Thread: The Noob Chronicle - My Straight Razor Experience

Your shaving adventures are a really enjoyable read jdto, I may steal one of them as a bed time story for my little sister

Oh try stretching the chin, moustache and under jawline areas, funny faces is a valuable shaving skill y'know

The Straight Road - Part Six: The Morning After
After my post last night, I decided to hold off on shaving and wait until the morning, as I was a bit bummed about my lather experience. Today was a new day and, so it turned out, a better day on the shaving front.

Anticipation
After my frustrating fifth shave, I was somewhat apprehensive about how I would do. As is often the case when I'm on the road, once I was awake, that was it. No snooze alarm or going back to sleep, so I decided I'd get up and have a go at it. After all, in the lather department at least, the only direction I could go was up!

The Prep
I decided to strop first, forty solid passes with no nicks to the poor strop, that is beginning to look a bit like a minefield at this point - I think I might have to sand it down to help with all the nicks it has. Then it was shower time. Taking the rather luxurious waffle-fabric robe on offer from the resort's closet, along with a towel and the imitation artisan soaps they provided, I jumped into a hot shower. There's still nothing like it in the morning for opening my eyes and getting the blood flowing for the rest of my day. Of course, I had the added bonus of a nice long soak for my beard, to help prepare for my shave. Once again, I decided to forego the shaving oil, as I wanted to remove extra variables from the shave and see how I would do with just the creams I'm testing. This, of course, leads us to what has been my least favourite thing the past while...

The Lather
Wow! I'm still trying to pinpoint what I did differently, but it was like night and day! Maybe it's because I was shaving in the morning, rather than the evening, maybe I used a bit more product and a bit less water. I'm not sure, though I was trying to mentally record what I was doing. I soaked my brush and pre-warmed my bowl, squeezing a nickel-sized amount of 1805 cream into the bowl. I shook the Vulfix 2234 only 3 or 4 times, then I began to work the lather. Well, I'll tell you, I only had to add a couple more drops and I had a lather explosion on my hands! The poor little hotel bowl was hard-pressed to contain the creamy, smooth lather that was exploding out of the soft badger hair of my little brush. I'm still feeling a bit less than comfortable with how soft and floppy this brush gets, so will probably give my boar bristle Omega a solid run and see how I do. Nonetheless, I can say that, for this shave at least, my lather issues were overcome.

The Shave
The shave was pretty darn good - I know there's DFS and BBS, but is there PDG? The 5/8" ERN is light and feels a bit small compared to my H&H and especially to my TI 6/8" Le Canadien, which is on deck for a shave to test whether it's "shave ready" or not in the near future. But it glided very well over my face today and I was able to go for one ATG, one XTG and then touch-ups, so I consider that pretty good. I was quite happy with the result of the shave and, as my friend gimpyalex mentions, I was definitely doing facial contortions to stretch under the chin and in the 'stache area. My shave was relatively quick and the final touch-ups resulted in no nicks and no razor burn, which made Jack a very happy boy. I am quite pleased with this little ERN, though I long to give the TI a go in the near future. There were a few areas where I probably could have touched up a bit more, but overall it was quite satisfying.

The Post
I went for less steps here, as well, with a warm rinse, alum, then cold rinse, followed by the 1805 aftershave balm. It was especially nice to feel the mild sting of the alum, as opposed to the burn I have felt when passing it over areas of irritation or cuts. The 1805 is really nice stuff and I think I am pretty sure I will be a balm guy, at least during the colder months. That said, I do like the Proraso combo of the aftershave splash and the pre/post cream, so we'll see. I might even go for both splashes and balms, as I do like the feeling of a quick splash. After dealing with my face, I stropped forty passes, unfortunately putting another battle scar on my Poor Man's Strop, then I carefully dried my razor and laid it aside. I took some of the extra lather (where was that in shave #5???) and rubbed down my strop to continue to condition it. After that I cleaned up the brush and bowl and applied a few dabs of the 1805 cologne, which I've found needs to be applied much more sparingly than Trafalgar in order to not be overpowering. I gave my brush, razor and alum block a quick blast with the hair drying to help it dry a bit more before packing my shaving kit and heading out.

