The Newbie ACE Shavers thread, you must have a perfect no issue shave to post.

alex2363 said:

Preshave? What is your process?

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Well, with the pre shave, I only used it twice. I got a sample of the school of shave oil from Wolf Whiskers. I soaked my face for about five minutes with a hot towel and washed it. During that time I soak my brush and let drops of hot water rest on top of the hard soap. However, yesterday I used XX. Massage the pre shave oil onto my face well and then take my brush that I bowl lathered and apply over the oil on my face. Doesn't really appear to be my thing so far. It was a pain to wash off and I don't feel like it improved my shave.

On the upside, I tried a Gillette Silver Blue blade in my slab this morning and it was heaven sent. Ace shave, hands down, even over the irritation from yesterday. I will be ordering many more of these blades. It was so smooth running down my face I didn't think it was cutting any hair. The proof was the slick face and all the stubble in the sink. Niiiccccce!

FridayGt said:

Well, with the pre shave, I only used it twice. I got a sample of the school of shave oil from Wolf Whiskers. I soaked my face for about five minutes with a hot towel and washed it. During that time I soak my brush and let drops of hot water rest on top of the hard soap. However, yesterday I used XX. Massage the pre shave oil onto my face well and then take my brush that I bowl lathered and apply over the oil on my face. Doesn't really appear to be my thing so far. It was a pain to wash off and I don't feel like it improved my shave.

On the upside, I tried a Gillette Silver Blue blade in my slab this morning and it was heaven sent. Ace shave, hands down, even over the irritation from yesterday. I will be ordering many more of these blades. It was so smooth running down my face I didn't think it was cutting any hair. The proof was the slick face and all the stubble in the sink. Niiiccccce!

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So no more oil routine?

alex2363 said:

So no more oil routine?

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No more oil. Today my routine was;

Five minute hot towel soak while soaking brush and letting drops of water hang on top of my Moma Bears Dragon's Blood puck.
Wash face then load brush for 45 seconds. Bowl lather with epic results.
Load Gillette Silver Blue in my RazoRock SLAB.
Splash hot water on face from sink.
Give face a nice long relaxing scrub with the brush and paint good lather.
WTG pass slides like water down my face.
Warm water rinse.
XTG pass still smooth, but I can at least tell is curing hairs this time. Nice.
Warm rinse and look for reason for third pass ATG or at least touch up areas. None found. Giggity.
Cold rinse and apply alum.
Clean up and put away supplies.
After five minutes, cold rinse and dab away alum.
Apply nivea after shave balm, let dry.
Apply Pinaud Clubman for baller status. Check.

I'm so happy with my shave today that I want to shave again and am bummed I have to wait until tomorrow to even have anything to shave.

FridayGt said:

No more oil. Today my routine was;

Five minute hot towel soak while soaking brush and letting drops of water hang on top of my Moma Bears Dragon's Blood puck.
Wash face then load brush for 45 seconds. Bowl lather with epic results.
Load Gillette Silver Blue in my RazoRock SLAB.
Splash hot water on face from sink.
Give face a nice long relaxing scrub with the brush and paint good lather.
WTG pass slides like water down my face.
Warm water rinse.
XTG pass still smooth, but I can at least tell is curing hairs this time. Nice.
Warm rinse and look for reason for third pass ATG or at least touch up areas. None found. Giggity.
Cold rinse and apply alum.
Clean up and put away supplies.
After five minutes, cold rinse and dab away alum.
Apply nivea after shave balm, let dry.
Apply Pinaud Clubman for baller status. Check.

I'm so happy with my shave today that I want to shave again and am bummed I have to wait until tomorrow to even have anything to shave.

Click to expand...

Dang, you are a true Hot shot Ace shaver

Lots of talent being shown here; I'm reluctant to use the word "Newbie" with these guys.

