What did we learn from our last shaves?

I had it in my junk drawer for a long time.

 

I just started wearing it last month. I really love it, smells great and has good skincare.

 

I tried Brut today on a non shave whim...a little sweeter than I remember...not sure about it. But it's an old school label, so I feel I must keep it on hand. Maybe I will just look at the pretty green bottle as I splash on the Clubman...

 

I learned that I need to back off of my SE opinion a bit. I just used a Schick Adjustable(5) this morning. Pretty nice shave. Excellent ergos too.

 

I've only read it here kazillions of times, but it is amazing what a light touch on the razor will do for the disappearance of razor burn

 

I learned that I am still very, very capable of having a poor shave. Today's was pretty abysmal.

1) My new Vie-Long horse hair brush felt scratchy and very floppy. Didn't splay 'right' and overall felt like a very inferior knot.
I paid $3 for it so I really can't complain.

2) I love Stirling's soaps and have never had anything but great success in using his products...but this is the third time I'm using 'Road to Elba' and if you can hate a soap I just might hate Road to Elba. There is nothing with this soap that works for me - it doesn't smell very nice, it looks like green snot and the difficulty in getting a solid lather is very non-Stirling like. Ugh.

3) I also think my recent love affair with SE razors have influenced me more than I thought..using my Gillette NEW today felt 'wrong' and far from as efficient as the recent GEM SE razors I've been using. Go figure.

All in all, I rate this morning shave a 4 out of 10. At least I didn't bleed.

Setup:


Lather 'soap' or 'gravy' courtesy of Road to Elba and Vie-Long:


(And yes, I experimented with more water...less water..etc. Maybe it was the brush who knows. I've used Road to Elba 3-4 times now and even though the other times were not good they were not this bad. It was also the first time I think I bowl-lathered the soap.

Think I will switch out almost all for next shave.

 

I am a newbie to brush world. I use a 48, and have a badger and another boar. Is horse hair similar to boar? Is there a break in period for horse brushes?

 

I've always appreciated the honesty found in your posts. Sorry about the bad shave... Now you owe your self a really nice one!

 

I'm very far from a brush expert - but I'd say the horse seems to be right in-between a badger and boar when it comes to how they feel against the face.
My SOC boar softened up a lot after a few weeks of use but no idea if horse hair brushes will/can do the same.

 

"Honesty" is such a nice word to use to describe my 'reviews'

 

Thanks...my boar is a much better brush after weeks of use. The 48 had a break in period for sure. I may try a horse brush just for the heck of it. Good write up on on WDWLG today.

 

Omg that lather looks just wrong lol

I have had those types of shaves recently where everything seems to go wrong. I somehow sliced my upper lip due to a tremor in my hand, set the blade on my skin (a feather no less) and there my hand goes twitching to the side. SLICE.

 

And a nice precise clean slice to boot....were you cut badly?

 

Yeah it didn't want to stop bleeding, a cut about 3/4 inch long. It's closed up great though with nary a scar, gotta give the feather cred for that.

But holy snot the stypic made me almost punch the wall lol.

 

Ouch...that would be a great opening post for a new thread "Shaving Cringe moments"

 

Yeah they have show your nicks blood etc threads elsewhere but it makes me cringe looking at people's cuts lol.

Plus it was pretty gnarly. Like a scalpel cut. You could do surgery with a feather blade!

 

Worst shaving related 'cringe' story I read on some forum was about this guy who bought an old razor off ebay and went to town scrubbing the top of it...not seeing that there was an old blade in it...and basically deli-sliced his thumb against it as his thumb slid back and forth on the blade....ughh........... [not me though!]

 

Holy yikes......

I saw an aftermath pic of a first time DE user who couldn't not mishandle a blade. Sliced himself no less than 3 times on his fingertips. Blood everywhere. He was all like "this is stupid and dangerous I'm never trying it again"... Lol!

OK I'm making a thread.

 

I bought a lot of injectors and sliced my left index finger last month on an old blade. That story actually makes me a little nauseated...

 

Please no!! Lol