Someone in one of my other posts had mentioned starting a journal for my first attempts. Great idea!
29JUL13
-I strop my Dovo and it passes the hanging hair test. I'm thinking it's good to go.
-I take a hot shower then make my way to the sink and get everything ready
-I splash hot water on my face 5-6 times then soak a hand towel in hot water, ring it out, and wrap up my face for about a minute while my brush soaks
-Splash my face again
-Face lather (I don't have a bowl and I wanted both of my hands dry) with T&H Grafton
-I apply a fairly thick eve coat
-I start on the right cheek. I pull the skin taught with my left hand above my side burn and strt with a 10 degree angle since I was a little nervous.
-So far, so good. It looks like about the same results as my DE so it must be working fairly well. I have some difficulty getting all of my cheek with pulling so I puff out my cheeks which helps.
-I move to the left side and consider using my right hand but change my mind one I realize I can't really see what I'm doing. I go to the left hand (which felt very unnatural) and do the same process. I'm having a very hard time maintaining a blade angle ad getting solid passes. The razor feels like it's bouncing aroud on my skin. The results are pretty poor. Oh well, moving on.
-I move to the neck. After finding out a way to hold the razor that feels a little more natural I start going S to N since that's WTG. I have a hard time gettig certain parts of my neck (specifically to the outsides of my Adam's Apple). I use a little more pressure and pull my skin more which helps a little.
-I more to the upper lip. I'm feeling pretty good since I haven't nicked myself yet. I move the blade i without paying attention. BOOM! First cut under my right nostril (and a pretty good one at that. About 2cm). I put on some Proraso nick sealat and continue on. I have a very hard time maneuvering a good blade angle so I decide to move onto the chin.
-My cream is very dry now. I can see it flaking away as I shave. I decide not to reapply. I pay for it. I get three nicks in rapid succession below my bottom lip. I'm gettig zero results and it's a constant pulling and tugging instead of slicing.
-I rinse off and reapply my cream in a lighter wetter layer.
-I start with the chin this time getting better results but still nowhere as good as my DE.
-I do the cheeks and neck again. It goes faster this time but the results aren't that great. I'm feeling a lot of skinn irritation.
-I do my upper lip like a fat man tip toeig around sleeping alligators. It didn't go well.
-I rinse off, relather and do a XTG with my DE since the shave I had is nowhere near presentable.
-I rinse off with warm water (can't get cold water out of the tap out here) and apply my alum block. I would have cringed and groaned but other grown men are around me and I refuse to look weak. Hell, I'm shaving with a straight razor so I must be tough right? Alum block proved otherwise.
-I rinse off the alum and put on my AS balm.
Total Time: About 50 minutes
LESSONS LEARNED
-Going to try a preshave oil since the skinfood tightens the skin and leaves a nince glycerin base.
-Keep my cream wetter annd reapply it to ay dry areas to prevet a "dry shave" feeling
-Pull my skin tighter. I reverted back to my DE techniques and they didn't work well for the straight.
-Use a little bit of pressure. I was using almost no pressure which made the blade "bounce" around my skin
-Use more of the blade. I had a lot of passes which cause a lot of irritation because I was only usinng a small portion of the blade
-Work on the blade angle. I'd catch myself going in at almost 70 degrees sometimes.
-Take your time. I started to hurry at the end and paid for it!
29JUL13
-I strop my Dovo and it passes the hanging hair test. I'm thinking it's good to go.
-I take a hot shower then make my way to the sink and get everything ready
-I splash hot water on my face 5-6 times then soak a hand towel in hot water, ring it out, and wrap up my face for about a minute while my brush soaks
-Splash my face again
-Face lather (I don't have a bowl and I wanted both of my hands dry) with T&H Grafton
-I apply a fairly thick eve coat
-I start on the right cheek. I pull the skin taught with my left hand above my side burn and strt with a 10 degree angle since I was a little nervous.
-So far, so good. It looks like about the same results as my DE so it must be working fairly well. I have some difficulty getting all of my cheek with pulling so I puff out my cheeks which helps.
-I move to the left side and consider using my right hand but change my mind one I realize I can't really see what I'm doing. I go to the left hand (which felt very unnatural) and do the same process. I'm having a very hard time maintaining a blade angle ad getting solid passes. The razor feels like it's bouncing aroud on my skin. The results are pretty poor. Oh well, moving on.
-I move to the neck. After finding out a way to hold the razor that feels a little more natural I start going S to N since that's WTG. I have a hard time gettig certain parts of my neck (specifically to the outsides of my Adam's Apple). I use a little more pressure and pull my skin more which helps a little.
-I more to the upper lip. I'm feeling pretty good since I haven't nicked myself yet. I move the blade i without paying attention. BOOM! First cut under my right nostril (and a pretty good one at that. About 2cm). I put on some Proraso nick sealat and continue on. I have a very hard time maneuvering a good blade angle so I decide to move onto the chin.
-My cream is very dry now. I can see it flaking away as I shave. I decide not to reapply. I pay for it. I get three nicks in rapid succession below my bottom lip. I'm gettig zero results and it's a constant pulling and tugging instead of slicing.
-I rinse off and reapply my cream in a lighter wetter layer.
-I start with the chin this time getting better results but still nowhere as good as my DE.
-I do the cheeks and neck again. It goes faster this time but the results aren't that great. I'm feeling a lot of skinn irritation.
-I do my upper lip like a fat man tip toeig around sleeping alligators. It didn't go well.
-I rinse off, relather and do a XTG with my DE since the shave I had is nowhere near presentable.
-I rinse off with warm water (can't get cold water out of the tap out here) and apply my alum block. I would have cringed and groaned but other grown men are around me and I refuse to look weak. Hell, I'm shaving with a straight razor so I must be tough right? Alum block proved otherwise.
-I rinse off the alum and put on my AS balm.
Total Time: About 50 minutes
LESSONS LEARNED
-Going to try a preshave oil since the skinfood tightens the skin and leaves a nince glycerin base.
-Keep my cream wetter annd reapply it to ay dry areas to prevet a "dry shave" feeling
-Pull my skin tighter. I reverted back to my DE techniques and they didn't work well for the straight.
-Use a little bit of pressure. I was using almost no pressure which made the blade "bounce" around my skin
-Use more of the blade. I had a lot of passes which cause a lot of irritation because I was only usinng a small portion of the blade
-Work on the blade angle. I'd catch myself going in at almost 70 degrees sometimes.
-Take your time. I started to hurry at the end and paid for it!