Diary (& questions) of a relative newbie

[Ligeti]

Hi
As I mentioned in a previous post, after years of Gilette - 5 blades and canned foam, (and having taken on some wise advise form you guys), I recently ordered:
- Merkur 38C
- Mühle Silvertip fibre M (so synthetic, no badger)
- Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood shaving cream
- Shark blades which are described as very mild and 1 point out of 5 on sharpness
- Mülhle blades which are described as mild and 3 points out of 5 on sharpness
- Astra SP blades which are described as 'sharp-comfortable' with 4 points out of 5 on sharpness.
- some simple thing to hang the brush
- nothing to rest the razor: land it on it's mall side

I plan to keep some kind of diary here with my first experiences and questions.

 

[Ligeti]

So this morning, I had my first shave with these new products.
I used the Mülhe blade that came with the razor. (Suppose it's the same as the pack of Müle blades that was said to be somewhat in the middle of the sharpness-mildness range).

I first cleaned the brush with warm water and soap (following the instructions)
Shaking out the water, I got to my first question: how to get the cream on the brush? I just swirled it on the surface of the cream like 20 rounds and saw some amount of cream on the tips. Good? Not good?

I tried lathering on my hand (saw a tutorial on that) and indeed produced a nice lather.

But then, trying to apply it to my face, only a thin layer stayed on, most (like half of it) stayed in my brush. Did I push the brush too hard, not hard enough, or did I make another mistake? Or is this plain normal?
This did leave enough for a second lathering of the most resistent spots.

Endresult: more or less exactly as smooth as with the 5-blades thingy I'm used to. Not as smooth as in the days of my super electric razor (which I use for far too long when shaving). No blood, no irritation.
Nice feeling when shaving (far smoother feeling than with the 5-blades razor). Great smell. Great feeling of going through the process.

 

[Ligeti]

Almost lunch now and there's still a (or only?) a little left of the smell.

 

[Ligeti]

Second shave, first blood (Just went a bit to far on my cheek and made a small cut in my ear )
Got yet another question: do you unscrew the razor every day to clean the blade or just rinse the head under running water?

 

[MilkCrate]

Welcome to the journals!

Your brush may be a bit of a lather hog while it’s breaking in. If you need to, go back to the soap/cream when you need more.

One razors, that’s kinda a personal choice. Some take them apart, clean them and dunk in alcohol or Barbicide. I just leave mine together and it gets a water rinse.

 

[Ligeti]

Good to know about the breaking in of a brush.
3rd shave.
This time I paid special and conscious attention to the angle. And yes: the best shaving result yet.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Welcome to the journals.

As to how much cream, I tend to use about 1ml, or slightly less. If that's not instantly familiar, imagine a 1cm or 3/8" cube of shaving cream. The added water and "effort" bulks it up to produce enough lather for a full shave. You may need to adjust this to suit your water chemistry and the nature of your brush, but at least you have a start point to work from.

Some brushes can be a little too scrubby until the bristles are fully coated with the cream. I tend to start it off in a bowl. Not to build great swathes of lather like some folks do, but just enough to get the bristles pre-coated before I take the brush to the face. Alternatively you can palm lather, using the palm of your free hand as a bowl to get things started.

When the brush itself is coated, you can then paint or swirl the brush according to your own preference, knowing the brush action on your face is lubricated, and you're not going to scrub your face sore (brush burn).

 

[MilkCrate]

I just noticed your brush was synthetic. Please disregard what I said about the brush breaking in. That only applies to natural hair brushes.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I don't know if I mentioned it in any of your other threads, but I did write a guide to DE saving for newcomers. It's quite a long thread now as comments have accumulated, but the guide is the first four posts only...

The Wanderer's Guide To DE Shaving

Part One I was self taught with a DE razor 25 years ago, and had to figure out a lot of things the hard way. I learned a lot of things over the years, but wish there had been an experienced DE shaver who could have taught me the basics early on. This guide is offered so that you can get to...

www.badgerandblade.com

There might be other pointers and ideas in there which are useful to you.

 

[Ligeti]

I don't know if I mentioned it in any of your other threads, but I did write a guide to DE saving for newcomers. It's quite a long thread now as comments have accumulated, but the guide is the first four posts only...

There might be other pointers and ideas in there which are useful to you.

Thx, very usefull!

 

[Ligeti]

4rd shave.
This time, on the 2nd pass, I tried to search for XTG. It improved the result on my chin, not on my cheeks.

 

[Ligeti]

5th shave
Quite the same as yesterday.
Started to wonder: how do I know it's about time to change the blade?

 

[AimlessWanderer]

5th shave
Quite the same as yesterday.
Started to wonder: how do I know it's about time to change the blade?

It will either feel like you're saving with a rusty hacksaw blade or broken bottle, or it will get very tuggy, and feel like it's trying to pluck the hair rather than cut it. If all is going well, just keep going.

The other thing that you can do, which I do occasionally, is examine the edge of the blade by rotating it under a bright light. Sharp edges don't reflect light, but dulled edges do. A worn edge will appear as a thin reflected line of light. Bright pinpoints of light occur if the edge has chipped, but can also be a speck of soap on the blade, so if you see one, wipe carefully and check again.

 

[Ligeti]

6th shave
I tried face lathering for the first time. Quite a different experience. I'll have to practice it for a few days to come to find the right amount of water to add. That went well on my hand, on my face I think I used too little. I did finally get a nice layer sticking to my face. But there was hardly any lather left in the brush for a second pass.
Not very pleased with the shave itself. Far from smooth on the chin, close to bleeding (red dots of irritation) on chin and neck. Would that be the result of the different lathering and lather or is my blade worn out? Not sure yet how I'm gonna find this out.

 

[Ligeti]

I just saw a huge mistake in my 2nd post here: since I'm using the blade that came with the razor, it's obviously not a Mühle but a Merkur

 

[Ligeti]

rating 2 out of 5 on sharpness and said to be 'mild and forgiving' on the site where I orderd my materials.

 

[Ligeti]

7th shave, 1st evening shave.
Not my cuppa, shaving for me is part of waking up, not of winding down

 

[Ligeti]

So today, I switched blades. Out with the Merkur, in goes the Shark. Which was described on the site where I bought as "very mild and 1 point out of 5 on sharpness".
I can understand the sharpness score. Yet not displeased with the shaving experience nor with the endresult.
One weird thing though: with the previous blade, there was only that typical rasping sound when shaving the cheek part closest to my ears. With this blade, I get that rasping sound during the entire shave.
I'll have to ask about that in a different thread I guess.
Oh, right, and again facelathering. And still too dry (lather had dried up on my upperlip before I got to that part)

 

[Ligeti]

2nd shaving with the shark, yet another attempt at facelathering. This time it worked perfectly fine and I liked it a lot. So I'll continue this procedure for a few more days before I test lathering in a bowl for some time.

 

[Ligeti]

4th shaving with the Shark, still facelathering. At this point I prefer it to lathering in my hand. So I guess I won't be going back soon. First discover lathering in a bowl. Think I'll be using a rice-bowl to start with.