What did you learn from your last shave?

-That every once in a while a person has that moment where you say "wow what a shave" when you are done. I don't get too many of those days I am searching for what blades and soaps work. In the 6 months that I started DE shaving I am trying to think that this morning was the second or maybe the third time I hit shave nirvana. The combination was a brand new Gillette 7 o'clock Super Platinum(black) in my slim first set at #4 and then turned up to #6 and Cella in the little red tub. "WOW, what a shave! Other than I whacked a pimple(getting to damn old to have them) and drew a speck of red stuff I had no irritation.

-That I think I just may have found my number one blade in the 7 o'clock Super Platinum. It has at least tied with my other two favorite blades so far which are Gillette 7 o'clock Permasharp and the Merkur blade. Actually it may have even have a slight lead. Now to try for longevity. If I push them as far as the 7 o'clock Permasharp I won't get to try another blade for the next month or so.

I need to find a way to get rid of neck bumps, they open up and I get weepers even with no irritation.

The R41 (2013) is just too aggressive for my skin.

1Cal said:

It sounds like you're shaving off a tiny additional bit of skin Duke. Maybe just a little less pressure with your Fatip would do the trick?

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Thanks Cal , I am going to keep using the Fatip since the redness problem is not a major issue. I will try your suggestion about still less pressure although I am using as little pressure (tending to zero) as possible right now.

Today i learnt that a big cheap bowl makes a great lather bowl so much from so little

There's not much difference between La Toja Classic Cream and La Toja Sensitive Cream - I've got a tube of each, I'll "simplify" my collection
Ergo - when one tube is gone, it's gone, when the other tube needs replacing, I'll buy whichever one is on promotion in the supermarket
(If both are the same price, I'll go for Classic)

shave today not as good as yesterday, same razor, same blade, same cream, same brush, same routine and I think same poor technique.

The Lord L6 is a light weight razor with decent performance. It isn't heirloom quality, but that doesn't matter when you can get it for ~$10 on Amazon.

My homemade peppermint & menthol aftershave was a resounding success. 7 hours later and my face still feels great. Nice to know I don't need to keep buying it. Fun DIY project.

I learned I still am not a huge fan of Polsilvers. 3rd shave on one today and I pitched it.

G-Dogg said:

The only way I manage is to pull the skin that covers the Adam's Apple really hard to the left, right, and upwards as necessary, and then shave on the flat. If I shave on the Adam's Apple area itself, blood is guaranteed. However, doing it this way means that it is possible to get as close a shave as you're getting elsewhere on your neck, but with no additional risk.

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The only way i figured out how not to bleed on my neck, especially the whole thin-skin-on-the-Apple thing is to use a straight razor.

Bumpymacaroon said:

shave today not as good as yesterday, same razor, same blade, same cream, same brush, same routine and I think same poor technique.

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I've come to the conclusion that this is usually caused by poor lather. I think maybe water-to-product ratio.

Variety is the spice of life
Last day of the "shark Week Challenge" - I've enjoyed the 6x shaves I've had in the last 7x days from 2x Shark Super Stainless blades in 6x different razors.
No disputing the fact that Shark Super Stainless are very good blades.
BUT...........
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's shave with a German made Wilkinson Sword blade a lot more than I was looking forward to shaving with a Shark blade every day !!

To echo [MENTION=108689]adamchur[/MENTION], "variety is the spice of life." Today, I tried a new blade and got a phenomenal shave. The blade was a Lord Super Stainless paired with a 1961 Gillette Fat Boy and accompanied by the Chiseled Face Groomatoriem Ghost Town Barber soap and aftershave. This was a phenomenal shave.

That having really, really hard water sucks. I need to try shaving with filtered water or something.

That the closer you get to the end of the tube, the harder it is to control how much you push out.
I need to find those "tube keys" so I can roll the tube instead of folding it as I go.

cakedog02 said:

That having really, really hard water sucks. I need to try shaving with filtered water or something.

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It sure does.
After much reading here, I now heat (not quite boil) a cappuccino cup full of "distilled water" in the microwave oven. I use the distilled water for my brush exclusively. I still rinse my razor in the cruddy hard water in the sink, but give it a quick dip in the distilled water before each re-use. This is working great for me.

For me, lather works better than Proraso pre shave for Kyle's prep.

After settling on Feather Blades and using them for a few months, i revisited Shark Super Chrome and they were not bad at all!

I might branch out. Derby blades have served me well, but I may need something sharper.