The Verdict
Happy Jack. This was my best straight razor shave yet and I'm don't think it's a coincidence that my better shaves have happened on the same days as my better lathers. With only two passes and a touch-up, I had as good a shave today as I did in my previous attempts with three passes and touch-up, so I feel like I've made a bit of progress there. I think I am leaning toward getting a stiffer brush, but I am still waiting to see what my large FS feels like when it arrives. It's even possible I may end up being a "boar guy".

The lather issues will probably continue as I learn the ropes of product to water ratio, but I will take what I can get and enjoy this one, a successful waypoint on The Straight Road.

I am probably going to give my "factory edge" TI a go next, as I have been examining it and the edge does look quite polished, it pops arm hairs and, well, I just want to try it! I will keep the ERN on hand in case it is not comfortable on the first few strokes. But that is for another day.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

Really nice read!!
And it looks like you are making very good progress from shave to shave.

Love this Thread ! Good Shaving!

The Straight Road - Part 7: What's that lucky number again?
I could have sworn it was seven, but I might be wrong...

The Anticipation
I had to. The Thiers-Issard 6/8" Le Canadien had arrived on Wednesday from Rasage Poulin. The black horn scales gleamed in the light of my room as I eyed the almost too-shiny steel of the blade. What a piece of craftsmanship! I understand the reason they call these "singing" blades, as you can hear the tone of it when you strop or, very carefully, pluck the sharp edge with your fingernail. It hasn't been sharpened by a hone yet, but I had to try. I had to at least start my shave with this beauty.

The Prep
Hot towels on face. As I often shave later in the day, this is my most frequent prep. I think I might get a better shave when I shower first, but today that wasn't going to happen. The TI got forty passes on the strop, which is getting pretty nicked up and whose stropping area seems to shrink daily. I am starting to think about replacing it with something new and making sure I am very careful about stropping. I was very slow and deliberate with my stropping today, ensuring the shiny C135 steel edge made full contact with the leather. As a precaution, I also stropped the ERN in case the TI was not in shaving shape. I applied lather to my face, rubbed it into my whiskers and then applied another round of the hot towel. Did I say lather?

The Lather
This was a fifty/fifty proposition today. I used my Omega 10005 boar bristle brush today to lather my T&H 1805 in a cereal bowl. While I did get a creamy, smooth lather, I didn't get a lot of it. I had thought I'd used enough product, but I guess in hindsight I should have used more. With the extra lather I used during prep, I was doomed to run low for my second pass. Still, considering my ongoing battles with lather, I was happy with the consistency of what I produced. As I applied the lather to my face, I noticed there was still a bit of a whiff of boar stink on my brush, despite having used it several times. I filed that away for later.

The Shave
I think I already mentioned what a beautiful razor the TI is. There is a photo of it alongside my ERN earlier in this thread. The thing is awesome and I am considering getting another Le Canadien before Rasage Poulin closes its doors for good. It's too bad that Scott has been forced to do so and I wish him all the best and hope his health improves. The whole Canadian angle is, of course, somewhat special to me as I am very proud of where I'm from. Anyway, I think I was talking about the shave, so let's move on.

Taking the TI to the right sideburn, I made my first few strokes. It wasn't bad, but it felt a bit on the scrapy, pully side. After the right cheek, I decided to rinse, wipe and lay aside the Canadien and go to the ERN for the rest of the shave. Hopefully, when we have our Toronto meetup next weekend, I can find someone to get it shave-ready for me (that would be you, Maxi ). Otherwise, I might have to get it in the mail to Lynn. Taking up the ERN, I proceeded to continue through my first pass without issue. The second pass is where I began to feel the low quantities of lather, though it was still alright up until the chin. As I went around the point of my chin, I managed to move the blade ever so slightly sideways, which gave me a little cut in the area of my chin-scar. It didn't bleed too badly, and I was able to finish my second pass and touch-up alright. The shave wasn't the greatest, but not the worst, either. A couple of patches under the right jawline and under the chin, but the left side turned out pretty smooth with little burn. There is a touch of burn in the area I shaved with the TI.

