No Variation November - A TSD Challenge

Progress
Asylum Brush
TOBS Grapefruit
Astra SP
Really enjoying this month so far keeping the same rotation. Getting to know the Progress and the best angle for me. Last two shaves were at setting 3. No issues at all. Nice comfortable shaves. Do need to pay attention to how much water I use with the cream. Felt a little dry one day.
Things were going so well I thought I'd try the Progress at 4 this morning. And............not so bad. Had a nice shave. Nice and close. A little burn on the upper lip from too many passes but over all a nice shave.
Is it possible to have a smoother shave and less irritation with a more aggressive setting on the Progress? Seems counter intuitive but it was a really nice shave this morning at setting 4.

 

Thanks that worked pretty well. I usually don't face lather but with this big brush I enjoyed it and got very good results. Had to swirl the brush in the soap once or twice between passes to tighten the lather a bit.

 

Today's shave was a good one. Had the Progress set at 3 for a 3 pass shave. No feedback from the alum block. Thanks to a tip from Bama Samurai the Sterling brush face lathered great.

 

Shave 3 so far. As far as I can tell right now it was a pretty good 3 pass shave. A little bit of bite from the alum block in my lower neck, but that might just be from the irritation from the day before not being fully healed.
I paid very close attention to the head of the razor staying in contact with my skin. Small strokes and rinsing very often..
Very little stubble, so I guess it could be considered a DFS. But tomorrow morning will tell that tale since that's when I notice any problems. Hoping for none.

 

Day 5 - No Variation November!

SOTD - 5 November 2015



Utopia 3-piece
Gillette Silver Blue (5)
L'Occitane Plisson Synthetic
Proraso Barbe Dure
Alum
TSD 2x Iced FW AS Splash
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And for the fifth consecutive day, the GSB delivers! Automatic 2 pass smoothness is back in style. It's all about the angles with these 89-type razor heads. Been a long, productive and generally happy day. Other than that...all is quiet in Colorado.

Have a fabulous Friday!
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Sorry, I went to bed before I saw this. I will try to look for it.

The summary was that he liked the simplicity and skincare of stiff boar brushes, face lathered. No bowl means less clutter on the countertop. And I was having really bad irritation while learning. He suggested that I ease up on the prep and switch to cold water. It worked, and I've used cold water ever since.

What about face lathering do you need to work on?

 

Very good! I add soap if needed also. Glad it worked out!

 

It's my personal feeling that aggressive can be smoother and easier, but the penalty for having poor technique is much higher.

 

39 Days hath NOVember!!

 

Hey Chris - well, you read about the difficulties I'm facing trying to get a decent amount of lather from my Semogue brush. And since you can't blame everything on your equipment, a few new insights from more experienced people about technique wouldn't hurt

Another thing is the pressure. I tend to use quite a bit while lathering, so that the brush splays on my face. But I read that some people recommend less pressure and paint strokes instead of circular motions (which even some brush makers discourage from doing). So I was just wondering: Is there a better way to do it than mine?

But I guess one can just worry too much and I should just focus on the things that work for me.

I never tried cold water btw - I either shave after my morning shower or I just wash my face with lukewarm water. That's all the preparation I need.

 

I have a similar problem area. For me it's the spot where the skin under the nose meets the lip and the corner of my mouth. Funny thing is: It's just the left side of my face that's giving me trouble. I guess I sometimes just screw up the angle - I have to really concentrate on what I'm doing there, so I don't peel off my skin.

 

In your particular instance, the Semogue itself may be the problem. Boar requires a break in period of 30-50 shaves before it shows its potential. Boar bristle tips will split into multiple this strands and soften. This increases the effective bristle surface area by a large factor, and makes the brush far more efficient at beating air into soapy water. After a sufficient break in period, a little water ratio experimentation to suit your taste, the Semogue will virtually guarantee good lather.

The point of making lather is more than just glide and cushion for the blade bevel against the skin. Lather, when applied with a brush, serves to suspend the hair shaft in foam above the skin surface. This allows the blade to attack the hair shaft in a more perpendicular alignment, and ideally, allows the blade to break the surface of the hair and snap it off cleanly. If the lather is cold, the combination of alkali soap and cool temperature will also make the hair itself brittle, and easy to cut. The keratin in hair softens with moisture and heat, and ymmv, but I think that is less than optimal, and can lead to irritation from trying too hard to cut slippery and soft hair. For these reasons, I use cold water and paint strokes, always making sure that my last stroke before lifting the brush is against the grain (to lift the hair and suspend it for easy removal).

I am not big on prep either, though my water choice is truly cold. The tap water in Colorado at my ranges from 34F in early spring to about 51F in early fall.

 

That's an interesting theory. I think I will give it a try some time.

Yeah, that's what I usually do at the end of every lathering pass.

Okay - so at the end of NOVember the Semogue will either work like a charm or I'll know that my technique is in great need of improvement Apart from that I really like the boar - much better than the cheap badger I bought when I started using soap and cream instead of canned goo. I think about buying a second one, either the SOC boar or the 1460. On the other hand - I just ordered the Stirling Synthetic and a High Mountain badger brush from WD, so I should have pretty much covered all of my brush requirements...

 

Does not shaving count as no variation?

 

11/6/2015 - The day I almost made it

The setup:

- D.R. Harris Sandalwood
- Semogue 620
- Mühle R89
- Gillette Silver Blue (#5)
- Proraso White ASB

Yay - almost
This time I started with a little more water in the brush and a generous helping of soap - and I got almost enough lather for 2 passes. Next time, the Semogue and I will nail it!
Other than that: Great shave, just a tiny little scraper on my left chin (had been sloppy with pressure and angle). But the blade is now past it's prime, I guess. New one next time.

So next week, when the brush is broken in properly, I can concentrate on achieving a BBS shave in 2 passes. I still need 3 for an absolutely perfect shave, though 2 are sufficient for DFS. There's one area under my chin where the hair is growing in every possible direction and I still haven't figured out how to clean that in just 2 passes.

On the other hand ... maybe I should NOT strive for perfection here. I'd deprive myself of the necessity to shave every day, because a BBS shave suffices for at least 2 days.

 

Well time told the tale, ingrown on my lower neck this morning. I kept the head of the razor on my skin, small strokes and light pressure. For the pressure, I kind of treated it like I was golfing. Slicing away the lather
Like swinging at the ball making sure I didn't leave a divot. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Can it be that my skin will no longer tolerate atg? Or can it be in my equipment or lather?

 

How old are you? Is your beard changing to gray? Sounds like it may be either the blade needs replacing or the angle of the razor head angle is too wide.

 

Friday's


Dove Men Face Wash
Tabac Shaving Soap
Jayaruh #27 Silver Tip
Gillette Super Adjustable
Astra Super Platinum
CWR, Asma Alum Block
Thayers Lemon WH
Aqua Velva AS​

The Tabac Shaving Soap face-lathered well with my Jayaruh #27 Silver Tip brush. Two passes with my Gillette Super Adjustable razor on 8 and an Astra Super Platinum blade gave me a close, comfortable shave. After a cold water rinse, alum block, and a final cold water rinse, I finished off with Thayers Lemon WH and then Aqua Velva after shave. I am clean, smooth, and refreshed...

Sixth shave of No Variation NoVember.
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Day 6 - No Variation

Tried some different lather teqhniques this morning based on what Id read in the other thread. I used cold water and painted atg, rather than wtg for my last stroke before putting blade to face. I will have to give it a couple days to really get an opinion but it seems promising. All my shaves have been pretty good this month so its hard to tell if theres much improvement.

 

I'm 44 and the grays are slowly but surely setting in. I'd say about 30% gray. As far as the razor head, what do you mean by too wide of an angle?..... Still a newbie