I've been at this for going on about six months now and I finally found my perfect combination that is my go to set up. Looking forward to signing up for my first restraint! I definitely attribute ongoing improvement in my technique with getting to this point, but I'm quite happy to have an established set up that I know will work great for me every time.
As all of these products and techniques were introduced to me on this forum I thought I'd share it. This gives me a bbs every time except the area right around my Adam's apple, which is my technique obviously, as I'm still working on avoiding nicks there.
Razor is a Merkur 23C handle and cap piece with the Muhle R41 open comb. I can get away with using the Muhle cap but I have to go very slowly and find my shaves are no closer as a result.
Blade is Feather, but Astra SPs seems to work just as well.
Cream is TOBS Mr Taylors. I find it is more like a croap than any of the other TOBS I have tried (Sandalwood, Grapefruit, Eton College) and is the best lather of the bunch for me. Love the smell too.
Hot face wash, lather with badger brush that has soaked in my warm bowl. Keep bowl in the sink sitting in hot water as I begin to lather. I spent a good bit of time cold water shaving this summer and found it refreshing and left my neck less irritated than hot water. However that turned out to be due to technique and not the water temp. With temps dropping I have switched back to hot water and am loving it due to the below technique change.
Three pass shave WTG, ATG and then I do XTG on my neck. As I had mentioned cold water helped reduce irritation from this pass, but it was always DFS. Always felt stubble after. Thanks to the forum I learned about "bullfroging" to keep the skin loose. I had always been stretching. This was a great revelation and has given me BBS on the neck now with almost no irritation. It was the final piece of the puzzle for me.
Warm rinse, cold rinse, alum block. Let it all dry out then I apply Lucky Tiger after shave to cleanse and tone, and after it has dried away apply Neutrogena after shave balm.
Thanks to all those that share their bits of wisdom here. My soft and smooth face greatly appreciates it!
As all of these products and techniques were introduced to me on this forum I thought I'd share it. This gives me a bbs every time except the area right around my Adam's apple, which is my technique obviously, as I'm still working on avoiding nicks there.
Razor is a Merkur 23C handle and cap piece with the Muhle R41 open comb. I can get away with using the Muhle cap but I have to go very slowly and find my shaves are no closer as a result.
Blade is Feather, but Astra SPs seems to work just as well.
Cream is TOBS Mr Taylors. I find it is more like a croap than any of the other TOBS I have tried (Sandalwood, Grapefruit, Eton College) and is the best lather of the bunch for me. Love the smell too.
Hot face wash, lather with badger brush that has soaked in my warm bowl. Keep bowl in the sink sitting in hot water as I begin to lather. I spent a good bit of time cold water shaving this summer and found it refreshing and left my neck less irritated than hot water. However that turned out to be due to technique and not the water temp. With temps dropping I have switched back to hot water and am loving it due to the below technique change.
Three pass shave WTG, ATG and then I do XTG on my neck. As I had mentioned cold water helped reduce irritation from this pass, but it was always DFS. Always felt stubble after. Thanks to the forum I learned about "bullfroging" to keep the skin loose. I had always been stretching. This was a great revelation and has given me BBS on the neck now with almost no irritation. It was the final piece of the puzzle for me.
Warm rinse, cold rinse, alum block. Let it all dry out then I apply Lucky Tiger after shave to cleanse and tone, and after it has dried away apply Neutrogena after shave balm.
Thanks to all those that share their bits of wisdom here. My soft and smooth face greatly appreciates it!
