Gissy's straight razor stories

[Gissy]

I managed to drop my Solace razor from it's shelf banging to the floor. I couldn't see any damage on it so I stropped it up and had a go with it.

Used Today:

Vitos Pre-shave
Solace razor
Semogue SOC Boar
Mystic Water Coconut
Tet-A-Tet ASB

After having a couple of really great shaves with MW it did let me down a bit for a couple of shaves. Today I decided to use some time with it and started with quite a dry brush and add water slowly in the bowl. That gave the great lather I'm after and I love the scent on this soap!

I was a little nervous putting the razor to my face, but thankfully the edge was fine! I relaxed and had a really nice 2 pass shave. I hadn't used this razor for a while and had forgotten how good it actually is. Ended up with no blood, no irritation and a Damn Fine Shave!

I tried the Tet-A-Tet ASB for the first time yesterday and fell in love with it instantly. It got a great clean scent and makes my face feel fantastic! Most balms seems to make my face feel oily, but not this one!

Have nice days and nice shaves!

[Raithskar]

Awesome Stuff Gissy!

[Gissy]

I used a couple of hours yesterday to hone my W.H. Mosley and Son "Trademark". This was my third attempt at it, not having had much luck the two last times. After a lot of trial and error I fineally got the bevel set all along the edge. I used lapping film on a granit tile. After the lapping film I stropped 30 times on both sides of my whippeddog balsa and 50 times on leather. So today I gave it a go. I had enough trust in it to only take one straight to the bathroom.

Used today:

Mr Glo
W.H. Mosley and Son "Trademark"
Whippeddog 24mm Silvertip
Cyril R Salter Fresh Mint
Fitjar "Folgefonn" ASB

I lathered up the Salter and very soon had a full bowl. It wasn't the best lather I have ever had, but not to bad. I think I was rushing it a bit. I lathered up anyway and a little nervously put the razor to the face. It actually shaved pretty good! I did my normal two passes without much trouble. It was sharp enough, but not as smooth as my other razors. I'm still very happy that I actually managed to get it shave ready all on my own! Ended up with a close shave as usual, but with a little more irritation.

The Folgefonn is really great on hot summer days like today. It's even cooler than Proraso AS and really relaxes irritated skin.

[Gissy]

Nice shave today!

Used:

Vitos Pre-shave
Gotta 13/16
Simpson Special BBB
Scottish Fine Soaps SS
Proraso AS

Had a really nice close shave today. I used my Gotta and did three passes (WTG,XTG,XTG). A couple of tiny weepers, but it stopped on the cool water rinse. Had to try some new angles for the second XTG pass(ear to mouth), and it was no prolems.

[Rekonball]

A bit of advice. Don't shave after you've taken ambien.

[Gissy]

A bit of advice. Don't shave after you've taken ambien.

Bad experiences?

[Gissy]

It's been a while! I have been lazy and when I finally shaved on saturday I didn't have the time for a straight shave so I used my Slim instead. I had a very close shave, but with much more irritation on my neck than I get with straights.

Used Today:

L'oreal face wash
Vitos Pre-shave
Solace razor
Semogue 1305
Mystic Water Coconut
Alpa Konvalinka

I had a shower this morning, but since it was the first day after the holiday I had slept in a little and didn't have time for a shave. So prep this evening was washing my face in warm water and slapping on a good amount of Vitos.

Mystic Water have been a bit of a hit and miss for me, but today it was great. I loaded for about a minute and ended up with all to much lather. Just as I like it!

I did a 3 pass shave tonight. WTG, XTG(nose to ear) and XTG(ear to nose). Got a really nice shave. I prefer the prep with a warm shower though, I could feel the stubble were less hydrated than usual. Got two minor weepers that stopped bleeding before I even got to the cold water rinse and little or no irritation.

The Alpa really makes my skin feel great, but I can't seem to get use to the scent. Lilly of the Valley just reminds me to much of my mother. It was her favorite scent. This is not a feminine scent, but still.

Good to be back with the straights again. Looking forward to going to the Nordic Razorcon this weekend!

[Gissy]

SOTD:



Vitos pre-shave
Custom Gold Dollar
Whippeddog 24mm Silvertip
Body Shop Maca Root SC
Tet-A-Tet ASB(in the photo it's the SC, I didn't realise my mistake before I tried smearing it on my face after the shave)

I did a two pass shave today, it was all I had time for. It went ok, but something was a little off. I'm not sure if it was the lather or the razor that needs a touch up. Still got a nice enough shave so I'm not complaining(much).

[Gissy]

35th shave

This shave was done on saturday morning in Oslo in a very small toilet right before running out for the Nordic Razorcon 2012.

Used:

Vitos Pre-shave
Gotta 13/16 Razor
Vergylde Hand shave stick
Tgn grade A Silvertip brush
Clubman AS

A quick but nice two pass shave. I'm still not sold on face lathering, but it was my best face lather to date. Ended up with a nice SAS.

