JCinPA
The Lather Maestro
Well, 8 months into this and I have had exactly 4 nicks and rarely get weepers, they are about as rare. I shave every day (since April 13th, when I started, I have taken exactly 3 days off shaving), get a DFS 90% of the time and a BBS whenever I want one. I had been lathering with brush and mug for over 15 years using my Gillette carts with a multi-pass shave, however, so I had an advantage. but I think an experience close to this is possible for most folks if they approach this in a methodical fashion and lock down their learning environment. So I'm going to give advice here, and of course this is not THE WAY, but it is a way, with a higher probability of success, I believe, than many other ways.
Getting off to a good start, if you follow my advice, involves locking down your environment to as few variables as possible. Unfortunately, because we are all such gregarious and helpful people around here, the environment here often encourages new shavers to start with 6 razors, a huge blade sampler and a half dozen lather products (or more). That is great after you have a couple months under your belt, but it is a recipe for disaster for a learning environment. Hence, my advice:
1. About the videos--keep watching them. As you learn your technique, different things will pop up to your attention over time. I watched them repeatedly for about 2 months. I was particularly interested in watching them handle the chin area, as I have a fairly round chin with a deep cleft. These are not 'once and done' tutorials, you will learn from them even after seeing them a half dozen times. Eventually you will stop, but in your first 45 days watch a lot of videos.
Mantic's channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/mantic59
Geo Fatboy's channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/geofatboy
2. Start with one razor. I'm not really particularly interested in which one, but make it ONE razor. When you jump from one razor to another, one lather product to another, one blade to another, you are changing important variables that have a tremendous effect on your shave. You are trying to learn a new, fine motor coordination skill (more on that later) and changing these factors is going to cause you problems. Take that to the bank. I recommend an Edwin Jagger DE89 in whatever handle strikes your fancy. Based on hundreds of posts here and Geofatboy's raves (the guy will shave with anything, his endorsement means something) you simply cannot go wrong with that razor. However if you want a Merkur or a Gillette Slim, that's fine, just get ONE for the first 45 days.
3. Here we get into what I call the 'shaving probabilities'. Many folks here swear by a boar brush. YOU may find you love a boar brush. There is nothing wrong with them at all, but try one after your first 45 days. Do you see a pattern here? I want to get you six weeks of shaving with a locked down set of product that appeals to the most folks. We don't know if you will love a boar brush, but a bristle brush will likely get you off to lathering success faster, and seems to appeal more to a majority of shavers here, so go with the crowd. I have nothing against boar brushes at all, but in the beginning go with what the largest majority likes, THEN start your razor, brush, lather product and blade collection and experiment AFTER your 45 days. Don't spend over $100 on a brush right out of the gate and don't go super cheap, either. I recommend an Edwin Jagger Best Badger for about $35 including plastic brush stand. Others will do, it's not a magic brush, by any means. It is just a good, solid performer in the lower end of the decent badger brush range, and kind of an 'everyman' choice.
4. Get a couple of lather products. You are going to be naturally curious about whether you are a 'cream guy' or a 'soap guy.' Note that some folks get burn from some scents, and while it is not a guarantee against it, if you stick with a popular choice, you are less likely to have issues. I suggest a RazoRock Artisan line soap (Mughetto di Bologna or Chianti Lavender) or Tabac for the soap, and I suggest any Taylor's of Old Bond Street (TOBS) cream (Avocado is highly thought of, but rose, Jermyn, and Mr. Taylor are also popular) or C.O. Bigelow or Proraso if you like menthol. Are these magical products? Not at all, but if you cannot lather these then you cannot wet shave (I'm serious), they are known easy-to-lather products that give good results to a wide swath of folks here. If you want to try others, go ahead, but for the first 45 days, stick with one soap and one cream. This is an important factor in your shave, lock it down in the beginning. Again, the principle is more important than the product choice.
