today I used; wostenholm ixl 5/8 medium hollow barber's notch I wanted so much to report glorious results with this beautiful little razor. but I can only report a good shave, a pass to clean things up made it a very nice shave. I'm pretty happy with the edge, just didn't get the glowing results that the full hollows have been giving me. I'll call it operator inexperience and be happy to be an eager student.
"T THE AIKU M" 13/16 and a nice long blade - great shaver Mornington Madeira rose scented Floid Blue Brushcraft handle with a FS 24mm silver tip PantaRei bowl
February 28 Henckels Twin Works #50 PSO, Hot Shower, Nivea Face wash Omega 10066 Boar Shaving Brush Reef Point Dragons Blood Soap and AS Alum Second straight shave, gave myself a decent cut - no stitches or anything - but otherwise not bad. Far less razor burn than yesterday. Still not DFS, but not shabby either.
SOTD 2/28/16 - Wicked Sharp Hot shower, while the Georgetown scuttle sets in the sink full of skin peeling hot water, warming along with the 28mm Shavemac Premium Silvertip badger.. I dribbled a little hot water on top of the Escentials Himalayan shave soap, to soften it while I showered.. Make up one of my top five Uberlathers, with the Himalayan and Escentials Shea Butter and White Tea Organic shave cream plus 5 drops of Gylcerin.. This produces copious amounts of skin conditioning lather.. I apply a couple of hot clothes to the face, and apply the first layer of the lather, taking my "Rare as Hen's Teeth" 7/8 NY made Thistle razor, I strop 25 laps on the Nylon side of the SRD Bison strop, then another 50 laps across the fast action Bison leather.. The first lather has done it job, and my beard is soft, while my face is treated to awesome conditioning, another hot cloth to wipe way the lather and warm the face and it is time to lather for effect.. The lather stays nice and warm inside the Georgetown scuttle the brush swirls and lifts the beard hair, I leave the lather for a minute or so to set and lift the beard.. Picking up the wickedly sharp Thistle, I draw the first pass from that Shapton 30k edge, barely even touching my face, the edge is simply skimming along the water and lather.. You can barely even hear the hairs pop even with a full hollow since the lather has done it's job. First pass complete with the grain, and another hot cloth follows to warm the face, a hot water rinse and I am ready for another pass.. The lather is applied for a second pass, only I go very light and a little more wet, this allows for a multi-directional pass that cleans up anything I missed the first time through.. That is it, I am done shaving and another hot cloth is used to wipe the face... I do a couple of cold water rinses and then fill the sink with cold water a cloth and some ice.. I wait a few minutes and apply the Iced cloth.. Perfection, followed by a healthy splash of Pusser's West Indian Lime Aftershave... Shave On !!!!
I'll keep that in mind for my next shaves. I think I really have to get used to skin stretching ... never bother much with it during my DE shaves.
Hello TSD - my second shave with a Straight today - PannaCrema Namaste - Whipped Dog Synthetic - T.W. Lang „The Gaelic“ later: - RazoRock Little Bastone - Tüff sensitiv Rasierwasser - Jeris Musk I’m actually a little proud of myself I performed a complete pass WTG with the straight razor, including the neck. It was by no means perfect, but much better than my first try. I think I figured out what the main problem was last time: the grip. I usually hold my DE razors very loose, no firm grip, no pressure. I took that over to the straight shave and that did not work so well. This time I held the razor more firmly, stretched the skin more and used just a liiiiiitle more pressure … guess that did the trick. Two different approaches on my left side of the face - I used the left hand first, then the right hand. I think it was actually easier shaving the left side with my right hand, but maybe it’s just a matter of practice. Had to figure out the best way to hold the razor while shaving my neck, because the hair grows S-N there … well, somehow it worked. I did not cut myself, removed quite some hair - but that one pass took about as long as a complete 3-pass-shave with a DE razor I finished with the RazoRock Little Bastone, which is actually a surprisingly good, inexpensive razor. Pretty much BBS, Aftershave did not burn much … I think I did okay.
