Newbie DE Shaver Journal

**Songwind** · 02-21-2012, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by lpe492

I'm researching scuttles myself, and have requested one from my mother in law, who is a potter. Looking forward to more pictures.

One question - is the bowl / mug combo one piece or two?

Cheers,
Jeff

In our design it's two. Lots of scuttles are one, though.

**Songwind** · 02-23-2012, 11:52 AM

So, neat news from this weekend: My parents mentioned my new interest in traditional shaving to my grandparents while out visiting. My grandmother went and got my great-grandfather's straight razor, and his
father's razor! They were sent home with mom & dad for me.

I had been thinking of getting a straight after I had at least six months under my belt with the DE. Looks like I not only have a straight razor, I have two family shaving heirlooms.

I haven't seen them, yet. I don't know what brands they are or if they can be restored. I'll be sad if they can't be, but I'm excited to have them either way.

**Songwind** · 02-23-2012, 11:01 PM

For those that were following along about the scuttles, I started a request for comments thread over in the general discussion subforum.

**duokun** · 02-24-2012, 10:42 AM

Great news about those straights man, thats amazing. My aunt tried looking for my Grandfather's straight after i got into this, but couldn't find it. I did however end up with an old Gillette that was his and one that was my Dad's when he went in the Army, so that was cool.

I have enjoyed the one (partial) shave i have done with my straight, so i think you will find it enjoyable. And i am sure that they will be in servicable condition. i have seen some amazing restore jobs just poking around the Straight Razor forum.

cant wait to see pictutres when you get them.

**Songwind** · 02-24-2012, 11:31 PM

Today's lesson: Short shaving time + non-shower day + last day on this blade = pretty much guaranteed irritation.

**Vivasanti** · 02-25-2012, 01:01 AM

Stink Songwind, i did a 5th shave with an Astra the other day and it was average.

**Songwind** · 02-25-2012, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by Vivasanti

Stink Songwind, i did a 5th shave with an Astra the other day and it was average.

I think my beard is just a *bit* coarse, and my skin just a *bit* sensitive. Nothing to rival some of the real horror stories and tough shave cases, but enough to make me wear out blades a bit faster.

**Songwind** · 02-25-2012, 08:24 PM

I was out with my family having lunch today, not that far from the Mall of America. None of us felt up to braving the insanity that is the BFM on a weekend, but I decided to do some Google Maps sleuthing for a shave friendly store in one of the shopping centers nearby. I was excited to see a Crabtree & Evelyn listed at the next exit. I've been told by multiple people that I need to try their Sienna scent, so I was going to go and give it a good sniff. We searched all over that area but couldn't find it. I called the number with the listing, and heard "Thanks for calling Crabtree & Evelyn at the Mall of America!"

Oh well, maybe some time in the middle of a weekday I'll go up there and hit the BBW, AOS and C&E all at once.

I came home and decided to get a shower and shave. It's New Blade Day around here, so I decided to go back to my sampler rotation after a couple weeks of reliable Astra shaves. I picked Shark Super Chrome, and put it in the razor. Sunk the scuttle in a sink of hot water to warm the stoneware, and took a shower. Feeling adventurous, I decided to make a Superlather. I thought that the lemon goodness of RazoRock Caprician Lemon would be an interesting pair with Kiss My Face Cool Mint cream.

I liked this combination a lot. I loaded up my brush with RRCL thoroughly. I let the proto lather and bubbles drop in the scuttle in lieu of water, and added about a half squirt of Cool Mint. It quickly burst into an amazingly creamy lather. The scent was really pleasant and refreshing. I think next time I'll add a bit more mint and load the brush 10-15 seconds less. Such a refreshing lemony interlude deserved a name, so I'm calling this one Cool Lemonade. I look forward to using it in summer.

The shave itself was also quite nice. The Sharks are noticeably less sharp than the Astras, but my ATG pass was much more comfortable - just a milder shave. I'm looking forward to see how they hold up through the week.

I'm not sure a true BBS shave is in the cards for me because of my skin texture and sensitivity, but this was really close. A damn fine shave in ever sense of the words.

**Songwind** · 02-27-2012, 09:55 AM

Day 2 and the Shark SC was still comfortable, but didn't give me a very good shave without going ATG. I think maybe they just aren't sharp enough for me at this point. (Whether this is a fact of life or a problem with my blade angle remains to be seen.)

