INTRO: Hey guys, Names John, I grew up without any male role models so I was pretty much self taught when it came to shaving. Starting off when I use to smear toothpaste on my face after brushing my teeth and then "shaving" it off with the toothbrush:happy102 then to the disposable double blades then to the mach 3. When I was young someone told me (for the life of me I can't remember who) that if you shaved atg your hair would grow in backwardsbut I could never get a close shave wtg (it looked like I never even shaved) so I tried atg and boom bbs. For years afterward though I remember checking the mirror to see if my beard was growing up!(guess I was a little gullable when I was younger) Later I joined the military and "learned" (forced) how to shave in half the time with no cream(goo), and then when I deployed to the middle east where I learned how to shave without water YAY! Milk or saliva works well, I read someones signature that says peanutbutter works well wish I'd thought of that, I have a fast growing beard and had to shave twice a day to keep in regs with an electric it would be every couple hours (not doable). I decided that when I seperated from the military I wanted a comfterable shave, I decided I wanted to use a straight razor, which led me to SRP which led me to here where I discovered DE's. I figured I would try both and see which one appealed to me most, I sent my straight to get honed and purchased a gillette slim and red tip from justin low here at TSD who was kind enough to throw in a 40's SS. Well they arrived a few days ago and I finally worked up the courage(and whiskers) to try them. Hey I told you guys in the title this is a rant THE SHAVE: Equipment: razor- gillette ss blade- gillette super thin brush- tweezerman (cheapie $12) soap- VHD I lurked on TSD and B&B absorbing all the info I could, I read the wiki countless times and watched mantic's videos in continuose loops for hours on end. So I came into the shave nervouse but prepared, I hadn't been able to find any soap locally and didn't want to wait for some to be shipped, luckily today I found some vhd soap wedged between the back of a shelf at walgreens (last one!). I had never lathered before always using either just plain water or a nutragina cream. I decided to try it before I shaved just in case, I grabed my puck of vhd my tweezerman brush and a coffee mug and had at it. I soaked the brush and mug in warm water rinsed them both out and began loading the brush, all in all it turned out okay(I think) it may have been a little dry(my hand cramped like four times) because there wasn't much volume (but it wasn't sticky or runny just kinda flat) and my brush sheded everywhere I decided it would get the job done but switched to a bowl cause the mug just seemed like it prevented me from whipping fast enough. I took a shower making sure to rub my whiskers really good. I hopped out and emptied my, now warmed, brush and bowl and began lathering. I loaded my brush alot this time thinking the lack of volume might just had been an inadequate amout of soap. I turned out a little better ,thicker definetly, still not getting the volume I think I should be getting though (will have to work on that) at least my brush stopped sheding. I lathered up and picked up the razor, I decided to go with the SS because people suggested that adjustables are bad to begin with (too many variables) and the red tip is considered by some to be aggressive and..well..I chickened out. I held the razor too my cheek and rocked it down till the blade touched my face and proceeded with my shave WTG. I figured I'd do my sideburns and maybe my cheeks, if it turned out super awesome fantastic I might consider a second pass. Well guys I gotta tell ya.....it went EVEN BETTER! I had wound up doing my entire face neck, chin, moustache and all. I was having a blast, it just kinda came natural....after weeks of doing research heh I was so happy I lathered up again for a second pass. I tried working the lather up but was unhappy with the result so instead I squeezed the rich lather from the center of the brush and decided since this would be my last pass might as well go ATG (which if you were paying attention is what I am used to doing from the get go). I lathered up (looked like santa) and started my ATG pass it went smooth as silk no nicks or cuts, I got a little razor burn on my neck but that was my fault trying to get some stray hairs by going over the same place multiple times. Wanna know the best part?.............. BBS!!!!!!!!!!!I never have to buy cartridges again mmwwwwhahahahahahahah!!! I attribute my success not to my technique (or lack thereof) but to the fact that I let my whiskers grow for 2-3 days before I attempted this. I find that the face is very forgiving if you have a fair amount of stubble built up. Tomorrow if my face isn't red and sensitive I will try and shave again this will determine whether or not I can shave decently, if not no matter it will come with time and practice at least I know its only going to get better from here on out Thaks guys for bearing through my ramblings, for those of you who don't read books this counts a your novel for the year and thanks for all the time knowledge and support you guys offer, I'll keep you posted on how the next shave turns out.
Welcome to TSD. I am glad to read that your first D/E shave went so well for you, great job! :happy096 Make sure to keep us up to date on how your next shave goes. Sounds like you have some great kit and you have the right attitude. I'm sure over time you will get your lather nailed down, and you will come to enjoy your shaves even more.
Welcome to TSD and WELL DONE John!If you have any questions feel free to ask.Good to have you here and as Dridecker said,keep us posted with your next shaving experiences.Enjoy them!
Glad to have you here. Try rubbing the puck of soap over your face next time (like a shave stick) and then lathering on your face with the brush. See if that helps build a better lather. Let us know!
Welcome to the den and thank you for your service. You may have too much water in the brush. I have a tweezerman too and I give mine a little flick after it stops dripping.
:signs046 to TSD and thanks for the great introduction. You're off to a great start and it will only get better. Have fun here.
