No I am not.
So I woke up really late and hungover this morning and knew I would not have the time for my daily two pass straight razor shave. I have heard many tales of people trying carts after years of shaving with superior products and coming to realize that improved technique and better software made shaving with a cart tolerable. This was not the case for me.
I grabbed the old gilette fusion from the closet and built and adequate lather with my AoS pure badger brush and EJ sea buckthorn soap. I applied the lather and let it soften my beard, not knowing what to do with myself as I would normally be stropping my razor while this took place. Rinsed off the lather and reapplied (loving the smell of the sea buckthorn by the way) and grabbed my plastic foe. As I dragged the fairly new cartridge blade (it had only been used for light touch ups before I converted to straights completely) across my face I was not impressed. The flimsy tilty head bounced around and almost vibrated over my thickly stubbled face. The sensation was almost itchy?!?! I was going to relather for a second pass but event thinking about going xtg or atg made my skin burn! I finished off with the alum block and the VEG and was surprised that there was not much burn. Maybe it wasn't so bad.
I made it to work and looked in the mirror and that is when my opinion shifted to completely negative. I had a frickin 5 o'clock shadow two hours after I shaved! Also, those little red bumps/splotches along my neck that I used to be plagued with had returned in full force after they had been diminishing steadily over the last few months. In short, although the cart may have not caused much burn that comes with the occasional "extreme exfoliation" that novice straight users often incur, it did not provide a smooth shave and it also came with itching and tugging. Had I done multiple passes I believe that the resulting shave might have increased marginally while the irritation would have multiplied exponentially.
So while, I do keep the cart beast in the closet for an emergency BARELY SAS or for more "base" tasks, I have truly seen the light and could NEVER go back!
nrv216
So I woke up really late and hungover this morning and knew I would not have the time for my daily two pass straight razor shave. I have heard many tales of people trying carts after years of shaving with superior products and coming to realize that improved technique and better software made shaving with a cart tolerable. This was not the case for me.
I grabbed the old gilette fusion from the closet and built and adequate lather with my AoS pure badger brush and EJ sea buckthorn soap. I applied the lather and let it soften my beard, not knowing what to do with myself as I would normally be stropping my razor while this took place. Rinsed off the lather and reapplied (loving the smell of the sea buckthorn by the way) and grabbed my plastic foe. As I dragged the fairly new cartridge blade (it had only been used for light touch ups before I converted to straights completely) across my face I was not impressed. The flimsy tilty head bounced around and almost vibrated over my thickly stubbled face. The sensation was almost itchy?!?! I was going to relather for a second pass but event thinking about going xtg or atg made my skin burn! I finished off with the alum block and the VEG and was surprised that there was not much burn. Maybe it wasn't so bad.
I made it to work and looked in the mirror and that is when my opinion shifted to completely negative. I had a frickin 5 o'clock shadow two hours after I shaved! Also, those little red bumps/splotches along my neck that I used to be plagued with had returned in full force after they had been diminishing steadily over the last few months. In short, although the cart may have not caused much burn that comes with the occasional "extreme exfoliation" that novice straight users often incur, it did not provide a smooth shave and it also came with itching and tugging. Had I done multiple passes I believe that the resulting shave might have increased marginally while the irritation would have multiplied exponentially.
So while, I do keep the cart beast in the closet for an emergency BARELY SAS or for more "base" tasks, I have truly seen the light and could NEVER go back!
nrv216