January 30th ‘Tobacco Tuesday’ Gillette Short-handled SA w Perma Sharp (2) Stirling Gentleman SS 30 DC LE Thayers Jeeves of Hudson St Tobacco Bay Leaf AS Shaved early this morning, but haven’t had a chance to post until now. After using the Gentleman balm a few days ago, I realized that I’ve ignored the soap a bit lately. Whipped up just a fantastically scented, rich lather in the bowl this morning. 3 slick and pleasant passes later, with a little neck touch up, and I was completely smooth. Finished with the nice Jeeves A/S to complete the ‘Tobacco Tuesday’ theme and had a super start to the day. Have a great rest of the day, all!
When you don't post until the afternoon, you need to channel your inner Shavette Fu... That tub didn't last long! Beautiful photo, Clint. One pass functional shave? New Badger? Wife likes the scent? Sounds like an overall great start to the day, Jim! Cool photo, Perry. Great minds must think alike, as I used the same A/S myself today! Very nice looking brush. How do you like that flat-top knot, Doug? It certainly looks cool. Great pic and write-up, Rick. Tabac is one of those soaps that is easy to forget, but also easy to come back to.
Padawan learner 30 day Max Headroom here with a question, Sir! Is pressing the cap a little more into the skin bad technique? I have been using a very delicate touch so far. I'm pretty sure my skin says do not increase the angle. On my last pass today, I did this and seemed to be cutting better and not irritating. I don't want to develop bad habits. Thanks.
Another excellent lineup and photo Jason. Thank you Jason. I bought the soap in August 2017 and it lasted 32 shaves which is about the same amount of time as most artisan soaps (mid 30 shaves). I would have gotten 3 or 4 more shaves at least out of it had it not disintegrated into pieces. My personal record for least number of shave in a tub of soap still goes to the original scent Latha at 27 shaves. I disliked the scent so much that I loaded the snot out of the brush each time I used it.
Good shaves with no irritation is the ultimate judge of good technique. I am convinced that certain razors, ie Merkur 34c force people to use a little pressure in order to get good results. I would suggest that if you are going to use pressure, use as little as possible. When you try a more aggressive razor, the pressure will come back to bite you. Literally.
Tuesday January 30 - still Jeeves January No pic today. PAL adjustable injector / Personna (unknown but >5) Simpsons CH2 Synthetic brush Jeeves Key Lime shave stick Thayers Witch Hazel Rose Petal and Lucky Tiger balm I noticed this injector sitting in the rack with a blade in it so I pulled it out. I suspect the blade was in it because this razor loads best if the fresh blade is pushing out an old blade to keep it running straight without rubbing the edge on the stops in passing. It was an old blade waiting to be pushed out. The shave is getting to the point of being rough on it. I only did one pass because my neck was feeling a bit tender; too many daily multi-pass shaves on it lately. But then one pass got me to a good DFS anyway. I skipped the alum, added in a splash of witch hazel, then finished with the great orange smell of Lucky Tiger. I ended up cleanshaven, refreshed, and feeling not at all razorburned.
There are only two razors that I own that will not give me a BBS shave going ATG with no pressure. The Merkur 34C and the RazoRock MJ-90 with the standard base plate. To give you an idea of what I mean by no pressure, what I'm trying to do when I shave is wipe the lather and whiskers away without the razor making any indention in my skin. This means that if I am using a heavy razor I may actually have to hold the weight of the razor off of my skin. This concept of no pressure, along with riding the cap, were two pivotal epiphanies in my technique that made huge impacts on my ability to get irritation free shaves.
I'm just a newbie here too but from what I've learned so far ,applying pressure is not good policy . If I find that my blade isn't cutting while riding the cap, I switch it out for a fresh one . Yesterday I got a near perfect 2 pass shave with a fresh blade and letting the razor do the work . Like someone said on here " if you look clean shaven , then you are clean shaven " . Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this .
Okay, maybe a little more info and some clarification. Brand new blade, no trouble cutting. Shaves are still improving. Not perfect, but satisfactory An extra pass does not bother me, but more pressure into the blade would. For now, I'm mostly staying with the grain. I pressed a little more pretty much perpendicular to the blade and am wondering if this is considered poor. I'm sure I'll find out one way or another. Thanks for the input guys.
I'm trying to stick to 1 pass with grain and 1 pass across grain. Getting little to no irritation now . Not BBS or dolphin smooth but hey , I'm not perfect either lol. I think the key is to set down on cap and angle razor until blade makes contact and try to keep this angle on all areas of the shave . Hope this helps and maybe some of the experienced guys could chime in and offer their opinions. Happy shaving
You guys are killing me with the finishing soap pucks thing. I just won’t win this one. Congratulations, you’ve made having a large variety of amply full soaps shameful. I hope you all are proud of yourselves!
You need more condescension and arrogance. Jason, I hate to tell you, but you are no Shavette Fu! If you are only going WTG or XTG, I wouldn’t add pressure. ATG is where I ultimately get the best “finish”, and if you develop the habit of using pressure on the WTG or XTG passes, it’ll come back and tear up your face on a ATG pass.
