mackal
06-01-2007, 09:07 AM
Merkur 38C: check
Merkur demo blade: tossed
Israeli blade (thx Smedley): locked and loaded
Proraso, green: whipped
grain diagram: taped to mirror
Music: Barber of Seville, what else? (kidding :biggrin:)
Placed razor on the mirror, roll down, yup, as expected, blade makes contact at about 30 degrees. Try "roll the razor on your face until cutting"... eh... not working for me... by the time I roll it down sufficiently to start cutting, the razor is already down at my jaw while the area passed over is uncut and without lather now. Started off with three WTG passes, only on flat surfaces (i.e., cheeks and neck... the latter is fairly forgiving for me, with a W-E grain). By the third such "partial pass" the razor angle "clicked"... I could tell by looking whether the angle was right, and if no line of sight to razor, I could tell by feel (more on this below). I then did probably 4 or more partial, sporadic, "here and there" passes, including over more dangerous terrain (jaw, chin, under nose), as well as some XTG on the cheek and neck, and even got cocky with a final ATG on the cheeks. Overall I am very happy with the results. Scruffy here and there, especially on the hilly terrain, but very smooth here and there on the cheeks. Considering the very conservative approach I took, I predict some awesome shaves ahead, especially once I up the blade sharpness... I think I might end up with Feathers as my favourite, since I have a relatively sparse beard and fairly forgiving skin, it would seem (and judging by how the Israeli felt).
Oh, BTW, two tiny, tiny nicks, that is all, much less than with the cartridge razor, and even that was nothing to speak of.
NOTES:
- 1st stumbling block: I wasn't getting nicks in the initial passes, but I wasn't really shaving much either... the problem was that I was under the impression that any tugging is bad tugging. Not so... at least not for me, when using the Israelis; I bet Feathers would be a totally different story. There is "good tugging" (mild, almost pleasant once you accept you are not making an oops), and there is "bad tugging"... For those that do any weight training, it is very similar to the difference between "good pain" and "bad pain" (i.e., lactic acid buildup and regular muscle breakdown vs. the dreaded "oh oh... oops"). Once I realized this, I was zooming all over the face like I was snow plowing my driveway with a shovel... :biggrin:
- 2nd stumbling block: the grip... I've seen (Kyle's?) excellent post on "what works for me", and in particular paid much attention to the grip portrayed, to ensure I don't press down with the DE. The problem turned out that the grip, I find, doesn't work well with the 38C... the latter is too heavy. I then gripped it mid-handle (probably right where the HD's grip would typically end), and that helped. But a while later I found a better, more natural grip, which is very reminiscent of how you grip a violin bow... similar to the dart grip, except more fingers. How to describe this... put the razor on the counter, and pick it up such that you have thumb on one side, and the next three fingers on the opposite side; the fingers are equidistant, with the last of the three fingers on the butt of the handle, and fingers perpendicular to the handle (unlike when gripping a bow, so analogy not exact). This helped tremendously. The problem was that the "sledgehammer" (38C) is a bit too heavy to hold delicately with just thumb and two fingers... the extra finger helps to support the weight. Without it I found there was a tendency to grip the razor harder, to ensure it doesn't slip out of my hand, and I had less control due to the 38C's heft and length (i.e., much larger torque due to gravity and moment of inertia in general, for the physics fans). Harder grip = more pressing against face, hence bad. If this grip description doesn't make sense, I'll put up a pic.
All in all... phew!!! For the pre-first-DE-shave noobs: let this be additional evidence that first shaves do not necessarily end in carnage, and may in fact be nic-free. (I had my doubts :wink2:)
Merkur demo blade: tossed
Israeli blade (thx Smedley): locked and loaded
Proraso, green: whipped
grain diagram: taped to mirror
Music: Barber of Seville, what else? (kidding :biggrin:)
Placed razor on the mirror, roll down, yup, as expected, blade makes contact at about 30 degrees. Try "roll the razor on your face until cutting"... eh... not working for me... by the time I roll it down sufficiently to start cutting, the razor is already down at my jaw while the area passed over is uncut and without lather now. Started off with three WTG passes, only on flat surfaces (i.e., cheeks and neck... the latter is fairly forgiving for me, with a W-E grain). By the third such "partial pass" the razor angle "clicked"... I could tell by looking whether the angle was right, and if no line of sight to razor, I could tell by feel (more on this below). I then did probably 4 or more partial, sporadic, "here and there" passes, including over more dangerous terrain (jaw, chin, under nose), as well as some XTG on the cheek and neck, and even got cocky with a final ATG on the cheeks. Overall I am very happy with the results. Scruffy here and there, especially on the hilly terrain, but very smooth here and there on the cheeks. Considering the very conservative approach I took, I predict some awesome shaves ahead, especially once I up the blade sharpness... I think I might end up with Feathers as my favourite, since I have a relatively sparse beard and fairly forgiving skin, it would seem (and judging by how the Israeli felt).
Oh, BTW, two tiny, tiny nicks, that is all, much less than with the cartridge razor, and even that was nothing to speak of.
NOTES:
- 1st stumbling block: I wasn't getting nicks in the initial passes, but I wasn't really shaving much either... the problem was that I was under the impression that any tugging is bad tugging. Not so... at least not for me, when using the Israelis; I bet Feathers would be a totally different story. There is "good tugging" (mild, almost pleasant once you accept you are not making an oops), and there is "bad tugging"... For those that do any weight training, it is very similar to the difference between "good pain" and "bad pain" (i.e., lactic acid buildup and regular muscle breakdown vs. the dreaded "oh oh... oops"). Once I realized this, I was zooming all over the face like I was snow plowing my driveway with a shovel... :biggrin:
- 2nd stumbling block: the grip... I've seen (Kyle's?) excellent post on "what works for me", and in particular paid much attention to the grip portrayed, to ensure I don't press down with the DE. The problem turned out that the grip, I find, doesn't work well with the 38C... the latter is too heavy. I then gripped it mid-handle (probably right where the HD's grip would typically end), and that helped. But a while later I found a better, more natural grip, which is very reminiscent of how you grip a violin bow... similar to the dart grip, except more fingers. How to describe this... put the razor on the counter, and pick it up such that you have thumb on one side, and the next three fingers on the opposite side; the fingers are equidistant, with the last of the three fingers on the butt of the handle, and fingers perpendicular to the handle (unlike when gripping a bow, so analogy not exact). This helped tremendously. The problem was that the "sledgehammer" (38C) is a bit too heavy to hold delicately with just thumb and two fingers... the extra finger helps to support the weight. Without it I found there was a tendency to grip the razor harder, to ensure it doesn't slip out of my hand, and I had less control due to the 38C's heft and length (i.e., much larger torque due to gravity and moment of inertia in general, for the physics fans). Harder grip = more pressing against face, hence bad. If this grip description doesn't make sense, I'll put up a pic.
All in all... phew!!! For the pre-first-DE-shave noobs: let this be additional evidence that first shaves do not necessarily end in carnage, and may in fact be nic-free. (I had my doubts :wink2:)