Thread: What's Your Prep and Process?

Originally Posted by Phrank

My morning prep....

Get out of bed.
Rinse face, brush teeth
Select straight razor and shaving soap
Select my corset, which should be easy and stylish, instead of making me feel big and swollen.
Shower
Shave
Coffee

.....and done!

Originally Posted by WadePatton

I'm even simpler:

Shizit
Shower
Shave

put on some britches and boots, don hat, let's rock!

What wait! You don't Select a corset?


Mine is pretty simple really - there is only one consistent. I get out of bed, stagger downstairs, make coffee. The rest is a crap-shoot.

But back in the day, well back in the day I was a fan of Kris Kristofferson:

Well I woke up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt.
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad,
So I had one more for dessert.
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes,
And found my cleanest dirty shirt.
An' I shaved my face and combed my hair,
An' stumbled down the stairs to meet the day.

My routine... Up at 0530
Fill mug with hot water, soak my brush in it
Little hot water on my soap (lately it's either MWF or Cella)
Strop my razor
Nice hot shower
Build a lather, apply to face and shave away
2 passes, touch-up under the jaw-line
Rinse with cold water
Apply witch hazel, clean and strop razor
Splash on Pinaud Clubman, put on my uniform and out the door.

Regards all--N.

up at sparrows fart to the sound of the old rooster crowing
prepare for a shave as the ol’ wiskers showing
grab the nearest oil at hand,
cause Im bout to hit the land
and times running short and need be mowing

in an early morning haze I grab the sharpest thing around
a razor or a knife as long as its metal and has been ground
slap the oil on my face
and quickly chug a case
cause I know the pain of this will be profound

p.s. In Australia, a case is a carton/box/slab of 24 beers.

1. Put some bottled water (not the crappy west Florida hard well water) in a cup.
2. Put brush in cup and dribble some water onto the Mama Bear soap of the day.
3. Get in hot shower.
4. Wash face.
5. Apply Suave shea butter hair conditioner to beard.
6. Continue with rest of shower, letting conditioner continue to work.
7. Rinse off conditioner. End shower, dry off, leaving face wet.
8. Dribble some brush water onto my hands.
9. Apply 6-8 drops of Shave Secret to my wet hands and rub this into my wet beard. (This is a recent addition to the routine.)
10. Wash Shave Secret off of hands.
11. Shake most of the water out of the brush and mix up some thin/wet lather. Lather face.
12. Strop razor about 50 laps.
13. Whip some more lather, more lathery/foamy this time, refresh face lather.
14. Shave left side WTG.
15. Refresh right side lather if it is drying out.
16. Shave right side WTG.
17. Re-lather right side for XTG and ATG passes as needed.
18. Re-lather left side for XTG and ATG passes as needed.
19. Wipe face with moist cool washcloth.
20. Apply wet alum block to face. Aaaaaah!
21. Rinse out cup and brush, shake out brush and re-hang in stand.
21. With hot tap water, rinse off blade, making sure not to wet the pivot.
22. Carefully wipe off hot blade with cotton towel. We don't want a wet blade after the shave is done.
23. Apply aftershave. Aaaaaah!
24. Strop blade 30 laps wool felt and 30 laps leather.
25. Lay out razor (open about 45 deg.) to 'dry' some more, just in case.
26. Show my BBS face to my wife, letting her enjoy my aftershave. Mmmmm!

My shaves are pretty simple these days

Straight from bed to shower
Strop razor
Load brush with hot water then shake most of it out
Load soap (all mine are tallow based)
Face lather
Shave with one multidirectional pass
Wipe face with towel
Apply A/S (sometime balm during dry winter periods)
Brush teeth, get dressed, off to work

That's it. Shaves are enjoyable and excellent.

Just a beginner, but here's my routine so far. I'll skip all the other morning rituals and go straight to shaving.
Get razor and brush from medicine cabinet(soap stays on the counter, covered).
Set out folded towel to wipe blade with during shave.
Strop razor( no set number, just until I feel it's ready)
I have another bowl I use strictly for soaking my brush. Fill that with hot water and set my brush in it.
Shower.
Build lather in the soap bowl. Apply to face. I am still learning to build a lather, so mine is not as rich as it should be.
Shave WTG, refreshing lather if it begins to dry.
Evaluate that and see if I need to go further. Usually do.
Build up more lather if necessary.
Hit my face with hot water.
Re-lather
Shave problem areas with, against, or across the grain, depending where on the face it is and how much beard is still there. Some spots may need a third pass.
Splash face with hot water to open pores for post shave treatment.
Apply Aloe Vera gel.
Rinse blade and coat with baby oil(basically mineral oil with a bit of scent to it, and it's already in the house).
Apply a bit of AS Balm.
After shave if needed/wanted.
Clean brush, rinse brush bowl.
I leave what lather is in the soap bowl, place it in the corner of the sink counter, out of the way, with the brush bowl, which is larger, turned over on top of it as a cover, and the hand towel used to wipe the blade during shaving folded on top.
Put brush and razor away in the medicine cabinet.
Put away strop.
The Aloe Vera is a recent addition, since I am getting a bit of razor burn, which is to be expected when beginning, I assume.
I have some questions about pre shave treatment, oils, etc., but will ask those in a new thread.