I still feel like a newb, having started just after Christmas, but I did my first bad-*** super-sweet shave couple of days ago. So, here's the weaponry:

• Cremo Face Wash (in shower)
• CVS Glycerin
• Truefitt & Hill Sandalwood Shave Cream
• Merkur 34C
• Astra SP blade (3rd shave)
• Royal Shave PB2 Best Badger Brush
• Scuttle from Sarah Welch Pottery
• Fine Accoutrements Fresh Vetiver AS

And here's how it was accomplished:

• Filled scuttle (inner & outer) with hot water just before stepping into the shower
• Washed face last thing in the shower
• Refilled the scuttle with hot water and started the brush soaking
• While it soaked, filled the sink with hot water and applied hot wet towel to my face
• After about a minute, removed the brush and (nearly) emptied the upper bowl of the scuttle
• Dropped a couple drops of glycerin into the scuttle
• Loaded up the brush with the T&H cream ("Use more product in 2014!")
• Adding a few drops of water at a time, built up nice lather. Not lather-porn quality like some guys do here, but nice enough
• 4-pass shave:
  • WTG
  • XTG ear-to-nose (ATG on chin)
  • XTG nose-to-ear (ATG on chin)
  • ATG, hand-applying cream squeezed out of the brush
• Warm water rinse to get everything off
• [expletive deleted] cold water rinse to tighten up them pores
• Alum block all over. No weepers, but I like to use the alum block to get feedback on the quality of the shave. No hot spots, so it must have been OK.
• Fine Accoutrements Vetiver all over

This was the first time I really got my own attention with a shave. I've had a couple BBS ones before, but they've been accompanied by irritation (or blood). Previous irritation-free shaves have left rough spots that I could feel. This one had it all, and I hope to have many more like it. The constants for me in this adventure have been the brush, razor, and the T&H Sandalwood cream.

I'm still working through sampler packs to find my one true shave, but this combination is a contender. Astra SP is the fourth type of blade I've tried, after Merkur, Lord Platinum, and Wilkinson Sword. I just got in some of the Russian blades, and I still have a few others including Kai & Feather to try out. For aftershave, I previously tried most of the William Neumann splashes, and I liked them but didn't love them. Of the four Fine Accoutrements samples, I've only used the Vetiver, but I also love the scents of the Italian Citrus and Barber Shop. The Lavande seems almost not to have a scent, but I guess I'll find out when I actually use it after a shave. Either way, I'll probably be getting some full-size splashes from the fine people at ... Fine.

Here endeth the reading from the Book of Newb.

FridayGt said:

...Apply Pinaud Clubman for baller status. Check.

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Baller status engaged.

This was a shave from a couple of days ago and so far my best shave:

So tonight was about my 6th shave.
*Went with cella soap
*gillette super speed
*shark blade

*Heated my mug and water in the microwave and then put my Omega boar brush in the water.
*Put the mug with brush in the sink with hot water.
*Then I showered and used an exfoliating soap on my face.
*Got out and worked my lather up and applied to a wet face.
*Went N to S on first pass.
*Rinsed, re applied soap and then went with a "beard mapping approach" = some ATG, some XTG.
*Rinsed & re applied soap one more time and then just tried to pick out the 'rough spots'.

*Finished with Thayer's Witch Hazel, Aqua Velva and then Nivea AS Balm.
Not saying I feel like a million bucks but pretty damn close!!

PS - TY ALEX FOR THIS THREAD. YOU ARE A GREAT MENTOR & SUPPORTER OF ALL THE NEW GUYS!!

It only took me a half dozen shaves, but I chalk that up to having studied this forum and several videos for about a month before taking the plunge. And then, I followed all instructions to the letter.

Merkur 38 "Barber Pole"
Feather blade (also Gillette Silver Blue)
Escali badger brush
Barrister & Mann Seville

Prep: Hot shower, brush soaking in bowl during the shower. Hot water rinse, long face lather the Seville (2+ mins?), while I get the blade loaded and fill the sink with hottest water possible. Hot wash cloth to rinse the cream off, then face lather again.

