Tutorial - how to use a shaving stick

[joel]

Gents,
It has come to my attention that many individuals are not familiar with shave sticks and their use - so here is a picture laden tutorial!
Enjoy!

Step One - Twist off the lid :P

The Stick to be used in this tutorial is a QED Essentials Peppermint Shave Stick... this sucker has a GREAT cooling effect, and a VERY strong peppermint scent.


Next get some nice hot water running.


Cup some of the water with your hands and splash your face, and really try to get as much water as possible on your face. (Sorry for the non-descriptive pic - trying to cup water and take a pic on my own was a bit difficult!)


Once your face is properly moistened - begin rubbing the stick around your face with light pressure.


As you begin rubbing around your beard area - you will notice some VERY light bubbling/lather beginning to form.


Here is a shot of what it will look like.


Next take your soaking wet brush - and give it about one shake.


After one or two twists you can see lather begin in its infancy.


With just a few more swirls with the big Shavemac XXL Silvertip you can see this lather start to come up.


In seconds the brush is filled with lather.


You can see wonderful shave-worthy lather is a cinch to make.


Brush motion.


Lather full brush.


Brush.


Shavin' time!

If you have any questions - feel free to fire away!

[Jim]

Nice job Joel!

[jellywerker]

Excellent, and good to see some verification that my lather isn't too thin.

[rabidpotatochip]

I always wondered until seeing that. Seriously. Thanks.

[Mr Mockett]

Excellent, and good to see some verification that my lather isn't too thin.

I try to make my lather a bit thicker than that, but I have used lather as thin as that pictured above with fine results.

[ScottS]

I like sneaking up on this from the other side, as its easier to thin down the lather if its too thick than vice versa. I tend to start with a slightly dryer brush, I think, and add water if I need it.

With my Valobra stick, I tend to get lather that many would consider too thick for a DE, but I like it just fine with a straight.

[trewornan]

Guess I must be the only person who likes to dip the end of the stick in water before using it.

[loueedacat]

Guess I must be the only person who likes to dip the end of the stick in water before using it.

I do that too. I think a lot of people do. Wet face, wet stick, rub stick on face gently but generously, lather it up - I get very thick and slick lather doing all that.

[red2]

I always wondered until seeing that. Seriously. Thanks.

+1!

Nice job Joel!

+1

I have a shave stick as part of a travel kit which I haven't used yet.

[ScottyD]

Great. Something else for me to spend my hard earned money on and add to the collection on the sink. I love it!

[scoopster]

Nice tutorial.

This what I do for travel. I bring along a shave stick (severla for variety if its going to be a long trip) brush & razor. It's very compact and convenient.

[Winzzy]

I think I will be picking up a shave stick this next month... The Arko is so cheap that I can;t not try it!

[CJMaxey]

Interesting product, do they seem to last pretty long?

[joel]

Interesting product, do they seem to last pretty long?

Yep - shave sticks last a pretty long time.

[PuFFaH]

My method is:

place soap end of stick in left hand, held by the thumb and forfinger so only the soap shows in what is now a cupped hand.
Now use the cupped palm with the soap sticks end in the cup as a lather mixing bowl.

Pictures would have served my description better, hope you understood the text :)

PuFF

[BJC]

Thanks for the post. It is nice to find the answer to a question without even having to ask.

BJC

[Suzuki]

Yep - shave sticks last a pretty long time.

The QED sticks are nice and big and last a while.

The tallow-based sticks (Erasmic, Palmolive, Boots,
Arko, La Toja, etc...) are harder tha the QED sticks (which are glycerine-based) and last a very long time - great bargains - especially if you can get them locally.

The only two points I'd add to Joel's excellent tutorial:

1) If you're using a hard stick, you might find that rubbing it on your face is a little rough - if so, just dip the tip of the stick into some hot water for second and it will soften it up just enough so it goes on more smoothly.

2) I start with a drier brush and add water by lightly moistening the tip of my brush as needed (just another way to get to the same point).

Finally, there are lots of products that can be used a la shave stick - for example, I generally use my Conck pucks this way - just pop them out of the tub, rub them on my face and voila - they work very well this way, as to the trial pucks of soap from TGQ.

I'm a big fan of the shave sticks - use them for travel and at least a couple of times during the week.

[BartFromBelgium]

Well, here's my way of doing it.

I soak my brush in hot water, give a couple of rubs against the stick, so that you can see basic lather being created, then I start rubbing the brush against my face. Works like a charm, but I think your stick won't last that long by doing it like this.

Those sticks (Palmolive) are for sale at local shops, costs less than a euro, so it's not a big investment...!

[thunderball]

Great tutorial. Gonna give my new Arko stick a whirl tomorrow...

[elias_21]

Joel thanks for the how-to!

I have a question though, but not for the stick! I have the same red little spots on my cheeks, like you have. But they became red only when I am shaving, and after a while they aren't that obvious. Do you know what are these, and how I can get rid of them?