breakthrough

I've been DE shaving for about a week and a half now. Like a lot of newbies, I've been experiencing some frustration because I like a smooth shave and just haven't been getting as smooth a shave as I would like.

However, this morning was my best shave yet. I have a couple of very tough, coarse spots on my neck (it's actually hard for me to tell which way the grain is going). I did three passes: WTG, XTG, ATG...then I did some touch up work all around. However, on my last pass ATG, on the coarse areas of my neck I did a light buffing technique rather than short strokes. It's the smoothest that part of my neck has ever been! I think the buffing is going to work for me in other areas as well.

I used Israeli Personnas. Those blades seem to be the best so far for me. I've tried Merkur, Derby, Feather...but the Personnas just seem to be doing a great job.

My routine was simple:
Merkur long handle
Pre: soak the brush in hot water and took a hot shower; loaded my brush with Proraso and did a face lather (I'm finding that face lathering works better for me than bowl lathering)
Shave: 3 passes and touch up work.
Post: warm rinse, then cold rinse, then Pinaud Clubman (love that stuff!)

All in all, it was my best shave yet!

Nice!!! See, it all comes together in the end.

I'm trying to understand your routine. Do you rinse and re-lather between passes? The extra beard prep can go a long way towards a smooth and irritation free shave.


It's good to read that buffing works for you. It is a good stroke!

It feels good when you hit your stride.

im lost on the "buffing" i have a similar issue with my neck

Great to hear! I've been practicing buffing myself and it has done wonders to get rid of pesky whiskers that were not going away earlier.

I do rinse and relather after each pass...and then on the touch up I use the lather on certain spots. As for the buffing, the way I describe is almost like a very light up/down motion...kind of like your scratching (but obviously not scratching because you'd hack your face up).

touchdowntodd said:

im lost on the "buffing" i have a similar issue with my neck

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Watch Mantic59's video on Advanced Techniques on Youtube or his blog. It was really informative on how to get those tough whiskers.

Congrats! I have found that Personas also are the best for me so far. When I put one in, I had the exact same best shave.

Congrats, your patience is being rewarded.

Necks are tough to navigate, even for fellows with great technique.

Are you prepping your beard before shaving? One of the most important parts of a great shave, yet overlooked by many. Look here, if you haven't already.

Also, have you mapped your beard; this is really essential to know if you are, in fact, shaving WTG, XTG, ATG. If you have problems determining which way the grain runs, get a cotton ball and drag it across the questionable area in a couple different directions. The drag that catches the most cotton is ATG; WTG & XTG are determined from there. Beard Mapping helped me advance my technique because it removed all guesswork from the grain direction I was shaving.

Best of Luck in your DE endeavors.

Good to hear. I am also only now really learning how effective buffing can be.

DutchMagnus said:

I do rinse and relather after each pass...and then on the touch up I use the lather on certain spots. As for the buffing, the way I describe is almost like a very light up/down motion...kind of like your scratching (but obviously not scratching because you'd hack your face up).

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Good to read this! Buffing I do understand, and it works for me also. Haven't tried it with my STR8's, though.

Congrats.

thanks for the info, and congrats again on the shave

DutchMagnus said:

I do rinse and relather after each pass...and then on the touch up I use the lather on certain spots. As for the buffing, the way I describe is almost like a very light up/down motion...kind of like you're scratching.

Click to expand...

+1
Same here. Works great.