Monday Shave
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The Anticipation
After honing the blade and reknotting the brush, I was quite excited to trot out my Bocote combo for this shave. It's been a bit of a frustrating stretch, as my honing abilities are simply not where I need them to be to get me smooth-shaving edges. I figure the only way to get there is to keep soldiering on and practicing, so this shave was going to be another test of my edges. Nerves were jangling. I laid out the four razors, along with my Nagamasa kamisori, my Trumper's coconut soap, T&H West Indian Limes cream and balm and the Dominica Bay Rum, for tropical shave number two.
The Prep
For this shave, I made sure to take a good, long, hot shower, using Real Shaving Exfoliating Scrub to ensure my whiskers were ready for the next step. The razors had all been thoroughly stropped and laid out, the new brush had been soaked in the scuttle, so all that was left was lather.
The Lather
The lather wasn't bad, but it wasn't as good as last time. I need to get to know this new finest badger knot, which has tons of potential, but is not the same as my boars or my super/silvertip brushes. That said, I had plenty of lather, lubricated by glycerine and the lovely combo of lime and coconut, so at least on this front, all was well.
The Shave
This wasn't so hot. The only razor of the four that passed the shave test was the kamisori, which had been finished on my Llyn Melynllyn. It took me a while to feel them all out, but one by one I eliminated them all, including the previously smooth 7/8 bocote W&B, which I guess I must have wrecked by trying for more smoothness with some coticule finishing strokes. I am going to need a honing clinic, I think, as I have just been trying too many different razors and not having much success with any of them. Anyway, I managed to get a decent shave, which ended up very smooth, though I did have some razor burn on my upper lip. The tamahagane blade of the kamisori is definitely nice and sharp, so I look forward to trying it again, though my kamisori technique needs work.
The Post
I rinsed the brush and scuttle, ensuring they were both nice and clean, then stowed them in their customary places on the shelf. The cold water splash had a nice, soothing effect, followed by only minor sting from the alum block. After that, I went with the witch hazel, then the Bay Rum, which only burned a little bit. The final application of WIL balm did the trick, leaving me smooth and fairly comfortable.
The Verdict
It sucks to not be able to get a good shave from the razors I'm honing. I know I'm doing something wrong, but I can't figure it out. My restorations have been going well, my shaving technique is much more confident than in the past, but my honing seems to be spotty, at best. Hopefully I can pick up some pointers at our barber shop meetup at the end of the month.