36th Shave

Barbershop.no and Shaving.ie was nice enough to give away some samples, freebies and raffle prices to Nordic Razorcon and I got some Proraso Red and a sample of GFT Sandlewood Skinfood I decided to try today. I decided to make this an all free shave. Everything used today I have been lucky enough to be gifted!

Used:


A natural hone at about 12000grit (gifted me from member Blix)
Custom Gold Dollar (a suprice gift from member tomjr)
Simpson Special BBB(gifted me from member njpaddy)
Proraso Red (freebie from Barbershop on NRC 2012)
GFT Sandalwood Skin food (freebie sample from shaving.ie on NRC 2012)

I felt the Gold Dollar needed a little touch up the last time I used it and I really wanted to try my first real hone so I went to work. I made a quite thick slurry with the included slurry stone and honed for four dilutions before washing the stone and finishing up on water. Then I did 50 laps on my poor man strop before going to the bathroom.

I showered this morning, but I didn't have the time to shave so this was an afternoon shave. I splashed some hot water on my face and put on some Vitos Pre-shave before lathering up the Red Proraso. I got what I thought was good lather and went to work with the razor. It felt like I had did a horrible work with the honing. I did half my face with a lot of tugging before I decided the lather was to dry and added more water. That was really the biggest problem. The shave was much better after that. The scent of the sandalwood cream is really nice. I liked it much better than the TOBS Sandalwood scent. The razor was still not as sharp as my other ones so my honing absolutely needs some more work, but after three passes(WTG,XTG, reversed XTG) I had a good enough shave without too much irritation. The Skinfood was really nice and has my favorite sandalwood scent so far. It surely was great and took care of the little irritation there was.

All in all it was a good shave and I'm really thankful for all the nice people that made it possible!

[Gissy]

I had a go at touching up the edge on my Gold Dollar again. I tried to use my new Purple welsh stone with slurry and dilutions first, but could not seem to get a great edge. I went back to the stone Blix gave me and started with slurry again and diluted to water. I tried to get the feel for it and I diluted every time I could feel the razor "sticking" to the stone. After that I went to my whippeddog balsa and stropped 30 times on red, then 30 on green. I did 50 passes on my poor man strop and the razor was really popping hairs on my arms. I did the HHT test and it did cut hairs. Then I tried the same on my new Hamburg Ring 6/8 I got yesterday from whippeddog and mine were sharper! I was looking forward to todays shave feeling I had taken a step forward on the honing.

The shave:


Vitos Pre-shave
Custom Gold Dollar
Semogue SOC
GFT Rose SC
Tet-A-Tet ASB

I got a sample of GFT Rose on Nordic Razorcon and was very exited to give a rose cream a try. I used maybe half a almond size amount on my SOC and bowl lathered. Even with that little amount I got enough for a three pass shave. The razor was really sharp! It was still a little lacking in smoothness put up against my other razors, but it's really getting there. I was really exited when it took of all the hair on my upper lip on the first pass. This is where I really need a sharp razor or it gets patchy. I did three passes(WTG,XTG,inverted XTG) and ended up with a DFS with just a little irritation.

Man this straight thing is a lot of fun!

[Gissy]

[hide][top]FSOTN(Failed Shave Of The Night)



The first picture is what I was supposed to use:

Hamburg Ring 6/8
Semogue SOC
Bald Frog "Chocolate expresso" soap
Dirty English ASB

I soaked the soap sample and my brush in the mug while I washed my face with some L'Oreal face wash. I put some Vitos pre-shave on my face and lathered up the soap. I got what looked to me like good lather in my bowl and got it on my face. I picked up my new "shave ready" straight and started shaving. Ouch! Something were off. I did my chin with a lot of tugging and very little shaving. I tried adding more water to the lather since dry lather can make a straight feel dull. It didn't help much.

I thought it must have been the soap since it was the first time I have tried it so I rinsed my bowl and brush and started from scratch with some Vergylde Hand since that always works great for me. Put some more hot water on my face and lathered up again. Things weren't any better. The straight wasn't sharp! I'm a newbie honer, but I do a better job than that!

I gave up and was looking for something else in my bathroom to shave with. I don't keep much stash there, but my Slim was there. No blades though :( Now I was so fed up I couldn't be bothered to go up the stairs so I picked up a Boots 3 blade cartridge razor I picked up a while ago to shave my head and just went with it. Ended up with a very close shave, but my skin isn't very happy.

So the other picture is what I actually ended up shaving with....

