That is normal for a new boar brush and it will be a different feel after ~ 30 uses. It takes a little time for the tips to split so be patient.
The Omega Faux Jade is the No.011842 brush with a 27mm knot.
Thinking this beautiful hobby is prob. Not for me
- Thread starter Maximo77w
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The Omega Faux Jade is the No.011842 brush with a 27mm knot.
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- #182
I am in the UK but could not find one in the USA. Connaught say it is a new replacement for the 011829 so may have not got wide distribution in the USA yet. For knot size of 27mm Maggard have the 21762 but that has more loft. There is also the 80080 of similar knot size and loft.
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Dude, don’t give up! There is no shame in having a Schick plastic on the sink/in the shower to help you speed things and baby step along the way! The other day I started shaking in the shower as I was ready to make my first pass on throat with a Muhle R41 2011! I paused and was like, nah, abort, todays just not my day. Picked up the plastic, hit my throat, detailed my face on my second pass wth the R41 and was happy with the earlier decision.
I only shave once a week so I’m no expert here. I’m super fair (N. Italian/Austrian) BUT I do know a sharp blade. I did the “party pack” blade try out and I continue going back to the SAME blade...Voskhod imo is THE blade of blades. Have you tried different blades/party pack? I know everyone will have a fav and I’m never opposed to trying something new or different, but this blade is amazing on sensitive skin/trouble skin.
I saw your setup, jeez, that handle is TINY. I can only use a 4 inch handle (100mm). Not sure if the handle length has anything to do with technique but shoot, in my hands your setup would impede my comfort of the hold on angle.
I enjoy the feel of the blade on my skin, the images above that Zed117 posted is how I shave (aggressively). I’m NOT a speed shaver and shave in the shower, never used anything except Cremo Shave Cream and some pre-shave oil from Acqua Di Parma Collezione Barbiere. I don’t know anything about shaving soaps or brushes but hope to learn some things here at B&B. The Cremo is slickery and always easy to get at Target/WalMart.
Lastly, I’m a super wasteful person, I have never used a blade twice. Do you reuse your blades? Hope my input offers you something, but don’t give up. Ah, maybe try a face scrub at the beginning of your shower waaaay before you shave?
Cheers bro...
Blade: Voskhod
Razor: ikon Tech or R41 2011
Angle: Aggressive
Soap/Cream: Cremo
I only shave once a week so I’m no expert here. I’m super fair (N. Italian/Austrian) BUT I do know a sharp blade. I did the “party pack” blade try out and I continue going back to the SAME blade...Voskhod imo is THE blade of blades. Have you tried different blades/party pack? I know everyone will have a fav and I’m never opposed to trying something new or different, but this blade is amazing on sensitive skin/trouble skin.
I saw your setup, jeez, that handle is TINY. I can only use a 4 inch handle (100mm). Not sure if the handle length has anything to do with technique but shoot, in my hands your setup would impede my comfort of the hold on angle.
I enjoy the feel of the blade on my skin, the images above that Zed117 posted is how I shave (aggressively). I’m NOT a speed shaver and shave in the shower, never used anything except Cremo Shave Cream and some pre-shave oil from Acqua Di Parma Collezione Barbiere. I don’t know anything about shaving soaps or brushes but hope to learn some things here at B&B. The Cremo is slickery and always easy to get at Target/WalMart.
Lastly, I’m a super wasteful person, I have never used a blade twice. Do you reuse your blades? Hope my input offers you something, but don’t give up. Ah, maybe try a face scrub at the beginning of your shower waaaay before you shave?
Cheers bro...
Blade: Voskhod
Razor: ikon Tech or R41 2011
Angle: Aggressive
Soap/Cream: Cremo
Keep the good vibes going and get used to DFS. Forget about BBS for a while, work on your technique and get a hundred or so irritation-free passes under your belt. Then start experimenting with BBS.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
So long term badger brushes tend to have more backbone? Which types of badger have more backbone or is backbone more dependant on knot density rather than boar vs badger?
Paul- I’ve been away from this thread for awhile but it’s terrific to read about your progress! You’ve come a long way my friend. Congratulations!
- Thread starter
- #188
What he said ^^^^^.
A BBS finish will start happening on its own in its own time. Chasing it will only lead to frustration. As your technique improves, so will your shaves.
I only have a single badger brush. A 24mm Yaqi Silvertip but judging by it, its the density of the knot that gives it the backbone it has, yeah. Its a really nice brush and the knot is pretty dense. It has more than enough backbone for me.
Compared to my favorite brush. A 22mm Maggard synthetic Plissoft type.