Thanks guys you sure know how to make someone feel welcome. I was planning on just doing a wtg pass today in case my face was sensitive from the first shave. Only one problem my beard never came in :think002 I shaved at 11pm (pst) on wed its now 12:40 am fri! I have the faintest hint of stubble just now coming in. Undisputable proof that was indeed the closest shave I have ever had, I'm both ectastic and saddened (i really wanted to shave again ). Guess I'll just have to wait till morning,maybe I'll practice my lathering and peruse the interwebs for some soap/cream/stick samplers, I'll keep you guys posted. Anyone know some good places in so. cal to get soaps and such? I'm going to check out bath and body for that poraso they sell but I really wanna find some tabac and witch hazel. I know tons of places online sell it but I have a very sensitive nose (I can't use cologns or after shave) and smelly stuff gives me headaches. I really wanna go and smell the stuff before I fork over the cash on something I won't use. Thanks guys! omegapd- Thanks I'll try that idea and see how it works out. Special_K- I did flick the brush after it dripped like in mantics videos, maybe not enough I might have to squeeze alittle. The foam didn't seem runny just flat hmmm I'll keep practicing thanks for the advice.
West Coast Shaving is out that way. He's a member here and some other forums and seems like a pretty nice guy the few times I ordered from him and talked over emails. He may be able to help you out in your search.
GNC Stores has the Thayers Witch Hazel but only the corporate stores and I would make sure and call before you go hunting based on experience do not trust the online in stock thing. I believe, JoAnna at the TSD Store offers unscented aftershave spalshes and milks. Building lather was the hardest thing for me to do correctly and I still struggle some with it. The best advice I got was if you are having trouble with too much water in the mix, get the brush "dry" (not totally but I think you'll know what I mean) and then add water little at a time until you get it just right.
I had my second DE shave today, just one pass wtg, it turned out very nice. Not bbs but I only did one pass, I also noticed that when my beard did finally come in it was very fine and light,kinda like when I first started to grow hair on my face(except without the patchyness), anyone else have this happen? I had better results with the lather too. I practiced just adding water and stirring until I got great lather all the way till runny soapy foam to get a feel of how much water to add and how long it would take to whipp it up, I only got 2 cramps this time (man how do you guys do it?). I also tried a different brush on one of the practice lathers. I recently bought a set of boar brushes off the BAY ( man I need to get a photobucket account so I can show you guys) one of them was a dubl duck M-3. I found it softer than the tweezerman suprisingly, it was hard to load the soap and it was more of a mopping action than a brushing action do to the length of the bristles but it whipped a nice lather though. Oh I found out that boar brushes smell far FAR worse than badger hair brushes when you first get them wet ack! I think I'm gonna buy a silvertip not from goldennib and use it on the M-3 handle. Has anyone ever used one of those candle warmers(looks kinda like a tiny hot plate) to keep thier lather bowl/mug warm? I was thinking about it while my bowl was floating in the sink. Its either that or go get myself a redneck scuttle cause I am not liking the ring of hair that happens from filling up the sink. Thanks for the tips on the soaps and creams I think I might order a unscented cream just to see how it compares to using soap and might as well get some witch hazel since the shipping will be the same. I'm gonna order a sampler of all the "traditional" scents (sandlewood, bay rum, etc) to see if I like any and go from there. Still gotta try that face lathering method too.
welcome from another newbie. Don't sweat the details, just learn, the journey is what it is all about! and just have fun with it. It is very meditative.
I agree that the best shave is after a couple of days of growth. My best shave tends to be Monday morning after I've let my skin rest for the weekend. Today is Monday. BBS with Gillette ball end tech, derby, and TOBS rose. Followed by Coral Skin Food, the week started out well!
2 1/2 week update Haven't tried the candle warmer yet been experimenting to much w/ other stuff. Well its been a little over 2 weeks and my shaves have gotten better and better. Along w/ williams and VDH I added C.O. Bigelow cream to the mix (I thought I was having an allergic reaction but it was just the mynthol lol) and most importantly tabac cream and soap. I now know what it means to have real lather! At first I didn't much care for the smell of tabac, it wasn't overpowering like some say but it wasn't inviting either, luckily it pretty much dissapeared onced rinsed (and irradicated by the pungent witch hazel). Now that the smell has lightened after use it has kinda grown on me, still not what I would seek out but at least I like it now. I tried uber lather w/ all the different combos (tabac/tabac bigelow/tabac VDH/tabac etc) I like the tabac w/ bigelow combo cushion and cooling nice. I also tried shaving in the shower, I know I know thats a big NO-NO :rolleyes005 but it's how I always shaved before and wanted to see if it would work wetshaving. I faced lathered (for some reason the VDH works best face lathering (thanks omegapd)but only in the shower :signs002 ) and did my wtg and atg pass. I found the xtg pass only irritated me and made it uncomftorable to do a atg pass so I nixed it out of the routine. The shower shave went fine I got bbs results and in half the time (cleanup is way easier in the shower). There were downsides though I nicked myself more in the shower,as opposed to not at all in the sink. This may have been from the lather having adverse effects to the steamy environment but I would bet on the fact that I went to fast thinking I was back using a cartridge (wow it feels so long ago). Anyways my straight finally arrived so I have been practicing w/ that. The straight has a .......uh....much steeper learning curve (yeah lets go w/ that) I've shaved 3 times so far I need to post about them but its been kind of a "meh" week. One last question guys how do you dry your DE's? I know mantic says in his videos he just rinses them and hangs them up w/ the blade inside since he uses them daily they don't rust, but I don't feel satisfied doing that for some reason. Right now I open it up take out the blade rinse both the inside and outside wipe gently with a towel (I know thier sturdy but I feel like I'm going to break a door when I dry them) and then put on my dresser doors open w/ a fan to let it dry. Just wondering if rinsing and a alcohol dip would work? or how about keeping it submerged in alcohol? would that have any negative affects over time always having them that way? I considered getting a barbicide canister and barbicide and keeping them that way, would that work? sorry my posts are always so long my mind wanders and starts asking questions and remembering inane details that no one cares about. As always thanks for the great advice and kind words
