Monday
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The Anticipation
It was a rather relaxing day around the apartment, with SWMBO Jr. spending the day with her grandmother, baking and cooking and preparing for a family evening together. SWMBO and I took advantage of the peace and quiet to do a lot of work around the place and then also took some time to relax. But soon enough, late afternoon rolled around and it was time to get ready to go.
The Prep
I took my big Manhattan Cutlery “The Celebrated” and stropped it for 50 laps on the ‘roo, then dunked the Frank Shaving 28mm Silvertip in the scuttle and hopped in the shower. A few minutes later, I was ready for action and so was my gear.
The Lather
For this occasion, I had chosen Truefitt & Hill’s lovely Trafalgar shaving cream. Every time I use this, I am reminded of why this was the first T&H scent that truly captured my imagination. SWMBO also likes it, so that’s always a plus. When I lather creams from the tub, I usually use a dip and twirl method to load my brush, which inevitably leaves me with too much lather. Though I suppose that’s a better problem to have than not enough. When I first started shaving, I liked this big brush, but lately I am finding it almost too big. 28mm is a big knot and I find it hard to control, as the lather has a tendency to want to go up my nose and all over my ears! I think, in the end, I will probably settle in at 22-24mm as my preferred size for badger, while I am about at that size with boars as it is. The lather, as usual with T&H creams, was sublime. There was enough for about 8 passes, but I settled for two passes with a Santa Claus beard.
The Shave
It had been a while since I had shaved with my Manhattan, which made for a special treat, though also a bit of an adjustment. This is a big, long, heavy blade and real smiler, as well. But once I got into the groove, it mowed down the whiskers with very little trouble, even under the chine and on the X/ATG upward neck stroke. I’ve been doing only two passes and getting about the same quality of shave as I used to get from three passes, just by paying close attention to my technique. I still think this blade could squeeze out another little bit of sharpness and smoothness, but overall, it left me with a great shave.
The Post
This was the day that I finally remembered to try the experiment I had promised to Ritchie a while back, which was to skip the alum in my post-shave routine. I started by rinsing brush and bowl, watching a ton of beautiful Trafalgar lather run down the sink. Then I splashed on cold water and followed with Witch Hazel. That done, it was the Trafalgar balm and then I cleaned up the sink and stropped the razor again for about 25 laps. A few dabs of Trafalgar cologne, a final hair check and I was ready for dinner!
The Verdict
Another day, another great shave. I have really been pleased with the direction of things lately, especially since I started shaving with other people’s edges again. I have been working on a few of my own honing jobs, so I haven’t given up, but I did want to get my mojo back and I think things are well on their way.
Friday
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The Anticipation
Four long days. That’s how many it had been since my last shave, a fact that was made clear to me when SWMBO asked me, on Thursday evening: “what happened to all this shaving business?” Well, this morning it was time to show her.
The Prep
I rolled out of bed and headed straight into the bathroom, intent on starting my day with a shave. For my weapons of choice, I selected my newly-restored and newly-honed W&B 7/8 Paduak (
http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...ge-padauk.html), my Semogue 1460 brush, Sir Irisch Moos soap and TOBS Sandalwood ASB. Then it was a hot, quick shower and out to face lather.
The Lather
This tiny little brush is funny. It’s the least expensive Semogue on the Italian Barber site, which I bought specifically to take travelling or to PIF to one of my friends or my other brother, but it has grown on me the last two times I’ve used it to shave. It is a little Tasmanian devil of face lathering fury. It doesn’t hold as much product as the bigger brushes, which isn’t a bad thing, especially considering that half the time I send about half the lather produced down the drain. It’s small, so it handles well without getting lather up my nose and all over my ears, but it’s got soft tips and great backbone which is what I love in a shaving brush. I wonder what it’s going to be like when it breaks in. My only drawback is that the handle is quite small, which makes it a bit uncomfortable in my big hands. Also, the shiny finish on the brush makes it slippery when soapy, which I noticed more today as there was less handle to grip away from the soapy parts. Anyway, Sir Irisch Moos is a great soap, lathering like a champ and I had enough for two passes with touch ups and very little waste, so it was a successful morning on that front.
The Shave
I must admit to a bit of nervousness whenever I take a self-honed blade to my face. Today was no exception. Thankfully, things went fairly well, with no scraping or burning and a fairly smooth shave. I do think the heavy weight of the blade helped a lot, because the edge could be sharper. There was a bit of tugging, though with 4 days growth, I supposed I wasn’t expecting a two-pass shave to be as smooth as usual. Still, there is room for improving this edge, so I will work on it again. The coticule is a tricky one, but I think, with time and effort and a dedication to getting a good bevel off the 1k, I can master the dilucot. Of course, I could always go to Norton pyramids as a default and finish on the coti, but that would be giving up.
The Post
Once again, an easy cleanup of a small face-lathering brush made things easy. I skipped the alum again, which I do think has an effect on my skin post-shave, so I’ll comment on that here. When I use alum, my skin does sort of “seal up” or firm up better. None of that “closing pores” nonsense that some claim (pores don’t change size, they are either clogged or clean, but always the same size), but it does help tone and tighten, as well as soothing burn. So that step is missing. On the other hand, especially in the cold, dry winter up here in Canada, the alum tends to dry my skin out. I find I have to apply a lot more of whatever moisturizer I’m using with alum, so that is another consideration. My only advice for those who want to try it is just that: try it. You won’t know how your skin reacts until you do. I followed my witch hazel splash with TOBS Sandalwood balm, which was a bit overpowering at first, but ended up smelling really nice once it settled down. I'm almost tempted to pick up the splash and cologne. That done, it was time for some espresso!
The Verdict
Two enjoyable shaves but the bookends on a week of stress and some back troubles, which also usually make me grumpy. The progress I’ve made on the W&B is promising, though the edge still isn’t where it needs to be, I am hopeful that the meetup this weekend will yield some good advice for my honing technique. All in all, things are looking up and I think I’ve found the mojo again.
Working that mojo magic on The Straight Road