**Songwind** · 03-02-2012, 11:20 PM

I was the lucky recipient of this handsome fellow once pezhore was done restoring it. It's an Ever Ready C40 brush handle, with a super silvertip 22mm knot from The Golden Nib. It's set at about a 49mm loft.
I got it in the mail yesterday, and did some test lathers. It was soft and pleasant even dry and never used. Once I got it wet and soapy, it was even better. It tore up my puck of VDH that I used for testing in record time.
Tonight I used it with my Mitchell's Wool Fat for a very straightforward shave. I didn't have time to dawdle or really savor it, but I wasn't rushed, either. The brush performed excellently. I probably left it a smidgen too wet, so there was a lot of loose protolather to deal with at first, but the dense knot went to town on the hard soap. I got it all loaded up and took it to my face for lathering.
Lathering with this brush was sort of like getting a massage from an angry chinchilla. The tips are lovely and soft, but the denseness of the knot kept it pretty stiff, which I like. It wasn't terribly stingy with the lather, and I got 3 passes out of it easily.
I went ATG on my cheeks tonight, with careful attention. Probably the best ATG pass I've had in years, including my days with the cartridges. I had one weeper (jawline, where else?) but no lingering hotness or soreness.
As for the workmanship: The knot has been levelly and securely mounted. There was no feeling of wobbliness, or that the knot was in a hole too tight or loose for it. The plastic of the handle has been nicely cleaned up, and you'd never guess it's several decades old. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for more brushes from Pez.
The TGN knot is great. If the really popular, expensive silvertip brushes are even better, I'm not sure my heart could take it. :)
It's an interesting contrast with my horsehair brush. I definitely see a place for both of them in my rotation.

**Songwind** · 03-04-2012, 01:58 PM

Last night was my wife's birthday party, and I saw one of my local wet shaving peeps. He gave me a stick of Palmolive that he had extra, and I returned the favor with a tube of C. O. Bigelow that I received as a gift but can't use.

I like that little shave stick! The first application of soap wasn't quite what it should have been, probably because the very outside of the stick is harder. I had to reapply before the second pass, but had scads of lather for the 3rd. Left my face feeling pretty nice, too.

**beengone** · 03-04-2012, 03:40 PM

That's really great stuff. I made some orange scented and think it's pretty much perfect. Easy to use for travel or to put in a bowl. Great lather and a great price.

**Songwind** · 03-05-2012, 06:53 AM

Huh. So, I had heard of "brush burn" before, but never experienced it. Now I have:

I lathered my face w/ my new Palmolive stick as the pre-shave lather for Kyle's Prep (which seems to work well). I did this partly to make sure I was still using my horse brush correctly, as I had seemed to get much better lathers w/ my new badger brush. It worked fine, though I think my horse brush holds more water. That may be my problem with getting thick lather out of some soaps - I may be starting w/ too much lather to begin with.

So, I grabbed my new badger and used it to lather up the last of my Mama Bear's Spiced Lime sample. Not enough soap left, or too much water. Either way I got a crackly lather that started disappearing. Had to wash that off my face. Luckily, I already had this convenient horse brush full of Palmolive lather.

Lathered w/ Palmolive. Worked fine. Sometime during my second pass I decided to push a bit harder to see if the horse would open up like my badger and make that puffier lather, which I tentatively like better. Well, it does work. It was not a good idea, at least not with my Sardinero. Maybe w/ the longer loft of the Zurito. It felt like a slightly aggressive exfoliation in the moment, but by the time I was done my whole cheek felt like it was on fire.

Ow.

Put on more AS balm this morning, and plan to do so again before bed. I don't think I'll be shaving tonight.

**desertcat** · 03-05-2012, 09:23 PM

That familiar brush irritation~~Face lathering was definitely a culprit for some of my irritation, and perhaps the horsehair hasn't fully softened yet (or the loft is not tall enough, as you suspect). It might be well to alternate between face and container lathering, just so you don't aggravate your skin.
However, I've not been doing well following my own advice~~my PIF'd Omega has been the facelathering machine for the last several shaves, and your update is making me consider "changing up" my brush routine more often.

**Songwind** · 03-06-2012, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by desertcat

Face lathering was definitely a culprit for some of my irritation, and perhaps the horsehair hasn't fully softened yet (or the loft is not tall enough, as you suspect). It might be well to alternate between face and container lathering, just so you don't aggravate your skin.

I suspect the horse will continue to get softer, but the real problem wasn't face lathering per se. I have been face lathering with it about half the time, without incident. But my new silvertip spreads out on my face and really whips thin lather up a bit. I'd mostly been using the tips of the horse. So I pressed a bit harder and spread it out on my face. Mistake!