The Post
Warm water rinse, alum, cold water rinse, witch hazel, cold water rinse, 1805 ASB. That was my post routine. I decided to give my ERN a go on the pasted balsa strop to touch up the sharpness a bit (and because I wanted to try stropping on a hard surface, since I am looking at getting a new strop and maybe a paddle). I stropped both razors, oiled the TI with a few drops of baby oil and put them away. My face felt alright, though a bit less comfortable than my previous shave. The cut on my chin decided it was time to bleed after all the rinsing and the ASB, so I had to get out the styptic to seal it up.

The Verdict
As I said, fifty/fifty. I definitely took some learning away from today, but overall I think I could have had a better shave. I could definitely feel the difference between the TI edge and the ERN, which had been sold to me shave-ready on the classifieds here at SRP. I was happy with the quality, though not the quantity, of my lather and I can say that I did like the backbone of the boar brush for lathering. Speaking of the boar brush, it needs a bit more conditioning, so after the shave I pulled out the MWF and made a go at lathering it up in a bowl with my Omega. It lathered up nicely and I am tempted to use it for my next shave, though I'll probably wait until after my 1805 sample runs out. I left the brush sitting with the lather in it to hopefully help get some more stink out. Maybe by Monday, I'll also get a bit more of the stink out of my shaving technique...

After all, we don't need any more stinkers on The Straight Road, do we?

I should have my other new razor (guess which AD I have already?) by Wednesday of this week. I'll probably shave with the ERN until then, after which I'll give my new one a go, as it is arriving shave-ready. I'll post some pics when I get it.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

The Straight Road - Part Eight: Bedtime Shave
What a busy day on a Sunday! As we've recently moved, we still had some stuff left behind at the old place, where we were lucky enough to have the luxury of leaving some things for a while. I guess that's one of the benefits of having lived with family. Anyway, by the time the day was winding down, it was almost bedtime, but I needed a shower and a shave, so...

Anticipation
Despite being tired and a bit worn out from carrying boxes and loading then unloading at our new place, I was still determined to shave again, just one day after my previous shave. My reasons for this were a few: I wanted to get cleaned up before starting the work week, I wanted to get back on the lather horse again and because I just wanted to. It's amazing how something I used to find annoying is now something I try to get to whenever I can. Anyway, I was going to call it a night and shave in the morning, but I decided it would be better to go to bed clean and fresh. The side benefit was sleeping in later in the morning; always a plus!

The Prep
A shower. I washed up with my RazoRock Sandalwood Artisanal soap, which is really nice and has a pleasant scent. I have enjoyed it thoroughly and I'm glad I ordered a few bars from The Italian Barber. I left my face wet and massaged in some eShave orange sandalwood oil, then proceeded to the strop. My Poor Man's Strop is getting nicked up pretty heavily, which means that I am seeing less and less stropping surface. I am planning to sand it to smooth it, then see how it does. I will post some photos of that process when the time comes. Anyway, once I'd done thirty passes with my ERN, I proceeded to lay aside the beautiful, ebony-scaled steel and move to my next step.

The Lather
I went with the Vulfix 2234 Super Badger and the 1805 Cream sample, which still probably has one more shave in it. Those samples really do give quite a few shaves before running out and, if you are looking to try a bunch of different scents, the T&H products have been great for me so far. I decided to take my time and build steadily and carefully, swirling the brush, then sort of scraping the lather from the sides of the bowl into the middle and swirling some more. I added water slowly and eventually I had a pretty good, creamy lather going. It did end up drying a bit once it was on my face, so for the second pass, I added a bit more water and slickened it up some more, which worked out alright. Not my best effort ever, but far from my worst!