The Silvertip is huge. Its also very soft but has a tiny bit of scritch. The Maggard synthetic is as soft if not softer, has no scritch at all and enough backbone for me, easily. Synthetics load faster and need less product to make a lather. They also dry much more quickly.
I wanted to try all three types and I think I have pretty good examples of all three types. All are very different and I enjoy them all but rarely use my badger and my boar is now put away. It has way too much backbone and scrub for me.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Order it from Connaught! Their shipping is fast and cheap. They have lots of great stuff.
Notice the small sizes for some of these soaps not usually available except in much larger sizes. Great selection of Wickham 1912 samples, too, and good prices on some blades. Good store it is. Good service and good people, too.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I'm late to this discussion, but I'll put in my two cents worth anyway.
Your beard looks a great deal like mine, only coarser hairs. I found 45 years ago that I can only shave ATG if I want a decent shave, WTG simply puts points on the hairs and causes them to grow under the skin. You may end up doing the same thing, although I'd not recommend it right off the bat.
I also find that I have to make very short strokes that overlap -- blade buffing, actually -- in order to get a clean but non-irritating shave. Same reason, the hairs grow out almost parallel to the skin on my cheeks and under my jaw. Adjust as necessary for your face, of course.
I'm glad a Tech is working well for you, I like mine. However, once I got some practice in, I found that for a DE razor a greatly prefer a FatBoy, Slim, or pre-war Aristocrat (adjustables set on 7) at a very shallow blade angle. Closer shaves by far, and an absolute necessity using a Polsliver, else I get a shave with stubble equal to about 14 hours after the aggressive razor/shallow angle shave. Took four razors to figure that out with the Polsilvers.
You will definitely need a rigid blade with that coarse hair -- any razor that allows blade flex will cause a huge amount of irritation for you I suspect. Fattip, OLD (any version), NEW short comb (and definitely NOT the NEW long comb!) or a slant should work well for you. So will any of the adjustable Gillettes.
Any razor that leaves the blade unclamped for any significant distance probably won't work well for you, including a number of the expensive modern ones.
I also recommend very slick soaps -- just like my face, I suspect you need superior slickness to get comfortable shaves.
And boar brushes absorb a considerable amount of water, unlike badger, synthetic, or horsehair. They need to soak for about 5 min to soften up, and will take all day to dry completely. Just the nature of the brush. I prefer a cheap "pure" badger, but you may not.
Your beard looks a great deal like mine, only coarser hairs. I found 45 years ago that I can only shave ATG if I want a decent shave, WTG simply puts points on the hairs and causes them to grow under the skin. You may end up doing the same thing, although I'd not recommend it right off the bat.
I also find that I have to make very short strokes that overlap -- blade buffing, actually -- in order to get a clean but non-irritating shave. Same reason, the hairs grow out almost parallel to the skin on my cheeks and under my jaw. Adjust as necessary for your face, of course.
I'm glad a Tech is working well for you, I like mine. However, once I got some practice in, I found that for a DE razor a greatly prefer a FatBoy, Slim, or pre-war Aristocrat (adjustables set on 7) at a very shallow blade angle. Closer shaves by far, and an absolute necessity using a Polsliver, else I get a shave with stubble equal to about 14 hours after the aggressive razor/shallow angle shave. Took four razors to figure that out with the Polsilvers.
You will definitely need a rigid blade with that coarse hair -- any razor that allows blade flex will cause a huge amount of irritation for you I suspect. Fattip, OLD (any version), NEW short comb (and definitely NOT the NEW long comb!) or a slant should work well for you. So will any of the adjustable Gillettes.
Any razor that leaves the blade unclamped for any significant distance probably won't work well for you, including a number of the expensive modern ones.
I also recommend very slick soaps -- just like my face, I suspect you need superior slickness to get comfortable shaves.
And boar brushes absorb a considerable amount of water, unlike badger, synthetic, or horsehair. They need to soak for about 5 min to soften up, and will take all day to dry completely. Just the nature of the brush. I prefer a cheap "pure" badger, but you may not.
- Thread starter
- #192
Thanks for the suggestions @psfred.
Interesting what you said. Just out of curiosity and mainly being new at this, why do you suggest a fattip new short comb and not new long comb? What are the differences?
Thanks!
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The NEW long comb clamps the blade a long way from the edge while the NEW short comb clamps it very close to the edge. Both of them are Gillette razors from the late 1920s/early 1930s.
The Fattip is new production, and is a very close copy of the Gillette "old" -- read original -- DE razor. Shone is another possibility for a razor that holds the blade very rigidly (made by Fattip, run around $20 new).
