I know many people use an alum block after shaving but I never have. My after shave routine is cheap drugstore brand witch hazel followed most mornings by Dove Aftershave Balm. For my preshave routine, I always shave after I shower so that my face is well hydrated. I then was my face one more time at the sink with Musgo pre shave soap. I would guess any good face soap would work. Some of your irritation might be you trying to hard for a perfect shave and subconsciously using pressure or going over the same spot to many times. The perfect shaves will come but it takes time to hone your skills.
I may head to the store and try and find some witch hazel and call it good for now. It's just hard to control oneself with so many options.
I love the Witch Hazel and Aloe from Stirling Soap. They have all kinds of aftershave splashes and balms and preshave oil. $5 flat rate shipping regardless of order size. Good folks to deal with too.
Ok I finally shaved again. Schick type B OC, MWF, 20mm WhippedDog synthetic brush, 3 pass BBS. turns out it was the personna blade that ripped me up. I loaded a schick brand blade in it today and the shave was amazing. The whipped dog synthetic had a good backbone and some good softness too. I enjoy it as much as the boar brush I have, maybe more. I love the smaller 20mm size and only time will tell me if I enjoy it more then my semogue. The MWF was amazing, I couldn't imagine that anyone has trouble lathering it. I had amazing lather that just overflowed my oldspice mug. If I had known it smelled so good I would have gotten some a long time ago. I'll have to get a full size puck in the ceramic dish to enter into my rotation. All in all an informative day for me. I have a few amazing products that I am looking forward to using again.
October 4, 2015 OC OCtober - Shave Den Sunday Morning Shave Hot Shower Soap: TSD Unscented TSD Witch Hazel TSD Aftershave Milk TSD Iced Subzero Brush: Omega Pro 48 Razor: Gillette New LC OC Blade: 7 o'clock Blue (4) 2-day growth, 3-pass shave. 1st pass - good reduction on the WTG pass. 2nd pass - XTG sets up 3rd pass well. 3rd pass - ATG pass leaves me clean and smooth. 6 hours later, no stubble, still smooth. The New LC, paired with the 7 O'Clock blade (just 4 shaves) is one of the most effortless, consistent, top shaves that I've had in my short journey. Cheers! RT
Razor: Gillette SS 1947 NDC (Birth Razor) Blade: Personna Prep Blade Blue (6) Brush: Fendrihen Silver Tip Black Faux Handle 22/49 Soap: TSD Iced Barber Shoppe A/S: TSD Iced Barber Shoppe Day 4 Another outstanding DFS this evening. Followed the same procedure adding a little menthol crystals in a table spoon of hot water mixing and adding it to my TSD soap. Made it a little cooler and made for an excellent lather. Stepper angle of attack with the Gillette SS made it a more aggressive razor. The 3 passes made for a great shave, followed by TSD Iced Barber Shoppe A/S.
So I have my shave of the day planned out, and I will let everyone know how it goes. Pre-Shave- Warm towel Razor- 52 Gillette black tip Blade- PX Brand (Personna Red) Soap- Classic Brand Sandalwood Post-shave- Cold water rinse followed by WH, allowing to dry then applying dove ASB Hoping for a great shave. This will be my first time trying a new blade.
Doug, you make a good point that I've thought about lately. One difference between carts and DE/SE is that by adjusting the blade angle on a DE/SE, you can create your own kind of razor to suit you. With carts, I find that's already been done for me and it's not to my liking.
The survey is beginning to look like the 1989 Preakness, as Sunday Silence and Easy Goer ran neck to neck for almost the whole thing, leaving the rest looking like they were just out for practice runs.
I have been using a Feather AC once a week as a learning tool. I have one straight that doesn't appear to be shave ready as it doesn't shave very well. I'm sure I will eventually graduate to straights but want to wait until I've mastered more of what I already have. We will see
10/4/15 Gillette Old Type Frank Shaving Pur-tech Synthetic Proraso Sandalwood cream Aqua Velva Ice Blue Shave #1 with the Gillette Silver Blue in my Old Type. Did face lather and 2 full passes: Pass 1 XTG on my face and XTG on my neck (top to bottom today). Great reduction, almost DFS but went a little too fast on my neck. Picked up a couple of weepers. Pass 2: ATG. Almost a BBS at this point. A cold water rinse followed by a minor touch up and had the BBS The Aqua Velva was mild. A solid BBS shave from the Gillette Silver Blue in my Old Type. Rushed a bit this morning and paid for it with a couple of minor weepers. My wife and I are on vacation, in Las Vegas this morning, St. George Utah this evening. Off to Salt Lake tomorrow. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.
Update on the shave, went ahead with the planned setup from my previous post. I don't even know what happened but lather was literally flying out of the brush. I had a substantial, lasting, and very slick lather. So much so the lather got on my hands from my brush and I could hardly hold my razor. I LOVE these blades. They are much more comfortable than the Astras. But that also could've been the outstanding lather! I plan to visit the blue Astras at some point in this focus so I will pay close attention then. The Black tip Gillette seemed to float along my face, the best way I know to describe it would be a canoe on calm waters. Or at least in my mind. (Not good at describing the shave yet. My cheeks and moustache are BBS after a WTG/XTG/XTG 3 pass shave. My neck, or my trouble area, is borderline DFS, other than a couple spots. All in all I'm extremely pleased, other than a few weepers it was an incredible shave.
10/05/2015 Razor – New LC with Triad Helix SS Blade – Feather (2) Brush – Olivewood with TGN Finest Fan Lather – Strop Shoppe Baker Street Post - Witch Hazel & Floid Black sample A very good 3 pass shave this morning. Not a BBS shave but about as good as most work mornings. Finished off with a splash of Floid Black from my sampler and I am ready for the day. Hope everyone has a great Monday.