pcb01
03-11-2009, 10:06 AM
Although I've only been at this a couple of months, I have been diligent about keeping records, perfecting technique, changing one thing at a time, etc., so I can experiment but do so intelligently. These may not work for you, but....
Trumper (Avocado) and AOS cream make a great superlather for me. Trumper is the best soap I've tried, and AOS is perfectly adequate (others probably would work as well -- I'll let you know), but this mixture gives me beautiful cushion and slickness, doesn't dry out in 4-5 passes, etc.
I tried Israeli Personnas the past couple of days in two very different DEs, and been pleasantly astonished. No roughness, barely feel the blade, but get BBS shaves. I know this is a very subjective thing. Currently my favorite.
My straight shaving experience is also getting better and better. Biggest improvement has been from reducing the blade angle from 30-40 degrees to 15-20 degrees, per a recent thread in another forum here. Just as close, much less irritation.
How many folks out there do a "hybrid" shave -- using both the straight and the DE during the same shaving session? I figure every workman has more than one tool in their box, and for me doing the WTG and XTG with the straight, then finishing up with a DE ATG (especially the tricky moustache area) is about perfect in terms of closeness and comfort. I'm not at all discouraged from perfecting my straight skills in the trickier areas -- I think it's more that I just don't want to abandon all my beloved DE paraphenalia.
Thoughts and experiences????
Trumper (Avocado) and AOS cream make a great superlather for me. Trumper is the best soap I've tried, and AOS is perfectly adequate (others probably would work as well -- I'll let you know), but this mixture gives me beautiful cushion and slickness, doesn't dry out in 4-5 passes, etc.
I tried Israeli Personnas the past couple of days in two very different DEs, and been pleasantly astonished. No roughness, barely feel the blade, but get BBS shaves. I know this is a very subjective thing. Currently my favorite.
My straight shaving experience is also getting better and better. Biggest improvement has been from reducing the blade angle from 30-40 degrees to 15-20 degrees, per a recent thread in another forum here. Just as close, much less irritation.
How many folks out there do a "hybrid" shave -- using both the straight and the DE during the same shaving session? I figure every workman has more than one tool in their box, and for me doing the WTG and XTG with the straight, then finishing up with a DE ATG (especially the tricky moustache area) is about perfect in terms of closeness and comfort. I'm not at all discouraged from perfecting my straight skills in the trickier areas -- I think it's more that I just don't want to abandon all my beloved DE paraphenalia.
Thoughts and experiences????