Thread: Opinions Welcome (and wanted!): Boker Edelweiss, Dovo All Stainless, Dovo Diamant

Originally Posted by nathangra

My technique needs serious work, this I know. I often caught myself with a very peculiar grip. And what are your opinions on shaving 'against the grain'? I felt myself naturally doing it for my neck and lower throat.

Good job, Nathan! Technique takes time f/ us all. I'm still learning and certainly will be f/ some time I'm sure. I, too, seem to come up w/ some awkward grips quite a bit as some spots are just so hard to address in all three passes. Much of my neck beard grows in a more east/west direction, so a lot of my ATG action is horizontal which is a pain due to the concave vertical profile of the neck. I just shaved my goatee off today so not having to detail that every shave should speed up my shave time in a big way. I just have to deal w/ detailing the perimeter of my 'stache f/ now.

What kind of soap are you trying? I've been playing around w/ Proraso soap, C.O. Bigelow/Proraso cream, & even bought a can of the C.O. B/P lather just in case I really need to rush sometime. I also have a very nice Cella almond soap which smells great, a very inexpensive Van der Hagen from Walgreen's, and a very old (like 25+ yrs) vintage cake of Yardley that still smells great and gives a super smooth shave.

I've also just started experimenting w/ making my own pre-shave oil. My first small 3 shave batch was roughly 1 part castor oil, 1 part quality extra virgin olive oil, 1 part grape seed oil, a couple drops of glycerin, and f/ smell a couple drops of sandalwood essence oil (2 bucks in the beauty department at WalMart). This seems to be working as well as my sample from AOS and is not as thick due, I think, to the use of the grape seed oil.

And try to get an alum block and some witch hazel if you don't already have them f/ your post-shave. F/ now I've been using Clubman's and Old Spice aftershave as both are easy to find locally, are inexpensive, and smell pretty damn good. My wife prefers the OS, but I may like the Clubman's by just a hair.

Best, and keep us posted.