I have started using the Stirling Witch Hazel tonic after each shave and I added alot of menthol directly to the W.H. So because of this I no longer add menthol to the alcohol splash itself. I also found that adding menthol to the alcohol splash interferes with the scent of the Stirling aftershave (Some kind of chemical reaction going on there) so I prefer to splash the Stirling Witch Hazel (that I have heavily mentholated with my own menthol crystals) and after that dries I rub some balm (if I had a rough shave or its cold weather; else I dont use balm) and then after that dries I finish up with the alcohol splash. This sequence results in the greatest fragrance strength and longest lasting. Most gents will do alcohol splash and then balm. But I tried both ways and discovered that the scent will be most potent if you splash the alcohol last at the very end. I am basically using the alcohol splash only for the fragrance since already the W.H. is doing the astringent and antiseptic duties. If I did not care about smells than I would just dispense with the alcohol aftershave splash altogether.
I wanted to get Island Man so bad last year but when I went to order it it was out of stock and out of season. When I first started I could not stand anything more then the tiniest amount of menthol, but here as of late I've really started to enjoy the face freeze. I'm not worried about being wasteful as I have enough soaps to last me for the next 20 years and really don't see myself not buying soaps. I like my lather less airy, ala the super goop lathering method. With this method you can pack in tons on water without adding air volume and making the lather foamy, and it works consistently with any type of brush. But hey, to each his own!
I just did a "pretend" lather kind of like "Air guitar" I mean I just went thru the motions of swirling the brush on a pretend puck. I went 10 swirls clockwise and 10 swirls counterclockwise. It took me 9 seconds to accomplish this. So I suspect alot of chaps are loading ALOT more soap than necessary since most blokes are loading for over 30 seconds and even up to 1 minute spent swirling on the puck Tommorow I will post the pictures and results of 15 swirls (although I suspect for me that the best number will be 20 swirls). 20 swirls will give a little more soap that the bare minimum and should be just fine for a 3 pass shave + cleanup But we shall see. I would really appreciate if a couple of you guys will also do a 15 swirl shave and report back as this will give us the best picture of results. You dont need to take photos just post how the shave went.
I don’t have the pre-shave yet, but did enjoy a Glacial Lemon Chill shave followed by the matching splash and balm. My face feels like it experienced a significant event.
Thanks! But most of the credit goes to the Maggard v3a razor. Tremendous efficiency....I used to require a 3 pass shave and now only need a 2 pass shave to get same end result and no weepers or irritation. Im very happy with it. Keep in mind with Maggard you can probably use the same handle as one of the razors you already own and you only have to purchase the v3a head for under 10 bucks I finally figured out the secret to DE shaving: Find the most aggressive/efficient razor and blade combo that your face will tolerate without irritation and you are golden. My neck is difficult I have hair that grows in 3 different directions and also 2 swirls to contend with down there
I’m now leaning towards the yogurts goopy lather too. But if it took as long as the guy in the video I’d throw in the towel.
I’ve watched and learned, and that knowledge has guided my progress. I’ve just found that my happy place arrives sooner/quicker than Nathan.............though still way north of ten swirls.
I gotta go with Andrew on this one. Making shiny super goop is my favorite part of the whole shaving experience. So even if I average two grams a day, that’s about $.15 a shave. I’m not losing any sleep. If I ever need to start counting, I’ll just shave with Arko. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
About every 20 swirls, I flick under the faucet dribble, and go back to the tub. I probably do 200 swirls. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
It took me 25 seconds of loading to get perfect, rich, super-slick lather from the Glacial Spearmint soap this morning - no more than that!
Completed the 15 swirl experiment and it was a success. I had enough lather for a 3 pass shave + cleanup. Here is the initial lather before pass 1 WTG And here is how it looked after pass 1 was complete and I had rinsed my face and applied for the start of pass 2 XTG And here is the lather after pass 2 after I rinsed my face and applied the lather for final pass 3 XTG the other way Keep in mind that I favor a thin and watery lather on purpose. But I can conclude that 20 swirls is sufficient for most chaps to achieve a comfortable 3 pass shave + clean-ups Hopefully I can get somebody else to give it a try and to be "a good sport". Anyone? Im not really understanding the apprehension amongst you to just do one shave with 15 swirls. What are you so afraid of?
