How to get a comfortable shave

[TheBeast]

I got the Unscented with Beeswax shipped for a little over 20$, from Maggards. Not the best deal ever but the cheapest way for me to get it. The owner of my favorite shop for shaving supplies informed that this soap is not available for European market yet.

 

[Doc Dan]

I got the Unscented with Beeswax shipped for a little over 20$, from Maggards. Not the best deal ever but the cheapest way for me to get it. The owner of my favorite shop for shaving supplies informed that this soap is not available for European market yet.

Odd. It is available in Southeast Asia and other countries. Maybe because it is a tallow soap?

 

[TheBeast]

Well, my face certainly prefers me to finnish the shave as quickly as possible, but it is able to tolerate certain soaps for at least a few minutes.

I did a little experiment and lathered some Speick and Cella Aloe for the first time. I left the lather on my face to dry a little, simulating what happens on one side of my face while the other is carefully shaven. Not too comfortable, even without shaving, but not as bad as I expected.

So the next day I used Speick for a full shave since I really liked the lather from this cream. Its quite good for the price. And I tried shaving XTG on my neck for the second pass, since the WTG pass does leave a few hairs behind. Not a lot of alum feedback, it felt quite nice actually. So I was happy for a little bit, until the next day.

And 12 hours after the shave its back to business with bumps. So no more XTG passes for now. Maybe a second WTG to try and clean up the few remaining whiskers. These left behind are usually so flat to the skin they need to be lifted/pried away with a pair of tweezers. So its not really about the edge or my technique, because my chin and cheeks are left with a much closer and more consistant shave after the same pass. So I'll try to get a closer shave, but still as comfortable as I can with WTG and stretching a little more/in different dirrection, maybe adding a little bit of shaving angle.

As much as I would like to train with the SR every day, it does seem to make more problems than it solves. Yes it's better for my muscle memmory, to lock in that perfect balance of light touch and angle that still removes my tough hair but is comfortable. On the other side, if there is a little irritation or inflamation around some hairs that has not healed completely, shaving over it makes it much worse. So letting my skin rest for a day or two between the shaves is back on the menu.

Interesting note - stroping with a little heavier hand and making sure to get solid contact of leather to the edge, polishes the bevel faces a lot more. Also, I have been underestimating the importance of a rolling X stroke on the strop for blades with a smiling wedge. And these (even more) polished bevel faces after proper stropping pick up suprisingly noticable scratches after a shave. And the next stropping session is not enough to polish them up - only refreshing the edge on the finnishing stone/balsa strop.

Anyhow, my edges will get a bump in keenness this week as I expect a delivery of 0.25um and 0.1 um pastes. Hopefully these edges will go through my beard a little easier, allowing me to use a lighter touch and result in a less damaging shave.

Gosh, what a science this everyday task (shaving) is for someone who doesnt have a good skin...

 

[TheBeast]

Odd. It is available in Southeast Asia and other countries. Maybe because it is a tallow soap?

Might be because of the tallow, since Tabac and MWF for example stopped using it, because of the regulations. Maybe my guy just doesn't have the best supplier. Anyhow I got it for basically the same price as I would the other Stirlings from his shop, even if it will take a few weeks to ship to EU.

 

[ZeelandsRoem]

Maybe because it is a tallow soap?

Other Stirling tallow soaps are available in the EU, so that’s not the problem. Importing and distribution of Stirling soaps (and other brands) in EU is handled by Barbieri Uniti SRL.

 

[TheBeast]

I just had a shave with a new, freshly honed Gold monkey. Pretty good bevel set on 1k after some geometry modification. Finished on 0.1um diamond balsa.

The edge during the shave felt really sharp and keen to me. I liked how effortlesly it moved through my most dense area of growth around the chin. But in less dense areas it felt a little harsh, especially with my poor technique. Underneath my jawline was difficult to shave. The skin is convex down there so I struggle to find a good stroke for it.

Alum stang a little, but I didn't get much irritation, burn or redness. I got a more consistent and closer shave though.

Still not 100% according to my OCD, ways to go.

 

[Jakebullet]

Don’t worry about the alum burning. This isn’t an indication of poor shave. The alum burns the face off me after every shave and always has. You’re rubbing salt onto freshly shaved skin, it’s gonna sting a bit.

 

[TheBeast]

Don’t worry about the alum burning. This isn’t an indication of poor shave. The alum burns the face off me after every shave and always has. You’re rubbing salt onto freshly shaved skin, it’s gonna sting a bit.

