What do you fine and brave gentlemen use on your dome? cream or soap? Me personally I use MFW and I'm lovin' it :rofl2: before discovering MWF I'd use TOBS unscented. Cheers!
P.S. Not brave enough to use a straight on the head so I use a DE instead.
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What do you fine and brave gentlemen use on your dome? cream or soap? Me personally I use MFW and I'm lovin' it :rofl2: before discovering MWF I'd use TOBS unscented. Cheers!
P.S. Not brave enough to use a straight on the head so I use a DE instead.
I find headslick to be very effective and easy to use. anything I can just wipe on in the shower works for me. I wonder though if using a bar could work the same way? something to try at some stage.
Soap for me. I have never used a cream that equaled the consistent slickness and protection of a soap.
AoS or Truefitt&Hill creams are as slick as they come.
You use a straight or DE?Quote:
Originally Posted by Attila
My answer is "yes". I use them both. I still don't use a straight on the back of my head...but one day!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rachmaninov
Whatever I have to hand. At the moment it is MdC sans fragrance soap. Over Christmas I took a tube of palmolive cream to my mother's. Personally I have found that the cream/soap distinction doesn't matter. It's mostly about how well whatever you use performs.
James.
Just shaved the head with the SR for the second time.. (took about an hour with about 7 days growth)
I used Floid's pre shave oil on the dome before i set up the scuttle.
I just got a new shaving cream called Prince from a company called Lush so i smeared that around as well. It doesn't lather.. you just spread it on. I shaved my neck with it yesterday and it works pretty well.. Saves time if you don't want to lather up with a brush.
I still made a lather (Taconic Shave Soap) so id have a hot brush in the scuttle and i used that to touch up as i went.
Overkill?? Nah.. i'm worth it.
BTW the G20 scuttle from Georgetown Pottery is awesome. I had a bowl i was trying to keep warm and it was a royal PITA. I have a small electric kettle in the bathroom. After i filled that thing with the boiling water my brush stayed hot for the entire shave.
To be honest, four drops of shave secret oil + two or three drops of almond oil + a smidge of coconut oil and a dollop of Bigalow's shave cream in the shower using the hottest setting in the shower has, has been working like a champ for the last five years or so using a safety razor, albeit, the last year or so the safety razor has a swivel and a ball.
The thing is—I'm absolutely ready to use a straight razor—and even have a straight razor all picked out, it'll need honing though. And that's the rub, I don't exactly know where to get that done, save for sending it out in the mail—then waiting for a couple of weeks.
It don't take two weeks , and until you've got enough experience it's worth waiting as long as it takes to have a properly honed razor, so just do it, now as to this safety razor, I've been using one for the better part of 45 years never seen one with a ball and swivel,,so I,m guessing your using the cartridge stuff. Your process of adding all this stuff to do a head shave would be simpler with just one lather and good razor, try a real safety razor (DE) and brush and lather and see how you like having a good sharp edge on your dome. Tc
A couple of points to make. First, thanks for your reply.
I'm sure it doesn't take two weeks to hone a razor, however, from a novice point-of-view, and the modern era's version of Google—finding a respectable, quality honing service/buying new quality made razors—the average turn around seems to be between one to three weeks buying a new razor, then having it honed by the seller/or seller's farmed out honing service before shipping. It's what it is. Unless you can recommend someone that's faster and is still well regarded.
Yes, the 'Power Ball' is one of those cartridge types. It's not cheap (cost wise) either. The cartridge is only good for one head shave. Maybe for the face, one could get away with using it twice, but beyond that, I don't think it's reasonable to expect much more.
My process works because—well—quite a bit of trial and error has gone into perfecting it. The Shave Secret oil is great stuff on its own, but I'm not fond of its smell and the almond and coconut oils cancel out the smell, and add just the right amount of viscosity when they get heated up—and the Bigalow cream doesn't melt (I often wonder why it doesn't, when everything else seems to—and whether or not that that's a good thing). What I didn't add is that the shower also has a steam generator. I already get straight razor shaves at The Art of Shaving, using pre-shaving oils and lathered soaps for my face twice a week (even if I shave my own face, I still use a brush and lather—most of the time—I've used the Bigalow shaving cream that I use for my head—for my face a couple of times in a pinch). The thing is—the people that do the straight razor shaves, no matter how hard they try, cannot recreate what I do for myself using my process. That and I just know the back of my head like I know—well—like the back of my own head. I know the direction of the grain—the nooks and crannies—pressures it takes—the speeds I can get away with, etc.
If I shave my face using lathered specially made for shaving, shaving soaps while the steam generator is on, it doesn't last throughout the shave. And my bald head takes up more real estate than my face. That and not all pre-shave shaving oils are on an equal plane. Having said all that—shaving my head—even if using a Power Ball cartridge safety razor—in the steam, using the process that I described in a prior post—is its own level of awesome. I'm sketchy about buying a high end straight razor and shaving with it in the shower with the steam generator running, but I think it can still be done, depending on the quality of the blade and the pins—and using non organic materials for the scales. Rust seems like it might be a factor in that environment. On the other hand, if I can combine the two—using the steam—and a quality made straight razor, the juice might be worth the squeeze. Dropping a half a rack on a razor is a bit much—especially if it implies having to buy more than one on the off chance I have to send the other out for honing every couple of months.
I definitely prefer soap. I typically use DVH which is readily available at Wal-Mart. Williams is also common in many drug stores but I just can't get a decent lather with it, even when adding glycerine. Just my opinion.
I just throw all the soaps that don't agree with my face into a 'Frankensoap' and use that. I've never had to buy anything special..
I think I prefer to use shave soap.
And I believe I've found my favorite of all time.
Henry Cavendish - "Himalaya"!!!
This is the perfect soap for me. Not only because of the most preciously perfect scent EVER!!
But because of the lubricative qualities the soap has and the absolute smoothness and longevity of the lather.
It's just perfect...I don't think I'll be trying or ordering anything else.
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I use haflingers sheep milk brand. Talk about the smoothest head ever. honestly if your hair gets a little thick, like the time I got a few nicks and waited for them to heal, just wet your scalp generously and after you have soaked the puck for a few just rub the puck all over and take your brush, don't shake too much water out, and lather up and shave on.
