Shave stick shaving (pic heavy...)

Last week there were some questions about shave stick shaving. So I thought: why not show the way I use shave sticks? It may not be *the* way to lather, but anyways it is my way and perhaps this may answer some questions.

So here goes. My shave.

1. Prepping
   I dip the tip of the stick in the hot water and set it aside to spften a bit while I prep the face (hot washing cloth application)
   
   
   
2. rub the stick over my stubbles
   I go on until my face looks something like this (there's a thin layer of soap if you look closely ):
   
   
3. dip the tip of the brush and start lathering on my face
   This is what it looks like after a second dip and some lathering:
   
   
4. and after some more dipping the brush in the water and more lathering
   (this is good enough to me for a first pass):
   
   
5. the brush after first latherting:
   
   
6. After the first pass, rinse with warm water and relather:
   
   
7. The brush after the second lathering:
   
   
8. After second pass: rinse and relather:
   
   
9. The brush after the third lathering:
   
   
10. After the third pass I always rinse and squeeze what lather is left out of the brush:
    (usually enough for some touch-ups)
    

So that's it! My stick shave. Works for me!

And what's your routine?

 

Excellent, Sir!

 

A very nice pictorial! Should open some vistas for newbies. Thank you, sir!

 

That about sums it up. I do it about the same way, with little, if any, variation. I guess it is all "feelings" based if I do vary, if the lather is working out the way I want, etc, I may add (or not) more water depending.

 

Great job, Mike.

Needs to be a sticky / tutorial.

 

Thanks a lot for this post.

 

I've never used a stick, but have been thinking about getting one for travel. Don't make that many business trips, maybe 5 or 6 per year, but I can see that being handy. Great write-up and useful pics, thanks!

 

Great pics, Mike - the Arko stick is a perfect one to show somebody new to wetshaving how to lather up.

 

Great tutorial. It had lots of detail and was very clear and to the point. The only shave stick I have tried is the Palmolive one. After some coaching from Jeff, I was able to get a fantastic lather from it.

 

Thanks, my friend!

 

Nice! after I'm done I usually squeeze the lather out of the brush and rub it all over my hands for a little extra conditioning and smells great!

 

Thanks all!

Neat idea!

 

Since I saw this post. Ive only been using my sticks. Lather is so quick and easy almost feels like I'm cheating.

 

Nice job tutorializing. Even I can understand the process. Thanks.

 

It "opened" somewhat for me. I'd not heard of a shaving stick before, or maybe I'd forgotten it over the years, the end result is the same. I had not a clue about shaving sticks and/or how a person goes about using them. Now, I know one way at a minimum.

I'm really getting a "shaving education" these last two days since I discovered "The Shaving Den." I love it!

 

I finally ordered some Arko sticks 2 or 3 months ago, and use one over half the time. Lathering with it is so easy, it’s hard to mess it up. In addition to being easy to use, I get good shave results with it. Sometimes I dip the end into water, sometimes not, noticing little difference in the end result; but I always wash my face thoroughly so my beard is well hydrated. I’m still on my first stick, and will be for a while, so they’re very cost effective. So far I’m still peeling the paper back as I need to; once I get close to the end, I’ll see about packing the remainder into a mug, or perhaps an old deodorant push up container. Probably a mug.

 

I only have a shave stick for my travel bag but this is pretty much exactly how I do it also.

 

Is there such a thing as a normal size, dimension wise, for a shaving stick? I ask this because I see folks talking about using/reusing/repurposing/etc. old tubes of various origins to put their sticks in. That got me to wondering is that because the "reuse" of something is part of the experience? I've found a couple of sources for "new" push up/twist up tubes if it's not. You guys probably already know this, but I'm just looking for a way to "contribute" to this as opposed to just reading/taking.

 

Sort of but not really. The most common is the 50g sticks that are roughly the same dimensions, but I've seen sticks ranging from Purely Skinful's 32g shave stick (they also make a bigger 65g one) all the way up to the relatively massive 100g Tabac stick.


From left to right: Tabac (100g), Palmolive (50g), Speick (50g), Arko (75g) both in and outside a twist-up tube from Maggard's. I believe most new tubes are the same as this one, and I've never seen a tube new or old that was too small to fit a 50g stick in.
This is a new stick, twisted all the way down. There is some space on the sides. Arko is soft enough to push on directly, but some products you may need to poke/drill a hole first.



Hopefully somebody with an old Colgate stick holder or similar can chime in