I am not a young man by any means, and actually began mowing down the whiskers in my path along life's journey while still a teenager with an old hand-me-down Gillette DE from my dad and a can of Foamy from the local drug store. I did this for a few years until my mother bought me my first Philishave triple-header (they're referred to as "Norelco" in the USA) so I could simply buzz off my young peach-fuzz every morning. I have since had three more triple-headers and still use them every morning so I don't look too rough when I arrive to start my day's work.
I occasionally still wet-shaved from time to time, but never really felt secure with the technique, so I tended to stick to the electric for my daily needs. Over time, I've tried single-blade Bic disposables, multi-bladed cartridge units, and sometimes even the good old DE. I long ago lost my old first Gillette DE (good solid metal piece that it was, which unscrewed at the top to put the blade on, then you screwed it down firmly again before setting to work - not like the crappy plastic ones that came out later), but I bought one or two blister-packed cheapies in the drug store (including a pack of blades) when you still could. Funny thing about that: you haven't been able to buy a DE in the drug store for a long time, but you can almost always find that lonely little pack of DE blades in the corner among the Fusion, Quattro, Mach III, and Atra refills!
Finally, just over a year ago, my wife and I were headed down to Southern California to visit my parents for Christmas (here in Canada, folks like them who spend the cold half of the year down south are known as "snowbirds"). I happened to hear about a barber shop there which still did the good old straight-razor shave and I got curious about it once more. Here, barbers long ago hung up or threw away their "cut-throats" and stops and I couldn't get a shave here anywhere. Just about everybody I asked said (in a hushed whisper), "Something about health regulations...AIDS scare". Since I'm a reasonably well-informed person, I wondered how you could get such a deadly disease from something as simple as shaving, so I had my doubts as to this excuse. Is it really possible? I'm not convinced.
I got brave and booked an appointment with this guy in California. When we got down there, I laid down in the chair and let this rather young guy do his magic. On came the hot towels, one after the other. On came the lather (from a hot-lather machine) time and gain. Finally, he took out what I later found out was a Dovo Shavette (straight razor with disposable blades, so each customer gets a fresh one) and got going. It took quite a while and some apprehension, but when I got up out of the chair and looked in the mirror, then felt my face, I was amazed! It was as smooth as it had been when I was five years old, and so clean. It even lasted two days!
In the past few months, I have seen such things online as B & B, Wetshavers, and good old Corey Greenberg's blog of his experiences with wet shaving. I knew I had to give it another try. I first used an old, cheap plastic DE I had lying around (plus some Edge gel), and cut my face to shreds. Where it wasn't bleeding, it was just red from razor-burn. Then I got a Shick Quattro (4 blade cartridge) and tried it. I got better results with that, but still some cuts. All this time, my longsuffering wife was actually trying to get me to give up this insanity and just stick with the electric.
Finally, I thought I would plunge right into the Classic Shaving Experience and get some of the proper equipment. I had heard great things about the Schick Injector, so I wanted to go that way (especially after all my bad DE efforts), and not bother with the DE anymore. After some misfires, I scored an early 1950s Schick G8 Injector. I found some genuine Schick Injector blades online and waited patiently for them to arrive. At a local drug store, I bought a Wilkinson Sword boar brush for about $20. I had heard that Proraso shaving cream was really good, so I scoped out our local Italian Supermarket and came home with two green tubes. I bought a small bowl otherwise used for French onion soup at one of those home-kitsch big-box stores to mix lather in. I thought I was all set until I tried to shave.
It turns out that I've gotten somewhat better with the technique, but there's still something that I'm doing wrong. I quit using the name-brand Schick blades in favor of trimmed-down Feather Pro Supers, but every time I do a shaving session with the above-mentioned gear, I almost always get nicks in the same places: on the right and left side of my "moustache" area (i.e. under my nose, above my upper lip, to either side of what I call the "Hitler area"), on my chin right and left and below the "soul-patch zone", and on my neck, either on my Adam's Apple, or on the sides, under my ears. I also can't get smooth enough under my jawline and right in front of my ears, where sideburns would grow if left alone.
Finally, here's my basic technique: I shower and blast my face with the warm water a bit. When I come out, I don't dry my face. I warm the bowl, wet the brush, squirt in some Proraso, and make some lather. I add a drop or two of water to whip it up nicely but not too thick.
I lather my face once and put a hot towel on it for about 30 seconds. I wipe off the lather with the towel and put on more lather and the reheated towel (microwaved for one minute, it comes out about the same as at the barber's). I lather once more, take up the razor, and get going. I start with a basic N-S pass everywhere, except for the upper lip/under nose and the front of my chin. I try to stretch the skin for the "sideburn" zones and for the previous two areas, as well as under my chin, because the razor always seems to catch on some loose skin there as it comes down around my chin onto my neck. I rewet my face and put on more lather, then do a second pass in roughly the opposite direction. Finally, I try to do some touching-up on the areas which still feel rough. After that, I give up, splash cool water on my face to remove the lather, apply the styptic pencil to the wounds, let them dry a bit, pat my face dry with another towel, and then put on some Neutrogena Razor Defense lotion. That's my wetshaving technique.
As far as I know, my method is sound, but there seem to be some problems yet. I don't think I would go so far as to give up, feeling that a single blade just can't shave you as cleanly as a multi-blade setup will, or that it's totally impossible to get through one shave without any cuts whatsoever. I think that maybe I'm pressing a tad too hard, tilting the razor a bit so either the blade isn't contacting my face or the bar is not straight-on to my skin, I'm taking too long strokes (probably a holdover from my multi-blade technique), or I don't use enough passes in the proper direction. I won't quit, but I'd like to know if I'm actually doing this right. Yes, I have seen the videos on youtube, but I am optimistic that it is indeed possible to get a good wet shave - I just don't want to spend the rest of my life acquiring the knack!
I should also mention that I only do this on weekends because I am sure that going too fast can only lead to trouble (so it's better to wait until there's plenty of time, like on Saturday and Sunday mornings). The rest of the time, I use the electric.
Sorry about the long post (especially for a new member), but I did want to share my experience and hopefully get some feedback so I can better at it.
I occasionally still wet-shaved from time to time, but never really felt secure with the technique, so I tended to stick to the electric for my daily needs. Over time, I've tried single-blade Bic disposables, multi-bladed cartridge units, and sometimes even the good old DE. I long ago lost my old first Gillette DE (good solid metal piece that it was, which unscrewed at the top to put the blade on, then you screwed it down firmly again before setting to work - not like the crappy plastic ones that came out later), but I bought one or two blister-packed cheapies in the drug store (including a pack of blades) when you still could. Funny thing about that: you haven't been able to buy a DE in the drug store for a long time, but you can almost always find that lonely little pack of DE blades in the corner among the Fusion, Quattro, Mach III, and Atra refills!
Finally, just over a year ago, my wife and I were headed down to Southern California to visit my parents for Christmas (here in Canada, folks like them who spend the cold half of the year down south are known as "snowbirds"). I happened to hear about a barber shop there which still did the good old straight-razor shave and I got curious about it once more. Here, barbers long ago hung up or threw away their "cut-throats" and stops and I couldn't get a shave here anywhere. Just about everybody I asked said (in a hushed whisper), "Something about health regulations...AIDS scare". Since I'm a reasonably well-informed person, I wondered how you could get such a deadly disease from something as simple as shaving, so I had my doubts as to this excuse. Is it really possible? I'm not convinced.
I got brave and booked an appointment with this guy in California. When we got down there, I laid down in the chair and let this rather young guy do his magic. On came the hot towels, one after the other. On came the lather (from a hot-lather machine) time and gain. Finally, he took out what I later found out was a Dovo Shavette (straight razor with disposable blades, so each customer gets a fresh one) and got going. It took quite a while and some apprehension, but when I got up out of the chair and looked in the mirror, then felt my face, I was amazed! It was as smooth as it had been when I was five years old, and so clean. It even lasted two days!
In the past few months, I have seen such things online as B & B, Wetshavers, and good old Corey Greenberg's blog of his experiences with wet shaving. I knew I had to give it another try. I first used an old, cheap plastic DE I had lying around (plus some Edge gel), and cut my face to shreds. Where it wasn't bleeding, it was just red from razor-burn. Then I got a Shick Quattro (4 blade cartridge) and tried it. I got better results with that, but still some cuts. All this time, my longsuffering wife was actually trying to get me to give up this insanity and just stick with the electric.
Finally, I thought I would plunge right into the Classic Shaving Experience and get some of the proper equipment. I had heard great things about the Schick Injector, so I wanted to go that way (especially after all my bad DE efforts), and not bother with the DE anymore. After some misfires, I scored an early 1950s Schick G8 Injector. I found some genuine Schick Injector blades online and waited patiently for them to arrive. At a local drug store, I bought a Wilkinson Sword boar brush for about $20. I had heard that Proraso shaving cream was really good, so I scoped out our local Italian Supermarket and came home with two green tubes. I bought a small bowl otherwise used for French onion soup at one of those home-kitsch big-box stores to mix lather in. I thought I was all set until I tried to shave.
It turns out that I've gotten somewhat better with the technique, but there's still something that I'm doing wrong. I quit using the name-brand Schick blades in favor of trimmed-down Feather Pro Supers, but every time I do a shaving session with the above-mentioned gear, I almost always get nicks in the same places: on the right and left side of my "moustache" area (i.e. under my nose, above my upper lip, to either side of what I call the "Hitler area"), on my chin right and left and below the "soul-patch zone", and on my neck, either on my Adam's Apple, or on the sides, under my ears. I also can't get smooth enough under my jawline and right in front of my ears, where sideburns would grow if left alone.
Finally, here's my basic technique: I shower and blast my face with the warm water a bit. When I come out, I don't dry my face. I warm the bowl, wet the brush, squirt in some Proraso, and make some lather. I add a drop or two of water to whip it up nicely but not too thick.
I lather my face once and put a hot towel on it for about 30 seconds. I wipe off the lather with the towel and put on more lather and the reheated towel (microwaved for one minute, it comes out about the same as at the barber's). I lather once more, take up the razor, and get going. I start with a basic N-S pass everywhere, except for the upper lip/under nose and the front of my chin. I try to stretch the skin for the "sideburn" zones and for the previous two areas, as well as under my chin, because the razor always seems to catch on some loose skin there as it comes down around my chin onto my neck. I rewet my face and put on more lather, then do a second pass in roughly the opposite direction. Finally, I try to do some touching-up on the areas which still feel rough. After that, I give up, splash cool water on my face to remove the lather, apply the styptic pencil to the wounds, let them dry a bit, pat my face dry with another towel, and then put on some Neutrogena Razor Defense lotion. That's my wetshaving technique.
As far as I know, my method is sound, but there seem to be some problems yet. I don't think I would go so far as to give up, feeling that a single blade just can't shave you as cleanly as a multi-blade setup will, or that it's totally impossible to get through one shave without any cuts whatsoever. I think that maybe I'm pressing a tad too hard, tilting the razor a bit so either the blade isn't contacting my face or the bar is not straight-on to my skin, I'm taking too long strokes (probably a holdover from my multi-blade technique), or I don't use enough passes in the proper direction. I won't quit, but I'd like to know if I'm actually doing this right. Yes, I have seen the videos on youtube, but I am optimistic that it is indeed possible to get a good wet shave - I just don't want to spend the rest of my life acquiring the knack!
I should also mention that I only do this on weekends because I am sure that going too fast can only lead to trouble (so it's better to wait until there's plenty of time, like on Saturday and Sunday mornings). The rest of the time, I use the electric.
Sorry about the long post (especially for a new member), but I did want to share my experience and hopefully get some feedback so I can better at it.
razor out the door.
..