Thanks for the tip, I stopped using alum altogether and my skin recovers much faster after a bit of irritation. To be honest I could always tell during the shaves that "ohh this isn't gonna be good". But it was just irritating me even more and drying my skin preventing it from healing effeciently which is a Made Up way of saying I feel better without using alum. I am simplifying both my honing aproach and my shaving to make it easier to really get the basics Down and not play catchup with All the fancy toys, they are obviously not helping and I have obviously Room to improve. And it's distracting me from what I think is more important but hard for me to admit that I still don't get it right consistently.

 

[Jakebullet]

I still use the alum every now and again, I like it but my daily postshave is just an alcohol splash same as I’ve used my whole life. I don’t like gels or balms, they make my face feel weird.

 

[Jakebullet]

Another couple of things that helped me early on were a) beard mapping, having a really good think about which direction I have to shave in.
I’d do three passes and mysteriously find I still had stubble somehow until I mastered this.
The next thing is the edge.
I personally find those 0.1 micron diamond pasted balsa edges to be a bit to sharp and unforgiving on my skin. I have to be too careful with them and some areas just need a little bit of pressure to get my beard close. Result is a little irritation. I use stone edges, Welsh slate, coticule, even an Arkansas feels a little sharp for me. The stone edges are more forgiving whilst still giving a great shave.
Lastly maybe try painting strokes with a badger brush rather than swirling when applying lather. It’s a lot more gentle

 

[TheBeast]

Another couple of things that helped me early on were a) beard mapping, having a really good think about which direction I have to shave in.
I’d do three passes and mysteriously find I still had stubble somehow until I mastered this.
The next thing is the edge.
I personally find those 0.1 micron diamond pasted balsa edges to be a bit to sharp and unforgiving on my skin. I have to be too careful with them and some areas just need a little bit of pressure to get my beard close. Result is a little irritation. I use stone edges, Welsh slate, coticule, even an Arkansas feels a little sharp for me. The stone edges are more forgiving whilst still giving a great shave.
Lastly maybe try painting strokes with a badger brush rather than swirling when applying lather. It’s a lot more gentle

Spot on. I didn't get around to naturals yet, paste was more budget friendly to start with to me and I had a great 'mentor'. I want to try it all in time though so I'll see with nats at some point.

 

[rhgg2]

As I have hollow parts of skin underneath the jawline, I tend to make any grimace that will straighten those parts, with addition of stretching the skin. This results in presenting a fairly flat section of the skin for the edge. That skin is also taut, so the edge should slide along smoothly. And it does when done correctly.

BUT, this does make it cut a little too close in order to avoid bumps/ingrowns

If you have hollows under the jaw I am guessing your jawline is a bit like mine, quite angular without too much cushioning and already fairly taut. IME stretching under the jaw is too much, just lifting my head is sufficient, and any explicit stretching will cause irritation.

I deal with the hollows by a three pronged approach. Firstly, they are largely controlled by the position of my tongue in the mouth. Push the tip of my tongue against the hard palate and raise the rear section, the hollows are more pronounced. Lower the tongue to the bottom of the mouth, they become flatter.

Second, what hollow remains after positioning my tongue optimally I kind of stroke into using the toe only (rest of blade lifted from skin). Another approach is to use the opposing hand and come laterally into the hollows with a stroke down over the jawline and in towards the centre line of the throat.

Finally, if all else fails there is stretching the hollow up over the jawline onto the cheek. I don't like to do this as it is also a bit prone to irritation but if I do the absolute minimum stretching to get the hollow over the jawline it works okay.

 

[TheBeast]

Update

So for the past two shaves I have been using a Gold Monkey finnished on 0.1um balsa. Now I have to say that my honing results are all over the place. I got some new gear, to help me keep everything consistent, flat and true. The only variable will be my stroke on the hone. But I am practicing it and it does keep getting better. I washed my leather strop thoroughly, oiled it, rolled it to get it back on track. I will also chamfer the edges with sandpaper, clean, oil and roll one/two more times. I'm expecting a vintage fire hose strop as well. So in a few weeks when everything will be ready to go its just going to be a matter of me trying to get the maximum out of every stage. Sure it might take years. Not in a rush honestly, not anymore.

So I had two shaves in two days after a week's break. My skin was very upset and kept getting worse after every shave. The first shave after the break was really solid. The second one the following day was not comfortable. So I'm going to be taking a few days between each shave. I have tried for a long time to shave everyday, I just can't for now. I'm just hurting my face more and more after each shave. So for me, it's best to shave, let it rest a couple days, repeat and hope that I am improving. I might dedicate a month for shavette+KAI blade only, since it does shave fantastically close and comfortable. To see if it's my edges that are holding me back. I do notice more poping than slicing during shaving, so there is plenty of toom for improvement.


So even though I got that breaktrough shave one time, I can't keep them consistent on that level. I keep struggling with burn and bumps, and it stays on my skin for a few days. So anyway the plan for the next few weeks will be to compare a shavette to my edge, probably split the face in half. And keep using the shavette if it yields a better shave. But keep honing in the meantime.

 

[Kats1]

A question. You mention that you try to keep the blade angle as shallow as possible. Could it be that you're pulling the facial hair slightly above the skin rather than cutting at the skin at the normal(ish) 30 degree angle?

 

[TheBeast]

A question. You mention that you try to keep the blade angle as shallow as possible. Could it be that you're pulling the facial hair slightly above the skin rather than cutting at the skin at the normal(ish) 30 degree angle?

Could be that I stretch too much, especially in hollows under the jaw. As for the angle, I don't know if playing on degrees is a way to go. It depends on the razor in hand. I try to use an angle that is as low as possible, while still cuting smoothly and effortlessly. With more angle I don't like the feeling of the blade and I am more prone to get irritation. I'm finding the "sweet spot" of each razor while shaving and trying my best to keep it with Every stroke. And only stretching could result in cutting underneath the skin. If the hair is pulled out with stretching, cut, and then it retracts below the skin level after releasing the stretch, the angle at which it is cut would only affect how the tip of the hair shaped. But without stretching, the edge doesn't slide along as smoothly as with stretching. Maybe I could try to find a sweet spot there as well.

 

[TheBeast]

So I did some light reading after finding a very nice rescource [Pseudofolliculitis barbae; current treatment options - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6585396/]. I was considering a 12 week break from shaving, to ensure all the leftover inflamation heals, allowing my skin to be less likely to form ingrown hairs with the use of proper shaving. Then I remembered I have a Philips OneBlade, that I used as a teen with no problems. As my skin was in good condition I went ahead and test shaved with it. No bumps or redness in sight. I tried to ride it extremely lightly and barely make contact with the skin. In some places it got very close, but still, no bumps.

Now this could be because:
-I didnt get any irritation from the electric shaver, because it's sort of designed to cut hair and not skin, and so there wasnt any swelling, which resulted in the hair not falling below skin level
-The electric shaver did not cut the hair like a sharp blade would. A blade would leave a pointy, sharp tip. The trimmer might have tore the tip of the hairs leaving them blunt and so they didnt get a chance to pierce the hair shaft on their way out, or the skin while curling
-I might be hyper sensitive to "mechanical" irritants - brush, sharp blade - since my skin is damaged from the acne breakouts and exfoliating treatments for it. I tried to counter this by not using hot water in the shower, only painting the lather on my skin after palm lathering, using the softest synthetic brushes (AP cashmere/razorock plissoft) and working on every detail of my technique. Seems like that might have not been enough and either I will need to work on it even more, or give up wet shaving...

 

[TheBeast]

ALL RIGHT

Right now I am using Stirling unscented with Beeswax, nice soap. During my last shave, something clicked. In the middle of it I switched my focus from my face to my hand. I stoped thinking "let's glide this razor gently over the skin and watch the hair be removed". Instead, I started thinking "let's lock the forearm, move from the shoulder but keep some give in the fingertips and just lightly wipe my face". Voila, the hair was being removed with the lather, I could not feel the edge. Now, not every stroke was perfect, I had to keep my focus. It's tiny differences, it's all extremely subtle. But for me, the results are miles away. Yes, there are two or three very stubborn hair on my neck that have not grown out yet. Point is, while I did get some light irriation, it could only be seen for about an hour. And like the majority of the whiskers are growing out, not in.

It should be pointed out that I am using an experimental Gold Dollar, finnished on 0.25 um diamond pasted balsa. So you know... not much you can squeeze from cheap chinese steel and an agressive way to finnish. Now that I have made progress, tied what I do to the result that I am looking for, I will hone up a few vintages that I have. I still consider them test razors, nothing fancy about them, one german, one english, one swede, two USSRs and two frenchies.

BUT, since I can see the light at the end of the tunell, with both my shaving and honing improving: I am getting a custom 8/8 near wedge. This razor will be honed by its maker, finished on a "burnished" black ark. And I'm getting a fairly hard black Ark that was marked as a great stone by the person whom I trust. An edge that cuts hair but wont cut skin seems like a dream come true. Hope I can get to that point in the next few weeks/months.

 

[TheBeast]

My shaves continue to be a bit of a mixed bag. Altough my edges are improving with Every honing session.

Last night I honed a vintage USSR razor. It's really weird. I measured a 14-15° angle. So I put it on the Shapton 1.5k and checked to see how it behaves. I didn't get an even hit on the spine or on the edge until after a few minutes. Once I hit the entire spine and edge, the bevel faces Near the edge were All over the place as well as the wear on the spine. But the bevel was on it's way to be formed. So I taped the spine and went to work to remove a chip and hopefully bring the angle to around 16-17°. I got a pretty decent bevel - passed my arm shave and treetopping test. After shapton 5k it didn't want to treetop or cut HHT, neither after 8k. So I took it to my 8k superstone for a better polish to see if I missed some deep scratches - not really. But the treetoping improved. After 12k SS treetoping improved even more, HHT was the worst I ever got, but the shave was actually really nice. I am going check under more magnification and return to 5k if I'm not Happy.

As for soaps, fragrance does not bother me at all and I dont seem to be reacting to anything other than being rough to my skin. I tried face lathering again and it does not make me Happy, no matter what anyone thinks. As for the boar brush having hooks on the tips, which dig out ingrown hairs, I don't know. Its too stiff and scratchy for me. Even with hyper soft synthetics I can't really scrub my skin without irritating it.

So as long as I have a 5-10 minutes warm shower and keep the bathroom a little steamy I'm good. Some soaps hold their water a little longer in my experience so I'll Stick to using them. My shaves are getting quicker so that Also helps.

I'm learning to use both hands. Sometimes I get a better result with the right, sometimes with the left. But generally, I am getting less irritation, burn and redness Every day. I shave before bed and judge my shaves by the condition of my skin the next morning/noon. Its getting visibly better. If I have any marks of burn/ingrowns, they clear Up within 24-48 hours. I Can now even shave Every day without making it worse - if I don't mess Up the shave.

It's surprisingly tough to stay consistent. I've found the perfect stroke for most parts around my face - to get a close a shave, no nicks, no burn, no ingrowns. Still a few places remain where I have regular issues. Its amazing what difference it makes when I nail the technique in one place and when I increase angle/Pressure in another. Its all so subtle and often only Seen in the result.

But I enjoy the Challenge, I enjoy cleaning Up and honing vintage razors and learning how to use them. I'll keep working on this daily and see how far I get.

 

[HeavyD]

Hi there,

I hope you’re still progressing on your journey. I’ve noticed it isn’t as active here as it used to be. I think we missed the rush on B&B.

I experimented with all kinds of razors (wedges to singing), soaps, creams, hones, after shave treatments, etc. I finally realized fancy equipment doesn’t compensate for my lack of talent. I have two hard learned lessons I explain a bit more in my post. 1. Low angle is key as you discovered. 2. next to no pressure. whiskers remaining means improper stretch. Try a different stretch direction or method.

I’m in a similar situation as you. I used to hate shaving, now the whole process is enjoyable. Reviving old razors, honing, stropping, whipping up the shave cream, and shaving itself.

Best of luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[TheBeast]

Hi there,

I hope you’re still progressing on your journey. I’ve noticed it isn’t as active here as it used to be. I think we missed the rush on B&B.

I experimented with all kinds of razors (wedges to singing), soaps, creams, hones, after shave treatments, etc. I finally realized fancy equipment doesn’t compensate for my lack of talent. I have two hard learned lessons I explain a bit more in my post. 1. Low angle is key as you discovered. 2. next to no pressure. whiskers remaining means improper stretch. Try a different stretch direction or method.

I’m in a similar situation as you. I used to hate shaving, now the whole process is enjoyable. Reviving old razors, honing, stropping, whipping up the shave cream, and shaving itself.

Best of luck and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sounds like we should team up!

Yeah I was having a little layoff. I am awaiting a delivery of a VERY fancy custom razor and I want to test shave it with a healed up face. And healing up it does not want to do... Change of weather also irritates me, so I changed my skincare a little. But still the same. If I do go for a shave it is amazing. But my hairs still tend to grow into it a day after so I end up with red patches. I suspect this happens in areas where I wasn't exactly hitting WTG, or in hollows where I overstretch and do more strokes to get everything.

But generally yes, the lower the angle, the lighter the pressure, the better the shave, given that the edge is decent. I do work on stretching right now to look for improvement.