretty much gave it a whirl for about 20-30 seconds.
I don't think I did it right, because it was sticky on the face and it started drying out and dissapearing. I had to relather like 3 or 4 times during the shave. I was paranoid that the soap was still semi-solid (is foam the 4th state of matter?). There was a bit of solid-like residue on the disposable blade after the shave.
Thoughts:
I chose the cheap-o path cause I don't have money to spend. The Parker is cool. I don't have enough experience to judge the Shark blades but it seemed alright. I thought it would be more rigid but when its not clipped into the parker it flexes all around. So far I think the boar brush and the soap are pretty ghetto. I'm going to practice lathering on my hand to get the consistency down and I'm sure that will change my opinion about the two of them.
I am a disciple that function outweighs form and I'm banking that my technique will make up for any shortcomings these inexpensive products might yield.
Thanks SRP,
Daniel S. M.
Edit* P.S. I don't have a soap dish and I've been rinsing off the soap and putting it back into the cardboard box I got it in. My goal is for it to dry out before the next shave. Is this standard, or does everyone just leave their soap out to remain damp and mushy?