5. Shave with your current razor for a week or two. No, this is not blasphemy, but I want you to try to lighten the pressure and not shave so quick, and you also get used to making lather. If you lighten up your stroke you should feel stubble after your first pass. Get used to not whacking everything off right away. Relather, and do another very light pass, relather again and do a third or some touching up where you feel it is necessary. The reason I suggest this is that you don't have to worry about blade angle or navigating your chin. A pivoting head razor you are used to using won't chew you up while you learn to lighten your hand while shaving. You should find you get just as close a shave but much less razor burn by using multiple light passes. After you have success with this (1-2 weeks) go to the DE. Having learned to lighten your touch, you can focus on one thing--blade angle. Stick with that DE razor for another month before switching razors.
6. Do not get Derby blades or a huge blade sampler for your first 45 days. Blades have a tremendous effect on your shaving comfort and I cannot for the life of me understand how Derby got to be so frequently recommended for beginners. Remember what I said about probabilities? YOU may end up loving Derby blades later on, but that blade has probably the most love/hate relationship on this forum, judging from the favorite/worst blade threads. It's like an upside-down normal distribution with all the love/hate in the tails and nobody in the middle. Try Derby after your first 45 days. And don't get a dozen blade sampler. When you buy your razor, brush and cream, buy a couple of blades that show up on the favorite list threads and not so much on the worst blade lists. Get ten Personnas (any kind, reds, med prep, barber, it makes not difference, they are all 'everyman' blades) and get 10 Astra SPs. That's it. One of those two blades should give you good enough results without problems to get you through the first 45 days. The odds of both of them giving you issues are vanishingly small. After 45 days you can start your noble quest to try every blade on the planet, but start with a middle of the roader. I have no doubt you will find one you like better later in your shaving career, but you likely won't have lots of trouble with either of those and they make good learner blades.
7. A morning shower is generally considered the best, fool-proof prep. If you are an evening shower person, I urge you to change your habit, it is worth it, at least in the first 45 days. If you will not do that, then use what we call around here Kyle's prep. But do not use scalding hot water! I believe that can cause irritation and discomfort and may discourage you in your first 45 days. Experiment with using a hot pot in the bathroom or microwaving your wet towels or using ice cubes in your prep water AFTER your 45 days, there are proponents of both here, but for your first 45 days ....
8. ... stick with comfortable-warm water for your shave prep. If you read enough about the hot water advocates and the ice water advocates, you may not come to a conclusion about which is better--but I came to the conclusion it really doesn't matter. Temperature will likely have no effect on the closeness of your shave, but hydration will. That's why showering is the best shave prep. But other than comfort factor, hot/cold is not likely to effect your shave quality one way or the other. Scalding your face first will. It is not necessary. Use comfortable warm/hot water, even tepid water. Trust me, it won't matter.
That's it! Go slow and keep watching your videos. Now for my last advice. After your 45 days, do whatever floats your boat! Collect razors, build a lather cabinet that looks like an armoire, start a year-long quest to shave with every razor blade in current production and as many NOS vintage blades as you can lay your hands on. But not in the first 45 days. Why do I say that so much?
You are learning a new skill that involves fine motor coordination. This is learned by repetition. I have been a martial artist for 12 years and an instructor for about 8. The way people learn new physical skills is by repetition. You cannot buy martial arts videos, watch them repeatedly, practice a few times, then go win a karate tournament. It just doesn't happen (my apologies to anyone in the martial arts video business). You need to do it over and over again. The same way. It's boring. You will feel you are not making progress. You'll be getting spotty shaves with rough patches in the beginning. But one day you will have that AHA! moment, and you'll come post about it here. It happens all the time. you'll get a DFS or even a BBS shave, with no irritation and you'll be amazed.
Much of the above is definitely YMMV territory, you could use other products and get good results, this is not about the products, it is about your approach in the beginning stages of your learning process. If you start flipping around between razors, lather products and blades right out of the chute, I can almost guarantee at least some heartache. This process is going to give you your highest probability of success. Pick other products, but lock your environment down.