The Shave
This was a good one. I felt pretty confident this time and I think my technique is starting to improve a bit. I concentrated on my stretching a lot and it really helped with the jawline patches, though I still had some trouble under my chin and I think the little cut from the previous day wasn't too happy with me scraping it over again. I started with a WTG pass, which went very well with the half-decent lather. I think my ERN benefitted from the little touch-up I gave it on the pasted balsa strop that came with my Poor Man's. I could hear the razor sliding smoothly over my skin as it cut through my somewhat sparse beard and it was quite a satisfying sound. I went for a second pass, XTG this time, which might have been a bit much for day two of consecutive days, as I did end up with a bit of burn, but the closeness of the shave was probably worth it. The little cut on my chin didn't exactly reopen, but it did protest on the touch-up pass, so I left it alone. Nonetheless, I did get a better shave in that area that in previous attempts.

The Post
I went with a warm water rinse, alum, cold water rinse, witch hazel splash, more cold water and then the T&H 1805 Aftershave Balm. My Proraso products were staring at me forlornly from the cupboard, where they've sat untouched since T&H entered my life. I might have to give them some attention in the near future, perhaps after my 1805 runs out. I like having choices like that! I carefully dried my blade and scales, which had been splashed a bit, using folded up toilet paper to get in between the beautiful ebony scales to ensure everything was dry. I stropped 30 passes and then wiped the blade down with TP as a final precaution before laying it to rest on its stand. I dried my brush thoroughly on a towel and placed it on the stand to dry, then cleaned up the sink area and headed to bed.

The Verdict
It was a nice shave. Relaxing, clean and fun. I was a bit concerned with the cut under my chin and the subsequent razor burn, but that died down after a while and this morning my face was smooth-looking and burn-free. I am happy with my stretching today, as it was better than previous attempts and helped me get smooth in a few areas that had previously been patchy. My new razor arrived today from The Superior Shave, a beautiful DOVO 6/8" round point in desert ironwood scales. This is shave-ready so I am probably going to try it soon, though I think I'll give my face a rest today and go for it on Tuesday.

After all, it's not a sprint, but a marathon down The Straight Road.

Tonight I think I'm going to try sanding down and re-smoothing my strop. I'll post some photos of that and also of my new DOVO.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

Ok, as promised, here are some pics of my new razor. I really, really like the ironwood scales. In fact, I am sort of entranced by these rare wood scales (ebony and ironwood) to the point where I'm thinking about trying to convince my uncle to turn me a couple of brush handles in ebony and ironwood to go with the scales...

I've also added a photo of my four razors (which will soon be five, as I caved to temptation and ordered another Le Canadien in snakewood).
Top to Bottom:
TI Le Canadien 6/8" Singing Black Horn
H&H 6/8" Black Scales
DOVO 6/8" Desert Ironwood Scales
ERN 5/8" Gabon Ebony Scales

The Straight Road - Interlude: Strop Sanding
While I'm at it, I'll add the photos of my strop sanding experience. It went alright, though I have no idea if my strop came out of it in any sort of decent shape. I guess time will tell. I started with 220 grit and worked my way up through 400, 600, 1000 and 1500. I then finished it off with a glass wine bottle rub, some neatsfoot oil then a treatment of a full bowl of Mitchell's Wool Fat lather, rubbed in by hand. In between sanding, I wiped the strop down with a slightly damp cloth. The photos show my progression as listed here.

The Verdict
The strop is nice and smooth and my test razor (the H&H) glides over it very nicely now that the nicks are reduced. I'm not sure if the draw is alright or not, but it still feels like there's some resistance when I strop. Either way, I'll probably be ordering a new strop in the next little while.

The Straight Road - Part 9: Alien Invasion
I am writing this as a warning to those of you in the world who are not aware. There are aliens on the planet Earth and they are working to take over. How do I know this? I recently fell victim to their technology regression program, also known as "Traditional Shaving". It appears that their leader, who goes by the name of "Lynn", has long fostered this regression in technology, prompting converts to use old-fashioned shaving techniques and 19th century implements in their grooming routines. I believe these aliens are using some sort of brainwashing, as I have found myself compulsively reading about shaving, looking at photographs of shaving equipment and spending more money than I should on said equipment. There may be some form of drugs involved, as I've read discussions of things like lanolin, glycerin and other such exotic-sounding materials. I also feel like shaving way more often than I ever have in my life. Almost obsessively so. This "Lynn" masquerades as an enormously helpful, knowledgeable and available shaving expert. He offers tips and tricks, a large wiki and even a DVD, all obviously designed to get you hooked on straight shaving, thus furthering the plot to revert to a simpler time. I think I am wise to his ways, but for some reason, I just...can't...stop...