Shave: First pass is WTG (basically north-to-south) with zero pressure, paying close attention to blade angle. This is most difficult on the somewhat square chin and steep lines of neck, but closeness of shave seems 80% blade angle and 20% slick lather, IMO. Rinse. Face lather again. Second pass is XTG (west-to-east on left side, east-to-west on right side, south-to-north from bottom neckline to jaw/chin line). Rinse and reassess. Usually only need some touch up on one side of neck and underside of chin, so I lather these areas again, do a northwest-to-southeast and/or northeast-to-southwest on the part of the chin you rest in your palm. Rinse and assess.

Post-shave: I use the remaining lather to do my face one more time and let it sit for a few mins while I rinse my utensils and wipe up my work area and brush my teeth. This gives my face another 3-4 mins soaking in the lather on. I cold rinse 2 or three times. I don't want the nice Seville scent to be covered up by any balm, so at this stage, I'M DONE. (I would like to try some B&M Kyovu Aftershave splash at this point though!)

Last night had my best have yet. Definitely ACE shave material...this morning my face still feels BBS.

Pre-shave:
Fill sink/mug with hot water and soak my Geo F Trumper Super Badger shave brush.
Have long, hot shower (15 minutes).
Rub olive oil on shaving area, especially my neck.
Shake excess water out of brush, add some Proraso Green shave cream to mug and start swirling to create lather.
Lather face up really well, with light pressure on brush. I like to let just the tips go over my face.

Shave:
Take out Merkur Progress with Astra blade in it and begin WTG shaving. I pay special attention around my neck as my hair grows towards the sides on each side of my neck (left side grows left, right side grows right). I really concentrate on not putting any pressure on the razor and letting the weight of it and the sharpness of the blade do the work. I'm an avid home cook, so I know what it's like to let my knife blade do the work, and I try and apply that same feeling to my shaving.
Rinse with warm water, and reapply another layer of lather for second pass.
Second pass is XTG, again paying special attention on my neck to get the angle right to be going XTG.
Rinse & reapply for Final Pass
Final pass is ATG on my face only, and a very light XTG on my neck.
I reapplied a little shave cream to my jaw line and chin to do a little touch up in that area.

Post Shave:
First rinse with warm water to get rid of residual shave soap, then a cold water rinse to close pores and refresh my face.
Apply Aveda Moisturizing cream to face. (My real shaving aftershave stuff is being delivered shortly).

I had no nicks, cuts, stingers, or irritation. Just a beautiful clean shave.

Hit a hot streak 5 great shaves in a row last week, bbs no irritation at all.

First I take steaming hot shower and wash face with neutrogena razor defense facial scrub

Merkur 180 lh
Feather, 3 shaves on one 2 on other
AOS sandalwood preshave oil
Proraso green tub soap
Vdh boar brush and aos badger
Maggards alum block to prove no irritation
And topped it all off with The Club

Went wtg, xtg, atg all 5 shaves. Also my first ever DE shave wasnt bbs but a great shave very close to bbs no nicks or irritation.

mswofford said:

Lots of talent being shown here; I'm reluctant to use the word "Newbie" with these guys.

Click to expand...

Let's use the word ACE shavers then......

b_train said:

I still feel like a newb, having started just after Christmas, but I did my first bad-*** super-sweet shave couple of days ago. So, here's the weaponry:

• Cremo Face Wash (in shower)
• CVS Glycerin
• Truefitt & Hill Sandalwood Shave Cream
• Merkur 34C
• Astra SP blade (3rd shave)
• Royal Shave PB2 Best Badger Brush
• Scuttle from Sarah Welch Pottery
• Fine Accoutrements Fresh Vetiver AS

And here's how it was accomplished:

• Filled scuttle (inner & outer) with hot water just before stepping into the shower
• Washed face last thing in the shower
• Refilled the scuttle with hot water and started the brush soaking
• While it soaked, filled the sink with hot water and applied hot wet towel to my face
• After about a minute, removed the brush and (nearly) emptied the upper bowl of the scuttle
• Dropped a couple drops of glycerin into the scuttle
• Loaded up the brush with the T&H cream ("Use more product in 2014!")
• Adding a few drops of water at a time, built up nice lather. Not lather-porn quality like some guys do here, but nice enough
• 4-pass shave:
  • WTG
  • XTG ear-to-nose (ATG on chin)
  • XTG nose-to-ear (ATG on chin)
  • ATG, hand-applying cream squeezed out of the brush
• Warm water rinse to get everything off
• [expletive deleted] cold water rinse to tighten up them pores
• Alum block all over. No weepers, but I like to use the alum block to get feedback on the quality of the shave. No hot spots, so it must have been OK.
• Fine Accoutrements Vetiver all over

This was the first time I really got my own attention with a shave. I've had a couple BBS ones before, but they've been accompanied by irritation (or blood). Previous irritation-free shaves have left rough spots that I could feel. This one had it all, and I hope to have many more like it. The constants for me in this adventure have been the brush, razor, and the T&H Sandalwood cream.

I'm still working through sampler packs to find my one true shave, but this combination is a contender. Astra SP is the fourth type of blade I've tried, after Merkur, Lord Platinum, and Wilkinson Sword. I just got in some of the Russian blades, and I still have a few others including Kai & Feather to try out. For aftershave, I previously tried most of the William Neumann splashes, and I liked them but didn't love them. Of the four Fine Accoutrements samples, I've only used the Vetiver, but I also love the scents of the Italian Citrus and Barber Shop. The Lavande seems almost not to have a scent, but I guess I'll find out when I actually use it after a shave. Either way, I'll probably be getting some full-size splashes from the fine people at ... Fine.

Here endeth the reading from the Book of Newb.

Click to expand...

Practice that lather process, it is easy with practice.

embalyst said:

Baller status engaged.

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I so just pictured Patrick Stewart looking back at me through the mirror saying that. Lol

mswofford said:

Lots of talent being shown here; I'm reluctant to use the word "Newbie" with these guys.

Click to expand...

alex2363 said:

Dang, you are a true Hot shot Ace shaver

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Thanks guys for all the support! It's pretty awesome to have my face feel just awesome all day. It's a nice reward for getting better at this hobby.

Have been doing this routine for 6 months, same routine I did decades ago, with great BBS results, 2 weepers in 6 months:

Gear:
Gillette SS (40's), SS-Flare (1954), Canadian Large handle Tech, or Ball handle Tech
Blade: Best luck with Labs or Astra SP (don't care for Feathers or 7:00 Blacks or 15 other brands!)
Soap: Van Der Hagen
Time: Normal 15 minutes, as much as 20 minutes

Wash Face - Hot Water
Hot washcloth over face for 90 seconds, while brush is in hot water
Load brush for 20 seconds
Build lather on face (pass 1), up,down, back, forth, rotate left, rotate right, then brush in mug
WTG pass, NS in cheeks/chin, S-N on neck
Lather again (pass 2), using lather i brush, adding 1/8th dip in water after lathered, then lathering it again
XTG pass, SN for both cheeks, EW on chin, NS on neck
Lather again (pass 3), using lather i brush, adding 1/8th dip in water after lathered, then lathering it again
ATG pass, mouth to ear (WE & EW) on both cheeks, SN on chin, EW on right neck & center of left neck, WE on left of left neck
Wash with hot washcloth
Rinse brush & squeeze waater out
Splash face with cold water
Use 1 of 2 aftershaves or if traveling use aftershave lotion

So - I've been struggling with lathering.... Tonight I decided to go with my C.O. Bigelow Shave Foam instead of any lathering with my brush, soaps & creams.

