Thread: SOTD Oct 29 - Nov 4

31 Oct. '06

Fromm #72 5/8 RP
Burma Shave soap and brush

This is the first str8 I ever owned. First pass was pretty quick at around eight minutes but the reverse pass took longer for a total of about twenty five minutes. I can probably cut that down further if I make a greater effort to do the reverse in a more orderly manner rather than moving from one spot to another somewhat haphazardly.

I'll give you some advice that comes from experience... Shaving is similar to stropping in the fact that speed comes slowly with practice. Just focus on doing your strokes properly and with time your whole 2-3 pass shave, prep and cleanup included will take you about 15 minutes without subtracting from the overall experience or causing any damage to your face.

- Hot shower
- Washed face with Dove "Cool Moisture" green tea and cucumber body wash (what can I say? My wife's in charge of shower soap...) Actually it's pretty good stuff...
- Left face wet
- Massaged more hot water into my beard, first with my hands, then with...
- Vulfix 375 Super Badger
- Colleen's Desert Ironwood soap (Mmmmmmmmmm....)
- 20 laps on my bitchin' new Tony Miller heirloom latigo hanger (sweet!)
- 7/8 Bartmann 'High Class' spike w/Brazilian rosewood scales (thanks John Crowley!)
- Lumene Skin Tech for Men sensetive skin balm (I use this about 1-2 times per week, especially now that the air is getting a bit drier... Normal daily AS is Trumper Coral Skin Food...)


A full day of "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh......."

Same brush (rooney), same soap (GDS), same razor (TI LE).

Life is good.

I decided to enrich my experience by both using a more conventional grip and to go 2-handed. No nicks, but the shave quality isn't as good. I guess it takes, practice.

TEW test today

2 or so days' growth
hot shower
KMF Lavender + Shea cream
Same brush (my everyday now - Rooney Super Med)
Tony Miller 3'' strop
6/8 TEW round point
7/8 Satinedge spike
Trumper's alum block
ice cube
L'O CADE AS balm

I don't even know why I dug out the KMF cream, as it had not given me good results in the past. Now I got great lather (because of the superior Rooney brush) but still not crazy about the scent.

TEW performed very well (honed by me) for right half. For comparison, switched to the DD (honed by Joe C) on the left half. Both razors gave me two tiiiny nicks on both sides of the face with both hands. TEW - never even understood it, just saw a red spot smaller than a pencil dot. DD spike - at least I knew when the tip did it. Absolutely minor nicks, didn't even need cold water.

Evaluation: feel is defintely very different. The DD sang more and is much, much sharper, with superior glide. No surprises there - Joe C vs Ivo the Noob honing, after all... However, both sides are equally smooth, with no irritation

Felt pretty good about both overall shave and honing abilities on the hollow TEW

Cheers
Ivo

Ivo, it looks like Taylor needs a bit more work on the hone. I get these unexplained blood-wells around the time when my blades need touchups. I have two different yet not mutually exclusive theories:
1) A dull blade will agressively rip out a hair and slightly injure the surrounding tissue.
2) When you shave with a duller blade, you press more so the blade is more likely to dig into surface irregularities instead of gliding over them.
So try 1-5 1-5 1-5 and shave again.

Ilija,

thanks for the tip. i would imagine it's not theory 1, as aggressively pulling hair would hurt me so that I will notice. you are one tough guy if the blade aggressively rips your hairs and you don't feel it

my money is on theory 2

anyway, I would say I had to be much more careful with the DD, and the TEW allowed more slack, with (more or less) equal results

Cheers
Ivo

Hot Shower

15/16 Dorko
C&E Nomad Shaving Cream
Silvertip Badger brush

C&E Nomad after shave balm.


Damm nice shave and a nice smell...

I have to admit I have a high tolerance for pain. When I woke up after a wild night out (went to sleep fully dressed) I got pissed off b/c "someone spilled red wine all over my pant leg." It turned out that I did the spilling and it sure as heck wasn't wine