Now I will share two items that I do not think are YMMV, but are more or less absolute.
First, when lathering, if you are having problems, it is 98% probably you are using too little product, too much water, or being too impatient, or some combination of those three. People here talk about minute, tiny differences in hyperbolic terms, and while the old heads get that, new shavers may not. Forget anything you read about 'thirsty' soaps or creams. Use more product than you think you need, start drier than you think you should start, and add water very slowly (keep a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon in your bathroom) and discipline yourself to beat that lather for two minutes. Do this and you simply CANNOT fail. You have to creep up on a good lather at some point. But if you start with '3 swirls around the puck' and adding a 'ton of water' because you have a 'thirsty' product will kill your lather every time. Here are a couple of good tutorials on it.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/21136
and one from yours truly ...
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...lather-with-six-teaspoons-of-water?highlight=
And the last advice that I do not think is YMMV? Do not use a Feather blade in your first 45 days. This is not a YMMV thing, it has to do with the point about learning a new fine motor coordination skill. There are some who say that using an unforgiving blade will help you learn faster, and "nothing teaches respect like a Feather!" I'm sorry folks, this is just WRONG and that's a fact. Pain can induce someone to work harder perhaps, but it will not cause an increase in the speed at which you learn fine motor coordination skills. If that was true I could turn you all into black belts in about 3 months. I could get you to learn the 30 techniques and dozen or so forms you need to know to pass your black belt test in no time flat if I just kicked you in the head every time you did it wrong.
Get it? If you do a reverse spinning back kick wrong the first time, I just kick you in the head and say, "How did that feel? Didn't like it? Great, now do that kick right!" you are not going to find yourself learning any faster. My apologies to those who advocate a Feather in a DE89 for beginners as a great teaching combination, but you are just flat out wrong, on this there is no YMMV. It has NOTHING to do with the Feather blade, which a shaver may end up loving (and I recommend trying a couple AFTER your first 45 days). It has everything to do with the way human beings learn fine motor skills. I am not saying that occasionally a natural may pick up a razor and a Feather and get good results first time out, but it's not the way to bet. It has everything to do with the learning process itself. Repetition is going to help the new shaver get this skill right, not gouging a chunk our of his chin.
I hope this is helpful to some new shavers. Have fun!
Getting off to a good start, if you follow my advice, involves locking down your environment to as few variables as possible. Unfortunately, because we are all such gregarious and helpful people around here, the environment here often encourages new shavers to start with 6 razors, a huge blade sampler and a half dozen lather products (or more). That is great after you have a couple months under your belt, but it is a recipe for disaster for a learning environment. Hence, my advice:
1. About the videos--keep watching them. As you learn your technique, different things will pop up to your attention over time. I watched them repeatedly for about 2 months. I was particularly interested in watching them handle the chin area, as I have a fairly round chin with a deep cleft. These are not 'once and done' tutorials, you will learn from them even after seeing them a half dozen times. Eventually you will stop, but in your first 45 days watch a lot of videos.
Mantic's channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/mantic59
Geo Fatboy's channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/geofatboy
2. Start with one razor. I'm not really particularly interested in which one, but make it ONE razor. When you jump from one razor to another, one lather product to another, one blade to another, you are changing important variables that have a tremendous effect on your shave. You are trying to learn a new, fine motor coordination skill (more on that later) and changing these factors is going to cause you problems. Take that to the bank. I recommend an Edwin Jagger DE89 in whatever handle strikes your fancy. Based on hundreds of posts here and Geofatboy's raves (the guy will shave with anything, his endorsement means something) you simply cannot go wrong with that razor. However if you want a Merkur or a Gillette Slim, that's fine, just get ONE for the first 45 days.