Anticipation
I wasn't going to shave. I had no plans to shave. My new DOVO 6/8" with ironwood scales was resting calmly on the razor stand alongside my Vulfix 2234 Super Badger, just sort of gleaming enticingly at me in the rather bright light of the bathroom. I had spent quite a bit of time working on sanding my strop, which was now hanging in its usual spot on the towel rack. Why did I shave? What triggered it? Three days in a row? Am I crazy? Possessed? Brainwashed? I guess so...

The Prep
There wasn't really any prep. After making lather with the MWF for my strop conditioning, I thought that I'd try a face lather before going to bed and use that as my evening face wash. I'm a little hazy on the details, but after lathering up, somehow the razor just leapt into my hands and next thing I knew, I was shaving.

The Lather
Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap and my Omega 10005 boar bristle brush did the job, and they did it well. I was practicing face-lathering MWF, adding water slowly and swirling it around my face and neck. After several minutes of this, I had a nice, thick lather formed, so how could I not try it out? The lather did well and didn't dry out too badly on my face. I was happy with the outcome, though for the second pass and touch-ups, I did add a bit more water. I had plenty of lather for two passes and a little cleaning up at the end.

The Shave
Surprisingly decent, given there was neither intention, nor prep beyond lathering up. My skin did protest a bit at being shaved three days in a row, but overall, the new DOVO is an amazing thing, shave-ready as advertised and very comfortable. The thumb notch makes holding it very easy and there is a solid feel to it which my 5/8" ERN just doesn't have. Even without jimps, I never felt like it was going anywhere. I did two passes and touch-ups and didn't get any cuts, while I did manage to get a tiny nick on the side of my chin, though that was gone by this morning. Through two passes, WTG and XTG, I felt quite confident, even though this was a new tool for me. The touch-ups also went quite well. This razor is a pleasure to use, even in inexperienced hands like mine. I can't wait to grow into it!

The Post
After no prep, I took my time and carefully rinsed with lukewarm water, then applied my alum block. This did sting a fair amount, as I think my skin is not used to so much shaving in so little time, especially at the mercy of my noob hands. I followed with cold water and witch hazel, then applied a drop of T&H Trafalgar which I had left. I did find that the soap dried my skin a bit more than the creams do, so I ended up pulling out the RealShaving moisturizing ASB and giving that a good go on my face. I then let that dry while I cleaned up, wiped up the sink and rinsed out the brush. I took the DOVO to my strop and it went quite well, with only a few superficial little dings on the strop and the blade gliding smoothly. After stropping, my face still felt tight, so I applied another dab of the balm.

The Verdict
Not bad. Not bad at all! Three days in a row might be a bit much for my face, as I was definitely feeling a bit of burn, though nothing so bad as to be of great discomfort. My face was still smooth in the morning and the ingrown hairs I often get when I shave too frequently don't seem too bad, so far. All in all, I am happy with my experiment, though I'm not sure if I'll shave again this evening. I guess it depends on what signals the Overmind sends out

The real question is: does The Straight Road lead into outer space?

I'm having a bit of fun, but I really do appreciate all the help, advice and the wealth of knowledge I've found in this community!

Thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Jack

The Straight Road - Part 10: Mitchell's to the Rescue
I made it to ten! It's been interesting so far and I'm starting to feel a bit better about my technique. In my initial flurry of activity as I get into the hobby side of traditional shaving, I've probably acquired more gear than is good for me, as well as spending more money than was necessary, but overall I am happy and I have sort of reached a point where I feel like I don't *need* to get anything else. Except maybe a new strop. Oh, and a 7/8" blade. And maybe a Wade & Butcher vintage. Possibly an ebony handled brush. Also a little windowed cabinet for the wall in my bathroom. And a new towel rack for my shaving towels. Does this ever stop?