If you do decide to try a Gillette "OLD" in any version, check to make sure the cap is not bent or dented on the corners as this can leave the blade loose and make for VERY harsh shaves. Baseplate must be flat, too.
They are all quite old now, since Gillette stopped manufacturing them in 1929, but unless badly damaged can be made to work like new.
Slick soap, rigidly held blade, shallow shaving angle should set you up.
The Fattip is new production, and is a very close copy of the Gillette "old" -- read original -- DE razor. Shone is another possibility for a razor that holds the blade very rigidly (made by Fattip, run around $20 new).
If you do decide to try a Gillette "OLD" in any version, check to make sure the cap is not bent or dented on the corners as this can leave the blade loose and make for VERY harsh shaves. Baseplate must be flat, too.
They are all quite old now, since Gillette stopped manufacturing them in 1929, but unless badly damaged can be made to work like new.
Slick soap, rigidly held blade, shallow shaving angle should set you up.
The difference between the Gillette NEW LC (Long Comb) and the Gillette NEW SC (Short Comb) is entirely in the baseplate.
NEW SC left, NEW LC right.
You can see how the SC will clamp the blade very nearly to the edge between the cap and baseplate. The LC does not. The closer the blade is clamped to the edge the more rigidly the blade is held and the less the blade can flex and skip.
Timeless left. Wolfman WR1 right.
The NEW SC clamps the blade in the same way. The NEW SC is a very rigid design.
Examples of less rigid designs.
Rockwell left, Merkur/EJ right. Essentially the same design among all.
None of this is to say that any particular design will give you your best or worst shave but it is an aspect of design worth exploring. I personally only use the most rigid designs as they give me my smoothest and most comfortable shaves.
There is much to read around the forum about rigid designs. You can read about my own discovery of blade rigidity and how it affected my shaves with a NEW LC below.
Gillette NEW LC Not Cutting It
That was eyeopening. Since then my choice in razors has been to more and more rigid designs and with more blade exposure because I prefer efficient razors.
When it comes to DE razor design, I consider the Fatip OC the best there is. Fatips are extremely rigid designs with generous blade exposure. My Fatip Grande is easily the most efficient DE I've used but because they are such rigid designs with so much blade exposure they can also be very unforgiving of simple mistakes. At the same time, there are few better teachers of proper technique. Learn or bleed. Get it right and its like magic. Get it wrong and pay, usually in blood. Once learned the only razor I've yet used that betters it is the GEM MMOC SE and honestly, I've stopped looking for a 'better' razor. The MMOC is the razor for me. Its twice as efficient as my Grande, its twice as smooth because of the thicker SE blade, its more comfortable and its more gentle on my skin, despite its Jaws like appearance. The Fatip is much easier to use than the MMOC.
Fatip Grande.
MMOC.
There are many different variables with DE and SE shaving and it takes time to narrow down what works the best for any individual. It doesnt need to cost a fortune either, but if you have a desire to learn, understand and seek out the best shaves you can possibly have, you will get there. Its taken me two full years now to find the things I like, razors, blades, soaps and brushes. I wish I had learned all of this 30 years ago.
- Thread starter
- #196
As always thanks for the great info Esox.
It’s a bummer that my wife ordered a NEW LC for my birthday then. Since I guess I need the blade to be rigid [emoji22]
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It’s a bummer that my wife ordered a NEW LC for my birthday then. Since I guess I need the blade to be rigid [emoji22]
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As always thanks for the great info Esox.
It’s a bummer that my wife ordered a NEW LC for my birthday then. Since I guess I need the blade to be rigid [emoji22]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well, dont knock it till you try it. You may really like it. I liked mine a lot. It gave me a really smooth comfortable shave over all areas but the swirl growth patterns on my neck. If I didnt have those two swirls, I'd likely still be using it.
This is what I meant about finding what works for you. Just because something doesnt work the best for someone else doesnt mean it wont for you.
Load a favorite blade in it and give it a few tries, learn it. If it has a weakness for you, you'll find it. If you do find a weakness with it, understand what that weakness is and work to fix it.
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- #198
Yea you’re right. Will give it a try see how it goes. I’ve had to stop shaving for the past 2 weeks because ended up with a really bad ingrown hair that I think got infected. So bad I needed to go to the dermatologist.
Next week will start shaving again and will try on my birthday.
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Next week will start shaving again and will try on my birthday.
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LC looks waaay cooler. I love birthdays.
Stick with it. Once you find your best set up, everything you go through will be worth it.
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