Day 30 of shave journal: Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (1st use), Whipped Dog 20 mm deep-set silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer! Summary: Day 1 of 3-day no-irritation experiment: no weepers or irritation. I focused particularly on applying no pressure, and that worked well. I kept vocally saying to myself "short strokes, no pressure." Verdict: My skin feels great, albeit I can feel the stubble in every direction but WTG.
Excellent! Comfort is the goal and you're succeeding. Keep it going just like that. No one knows there's stubble there but you.
Day 31 of shave journal: Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (2nd use), Whipped Dog 20 mm deep-set silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer! Summary: Day 2 of 3-day no-irritation experiment: no weepers or irritation. Verdict: Closer shave than yesterday, still no irritation.
Day 32 of shave journal: Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (3rd use), Whipped Dog 20 mm deep-set silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer! Summary: Day 3 of 3-day no-irritation experiment: no weepers or irritation. Verdict: I'm pretty happy with how my skin feels. The experiment worked. I'll maintain little pressure in my shaves to keep irritation down, and I'll be working to discover the key to my close shave on my neck.
Day 33 of shave journal: Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. I read up on making my own pre-shave oil, and I just picked some mint from the garden yesterday, so it's not quite ready. Today I just used some plain-old olive oil until my mint stuff is ready and I can get my hands on some castor oil. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (4th use), Whipped Dog 20 mm deep-set silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer! Summary: No irritation. Verdict: My cheeks/jaw line can handle almost anything I throw at them. The pre-shave oil seemed to help with 2nd and 3rd passes, but sometimes it seemed like it made it more difficult to shave, as though it were less slick. I'll add more water when I try it again tomorrow.
Day 34 of shave journal: Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (1st use), Whipped Dog 20 mm deep-set silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer! Summary: No irritation. Verdict: An irritation-free shave is a great shave!
Day 35 of shave journal: Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. I followed a few online suggestions for making your own mint oil and let it sit in the sun for 2 days. The mint spoiled and the oil smells badly. I picked up some castor oil at the store today and will probably just pick up some essential oil to add to it. I did notice, however, that the mint oil is much more slick than pure olive oil. Given the problems I have had with the first pass when using pre-shave oil, this gives me some hope. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (2nd use), Omega 11648, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, Additional load on 2 passes. The Omega boar doesn't hold nearly as much lather as the Whipped Dog silvertip, but it is a great face latherer! Shave: 4 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, ATG, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer. Summary: 6 weepers on my neck. Verdict: I have decided that 4 passes is more than my skin can handle on my neck, no matter how little pressure I apply. If I want to get a closer shave, I may have to go with a more aggressive razor. I'm hoping to get my hands on a Slim adjustable.
Now you have the basis for a great shave. You know what your skin can handle. Always back off to your 3 pass shave if something you try does not work. Get your comfort back on deck for a few days, then try something new. If it doesn't work, go back to home base for a few days, then try something new, etc. Don't ever sacrifice your comfort for a BBS. It'll come when you least expect it. Your technique will expand and one day you'll figure out just what to do. You're doing GREAT, whether you know it or not.
You made it easy to follow. It's thorough and well written. It's also an encouragement for anyone who is going through the same thing. And thank YOU. It kept me on track while I progress with my straight shaving. I couldn't allow myself to become a hypocrite and had to follow my own advice. It resulted in all of my shaves being very good to great ones.
Day 36 of shave journal: Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. Mixed some castor oil with olive oil and the slickness was really nice! A definite improvement over just olive oil. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (3rd use), Whipped Dog silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer. Summary: No irritation. Verdict: I'm getting better about actually applying NO pressure when shaving. I think part of the reason I have sometimes had so much trouble with irritation is because even though I only do a maximum of 4 passes, I end up blade buffing on each pass in the trouble areas, hence making those areas endure an actual 12+ passes. I also tend to automatically apply more pressure to those areas. I think I have just been too psychologically concerned about BBS shaves and that negatively affected the quality of the shaves. I really would eventually like to try an aggressive razor to minimize the number of passes I do.
Just my 2 cents - get your technique down before trying a more aggressive razor. You may just find, as many of us here have, that proper technique with a mild razor can beat out poor technique with an aggressive razor almost every time.
I have tried and still occasionally use pre-shave oils, however, different oils do different things. I found that the best beard softener is castor oil, and the best skin protector is grapeseed oil. Both are cheap. A blend of those 2, or even using either straight depending on your needs, can make a difference when going through a stretch of irritation. My current blend is 50-50 castor/grapeseed.
+1... I use a homemade blend of 50 castor/30 grapeseed/20 olive oil (with some juniper berry essential oil)... works extremely well and it's cheap.
Thanks, Steve. I think I am quite close to getting my technique to where it needs to be with my mild razor. I have maintained the exact same set up for more than a month excepting the brush, which I switched halfway through this journal, so I think I can attribute good results to developed technique. I can consistently get an irritation-free shave when I'm not experimenting. With all my experimenting, though, I have yet to achieve a very close shave on my neck and think I ought to try a razor that will let me complete a shave in less than 3 passes. The number of passes it what usually seems to get in the way of a close, irritation-free shave.
DLreno and Raven, when do you apply the shave oil to your face? How long do you wait between applying it and lathering up?
Day 37 of shave journal (2 Aug 2013): Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. 50/50 mix of olive and castor oils. Waiting to get some essential oil to add for fragrance. Gear: Gillette 40s style Super Speed, Astra SP (4th use), Whipped Dog silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer. Summary: No irritation. Verdict: This was a quick shave, but a good one. I was rushing to get out of the house to go to a good friend's wedding, so I kind of had to rush things, but I still got 3 passes in and was very careful about how much pressure I applied.
Day 38 of shave journal (3 Aug 2013): Preshave: Quick face wash in the shower plus a hot rinse. 50/50 mix of castor and olive oils, no fragrance. Gear: Edwin Jagger DE86, Astra SP (1st use), Whipped Dog silvertip, Palmolive shave stick. Lather: 60/120 second load/face lather, 30 second lather with each additional pass, no additional load required. Shave: 3 passes: WTG, XTG1, XTG2, plus a cold rinse. Aftershave: Mennen Skin Bracer. Summary: No irritation. Verdict: As you may have noticed, I tried a different razor today. This Edwin Jagger DE86 is the only other razor I own, and came with the kit that I purchased that included the Whipped Dog silvertip. I enjoy that it is slightly more aggressive than the vintage Gillette Super Speed. In 3 passes with a tiny bit of blade buffing, I was able to get as close a shave as I ever have with only 3 passes and the Gillette. I don't really like the handle of the DE86 though. It's smooth and I cannot get a very good grip on it while wet unless it is completely free of soap.
