Thread: New guy, first shave, intro and review

Welcome aboard!
Enjoy the experience.
Cheers!

Hi and welcome. Any questions feel free to ask.

Originally Posted by wayne394

Welcome to the forum. You've already made the first step by deciding to shave properly! Well done. Since you're in the US, I'd get in touch with SRD for your first SR and strop. You know your SR will be shave ready. The classified ads here too are a safe bet. Until you actually have your SR, keep practicing with the shavette. I find the SR easier to use, so if you can manage the shavette, maybe you'll find the SR easier to use too. Good luck.

Thats what I'm going for. From what Ive read, using a shavette is a little less forgiving when it comes to technique errors due to a stupid sharp blade with sharp corners. That mixed with the fact that the one I'm using isnt structurally sound or solid and the blade holder moves almost freely in the guide means if I can master this thing then a SR should be a breeze... well maybe not that easy, but definitely easier...

Originally Posted by Castel33

Interesting they must of changed their new kit to have the boar brush.

The Shea moisturizer brush and after shave is good. The shave cream wont lather but you can paint it on with the brush and will give a decent shave. Not one I really would recommend.

However since you have a rite aid near you they carry real shave company shave cream and that is an excellent lathering cream that gives a good shave.

Yea I didnt see the Shea stuff there but there was a VDH pure badger so I picked that up, a little less backbone then the boar but noticably softer. I'll see if I cant get a good lather going from one of these brushes, this soap will not defeat me!!!!!


slippery devil.....

Shave #2

To start off, in regards to the soap and lather, it definitely was my technique. I have come to the conclusion that the first time I just wasnt giving it enough time to create a good lather, what I ended up with the first time was very airy and not dense or thick. This time I created the lather in a bowl so I was able to see the progression from watery soap to thick/almost whipped cream like texture. I do believe there is plenty of room for improvement but atleast I have something resembling a nice lather. As for the brush, I believe both will do the job just fine, but I do prefer the feel of the pure badger on my face much more then the boar.

And now to the shave... well about 4 or 5 tiny knicks due to tiny pimples/bumps and two slightly larger knicks inbetween the bottom lip and chin which was solely technique error but nothing the styptic pencil couldnt take care of with the quickness, and nothing compared to the 1/4" slice I got the first go around. HOWEVER, I feel I made great improvement. This time I actually used my off hand almost as much as I used my dominant hand HUGE WIN, I dont trust my off hand to do anything but pick my nose and wipe my a$$ lol... I also did a second pass XTG and touched up any areas that needed it XTG. So right now my face is pretty damn smooth, not BBS smooth, but a million times better than my electric.

Additional thoughts: A lot of razor burn, especially after the XTG pass around the jaw line. I almost want to attribute this to the blades but I know its partly technique. The blades seem to drag no matter how shallow or steep the angle so I think I'm going to order a blade sampler pack and see if that helps, but again I know its my technique at fault as well. I am still not a complete fan of this shavette but mostly due to the blade holder not secure in the guide at all, it moves around as I change my grip or rotate it in my hand to change angle I think I might order a parker SR1 or dovo although Ive heard dovo doesnt lock in either, although its probably better than my magic razor(which I actually got for free).

Anyways after rinsing my face, styptic pencil my entire face(damn that burned), I gave it a minute while I was cleaning up then rinsed my face again with ice cold water, blotted dry and applied my after shave balm. And now after about an hour, not a single blood spot, a few small red areas but no pain or itchiness and a significantly better shave then I've had in a long while...

:::: prays hair grows faster to shave again::::

Best shave ever...so far...

So I only shave for work, so I only shave 5 days a week sunday night through thursday night. Its sunday night so 3 days growth and a fresh shave and a few revelations. First of all I have been training my off hand which I dont even like to hold my full size handgun unloaded with(but thats a topic for another section and something I need to work on ). I've realized that the biggest thing to improve my shave is my confidence in my grip and stroke, being timid and unsure has lead to many cuts and knicks. Starting with a shallow angle and moving to a steeper angle as necessary has also helped. And ALWAYS KEEPING THE BLADE IN MOTION WHILE TOUCHING THE FACE, seems to be the most important of all.

So as for this shave; my face recieved a thorough WTG pass with a few XTG touchups and the neck recieved two XTG passes. My neck hair grows all over the place but mostly E/W so 1 pass S/N and 1 N/S. First of all my face looks great, no razor burn, and no nicks. If I drag my hand ATG I can feel some stubble but for the most part my face feels smooth. I do however have one trouble spot, underneath my chin, sort of indents so I do have a little more stubble there than anywhere else but its not noticeable by eye.

The only thing I did differently prep wise is I used hair conditioner on my face during my shower. During the winter months my skin and hair get very dry and flakey so in trying to get in the habbit of conditioning my scalp I decided I would use some on my face and really massage it in and seems to have made a difference but there are way too many variables at this time to know for sure. I do believe the use of a better soap with a little more glide will do the same thing(ordered some razorock which I hear is incredible for the price point).

On another note I believe the CVS brand blades are not only ungodly expensive but suck as well so I ordered a 12 type DE sampler pack and a Parker SR1 from maggards so hopefully that improves things as well.

It only gets better. I started shaving with a straight razor and right now I'm using DE and SE vintage razors. I have a shavette but its some cheap <$2 thing that works pretty well but I've cut myself pretty bad on it. Good shave soap makes a big difference. I used Williams for years and in the last few months I've started using proraso tubs, Mitchell's Wool Fat and some assorted creams like, Musgo real, The Body Shop Maca root, Palmolive, Speick and a few others. I noticed an improvement right away in the smoothness of the shave. If you have sensitive skin then I recommend Nivia sensitive skin post shave balm. Its very nice even when you use a dull blade that pulls more then it cuts. I had a bad run in with a dud blade in an aggressive Schick type B the other day but the nivia calmed down the screaming pain and soothed away the redness. Have fun.

Yea I'm hoping the razorock is as much of an improvement as I hear it is and obviously I wont stop trying soaps or creams there... As for the post shave balm, the stuff I'm using smells great and feels great but it could be improved as far as healing is concerned and I have only heard amazing things about the nivea products... Speaking of which have you (or anyone) used the double action balm in the yellow tube?

Originally Posted by scottiemann

Yea I'm hoping the razorock is as much of an improvement as I hear it is and obviously I wont stop trying soaps or creams there... As for the post shave balm, the stuff I'm using smells great and feels great but it could be improved as far as healing is concerned and I have only heard amazing things about the nivea products... Speaking of which have you (or anyone) used the double action balm in the yellow tube?

nope only aftershave I have now is nivea balm and clubman. I haven't tried the razorock soaps but I do have their $10 synthetic brush. I got it for my fiance (she uses a DE for her legs and such) so I haven't been able to use it but it feels nice if really soft. I have heard good things about the soaps