ok so last night i had a very good shave. one of the best iv ever had out of my now going on 4th month of shaving with a straight. i have about 4 razors total. but the one i used yesterday was a brand i dont know of called manganese? on the other side it says gold beetle. anyway....so after my fantastic shave which was the GB (gold beetle), MWF (i usually use TOBS but i found so many people loved MWF i had to give it a try), a badger silvertip brush, and time..:happy088 the problem was that even though that was a great shave i didnt know what exactly i did that made the diff. for ex i rinsed after my second pass (my face feels cold again usually so i try to warm it up again), i used almost no pressure with the razor, and of course i used a diff. shave soap (i usually use cream), and my form was diff. like i said almost no pressure, and i created the lather on my face and not the bowl. because of all that diff stuff that i did i wasnt sure what was the problem before. not to mention i think i finally got my razor sharp enough for a good shave. (thanks for all the help guys and gals that gave me hints to get it sharp. i think the problem was i didnt spend enough time getting the bevel right....dont think i have it perfect yet but its good enough) so i tried it again this morning trying the same stuff as i did yesterday but with TOBS. and also used my Monde razor that i stroped with .5 diamond paste....i think it works....it at least got it a little sharper. and of course got another great shave. in fact i think its even better than the shave from yesterday. but what i realized is that you never know what you guys and gals mean by "think yogurt not wipped cream" and "no pressure" until you actually get there. the lather i bassically have down fairly well. in fact i think thats my fav part of the shave. :happy102 as far as the "no pressure"....wow...that makes such a diff. i feel like a blind man that can finally see. :happy097 i basically tried to not touch my skin with the razor as much as possible. and of course used as little force as i could with each pass. and like i said....a great shave. :1respect but of course i would never have gotten those great shaves if it hadnt been for all the people here. such great helpful people. thank you every one!
It's good to hear. As a newbie, I just had my 5th str8 razor shave. A bit nicer than before, but still not to DE standards, but certainly acceptable as a shave considering I was doing electric for years. Sometimes it seems that progress is measured in mm when one desires yards of improvement. When you improve, the reasons are nebulous and not cut and dried (is that some kind of unintentional pun I made?). How do you like that Monde shaver? I have a 5/8 and picked it up at a flea market for $15 and am trying to hone it. Hope to shave with it some day!
It's the no pressure that's hard; especially if you're used to using disposables or an electric shaver. It does make a difference.
