The Paste

A question to my fellow Method Shavers, when using the Paste, do you apply every pass? Or just at the beginning? I only apply at the beginning but I figure with the first pass it removes the protective layer. Any advice would be helpful, thanks.

It should be mixed in with all of your mix, but you don't need go to the tub of paste more than once.

So, you've spread your mix of soap and cutting balm ["primer"] on your face, and you've still got some in your hand, then take a dab of paste with your other hand and mix it in all over your face. As you're mixing the paste in, you're pulling more of the primer off your other hand and adding that to your face. So the paste is getting mixed in with everything. Before you start shaving, combine what's in both of your hands and concentrate it so you can use it to stretch the mix later. (For me that means, I put it on the edge of my left hand, on my fingertips.) Then I rinse my right hand, dry it off then shave with it.

The mix on your face, along with the mix in your left hand, all has paste and will be sufficient for at least 2 passes, but probably 3. The better you get at making the mix, the longer you'll be able to stretch it.

After that, if you do more passes, generally it's just soap + cutting balm, or activator. In Charles' new video, he uses solely paste for the finishing pass, so in that case, you would go back to the tub of paste. I haven't tried this though.

I've settled on using paste only for the gloss finish and it seems to work well. If I'm using activator I might paste up before the third form, but I've found that it definitely affects the quality of the shave if I use it any earlier.

I find that using a small daub of paste when building the mix on my face and I use it all the time. Sort of like washing cloths with softener. You sure notice it when it's not used!