I am now officially on the dark side.
The BIG day arrived friends - first the equipment.
- Geo F. Trumpers Lime Cream
- Dovo straight razor bought from and honed by @Jarrod
- Razor storage pouch from The Superior Shave site too
- Strop - Dovo - not had the need to use it yet
- Jagger Best Badger brush
- Shaving Bowl - kids cereal bowl - photos on request only....
- Alum block - standard stuff
Time - 10:00 was my start time. I finished about 30 minutes later.
Prep: Run hot water, 60 degrees, soak shaving brush for 1 minute. Soak hot towel and apply to face for 30 seconds x 2.
Lather: - dabbed wet brush into cream to just cover tips. Whipped up a nice creamy foam in my cereal bowl then put the cereal bowl in another bowl of hot water to keep it warm - like a bain marie.
Application: Applied lather to face as per all the videos!!
Time to shave and I am not kidding I was scared. Will it slice my face? Will I score a jugular hit on the first stroke and spout my life blood all over the bathroom?..... I pucker up. I loop left hand over my head to try and tighten skin on my right cheek and then I am off - very VERY gently at first I make my first pass on my right cheek. The razor sings. IT IS ACTUALLY CUTTING WHISKERS... and not flesh. It feels great... I am on a roll now. I finish my first stroke and I am alive. I feel ALIVE. I wipe the razor on my wet towel and think to myself "This isn't too bad. Not too hard at all". I rub my fingers on my alum block to get grip and go for stroke 2. Still alive. I go down to the jaw line and beyond onto my throat. I cannot believe it I am actually shaving with a wickedly sharp razor on my throat and it feels safe, it feels good and by jingos it IS good!!
Next I am confident - I go for the right hand side - the same. I live. No cuts yet. No nicks yet. I do the WTG pass on my left cheek and YES I used my left hand. I am now in the zone. I go for a WTG pass down the front of my neck - all good. Next - the chin. This is where I though I would slice myself for sure - noooooo. I did not. Not even a nick on my Adams apple
Thoughts - my first pass was a success in that I managed to do it ALL without cutting myself. It was not the closest shave in the world though and this did disappoint me so I put that down to nerves and being too gentle. My soap tended to dry out - how to fettle this?
Subsequent passes - another WTG and better result. Third pass XTG - getting better and better. Fourth pass - ATG on all surfaces. I came out of it alive with only two teeny-weeny nicks, one on my left cheek near the side-burn and one on the tip of my chine - I mean really teeny - a pin prick.
All in all I made four passes and got what I would call a reasonable level of shave and certainly better than with my Mach 3 thingos. Not baby bottom smooth yet but I am sure it will come with practice.
Warmdown - Rinse, alum blocked and then Khiels after shave balm. I washed all equipment. Put the brush to dry in the breeze and dried and oiled my razor ready for next time.
It takes me a couple of days to grow whiskers enough to go for round two but I am going to do it. More results soon
BTW - no top lip report - I am growing a moustache so won't be shaving the top lip for a while, if ever...
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