3. Here we get into what I call the 'shaving probabilities'. Many folks here swear by a boar brush. YOU may find you love a boar brush. There is nothing wrong with them at all, but try one after your first 45 days. Do you see a pattern here? I want to get you six weeks of shaving with a locked down set of product that appeals to the most folks. We don't know if you will love a boar brush, but a bristle brush will likely get you off to lathering success faster, and seems to appeal more to a majority of shavers here, so go with the crowd. I have nothing against boar brushes at all, but in the beginning go with what the largest majority likes, THEN start your razor, brush, lather product and blade collection and experiment AFTER your 45 days. Don't spend over $100 on a brush right out of the gate and don't go super cheap, either. I recommend an Edwin Jagger Best Badger for about $35 including plastic brush stand. Others will do, it's not a magic brush, by any means. It is just a good, solid performer in the lower end of the decent badger brush range, and kind of an 'everyman' choice.
4. Get a couple of lather products. You are going to be naturally curious about whether you are a 'cream guy' or a 'soap guy.' Note that some folks get burn from some scents, and while it is not a guarantee against it, if you stick with a popular choice, you are less likely to have issues. I suggest a RazoRock Artisan line soap (Mughetto di Bologna or Chianti Lavender) or Tabac for the soap, and I suggest any Taylor's of Old Bond Street (TOBS) cream (Avocado is highly thought of, but rose, Jermyn, and Mr. Taylor are also popular) or C.O. Bigelow or Proraso if you like menthol. Are these magical products? Not at all, but if you cannot lather these then you cannot wet shave (I'm serious), they are known easy-to-lather products that give good results to a wide swath of folks here. If you want to try others, go ahead, but for the first 45 days, stick with one soap and one cream. This is an important factor in your shave, lock it down in the beginning. Again, the principle is more important than the product choice.
5. Shave with your current razor for a week or two. No, this is not blasphemy, but I want you to try to lighten the pressure and not shave so quick, and you also get used to making lather. If you lighten up your stroke you should feel stubble after your first pass. Get used to not whacking everything off right away. Relather, and do another very light pass, relather again and do a third or some touching up where you feel it is necessary. The reason I suggest this is that you don't have to worry about blade angle or navigating your chin. A pivoting head razor you are used to using won't chew you up while you learn to lighten your hand while shaving. You should find you get just as close a shave but much less razor burn by using multiple light passes. After you have success with this (1-2 weeks) go to the DE. Having learned to lighten your touch, you can focus on one thing--blade angle. Stick with that DE razor for another month before switching razors.
6. Do not get Derby blades or a huge blade sampler for your first 45 days. Blades have a tremendous effect on your shaving comfort and I cannot for the life of me understand how Derby got to be so frequently recommended for beginners. Remember what I said about probabilities? YOU may end up loving Derby blades later on, but that blade has probably the most love/hate relationship on this forum, judging from the favorite/worst blade threads. It's like an upside-down normal distribution with all the love/hate in the tails and nobody in the middle. Try Derby after your first 45 days. And don't get a dozen blade sampler. When you buy your razor, brush and cream, buy a couple of blades that show up on the favorite list threads and not so much on the worst blade lists. Get ten Personnas (any kind, reds, med prep, barber, it makes not difference, they are all 'everyman' blades) and get 10 Astra SPs. That's it. One of those two blades should give you good enough results without problems to get you through the first 45 days. The odds of both of them giving you issues are vanishingly small. After 45 days you can start your noble quest to try every blade on the planet, but start with a middle of the roader. I have no doubt you will find one you like better later in your shaving career, but you likely won't have lots of trouble with either of those and they make good learner blades.
7. A morning shower is generally considered the best, fool-proof prep. If you are an evening shower person, I urge you to change your habit, it is worth it, at least in the first 45 days. If you will not do that, then use what we call around here Kyle's prep. But do not use scalding hot water! I believe that can cause irritation and discomfort and may discourage you in your first 45 days. Experiment with using a hot pot in the bathroom or microwaving your wet towels or using ice cubes in your prep water AFTER your 45 days, there are proponents of both here, but for your first 45 days ....