I also switched up from my Maggard MR6 Razor (which I luv much) and the Shark blades I'd been using. Instead I went with my Gillette Super Speed TTO and a brand new Astra blade.

Lathered up with the C.O. Bigelow Shave Foam and went N to S on first pass = very smooth. Rinsed and re lathered and instead of WTG, ATG, XTG, I basically just did some 'touch up passes' where needed in various directions and ended up with one, if not the best, shaves I've had in my short DE shaving experience. Virtually no irritation, no cuts, no nicks, no nothing except semi bliss!!!

I gotta tell you... I've struggled with lathering and I've used C.O. Bigelow cream, RazoRock soap, Cella soap, badger brushes and boar brushes and the C.O. Bigelow shave foam sans brush was not only extremely simple but quite refreshing and very uncomplicated!!

I'm not totally giving up on soaps and creams but I have to say I was very, very happy with foregoing the whole lathering process and substituting shave foam tonight!

orcldba said:

Have been doing this routine for 6 months, same routine I did decades ago, with great BBS results, 2 weepers in 6 months:

Gear:
Gillette SS (40's), SS-Flare (1954), Canadian Large handle Tech, or Ball handle Tech
Blade: Best luck with Labs or Astra SP (don't care for Feathers or 7:00 Blacks or 15 other brands!)
Soap: Van Der Hagen
Time: Normal 15 minutes, as much as 20 minutes

Wash Face - Hot Water
Hot washcloth over face for 90 seconds, while brush is in hot water
Load brush for 20 seconds
Build lather on face (pass 1), up,down, back, forth, rotate left, rotate right, then brush in mug
WTG pass, NS in cheeks/chin, S-N on neck
Lather again (pass 2), using lather i brush, adding 1/8th dip in water after lathered, then lathering it again
XTG pass, SN for both cheeks, EW on chin, NS on neck
Lather again (pass 3), using lather i brush, adding 1/8th dip in water after lathered, then lathering it again
ATG pass, mouth to ear (WE & EW) on both cheeks, SN on chin, EW on right neck & center of left neck, WE on left of left neck
Wash with hot washcloth
Rinse brush & squeeze waater out
Splash face with cold water
Use 1 of 2 aftershaves or if traveling use aftershave lotion

Click to expand...

Why do you use diff AS on travels?

Oldmso54 said:

So - I've been struggling with lathering.... Tonight I decided to go with my C.O. Bigelow Shave Foam instead of any lathering with my brush, soaps & creams.

I also switched up from my Maggard MR6 Razor (which I luv much) and the Shark blades I'd been using. Instead I went with my Gillette Super Speed TTO and a brand new Astra blade.

Lathered up with the C.O. Bigelow Shave Foam and went N to S on first pass = very smooth. Rinsed and re lathered and instead of WTG, ATG, XTG, I basically just did some 'touch up passes' where needed in various directions and ended up with one, if not the best, shaves I've had in my short DE shaving experience. Virtually no irritation, no cuts, no nicks, no nothing except semi bliss!!!

I gotta tell you... I've struggled with lathering and I've used C.O. Bigelow cream, RazoRock soap, Cella soap, badger brushes and boar brushes and the C.O. Bigelow shave foam sans brush was not only extremely simple but quite refreshing and very uncomplicated!!

I'm not totally giving up on soaps and creams but I have to say I was very, very happy with foregoing the whole lathering process and substituting shave foam tonight!

Click to expand...

Just use the canned goo until you have mastered the shave technique, then master shave lather making

alex2363 said:

Wow, a ACE shave with all those steps, that is amazing

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Thanks, although "all those steps" aren't really that many if you think about it.

If I didn't describe the minute details it would merely be a handful of lines ;-)

alex2363 said:

Just use the canned goo until you have mastered the shave technique, then master shave lather making

Click to expand...

TY Alex - I do plan on continuing to work on lathering!