The Prep
I started my prep on the strop. My DOVO 6/8" with the desert ironwood scales has the best edge of my current crop of shavers, so I decided to ride it until I can get the other ones honed up to standard. The sanding I did the other night is paying off, as I have a pretty large, nick-free surface to strop upon. I went for about 30 passes, which did the job, I think. The strop is working nicely and I can feel it working in compared to when I first got it. This done, I laid aside the steel and entered the shower, allowing the hot water to do its work on my face. Hopping out, I dried off all over, with the exception of my face, and applied the eShave orange sandalwood oil. Next up...

The Lather
I went with my T&H 1805 sample. Though there wasn’t much left, I figured I had enough there to get a decent lather. I started with the Vulfix 2234 Super Badger, giving the cream time to build up into a nice lather, swirling it around until I was satisfied with the results. It may have been a bit thin, but it was acceptable for the first pass. Unfortunately, that was it. I got one pass out of it and then I decided to bring in the cavalry: Mitchell’s Wool Fat soap. I pulled it out and in a few minutes I’d whipped up a new batch of creamy lather. Not quite a superlather, but maybe sort of a semi-heroic lather. I mean, we can’t all have an S on our chests, can we? Anyway, this lather came through and my affinity for MWF is growing daily.

The Shave
As you read in the lather portion of my tale, things went a bit strangely on this shave, yet at the end of it I was pretty happy with how it went down. Taking up my DOVO 6/8” Ironwood, I proceeded with the right sideburn, a light, firm, smooth stroke down to the jaw. I’ve been concentrating on stretching, so instead of trying to go around the edge of the jawline, I really stretched the skin upwards, which exposed more whiskers for shaving and ultimately helped me eliminate the little rough patch I usually have at the corner of the jaw. I proceeded with my WTG pass, taking special care to do a complete job but with a light touch.

When I returned to the lather for my second pass, I found almost nothing left in the bowl, which prompted me to pull out the MWF. What a great move! I got myself a bunch of nice, creamy lather for my second pass, which I did after splashing water on my face and lathering up with the MWF/1805 combo. This one was ATG and again, I paid special attention to the jawline area and the sides of the chin, as well as trying a bit of a different ATG--from the cheek toward the lips, as opposed to from the middle of the mouth sideways—which ultimately gave me a better moustache shave than in the past. I’ve been battling the chin area and this time I made sure to give it extra attention, touching up quite a bit and even switching my grip on the razor and doing some underhanded passes upward under the chin. This resulted in my best shave yet in that area. All in all, the MWF saved the shave and the outcome was very favourable. I only found out later that my “soul patch” area could have used a bit more attention, but hey, live and learn, right?

The Post
I went with a warm water rinse, then the alum, then cold, then the witch hazel splash. After that, I dried my razor thoroughly and stropped it for 30 passes, then laid it aside and returned to my face, applying some 1805 ASB. It was quite soothing and the burn was minimal, though I did have a bit of burn on the jawline and neck sides later on. I finished up by grabbing a book and heading to bed, as SWMBO was beginning to bug me about how much time I was taking, as she had an early morning ahead.

The Verdict
Number ten was very nice. I was quite pleased at getting pretty close to BBS on the chin and not cutting or irritating that area. There is still long road ahead of me on the overall technique and I am looking forward to learning as I go, but I am definitely gaining confidence in my strokes and in what the razor can and can’t do. I was quite happy that I was able to save the lather disaster by whipping up a quick bowl of MWF, though I am still not too pleased with my Vulfix 2234 brush. I have a couple of different, larger badger brushes inbound, so when I get them I look forward to trying them out and comparing.
Nothing like a bit of experimenting on The Straight Road!

My Robert Becker scuttle just arrived, a nice all black with a brush-soaking reservoir. I am looking forward to giving it a try, though it may have to wait until tomorrow as the closeness of shave #10 may make a shave this evening out of the question. We’ll see, I guess.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

PS: Here are a couple of my unboxing shots of my new scuttle: