My Straight Shave Saga (continues...)

Greg, you should vacuum pack the soaps so they retain their scent.

 

Shave #45:

Yardley's Almond and Oatmeal soap as shaving soap
Vulfix 2233
Wapi 5/8, unstamped
My Nik Is Sealed
Art of Shaving alum block
444 aftershave balm
Pinaud's Classic Vanilla aftershave

I got Wapi #6 in the mail today - AFTER my shave, naturally. This is a 9/16" blade, stamped, and came with the actual plastic box and little insert paper too. What a great razor! I'm so glad I got it! The stainless scales are more substantial and they're brushed instead of mirror, the spine is wider, the taper is more like 1/8 than 1/4. This one is from The Invisible Edge, and may actually be my favorite of the six! Of all of them, I like the look of this one in its scales the best, so I may just leave it that way. Maybe.

Oh, MAN did I ever cut myself good this morning! OW!!! I tried a fancy XTG move in the soul patch area, and caught my lower lip instead. I actually had to stop the shave and apply the cautery roll-on. Of course, an hour later you can barely see it, and it's not painful, so I guess that's the wonderful magic of straight razor lacerations.

...course, I NEVER cut myself with my electric...

After the cut, I used my tongue to push out on the lower lip to create a flat surface. Looked dumb doing it, but worked great. Unfortunately, I was a little "gun shy" for my third pass, and didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

The only two scars I seem to still have, by the way, were both from when I scraped off a chunk of skin, as opposed to directly cutting into it. All of my direct straight-on cuts healed perfectly.

Love, love, love me some Classic Vanilla. I literally bathe in it - all over my arms, chest, back of my neck... and I can smell it on my arms oh-so-faintly all day. What wonderful stuff. The 444 actually did an admirable job covering up my blunders this morning, and left me feeling pretty good (a little sticky). Secret was to use twice as much as I did last time - about two eraser heads worth mixed with the Pinaud's. Still not enough menthol and too much glycerin, though. I'm going to have to just carry around a decant of Osage Rub I guess, or figure out how much menthol crystals and glycerin to add to the Pinaud's.

Hmmm... I wonder if menthol crystals would dissolve in glycerin? So I could just carry around a menthol/glycerin bottle with me. That would be sweet!

I also got a big bottle of Green Irish Tweed in the mail from a member of B&B today. I've never been a big Creed fan myself, but GIT gets so much love on Basenotes that I figured I couldn't pass it up at the price he was offering. Of course, I quizzed him about a dozen times to make sure the bottle was authentic (a big problem). And so, into Leo's fridge it goes! Here's hoping it's still good in 18-20 years...

 

Shave #46:

(spent the weekend basking in Old Spice cologne wonderfulness)

Neutrogena Rainbath shower soap (instead of bar soap today)
Mitchell's Wool Fat (thanks, Dr. Mike!)
Vulfix
Wapi (stamped)
444 alum block (much better sanded down with 220 grit sandpaper!)
Spanish Floid
Pinaud's Classic Vanilla aftershave as cologne

"What's that, you say? Spanish Floid? I thought you sold that?"

Well, yeah, I did. Then I missed it, so I bought another one. I know, I'm crazy.

Leon was kind enough to send the box this time per my special request, though, so I learned the ingredients - water, alcohol, glycerin, fragrance, menthol, colors n' stuff. Nothing special. This is good news! It means that even the world's greatest commercial aftershave (IMHO) is still made of the same core ingredients as everything else. No magic there.

But I'm not the biggest fan of the scent, I (once again) realized. So I can get the same effect from my little Pinaud's/Osage/glycerin combo that I was thinking of using before.

If only my Pinaud's bottle hadn't MELTED IN THE CAR. (d'ohh)

It didn't break open or anything, but the bottle looks kinda funky now. Warped. Stupid cheap plastic containers.

So when I start mixing up my own aftershave combo, I'm going to need a good refillable small-opening glass bottle. Any ideas?

Lessons learned from today's shave:

1. Take your damn time. Every time I think I'm getting the hang of this and can take it easy, I slip up and injure myself. Today, I paid CLOSE attention the WHOLE time, being EXTRA careful and respectful of the blade, and whaddaya know - no cuts. Also took extra time with each stroke, and ended up with less irritation too. Imagine that.

2. Etoyoc's trouble with the right underside of his neck made me really think about it today, and I came up with a workable solution that may be kinda hard to describe. First: use water only, after the third pass to rehydrate what little bit of soap residue is left on skin. Having actual lather in the way only makes things harder to see and slipperier. Second: use left thumb to push (HARD) left underneck skin sideways, bringing the offending hairs to stand at attention. Third: use left fore- or midfinger on the other side of the patch to be shaved (GENTLY) to flatten everything out, then Fourth: use razor in right hand and modified WTG/ear-to-midline short strokes to cut their little heads off. Try not to lacerate left index finger.

As you'll recall, the solution to the left underside of the neck is the ol' backhand stroke. Again, today I modified that by using my left hand to push (HARD) the skin of the right side of my neck outwards, flattening the area to be shaved, again with NO lather on my face, only a bit of water to re-slippery the soap residue I hadn't completely washed off. That way I could see all the hairs, no lather in the way, easy to grip my skin since there was no soap... perfect. Scrape-scrape-scrape, done.

Damn Fine Shave today. Still haven't found a perfect ATG for the lower neck, but the above modifications were pretty darn near as good as I might get.

 

Will have to try this next time I shave with a straight. After 5 days straight with the straight my skin is really telling me that I need to take some time off.

 

I just came upon this voyage today.

Greg, Thank you for documenting the journey.
It is similar to mine and MOST other straight shavers.
Tony Miller once told me that

So true..
Xchris started me on my straight journey and supplied enough different equipment to keep my interest up and allow me spares when I dulled the first straight..
Hahahahaha

Greg, your persistence is paying off. Thank you for the GREAT read.
Tom

 

TOB9595:

Man you have a lot of stuff for sale/trade! You're the fellow on SRP that has all the cigars, right? Leo could use a pocketknife, maybe you could hook me up?

Thanks for reading. I never intended this to be an ongoing writing project, but for some reason getting it all "down on paper" has been very therapeutic. I also think it helps me not make the same mistakes over and over again.

Plus, if I could save even one dude from getting a big ol' scar on his chin, that would make it all worthwhile.

 

That be me

Leo will not want for much, I think.
Keep the writing coming, please.
Even with the straight razor technique having clicked..Some days I'm in the ZONE more than other days...

Hahahaha, especially the dumb stuff...I was having a mental conversation with MYSELF and I made a point by tapping...
UNFORTUNATELY I was shaving with a straight and it was against my cheek
HA

Tom

 

Huh huh. He said "made a point". Huh. :b

 

Shave #47:

Neutrogena Rainbath liquid soap as shower soap
Neutrogena Rainbath liquid soap as shaving soap +/- glycerin
Vulfix
Wapi
444 alum block
Pinaud's Classic Vanilla + glycerin + Osage Rub

Oh, learned so many things today!

You guys know I like experimenting, right? So I figured I'd give this Rainbath stuff a run as a shaving soap. After all, it says something about using it for shaving right on the bottle! It smells pretty good, I hoped that if I could use it for shaving I'd have a one-product-does-all. So I put a dab of it on my Vulfix and went to town.

Well, Rainbath is a lousy shave soap. Too thin, bubbles disappeared too early, no protection. It was the worse shaving product ever. Bad idea. Smelled great, but worthless.

Also learned, adding glycerin to a crappy shave soap doesn't help. After two lousy passes, I thought adding glycerin might stabilize the bubbles somehow, but instead it just made the razor drag more! D'ohh!

The good news to all this (yes, there's good news) is that AFTER my really dragging, sucky ATG third pass, after I'd rinsed off and there were still LOTS of patches of stubble left, I tried shaving with no soap lather at all, just the little bit of water to rehydrate the leftovers like I've talked about before. Miracle of miracles! Worked GREAT!! Slippery, easy to see everything, yet not so slippery that I couldn't do some good stretching... I did my fancy backhand lower left neck thing, my fancy stretched skin lower right neck thing, did a little cleanup on the chin being EXTRA-careful not to cut myself, a little cleanup under the nose... actually a nice finish to what was about to end up the worst shave ever. Very little irritation, and good news #2 about the Rainbath is it left my skin feeling really, really good!

Of course my magic aftershave combination of glycerin/Pinaud's/Osage felt WONDERFUL, and continues to do so a few hours later.

Something else I've learned - if you rub the alum block on your face long enough until the pain stops, your aftershave is very unlikely to burn afterwards. Huh. Whaddaya know. I guess some pain is inevitable, but for some reason the pain caused by rubbing a rock on my face feels less bothersome than the pain of splashing on what is supposed to be a pleasant aftershave. Less insulting to be hurt by a rock or something, I guess.

Whatever. Finished the shave with good technique rather than good product. Hooray for experience!

Looking, smelling, feeling like a million bucks.

---

Got BOTH of my Semogue Excelsior Horn-Handle Silvertip brushes in the mail today! Man, are they pretty.

Here are my initial impressions compared to the Vulfix 2233:

The Semogue has a GREAT strong spine, and even softer tips than the Vulfix. No floppyness here! It's also about 3/4" taller.

The hairs are REALLY packed in tight into the horn handle. I can tell just by feeling where the hairs meet the metal ring that they aren't going ANYWHERE.

The Vulfix looks like a cheap rinky-dink toy compared to the Semogue. That's a MAN's brush right there!

The two I got (#4 and #22) are completely different sizes. The #22 is HUGE, stout, wide, and the colors are a beautiful mix of blacks, dark browns and ivory. The horn practically glows, and has an awesome shimmering effect when moved back and forth in the light. Coooooool!

The #4 - which happens to be my lucky number - is smaller, more reserved. It's got much more of the light brown/ivory to it, with only a few splashes of white (!) and black to set off the complete picture. I'll keep that one for myself and give the big monster to Leo.

---

Also got a 30mL bottle of Geo. F. Trumper's Curzon cologne in the mail from The English Shaving Company today!!! Woohoo! Man oh man that stuff smells good. And you should see the little tiny stopper thing the cologne comes out of. This is meant to be dispensed DROP by DROP, and that's truly all it takes. One of the top 3 most concentrated colognes I've ever encountered. Yummmmmmmmm! Thanks, The English Shaving Company guy!

Now, must order a 100mL bottle for my boy...

 

I am a new straight shaver as well so I hop around the net reading all the info I can and wound up here. I like this forum a little better than SRP because this seems to be a shaving place for "the rest of us". Anyway, this is not a hijack. I've been reading your saga all morning and it's hilarious. And also meticulously documented. But I must say that it's a good thing you're somewhat well off 'cause you sure do buy a lot of stuff! I'll be following your thread but I'm wondering: what's the tally of each different product type? Like 7 razors, 12 aftershaves, 107 shave soaps, etc? I think you may have more stuff than most women in the bathroom! Anyway, love the thread!

 

Welcome to The Shave Den!

Well off? Not so. What you don't know because I don't talk about it in this thread is that I sell everything I've used and haven't fallen in love with. That's my own personal rule. Of course, I lose a bit of money each time because I sell everything for a discount (well, OK, sometimes I just give some of it away).

I've TRIED a lot of stuff, yes, but currently own very little of it (as many other TSD members can attest to). And my medicine cabinet is all of three tiny shelves in our apartment. My wife still has more stuff.

Thank you for reading, though.

Here, check out my sales thread and buy something.

 

This thread has been a big help as I have been learning to use the straight. In regards to the number of products... There is this tiny thing call acquisition disorder that many of us suffer from. I think that at one point I had close to 50 razors, but that has been drastically reduced to maybe 30...

Welcome to the Den, why don't you pop on over the newbies forum and let everyone get to know you. There is also a June contest that you will find information on.

 

Non-shave day:

QED Not-For-The-Faint-Hearted Vetiver glycerin soap heated in the hot car until squishy (accidental), then molded into an oblong rounded oval for use as bath soap, followed by Antaeus body wash for extra-smelly awesomeness, then layered over with four drops of GFT Curzon watered down with Thayer's Alcohol-Free Witch Hazel rubbed in my hands then applied as all-over fragrance.

---

Here are my thoughts on cologne for the day:

There is a theory out there that men and women are attracted to one another based on the expression of a particular gene. "Scientifically speaking, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are responsible for individual's smell. The natural odor's matching technique works in a way that human beings tend to be sexually attracted to those who possess a different (MHC) from their own. This is crucial evolutionarily because the quality of offsprings increases as the genetic diversity also increases."

So if you believe this, then forget every scented product you own, all you're doing is confusing your mate (or potential mate). Heck, you could even end up with the wrong person if they think you smell differently than you really do! Use unscented alum deodorant and good deodorizing bar soap and you're done, let nature choose your mate for you.

If, on the other hand, you either don't believe the geneticists, or you are INTENTIONALLY trying to confuse potential mates, or you're just scenting yourself to mess with the general populace or because you like smelly stuff and t'hell with everybody else, read on.

If someone smells you and thinks "he's wearing cologne with the intention of scenting himself" then you're doing the wrong thing. What I suggest you go for is "ooh, he naturally smells good" - ie: "the natural musk that his body exudes is pleasant".

That's the subtle, but extremely important difference between someone NOTICING your cologne and someone ENJOYING/being ATTRACTED to your scent.

Somehow, what you're going for is the illusion that your skin naturally smells good all the time. Some guys do that with scented body wash, some do it with scented deodorant, some do it with all-over body spray, others do it with cologne, and there is a select few that somehow, by gift of God, just naturally smell good no matter what they do.

(Or, maybe you just THINK they do because their MHC's are very different from yours. Hmmm....)

Anyways, the key is to smell good all over, from a very short distance away, all day long.

My wife describes it this way, while nuzzling: "ooh, that's a nice cologne, but you should smell like it all over instead of just in a few spots".

Whatever you do, don't dab on or spray on scent in one or two spots. I don't care where those spots are (wrists, neck, whatever) - ignore that advice, mine is better.

So you can either spray into the air and walk through the cloud, or apply to your hands and then rub all over (for splashes), or spray yourself from as far away as your arm can reach. In today's case, because the GFT Curzon is so concentrated, I needed to dilute it with something (I chose the Witch Hazel only because I didn't want to use alcohol or water and that's the only other unscented liquid I had handy) before applying it.

Here's the rule re: how much to apply. If you move to another room and can smell yourself just sitting there, you put on too much. Your goal ought to be to smell pleasant from 2-3 inches away, like you literally have to bring your arm up to your nose to smell yourself. If your arms/chest/whatever still smells good 4-6 hours later, you've picked a winner scent, buy a bottle and stick with it.

If you can't smell anything an hour later or you smell like a teenager, throw away what you're using and try something else. I recommend Pinaud's Classic Vanilla aftershave, Hattric aftershave, Musgo Real Classic aftershave or Old Spice aftershave. Those are all winners in my book.

NOTE: None of this advice applies to "clubbing", where the intent is to grab attention. There are entirely different colognes for that. The above applies to day-to-day life, the office, etc. You know, REAL life.

 

What a great day when trying out the TWO mighty fine brushes..
Hmmm Rain bath....You are an experimenter....
The vanilla and osage rub plus soethin else has me intrigued.
I enjoy Osage and apply it during the day...JUST CAUSE....I like my eyes to water..
Hahaha

Nice explanation of a scent
Tom

 

I find a nice balance between SRP and The Den !

 

My comment was in NO way a put down, just a preference. It was just my impression from exploring both sites.I felt more welcome here.

 

And you are!!! :happy005

No offense taken, my friend.


Shave #48:

Neutrogena Rainbath as shower soap (only!)
Irisch Moos shaving stick
Vulfix
Wapi
My Nik Is Sealed
444 Alum Block
30:70 mix of Musgo Real aftershave and Osage Rub

DAMMIT!!!!!!

I tried being all fancy and brave today, and ended up with scar #3 on my stupid chin.

I used not one, but THREE different moves today, all of which were awesome, and only one of which led to injuring myself.

First, on the WTG pass, for the first time ever I actually felt like I let the blade do the work. Rather than using my wrist to scrape off the hair like I usually do, I just moved the blade along my skin gently and assumed the cutting was happening. I know, this is what more experienced shavers always talk about re: applying ZERO pressure when shaving, but it wasn't until today that I finally "got" what that means.

I don't even know how the cut happened. I just know that my chin skin is different than my cheek skin, more... thickened? Is that the word? It's got a different texture to it than my cheeks, squishier, softer. It's as though my cheeks were made of glass, and my chin made of... cheese. It drags more, it's easier to cut into with the blade.

I agree with the old barbers, the chin is the most difficult area to shave. And out came the My Nik Is Sealed...

Anyways, fancy move #2 was something I'm going to call "leading with the heel". For instance, in the jugular groove of the right side of my neck, I've been used to using the French point of my Wapi on a WTG north-to-south pass to shave this hair. This has been somewhat satisfactory except that I never felt like I had good control of the blade since the functional 1/2" or so of working surface was at the farthest point of the blade, very far from where my fingers were controlling the blade nearer the pivot.

Today, instead, I used pressure with my middle finger more on the heel of the blade than the point, and sort of rested the back/heel of the razor up against the midline of my neck, while pulling down with that middle finger so that the BACK 1/2" of the blade, at the rounded end of the heel, was doing the cutting. This felt much more secure, since the distance between my middle finger and the heel of the blade is very short indeed! Gave me my closest right-lower-neck shave ever, and I think this will be my new default technique for this area.

The downside of course was I wiped off a minute bit of soap with the tips of my fingers and the tang, but that's a small price to pay.

Fancy move #3 was sort of an extension of fancy move #1, except as applied to the ATG pass under my neck:

It's always been difficult for me to maintain zero pressure ATG under my neck. I pull/push too hard, the hairs under my chin catch, it's all very painful. Today I modified my razor grip so that I was holding the razor right at the pivot, with only my thumb and forefinger and resting the scales against the inside of my palm. The blade was upside-down, my hand open downward and the blade upward, kind of like a... Chinese fan? Now, when I was doing my ATG pass, it was more like I was brushing/scything the blade in light strokes using just my finger tips, and I could get a VERY low angle. Kind of like planing a piece of wood to get the splinters off. Rather than scrape-scrape-scrape, it was more like brush-brush-brush.

When I met resistance under my chin, since I was avoiding the now bleeding wound I had caused myself on the first pass, I unintentionally became extra-light-fingered, and simply repeated the stroke multiple times instead of carving through. So my earlier wound helped me accidentally stumble upon the least irritating technique for the LEFT under neck area so far!

So despite the carnage and bleeding, all in all, I actually really enjoyed this shave! And I have the scars to prove it. :b

Musgo Real, once again, kicks ass. Once it dries down, that is. That top note is scary weird. Give it time, brother. You'll smell like a MAN for the rest of the day.

Used a little too much Osage, will go for a 50:50 blend next time. TOOOOO much menthol!

 

Making sure of CREED legitimacy is so TRU...
THERE is a HUGE market of counterfeit CREED. I was taken in by such a scam...
My own fault for NOT researching VERY CLOSE to what I was buying. This happened a while back BUT CREED IS STILL FAKED all the time. Some say there's more fake than real out there.

Hmmm, I'll have to wear it after I type this...Smells nice...but NOT the real magilla.

Thanks for the Warning, olafurson
Tom

 

Shave #49:

Rainbath shower soap
Johnson's Baby (BAR!) Soap as shaving soap
Vulfix
Wapi
NO alum block!
Cold water
Osage Rub plus 3 drops glycerin
Cold water
Pinaud's Classic Vanilla aftershave as aftershave and cologne

So I decided to skip the ol' alum block today. Why? Cuz every morning I put it on my face, I always manage to get some on my lips and it feels/tastes weird. And I think it's been making my skin too dry and pull-y.

Instead, I used:
a) Cold water for styptic, which worked great as usual
b) Osage Rub for alcohol (disinfectant) and additional styptic (?)
c) TOO MUCH glycerin (major mistake 1/2)
d) MORE cold water (major mistake 2/2)
e) about 2 minutes break, then
f) Pinaud's Vanilla, the greatest aftershave smell ever

3 drops of glycerin is too much. By the time I already had it in the palm of my hand, I didn't want to waste it, so I went ahead and splashed it on with the Osage. Initially, the Osage felt great, so I went about my cleanup (brush, razor, stropping) routine and enjoyed the menthol. Then I thought I'd get clever and give myself another double-styptic dose of cold water, but that made the menthol in the Osage actually HURT it was so cold! Whoops. Skip that next time. By then, applying the Pinaud's to my cool and damp face felt great and smelled better. Yay!

And afterwards... my face felt GREAT!!! Not to the touch, mind you - still too sticky from the glycerin. But driving to work with the windows down, I felt NO stretching, NO irritation burning, nothing. It was like I hadn't even shaved. What a great aftershave regimen!!

Now all I have to do is NOT cut myself, and I'll never need styptic or alum again.

And on that note... I managed to RE-lacerate my chin cut from Friday, taking off another little chunk of skin from where it was trying to heal, and probably turning it from a barely noticable scar into a permanent one. Oh well, what are you gonna do? I keep telling myself that as long as I can keep Leo from this kind of injury, it'll all be OK.

Hey, I'm already married, so who cares if I have a scar or three?

A good shave day.

Johnson's Baby Soap (found at the local Mexican grocery where I found Superior 70 bay rum!) sucks as shaving soap. Not as bad as Rainbath, not as good as Yardley's. Still DETERMINED to find something OTC that I enjoy as shaving soap. It didn't dry my face out though, which was nice. That's the only reason I haven't tried my go-to bar soap, Coast - I have a feeling that will be too drying. Maybe not?

 

Shave #50!!!:

Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap (thanks, Dr. Mike!)
Vulfix
Wapi
NO alum block again
NO styptic stick today either!
Osage rub
*wait couple minutes while cleaning brush & stropping*
Musgo Real aftershave diluted with water

What a fine, classic shave this morning! I spent an extra-long time being extra careful not to cut or irritate my skin, and whaddaya know, I got what I wanted!

I know this is shocking, but if I concentrate on NOT hurting myself, then I don't hurt myself. Who woulda thunk it?

That MWF stuff is really growing on me. The only reason I didn't like it at first is because it doesn't come in a stick, and I was hoping to take it to the gym. Well, the half-puck that Dr. Mike sent me once upon a time fits nicely in a little ziploc baggie which is pretty darn portable. I just rub the MWF puck-slice on my face, then face lather with my Vulfix. Presto! Great lather, good scent.

I worry about how the lanolin will treat teenage-Leo's pimply face... but other than that, loving the MWF!

Still working on the perfect aftershave regimen. Today's plan was NO glycerin (Musgo Real is gooey enough without additional moisturizers) and a thin pre-application of Osage Rub. Result: kinda meh all around.

Osage Rub as an immediate-post-shave aftershave is great. It doesn't seem to sting for some reason, and is pretty much pure menthol and alcohol with a little old-fashioned barbershop scent that goes away almost immediately. So I put on the Osage, then get to spend the next few minutes blissfully anesthetized while cleaning up my shave debris. After stropping, I can apply my aftershave du jour.

Musgo Real, as we have discussed, is a crappy aftershave. That damn aloe in there leaves such a messy film on my face that it feels sticky all day. No amount of water seems to be able to make that go away.

I should have known, and just added some glycerin to the Osage and left it at that, and applied the Musgo Real all over the rest of me as Scent o' the Day. Oh well.

I'm finding that my third (ATG) pass under the nose has the potential to take juuuuuust a little too much off, leaving me with tiny raw bleeding spots. They don't hurt or anything, but a little blood spot remained for about an hour while driving to work until I could wipe it off with a cold water dampened paper towel. No big deal, just a comment and something to watch out for.

I think my new shaving goal is to shave accurately and gently enough that it feels like I didn't even shave afterwards. I made my goal today, so I'm happy.

Again, didn't use the alum block, and again happier with how my skin feels. Another classic shaving product bites the dust?

No drama, just a damn fine shave.