The Straight Road - Part 25: Experimentation
As I mentioned in my last entry, I was looking to experiment a bit by seeing which variables affected how well my shaves were turning out. With that in mind, I had made an attempt to fix the ding in my Dovo 6/8 Ironwood, which had delivered such a smooth shave the last time. The little tiny chip is still there, but I wanted to test it and see if it would affect my shave. The variables I introduced today were two: I switched to a badger brush and I lathered in the scuttle, instead of on my face. I stuck with the same soap and razor, so I would expect the shave would be similar to the last one. Well, it was, but it wasn't.
The Anticipation
I'm not really a morning person and Monday is sort of like the morning of the whole week. Today was most certainly not one of my best days, but I managed to drag my butt through and headed home, ready for my little slice of "me time" in my shave den. SWMBO was picking up SWMBO Jr. today, so I actually had the place to myself when I got home. What better way to take advantage of that time than to have a leisurely shave?
The Prep
I put the kettle on to boil and gave my Dovo twenty five laps on the Premium IV. It didn't really need them, as it had already been put through 50/100 last night after my little honing attempt, but I decided to follow through with my stropping ritual, nonetheless. The water was soon steaming and my scuttle was soon full. I deposited my Snakewood Custom 24mm Super Silvertip in the soaking reservoir and hopped in for a quick shower, the main focus of which was a scrub with the Real Shaving Exfoliating face wash and getting my beard area nice and soft for the shave. Following my plan, I stuck with T&H Luxury Shaving Soap for today, just to see how it would do with a different brush and whether it was the determining factor in the great shave of two nights ago.
The Lather
Not too great this evening. I had found this soap to be somewhat foamy the other night, with lots of bigger bubbles than usual. This problem was even worse tonight in the scuttle with the badger hair brush. I wonder if it was too much water, too fast, but I'm going to need some practice sessions with this soap to see where to head with it. The first batch of lather was abundant, but so thin and sudsy that I had to ditch it and start again. This time I added water very slowly and was rewarded with a passable batch of lather, though nothing like what I have been getting from some of my other products. I really like the scent of the T&H soap and I did get a smooth shave out of the rather thin lather last time, so I'm not ready to give up on it, that's for sure.
The Shave
The shave was a bit uninspired this evening. I think the Monday blahs, combined with the lather blues, ended up carrying over. I just didn't feel "on" and my shave sort of was just there. I did enjoy it, but not as much as the previous. I suppose that is bound to happen, once every twenty-five shaves or so. Anyway, it was still nice, but just not as nice as the past few. I found that the glide and the smoothness were still pretty good, so perhaps with a bit more lathering practice on the T&H, I'll end up with a great combo here, but overall I might relegate that soap to boar and face-lathering duty. The first pass was smooth and easy, the second had a bit of a speed bump when I dinged my Adam's apple area, though there wasn't much bleeding. The touch-ups were alright, but I was ready to finish and out of lather by that point, so they weren't as diligent as in the past. I was left with some patchiness under the chin.
The Movember Report
Well, the 'stache area was easy today and I'm starting to get the hang of how to shave around it. Being that it's Day 7 of the mo', I must say it's still looking pretty sparse. Then again, I've never had the most prolific facial hair, so that's no surprise. Anyway, onward and upward, with 23 days to go!
The Post
After having a bit of a dud of a shave, despite a few positives, I decided to go for some comforting Proraso in the post session. Once the alum sting subsided, I rubbed on some of the Proraso splash, then cleaned up the scuttle, brush and counter while waiting for that to settle down. It's a very nice-feeling splash that refreshes and has a bit of moisturizing to it, as well. It would probably do well on its own in the summer, but in the dry fall and winter, I will be following it up with the Proraso balm, which I did today. It was my first time using the balm and I was quite pleased with the effects, which calmed the slight burn under my chin and along the jawline.
The Verdict
Well, they can't all be wonderful, but they can still be pretty good. I think the edge on my Dovo is still ok for shaving, though I will probably hone out the tiny chip eventually, as that sort of thing bugs me. The T&H soap did a pretty decent job, considering the poor quality of the lather, so I expect big things when I finally get a good batch whipped up. All in all, I am pleased with the outcome, although the process wasn't the greatest today.
Sometimes it's a journey, sometimes it's a destination, but there's always something good happening on The Straight Road.
I made it to the quarter-century mark! Twenty-five straight shaves under my belt and I feel like I'm just getting started. I can certainly see the progress from the first time I tentatively shaved with my H&H back on the 5th of October, but I still have a long way to go until I feel like I will be getting a clean, comfortable and easy shave out of a straight. Especially with all these products to try! I have the den, but not the experience to master it. Oh well, I've got time :)
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Jack