8. ... stick with comfortable-warm water for your shave prep. If you read enough about the hot water advocates and the ice water advocates, you may not come to a conclusion about which is better--but I came to the conclusion it really doesn't matter. Temperature will likely have no effect on the closeness of your shave, but hydration will. That's why showering is the best shave prep. But other than comfort factor, hot/cold is not likely to effect your shave quality one way or the other. Scalding your face first will. It is not necessary. Use comfortable warm/hot water, even tepid water. Trust me, it won't matter.
That's it! Go slow and keep watching your videos. Now for my last advice. After your 45 days, do whatever floats your boat! Collect razors, build a lather cabinet that looks like an armoire, start a year-long quest to shave with every razor blade in current production and as many NOS vintage blades as you can lay your hands on. But not in the first 45 days. Why do I say that so much?
You are learning a new skill that involves fine motor coordination. This is learned by repetition. I have been a martial artist for 12 years and an instructor for about 8. The way people learn new physical skills is by repetition. You cannot buy martial arts videos, watch them repeatedly, practice a few times, then go win a karate tournament. It just doesn't happen (my apologies to anyone in the martial arts video business). You need to do it over and over again. The same way. It's boring. You will feel you are not making progress. You'll be getting spotty shaves with rough patches in the beginning. But one day you will have that AHA! moment, and you'll come post about it here. It happens all the time. you'll get a DFS or even a BBS shave, with no irritation and you'll be amazed.
Much of the above is definitely YMMV territory, you could use other products and get good results, this is not about the products, it is about your approach in the beginning stages of your learning process. If you start flipping around between razors, lather products and blades right out of the chute, I can almost guarantee at least some heartache. This process is going to give you your highest probability of success. Pick other products, but lock your environment down.
Now I will share two items that I do not think are YMMV, but are more or less absolute.
First, when lathering, if you are having problems, it is 98% probably you are using too little product, too much water, or being too impatient, or some combination of those three. People here talk about minute, tiny differences in hyperbolic terms, and while the old heads get that, new shavers may not. Forget anything you read about 'thirsty' soaps or creams. Use more product than you think you need, start drier than you think you should start, and add water very slowly (keep a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon in your bathroom) and discipline yourself to beat that lather for two minutes. Do this and you simply CANNOT fail. You have to creep up on a good lather at some point. But if you start with '3 swirls around the puck' and adding a 'ton of water' because you have a 'thirsty' product will kill your lather every time. Here are a couple of good tutorials on it.
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/21136
and one from yours truly ...
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...lather-with-six-teaspoons-of-water?highlight=
And the last advice that I do not think is YMMV? Do not use a Feather blade in your first 45 days. This is not a YMMV thing, it has to do with the point about learning a new fine motor coordination skill. There are some who say that using an unforgiving blade will help you learn faster, and "nothing teaches respect like a Feather!" I'm sorry folks, this is just WRONG and that's a fact. Pain can induce someone to work harder perhaps, but it will not cause an increase in the speed at which you learn fine motor coordination skills. If that was true I could turn you all into black belts in about 3 months. I could get you to learn the 30 techniques and dozen or so forms you need to know to pass your black belt test in no time flat if I just kicked you in the head every time you did it wrong.
Get it? If you do a reverse spinning back kick wrong the first time, I just kick you in the head and say, "How did that feel? Didn't like it? Great, now do that kick right!" you are not going to find yourself learning any faster. My apologies to those who advocate a Feather in a DE89 for beginners as a great teaching combination, but you are just flat out wrong, on this there is no YMMV. It has NOTHING to do with the Feather blade, which a shaver may end up loving (and I recommend trying a couple AFTER your first 45 days). It has everything to do with the way human beings learn fine motor skills. I am not saying that occasionally a natural may pick up a razor and a Feather and get good results first time out, but it's not the way to bet. It has everything to do with the learning process itself. Repetition is going to help the new shaver get this skill right, not gouging a chunk our of his chin.
I hope this is helpful to some new shavers. Have fun!
