Thread: hello from canada

btw, I did something yesterday. i took my brush in the shower with the bowl, and i used lever 2000 soap to make a lather, i scrubbed my face, let sit, and rinsed. repeated. when i got out and did my routine WHAT A DIFFERENCE. the pre-shave seems to me the biggest part. also i use a gillette proseries intense cooling lotion and when i first apply it stings like F@*# and seconds later feels as good in the cooling and refreshing department as it gets(I think)

thoughts on using gillette brand products?(im sure most responses wont be good)

Hmmmm, I'm not a fan of the sting...nothing against Gillette, just don't like sting.

To mitigate this, I use regular moisturizer first, then apply the ASB. It helps a bit.

I'm a little late getting in on this, but here's my nickel's worth of free advice.

Other than having a shave ready razor (in the case of a straight, that means properly honed and stropped) your preshave will have the most effect on things. I've gone through a number of experiments and finally found out that one of two routines work for me. Either a hot shower or the hot, wet towel applied to my beard for about 2 minutes.

I don't use a preshave oil or creme as I found it simply makes no difference to me.

I like the feel of a soft brush for lathering, which means badger for me. It has nothing to do with the quality or quantity of lather, it just simply feels nicer on my face, especially on the second pass of a shave. Please don't ask me what brand of brush I have, its over 30 years old...I tend to stick with the stuff that works for me

I've tried 5 different shaving soaps and cremes, (I know, that's a drop in the bucket) always one at a time, because again, I think you need a few goes at it before you get a feel for it and found they all provided a good shave but I settled on Proraso (in the green tub) because it has a nice smell and I can walk over to my local Shoppers Drug Mart and pick it up.

Post shave??? I wash my face with lukewarm water, dry with a towel and go on my way. If I'm feeling particularly adventurous I'll use a couple of drops of cologne or after shave, but never to an area that I just shaved. It stings and I don't like the feeling.

Bottom line, take everything you read here into consideration, try what you feel might help without blowing the budget to hell and find what works for you. The worst that will happen is that you get an occasional "OK" shave if the technique does not work for you. Even the worst (or none at all) preshave, soap and brush should never result in anything worse than a mediocre shave as long as your razor is in good order and you take your time. I'm living proof of that as I have nicked myself a grand total of ONE TIME. Granted, I only have about 300 shaves with a straight razor to my credit, but I think that's a good record.

This whole Acquisition Disorder thing still has me confused, but if it makes you happy and does not cause you to miss a mortgage payment, go ahead and collect.

I've gone on far too long already...time to go upstairs, have that shower and shave.

Joe

Originally Posted by TyGuy1111

btw, I did something yesterday. i took my brush in the shower with the bowl, and i used lever 2000 soap to make a lather, i scrubbed my face, let sit, and rinsed. repeated. when i got out and did my routine WHAT A DIFFERENCE. the pre-shave seems to me the biggest part. also i use a gillette proseries intense cooling lotion and when i first apply it stings like F@*# and seconds later feels as good in the cooling and refreshing department as it gets(I think)

thoughts on using gillette brand products?(im sure most responses wont be good)

I'm not a fan, but if you like it, it's up to you. Some here use Old Spice, Nivea, and a few others. Oh almost forgot Aqua Velva.