March 2018 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

All good advice here. I would also add that sometimes the neck is more tricky to keep the angle correct, so that can lead to some irritation as well.

 

Wow, thank you for the good advice, I will try more water tonight and see how it goes, and will discontinue the ATG pass on my lower neck. I thought my technique had improved enough I could atg on that lower neck, and it was really frustrating when it didn't work out. However, my shaves with this razor are improving. Thank you all for taking the time to share your great advice, this a great community, and feel blessed to have found it.


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IIRC it took about six months worth of Rules and Focuses here before I got to the point where I could consistently go ATG on my neck without irritation -- and even now I only do it because it is either the only pass or one of two passes I do. I simply cannot handle three passes there without irritation. So I simply don't do them. The goal is to get a good, clean-looking, comfortable shave; not to achieve some magical number and direction of passes because "everybody does them". Or, for that matter, to achieve some almost impossible level of smoothness all the time -- the smoothest BBS or "dolphin smooth" shave is just going to be rough sandpaper again in a few hours anyway. There's no point in courting constant irritation simply to achieve that. It's worth noting that in the heyday of single-blade wetshaving when everybody used a Gillette DE or its equivalent, the standard shave was "one and done" possibly with some cleanup. And the standard good result was probably what we now call a CCS or close comfortable shave. I doubt anybody ever tried to get BBS daily. Frankly, we push the limit far more.

 

Quick update for today... Another great shave with the Simplex and German Wilkie. One weeper when I nicked a bump near my chin (a common trouble spot for me).

 

Tabac needs water. If it's too thin make it better. I'm not sure you can use too much. If it's breaking down then you need to load more. Too much soap makes it sticky. Not enough makes it break down

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There is some good nuggets in that post, and your prior. Thanks for taking the time and the affirmation. You are correct about the difficulty in keeping proper angle on the neck. I suspect that is a great deal of my issue. I did try to really pay attention to angle and riding the cap on my neck today. I got it closer than ever with the Wolfman today and ended much smoother and less irritation today. With a focus, I think I could dial it in but as you pointed out, it'll be stubble in a couple hours anyway.

Good discussion, men.

 

I took the cowards way out today, and skipped shaving. I want to give the scabs more time to heal.

 

Excellent advise John and Jim. If you don't have to have a perfect shave on your neck just get it good enough. My lower right neck is my daily nemesis in search of the perfect shave. While I could spend the time and get the area perfect, most days I am satisfied with good enough.

 

Sounds more smart than cowardly.

 

Nope...Captain James T. Kirk.

who's on first?

Did you add cream and sugar to your ligjt roast coffee too?

We do not hear the word smart thrown around here often.

 

Nah.... The best warriors take down time.

 

See... I can't really do that. 1) Currently my job requires me to be clean shaven everyday (until 3/18 anyway). 2) So what I try and do is go for the look of clean shaven. But then I run my fingers over my face, and i feel that stubble patch and it drives me crazy. So then I take that razor and hack my face because OCD.

 

I have a similar growth pattern on my neck and tough whiskers. I do 4 passes, so I can reduce enough that the ATG is not irritating. It was after 8- straight razor shaves I figured out to get BBS on my neck without irritation. To shave my right neck I reach my left hand over my head and pull my skin up while tilting my head, this gives me a flat plane to shave with my right hand. To shave the right I do the opposite, so it requires you switch the hands you shave with, which requires some practice. To build the muscle memory and discover what grip to use I practiced with s Babette without a blade and a DE without a blade.

I’m OCD and I admit I strive for epic shaves, bbs without irritation, or at least bbs.

 

Jim!!! Right you are.

 

When I worked in facilities subject to food safety regulations a description of "clean shaven" would usually resolve debates involving beard nets. It meant you shaved that day. I'd hate to think we'd had to start rating SAS, CCS, DFS, BBS, DBBS, Super BBS, BBS Level II........ Or maybe we could do the cotton ball test on the hour so we'd have something else to beat the troops with. I kinda thought it all stemmed from whining over hair net reqs.

Wish you well

 

March 6th
Gillette NEW SC w Sharp Star (2)
Omega ‘49/ Walnut&Brass
Soap Commander Endurance SS
Thayers
Barrister’s Reserve Spice AS

Shaved early this morning and then had to head out of town for an early meeting and haven’t had a chance to post until now.
Whipped up a good looking lather, but for some reason the result wasn’t slick. Not sure why, as Soap Commander is usually a great lather. User error of some type, but it was odd that I ended up fighting the lather with my razor this morning. No damage was done, got a full 3 passes in and finished with the fantastic Reserve Spice. Passed on the Alum today.
Have a great evening all!

 

Not enough water today? Anyway, it sounds like the shave turned out okay, and the photo is great as usual.

 

Great looking shave Jason. At least the shave turned out well.


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Yup, those low overhead shots can scramble the old melon. Just ask Max Headroom!

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Military, so have to be clean shaven. So I shave daily. I don't try and chase the baby, and I can get by with a clean shaven appearance, which is usually what I end up going for, especially if I'm using an electric. But I hate running my hands across my face and feeling that stubble still there. But then I'm the guy who starts feeling like a hippy when his hair greater than a half inch, and when the stylist asks about the side burns I tell her to take them off, I'm not trying to be Elvis.