Thread: What's Your Prep and Process?

My shave ritual these days. What's yours?

1. Typically I shave in the morning... Coffee in the french press. Decaf more often than not (so I can have several cups without overcaffeinating), with milk, stevia sweetener, cinnamon, cardomom, fennel, ginger & nutmeg. Or herbal or black tea with with honey, milk or lemon.
2. Breakfast.
3. Read email.
4. First the shave strategy: select brush, razor, soap/cream, pre-shave, whether I'm bowl or face lathering
5. Strop
6. Floss and brush my teeth. Clean sink.
7. Fill sink with hot water
8. Soak my brush (boar, badger, or horse) in the hot water, and apothecary mug (if mug lathering). Many soaps I'll soak with a 1/4 cup of water on top of the puck (depending on the hardness of the soap and if I'm using a badger or horse hair. Boar brushes don't need the soap to be soaked).
9. Shower. Wash my face lightly with exfoliating cloth.
10. Towel Dry.
11. Apply pre-shave to my beard (eBarbershop, Proraso, jojoba, Shave Secret, Musgo Real Lime Glyce soap)
12. Moisturize my face from eyes up. Massage a dab of Burt's Bees Hand Salve to my hair and scalp, followed by Moroccan Argan Oil hair cream. Comb. Qtip ears. Deodorant with alum bar.
13. Apply soap or cream directly to face. Or, remove brush from water, shake, load brush (30 seconds).
14. If mug lathering, do that for a minute or two, then lather face for 30 seconds or so.
15. If face lathering, do that for at least 90 seconds.
16. 2 passes, rinsing in between. Refreshing the lather with extra lathering in the mug, if using one. Lather 20 seconds before second and third pass.
17. Rinse face, brush (then shake), then blade.
18. Throughly dry razor, strop, then wipe blade and tangue with an almost not there film of oil.
19. Apply alum if I feel at all irritated or sensitive, give it 30 seconds to set while I clean the sink, then rinse. On occasion, when necessary, stop weepers or nicks with styptic pencil.
20. Apply DIY ASB (AS mixed with scentless Olay moisturizer) to my entire face and neck. Splash on more AS if desired.
21. Apply a dab of Burt's Bees Hand Salve to any irritations, weepers/nicks, and rub on my lips.
22. Clean up and stowe kit.
23. Shave evaluation, review and mental notes. Evaluate my shave in the mirror and with my hands. How was the shave? How did my strategy play out? How did various products and techniques and combinations work? What's next?
24. Increasingly, I leave out any product(s) I'm already strategizing about using for my next shave.