What's new

Oh Baby! Great Shave Today

I had one of the best shaves I’ve even had today. I made a couple changes to my routine.

Before my first pass, I used Proraso Pre-shave cream for the first time. Yesterday and Today I used Cella, as I ran out of Razorock XXX. Finally, I made a conscience effort to use a shallower blade angle on my passes.

The end result was an irritation free, BSS shave.

I think the blade angle had most to do with lack of razor burn today. I didn’t get a great lather with the Cella today (yesterday was awesome though). I had to reload my brush after the first pass. Once I reloaded I got a great lather for my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] and 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] passes.

I have a question about people’s routines. Do you only use a pre-shave product once, before lathering for the first time, or do you re prep before each pass? I only used the Proraso Pre before my first lather and could still feel the cooling affect after my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] pass. I can’t imagine what it is going to feel like when I switch over to my Proraso soap as well.

Needless to say, I'm very pleased with myself. :thumbup1:
 

nemo

Lunatic Fringe
Staff member
Blade angle and pressure have a lot to do with irritation free shaves. So does the prep.

I never use a pre-shave in my prep and I can't imagine using it between passes. Congrats and here's to many more successes!
 
Yes acesn8s I agree. I have found that blade angle has lot to do withe getting a razor burn bump free shave. I have not used the Proraso pre/post but I plan to order some. At the suggestion of another B&B member I have used Noxema on the first pass and have noticed the slickness lasts thought the other 2 passes.
 
Congrats! Those completely irritation free shaves can be hard to come by initially. Just curious... what's in this irritation free shaving kit of yours that's working so well for you?
 

Whilliam

First Class Citizen
I use a preshave (Pantene ProV Moisturizing Hair Conditioner for normal hair), but only once before I lather. The effects seem to last just fine--for me, anyway.

Welcome and enjoy!
 
Congrats! Those completely irritation free shaves can be hard to come by initially. Just curious... what's in this irritation free shaving kit of yours that's working so well for you?


I'm using a Merkur Progress (set on 2), crystal blades, and a SOC boar brush.

Finding the blade angle that works for me (had another irritation free shave yesterday) has prompted me to go to 2.5 on the progress. I've got some yard work to do this morning, so I'll probably catch a shower and shave later today.
 
My shave in the afternoon was really good. I had a little bit of irritation, which faded after about an hour. Setting the Progress at 2.5 forced me to slow down my passes. I could feel where parts of my face could "fit" into the blade gap and get bit. I nicked a raised scar that I have on my chin. On 2 the Progress would just glide over it.

That being said, I had a nice tight feeling on my checks and neck after the shave. I use to only get that when using Feather blades in my Slant back a few years ago (during my first attempt at wet shaving).

I ended up dialing the Progress back to 2. I wanted to try the P.160 I got and didn't want to mar the comparison between Cella and P.160 with a razor that was too aggressive for me. I'll be switching to Proraso (first time) in a few days, so I'll probably just shave at a 2 for a while. Maybe in a few weeks I'll bump back up to 2.5.
 
I only use a pre-shave once before the first pass.... but not before the second or third passes. I just had my first totally Proraso shave (pre-shave and shave cream) earlier this week. It's totally cool. Your face feels frozen for the entire shave. I'm working alot on my blade angle as well. That's been one of the toughest things for me to get down. I have had the tendancy to use too shallow of an angle starting out and to go over the same spot multiple times while steepening up the angle until the get some hair removal. I end up getting no protection or cushion from the cream because I scrape it all off before I really need it (when I finally get the right angle to get where the blade is slicing through the hair). I've been trying to focus on using a steeper angle starting out and to use short strokes but to not go overboard with the number of strokes on the same spot. I'm using a Muhle R89 so I don't have to worry about adjusting my razor. How do you like the Crystal blades? I'm about ready to blind buy 100 of them just based on the comments I've read on B&B. Yesterday I had a great shave when I went back to a Gillette 7 o'clock Super Platinum (blue) blade after using some other blades in my sampler pack for a while. I have yet to achieve BBS.... but it was close and with only a couple small nicks, no weepers and minor razor burn that was easily handled with some Floid Vigoroso and T&H Ultimate Comfort balm. I feel RBAD coming over me as I've had the urge to buy blades in bulk lately. I ordered a 100 pack of Astra SP's last week that should arrive any day now..... but I'm also thinking about getting a 100 pack of either Crystals, Gillette 7 o'clock SP blues, Red Personnas, or Feathers..... or maybe a 100 pack of all of them. Would you recommend Crystals on a blind buy?.... I've tried all of the other ones I mentioned so I'm comfortable with getting those already. Sometimes I feel like I'm just trying to justify my AD.... whatever it is at the moment.

Ben
 
Top Bottom