With generous application of my ASB, it only lasted about 24 hours, so I was able to shave this morning.

**Songwind** · 03-06-2012, 11:34 AM

I got my cake of Orange/Cedar/Pepper soap from Mike's Naturals yesterday. Mike also included a sample of Rose & Cedarwood.

The first thing that I noticed was (predictably) the smell. It's a clean, sharp smell. I was hoping the orange would be the star in this mix, and I was not disappointed. It's a "fresh orange" smell, lots of orange oil and citric acid smell, not an overly sweet smell. The cedar undertone and a spicy note of pepper follow on the back end. In the bar, the scent in very powerful, and in fact made me sneeze.

Speaking of the bar, it was shipped wrapped in wax paper and a corrugated paper sleeve, inside a bubble lined mailer. It arrived intact, without even the corners knocked off.

I transferred the bar to an Ikea Grundtal container. I sliced a bit off one end to give to a friend as a sample, and then trimmed the corners to fit the circle. The corners then wedged right into the sides. I could probably heat it gently and mash it down, but this is working fine. The soap is of medium density and hardness. Not as hard as MWF, but harder than Mama Bear's, Conk or VDH.

After lathering

I did a test lather last night, but didn't shave. The shave had to wait for this morning due to brush burn. Last night's lather was superior to this morning, but I started with my brush too dry and was adding water for close to five minutes. This morning it started off too wet and my final product was slick and very shaveable, but not quite as fluffy as I like. Still left my skin feeling great, and I had a nice close WTG/XTG/XTG shave with no nicks or irritation.

The intense smell of the bar turned into a pleasantly scented lather that kept the orange scent in my nose without overpowering it. Mrs. Songwind said she could still smell it on my skin for a little bit after the shave. I'll definitely have to find something pleasantly fruity to wear with it.

I'm going to shave with this soap a few more times (maybe just for the rest of the week solid) and write up a performance review.

My test lather

**Songwind** · 03-07-2012, 08:28 AM

Day 2 with my Mike's Naturals soap. I had a great shave this morning, including ATG with almost zero irritation. I walked away smelling like oranges with a near-BBS shave.

Speaking of BBS, does anyone else experience this: Under the influence of water and soap, my face seems to absorb extra water and my face is slightly puffy. So what's baby-butt smooth after my shave is ever so slightly stubbly about 30 minutes later, as my facial skin "deflates."

**Songwind** · 03-09-2012, 07:05 AM

It's been a rough week. My family has been sick, and I caught the bug on Wednesday and missed work yesterday. Interestingly, while it didn't alleviate my symptoms, a shower and shave did make me feel a bit better.

I've continued to use the Mike's Naturals soap, and made quite a few test lathers. I really, really like this soap.

Another fun development is that yesterday Mrs. Songwind asked me to make her a lather for shaving. She really liked it. I think this could be the first step toward getting her fully involved in wet shaving. :) I went ahead and put a bid on a Lady Gillette, but I don't have a lot of hope for it. I'm not much of an eBay expert, and things tend to get "sniped" out from under me.

**Songwind** · 03-09-2012, 09:49 PM

What an eventful day!

First off, I wrote up my review of my week of shaving with Mike's Natural Soap.

I also received my first sticks of Arko in the mail today. I have heard lots of things about it, both positive and negative. So I was excited to shave with it. It produces a great, slick lather. The smell was "meh." Not exciting, but not terrible, either. I've certainly smelled worse. It's a VERY hard soap, and it was a bit uncomfortable getting the soap onto my face. I got two sticks, so maybe I'll try milling one into a bowl or mug and lathering it with a brush. Any suggestions?

I also got my first serious cut today, and it was kind of a stupid one. I'm not sure what happened, exactly. I flinched, or had one of those moments where your brain momentarily stops processing information from a mirror quite right. Whatever the cause, I sliced my left earlobe pretty badly. It took quite a while to stop, actually.

**beengone** · 03-10-2012, 03:49 AM

Originally Posted by Songwind

I also received my first sticks of Arko in the mail today. I have heard lots of things about it, both positive and negative. So I was excited to shave with it. It produces a great, slick lather. The smell was "meh." Not exciting, but not terrible, either. I've certainly smelled worse. It's a VERY hard soap, and it was a bit uncomfortable getting the soap onto my face. I got two sticks, so maybe I'll try milling one into a bowl or mug and lathering it with a brush. Any suggestions?.

Confused. Arko is a very soft soap. It should be so soft you can just press it with your thumb into a bowl without warming or grating.