Thread: FNG: The journy from shaving Boot to shaving Vet

So this is still all in the past as my last post got us up to about 2 weeks ago which I would like to call my "hump" week as its the week everything really came together.

Bootcamp part 3

It was at this point I was getting very frustrated, I have very steady hands and can have a very light touch when I want to (you try playing with explosives and PO'ed UXO's for nigh on 5 years without it ) but I could not get a even remotely sharp razor from my hone like we are talking butter knife dull, finally I reread all the post the Lynn has made and realized I had missed a VERY important step in my razor honing process, I had not honed my hone, *facepalm* so having realized my terrible mistake I looked for a low cost option to do so, settling on a tile square form home hard wear some wet 400 grit sand paper, and 4 clamps i went to work, and by god dam near took me 3 hours to do both sides till the all the pencil marks were gone, I did it again just to make sure and WOW what a difference, my first pyramid made a huge leap in the sharpness of my razor i work until I was sure the bevel was set, it would pop arm hairs, then on to a extended pyramid and boy was that thing sharp, passed the hanging hair test and would pop army hairs with the blade off the skin, so I stropped her, whipped together an amazing lather (by far the best Ive made yet), jumped into the shower, used my beard softener, and jumped into my shave.

All I can say is WOW, and I mean WOW, that first shave with a true shave ready razor was like heavens touch, wiping away my beard, so smooth, so effortless, I would not say BBS as I still don't feel comfortable going ATG with my left hand just yet and a half BBS smooth face would look rather humorous (I would never hear the end of it at work) no irritation, the blade was so sharp I cut myself twice and didn't even notice till afterwords, since then I have had equally good shaves and my average lather is improving every time, all I can say is WOW, I am converted.

note my work computer does not have spell check so this will get edited once I'm home but figured i have some time at lunch to catch you all up to where I stand at present, from here on I will be doing a more detailed post on each shave, hopefully i can start increasing my very sparse collection to 2 maybe 3 razors and a bunch of soaps, creams, ASB and other such stuff.

Nice work! I am still fighting my hones a bit, so it's nice to hear of your success. Keep it up!

FNG

Straight Shaving I find is very much like being in the army, you learn the basics and never really stop learning, but you start to be able to pass on your knowledge, if your not carefully you can get seriously hurt and you have amazing days, normal days, and day you really just feel disappointed you started but the good days far, far out weight the bad ones. At this point I fell as if I have pass my straight shaving basic, I have enought knowledge to get threw but still so much to learn that comes with practic,

So one with my shave today

Prep work
nothing major did PT this morning in a brisk 3C and face was feeling a little raw.
So had a nice hot shower at work, some beard softener face wash, once shower was done threw on some beard softening cream.
let my brush soak in my coffee mug/shaving mug that i commandeered from the house in running hot water, threw a little bit of pre lather on my face and polished my boots

Lather
Same almond Dovo cream I've been using for the last month or so. Nice and creamy and thick, not prefect but warm and went on well enough for 2 passes, touch ups and an after shave wash. I cant wait to start trying out some new creams and soap hopefully after X-mas. Not that its not a good cream its wonderful love the smell, just something new would be nice.

Shave

Nothing to write home about but smooth for 2 WTG passes, Bit of burn on the chin, But I'm pretty sure I was use way to my pressure all in all a fine shave.

After shave

warm water splash, face wash with left over lather, cold water splash, and my normal ASB no witch hazel today as I forgot it at home when I was packing my shave gear this morning

All in all I fine shave and a great way to start my day off.

Rob

Nice stuff, Rob. It sounds like you're getting it down. Using one soap only would probably help you focus more on your blade technique, which is beneficial. I just have too many now

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Welcome to SRP enyoy your stay over here an most important enyoy your shaves.

Thx for all the support gents. I don't quite have the way with words that some of the members here do but I still enjoy writing this.

FNG Week 2


Had a bridging EX this past weekend out on one of the local lakes and learned a few things about shaving away from the niceties of home, first off I had to spend some time away from my strop for a few days, I noticed my razor does not suffer to badly from 3 days of no stropping got a nice smooth shave every time with no noticeable differences, despite not seeing a strop, which was nice to see. If i had to go any longer then a weekend though I would probably have to.

Secondly I should find a small traveling case for work, to include; mirror, shaving soap(to double for washing face), a field razor ( I may get a disposable straight for this purpose, to avoid having to strop in the field), boar brush (stiff bristles to deep clean the skin when shower is not available), paddle strop (if i don't go disposable), and some beard softening face wash. Gonna see what I can make or find maybe something CAD-pat :P

I had nice smooth shaves all weekend and the skin got a real test (0 degrees C with rain and wind out on the lake) with no irritation.


Which brings me to this mornings shave, the EX was a bit of a bag drive and got very little sleep and spent most of yesterday doing my personal post EX stuff, laundry, clean kit and what not so I was not well rested to say the least lol.

Need less to say I almost slept in this morning and I was running very late (didn't shower which did not make my morning any better) so rush around only to realize I left all my shaving stuff at work *face-palm* so throw my uniform into my day bag throw on sweats and hall @&& out the door, get to work I have like 10 min to dress and shave normally not a problem with my old way of shaving but I am not as fast yet with the straight and likely never will be. (seriously I could shave whole face with water in 45 seconds no problem) so hot water running in cup and brush while getting dress, polish boots, get all ready for day. Now time to shave! I have about 5 min at this point a 4 day no strop razor I was not looking forward to this and figured I was gonna look like Freddy Kruger after this but I had no choice on went the beard soften, then the quick lather, and a way I went as quickly and a smoothly as i felt safe one pass and touch ups was all I had time for and you know what only one little nick that i didn't even notice till I was done. So thank god for deft hands and I little luck, I just made it, came outta the bath room putting on my ASB, and talk with my boss with about 30 seconds to spare, not my ideal situation but $H@% happens some days, the shave wasn't to bad either smoothish and not much irritation to speak of


So note to self its still a good idea to keep disposable at work to avoid cutting my jugular if I every run late again, no point in pushing my luck twice.

and with this I'm off to bed cause I like my sleep :P

Note: I would like to apologize at this point for all grammatical and spelling errors in my posts, I do my best to check everything before I post but I miss words and what not a far bit.


FNG week 2 day 3

So today was payday and I treated myself to a few new products a new soap and cologne the soap was Prorase sensitive soap and gave it a try wow I really like the way the razor slides with this soap, and how great me face felt after may have had my best shave yet, the cologne was old spice original scent. Still have not stropped the razor and still nice and sharp, no pulling yet, gonna go the week and see how long I can go before it become for me an uncomfortable shave.

Also got a leather air freshener for the truck, I think my next cologne will be a leather scented on cause my truck smells amazing right now.

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FNG week 2 day 4-5

So I almost have my field shaving kit finished, got my soap, brush and built a field scuttle that works very well
http://straightrazorpalace.com/misce...tml#post884798

Just need a razor now, and I'm going the shavette route, still have to do the research to find the best one for my needs, but probably the dovo.

Was on a course for the last 2 days and had to shave at work again so I used new my prorase soap and omega boar hair brush from me field kit and tried out my new scuttle, it still needs a hole so it can be filled with water but thats a minor thing. As well as I picked up so of the Real Shaving Company's ASB and wow I think this is gonna be my new ASB and my normal stuff will be put in my field kit lol, finished of with some old spice cologne.

So nice shave today, and yesterday was much the same no irritation or nicks, which is always a good thing yet again I love starting my day off with a great shave even if i have to get up a little earlier to get it done.


Happy shaving,
Rob

I like your field kit, Rob. Nice work!