[Gissy]

Honing: I decided to hone up my W.H. Mosley and son "Tradematk from scratch. I did the bevel on two cheap fine and extra fine DMT's, then over to my 12um lapping film. When I was sure the bevel was pretty well set I went to my welch "Dragon tongue" with slurry and diluted to water. I must admit I didn't feel any big improvement of the edge. Then I went with the "Ilyn Melynllyn" and did the same. Still not much improvement to feel on the edge. I'm not really sure about these rocks. I didn't give up and took the unknown natural stone I got from Blix and built up a slurry again, diluted 4 times before finishing on water. Stropped the blade 50 times on both sides of my balsa and 150 times on leather.

The shave:


Vitos Pre-shave
W.H. Mosley "Trademark"
Old Spice Vintage soap
Semogue 1305
Alum block
4711 AS

Yesterday I finally got a mug to put my vintage OS soap in so I had to give it a go today. I put some hot water on the soap while I soaked the brush and let the pre-shave work. I thought it would take some work to load a soap most likely 40 years old, but that wasn't the case. 15 seconds and my brush was fully loaded with soap. A little work in my bowl and I had a nice luxurious lather.

I lathered up my face and started shaving. I'm starting to get a hang on this honing thing. The razor was sharp and smoother than my other efforts have been. The lather was nice, but a little dry. For the secondpass XTG I added a little more water and the lather got even better. The second pass was really nice and so was the third inverted XTG pass. It felt like I couldn't do anything wrong tonight so I lathered up again for a ATG pass. This was the second time I did a ATG pass, and it went very well. I have started using some scything strokes especially on my neck and it worked very good today. I ended up with the closest straight shave so far with just a little irritation and a few small weepers.

[Gissy]

This thing is really coming together!

Used Today:

Vitos Pre-shave
Gotta 13/16
Vintage Old Spice Soap
Whippeddog 24mm Silvertip
Speick AS

Pre-shave:
Stropped the razor on leather around 80 times
Shower with L'oreal Facewash
Vitos pre-shave on the face still wet from the shower

Shave:
I really wish they still made the Old Spice soap. It's the easiest lathering soap I have tried and works so great! Both slick and thick. I did three passes today(WTG,XTG,ATG). On the last pass I use some scything strokes on my neck. That has really taken the shave there to another level. Ened up with a near BBS shave.

Post-shave:
Splashed on some Speick aftershave and stropped the razor around 20 laps.

Fantastic shave!!!

[Gissy]

[Gissy]

Used Today:



Vitos pre-shave
Gotta 13/16
Semogue SOC boar
Old Spice SS
Speick AS

Pre-Shave:
Stropped on leather around 50 times, took a shower and washed my face with BS Maca Root face scrub, applied Vitos PS on wet face and let sit while I towel dried and got dressed a bit.

The Shave:
For some reason I've been face lathering a bit lately. I don't know why because I don't enjoy it much It took me a while to get the lather ok and it was a little dry when I started the first pass. After a few strokes I added some water and it was better, but still not really great. Still had a nice enough first pass. I added even more water for my second pass and went to work again. I went XTG and it felt nice until I suddenly lost the grip on my skin while stretching and made a cut as long as half the edge on my chin. I really feared I had made my first real bad cut, but luckily it wasn't deep. I finished the second pass and decided that would be good enough for today.

Post Shave:
Splashed on some Speick AS and thought I would get some bad sting on the cut, but it wasn't to bad really. Stropped the razor a few times on leather and went on with my day with a cat scratch on my skin

[lindyhop66]

Gissy, I can't believe how well you did on your first shave. You're a natural! I've been using a straight for almost 2 months and don't think I do as well as you. Congratulations.

[lindyhop66]

I use lapping film on a glass plate.

I didn't think I could hone a razor as a beginner until I found out about lapping film. Great stuff. Great edges.

[lindyhop66]

Good luck! Remember that the shavettes are supposed to be much less forgiving than real straights. I haven't used one, but that is what I have read.

If you decide to get a real straight razor you shouls order a sight unseen deal from Whippeddog. Then you can get all you need to start for under 50$.

They definitely are less forgiving. I tried a Korean knockoff of the Feather Japanese style shavette and gave up after a week or so and sold it. The next guy sold it within a week. So I tried straights. I still get nicked, but not so wickedly as the shavette slicing.

[lindyhop66]

I'd like to know what you do to get such great lather. Also, have you tried much shorter strokes, almost like buffing with a DE? I find I can get closer shaves that way.

[Gissy]

Gissy, I can't believe how well you did on your first shave. You're a natural! I've been using a straight for almost 2 months and don't think I do as well as you. Congratulations.

Thank you!

I didn't think I could hone a razor as a beginner until I found out about lapping film. Great stuff. Great edges.

I've yet to get a good edge from lapping film alone, but my honing is very much a thing I'm still working on.

I'd like to know what you do to get such great lather. Also, have you tried much shorter strokes, almost like buffing with a DE? I find I can get closer shaves that way.

I don't know what I do to get good lather really ;) To me longer strokes just feels more natural. I use quite long strokes with DE's too.