Steve Mott's Shave​

Chapter 4​

It was a grievous betrayal. And it was committed intentionally...​

Attending class required a decent shave. I didn't have much time. I peered nervously at my bathroom counter and was relieved to find no guards on duty, with the exception of an unobservant and disinterested toothbrush. I quietly opened my side drawer and slowly drew my Norelco from the back corner. Careful. Caaareful.​

"What are you doing?" Oh no. It was Edwin. He had been watching all along.​

"N-nothing," I stuttered, deeply ashamed.​

"You gonna shave today?"​

"Yeah, definitely! I'm definitely gonna shave. Um, I am just going to hurry to class, but tonight, or, you know, first thing tomorrow morning, we're gonna hang out! You and I!"​

"So what are you doing with that electric shaver?"​

"What electric shaver?"​

"The one in your hand."​

"Oh this electric shaver? Oh, I was just going to, you know, probably just throw it away. It's not like I need it anymore." Edwin stared at me. "Seriously, Mr. J, I was just taking it out to look at it." Edwin continued staring. "Hey, oh my gosh, is that shavette over there looking at you?!" I didn't wait to see if the ruse had worked or not, but I bolted from the room, flipping on my Norelco and passing it over my face in wild, guilty abandon.​

Then I went to class. What had I done? I was less than a man. I was a guy who used an electric shaver. I was nobody.​

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Hehe, still practicing my lathers before I bring the blade to my face again! I want to be proficient before I move on to technique. Not to worry, gentlemen, I'm still loving all of this despite my setbacks. I appreciate all the encouragement and friendly support. It won't be long now til we stand shoulder to shoulder! ​

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On board with the belated Welcome, too!

I'm in Utah too and the dry climate doesn't seem to interfere with generating lather. I must admit though, we do have a water softener. Drying of the skin is a different matter, so I personally favor moisturizing types of soap/cream.

Keep at it and you'll get it figured out. I've found that some of my brushes have difficulty with face lathering or bowl lathering, but works well with a particular method only. Maybe your brush fits that bill. My inexpensive Omega Pro Boar is one of my brushes that seems to deal fairly well with anything (soap/cream, bowl/face). Sometime a brush just needs to break in a fair amount too before it gets it into high gear!

I've no experience with the soap you're using, but I do know some soaps often lather better using one method over another. As an example, my Gold Dachs Revivage seems to lather best when face lathering. Some soaps tend to be a little thinner too (Gold Dachs Revivage comes to mind again). That's all okay, I love my Gold Dachs ... just had to figure it out.

BTW, there are a few places locally along the Wasatch Front that offer some shaving goods ...

• New Art of Shaving store in the Fashion Place Mall
• New L'Occitane store in the new City Creek Mall
• D. Grant Ltd store at Foothill/Gateway(?) (Truefitt & Hill cream and other items available)
• Sharazad Market - look it up (Arko cream) -- a recent discovery of mine.
• Whole Foods (Shave My Face cream)
• Harmon's (forget the name of the shaving cream)
• Many(!) of the local drug stores (Van Der Hagen soap and brushes/Williams soap/Razor blades/etc)
• [edit:add] Sally's Beauty Supply (Master Bay Rum After Shave)

That's the extent of what I've discovered locally.

Thanks a lot, Mike! Some encouraging advice and a great list of "local attractions." Much appreciated!

Just reviewed chapter 1 again ... "pachinko" ... have you been to Japan before?

Hehe, no. My grandfather was in the Navy, though, and he had an old pachinko game we used to play around with back in the day.

Steve Mott's Shave​

Chapter 5​

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"Impossible," I whispered to myself. The razor glided gently across my face. Yes, there was still a little tugging—I ain't mad atcha, Derby—but this shave felt completely different.​

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Let me start a new paragraph and say that again, for emphasis. This shave felt completely different. My shaving brush was so soft on my face! The lather looked just right! The lather felt just right! It was kind of cushiony and puffy, but not ridiculously layered on my face. It felt moist, but it wasn't runny. It coated my face, but not like big puffs of whipping cream. My blade angle just felt right. I used short strokes and applied no pressure. Yes! It was all coming together! On my fourth attempt at wet-shaving in my entire life?!​

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I finished one pass and then lathered up again with that magnificent lather sitting in the warm bowl. "Steady, Steven. Musn't get hasty!" I reminded myself. I repeated the same steps, going very slowly. Naturally. Not allowing myself to use rapidly-increasing confidence to spoil this day's razor-face match I knew I had in the bag! After two patient passes, I rinsed and looked at myself in the mirror. Considering the two days' growth prior to the shave, I was looking pretty decent. Definitely presentable. Not dapper, but presentable. I ran the alum stick over my face to be sure. Practically no sting. Another rinse, a little Speick, and I pumped my fist.​

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Take it away, Freddie.​

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EDIT: By the way, I honestly think much of my success had to do with the new Muehle 31K256 Silvertip Fibre Ebony 21mm shaving brush I used. I was honestly surprised how much better it felt than my Body Shop synthetic; so much softer in comparison. And it whipped up lather nicely! Couple that superior brush with another round of practice, and things were just better (as you can tell).

Thanks again for all the helpful advice, words of encouragement, friendly humor, and camaraderie.

Steve Mott's Shave​

Chapter 6: The Final Chapter?​

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Let this chapter serve as a perpetual marker in the life of a wet-shaver. I can feel the early tendencies of my arm finding the proper blade angle automatically. It only took a single try to get the lather just about right. Though patchy, I was still clearing more beard than ever before (and this with only WTG and slight XTG passes). In short, I'm on my way. Rather than log every shave from here on out, I leave this chapter as an open-ended testament to the merits of a DE shave and as a lasting thanks to everyone who helped me to this point. Here now, my initial tale of woe comes to an end, and we begin my neverending story of shaving bliss...​

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Great this news is..but remember..once down the wet shaving path, forever will the dark side AD's rule rule your destiny..

Yeah, I'd like to say that I will be able to consciously resist any temptation to experiment with new scents and textures, but I hesitate to do so. I think I would find that it was I that was mistaken, about a great...many...things...

As TSD newb I just wanted to let you know Scott that I enjoy reading your journey and contributions to the site. Keep up te good work.

Thanks for the encouragement. It's been a lot of fun so far. Just this afternoon, I got BBS on my cheeks for the very first time. My chin's another story, but I'll just have to keep practicing. At any rate, I have great company on here and, as mentioned previously, am glad to have you on here now as well. See you around, Azarius!

Steve the neck is probably the biggest challenge in shaving and it's best to go as slow and easy as possible on that one. And remember you don't find the BBS..it finds you...

That was presumptuous of me, wasn't it. Let me rephrase my post:

"It's been a lot of fun so far. Just this afternoon, a BBS got my cheeks for the very first time. My chin's another story..."

Yeah, one of the problems that I seem to be having is that by the time I reach my neck, the lather looks thinner than it was when applied. So then I debate whether or not to add some more lather on top of that, or if I should rinse and try again. And then, of course, comes the matter of maintaining good blade angle on a round chin...

Just pile it on. I only rinse between passes.. if my lather gets broken down before getting to another area and often does, I pile on the product..suds are cheap..

That's really good to know. I wasn't sure if the layer of "older" lather would reduce the effectiveness of an additional layer. It's never been a question of "frugality" for me, but just knowing what works best. I'll just go ahead and heap another layer on next time I think it's getting weak.