New guy offering a great laugh and asking a couple of questions

Hi,
After several years of being tempted by the DE razor I finally left the cartridges behind and I am now an enthusiastic owner of a closed-comb EJ 8614 with a long shaft and a pure badger EJ brush (I start out with pure, then we'll see if I upgrade the brush). I start with the enclosed Derby blades but have already ordered green and blue Astras as well as yellow and black Feathers to test.

To cut a long story short, my enthusiasm regarding the ritual and my nervousness regarding putting a blade to my face probably go the best of me: I spent 1,5 hours trying to shave off a week's growth of beard, cursing my lack of technique and shouting from the bathroom "Yikes, the learning curve is even steeper than I thought". I simply could not get the blade to cut the hair. And when I looked at the razor I could not for the world of me understand how the hair could even get close to the blade - "there must be some angle that has to be nailed *exactly*". I heard the scraping sound but only a few hairs came off at a time. After 90 minutes of struggle I gave up, and cleaned up with a few quick swipes of my old trusted cartridge. During the whole day I came back to the razor, trying to understand how to position it against my skin. Then it dawned upon me: I had flipped the bottom part of the razor head, the one closest to the shaft, and the combs were facing in the wrong direction!! No wonder the blade could not reach the beard (but congratulations to me for getting quite a bit off anyway).

Now I am anxiously waiting for my beard to grow back to 3-day Don Johnson stubble, so I can have a new go at it. In the meantime I vainly lather my face with my trusted Crabtree & Evelyn sandalwood soap, having realized that the quality of the lather is actually important in DE razing as opposed to cartridge razing where the brush and soap was more a fun thing to do.

One I would like to ask the community though, whether I need some pre-lather product or pre-shave treatment - other than warm water? What are they good for? Do they prevent the risk of me cutting myself? Do they speed up the shave? Do they facilitate achieveing a BBS? Or are they just a tad over-rated?

At this stage I am mainly interested in nailing the technique without cutting myself. Do I need a pre-shave product? (If yes, +1 for everything available in Sweden).

See ya in the mirror.

Hello and welcome to B&B.

Personally I just shave right after a shower, and lather on a wet face, no pressure shave oil etc..

I use mostly TOBS crams, but I do throw in the occasional soap puck from time to time.

You're not the first person to install the base plate upside-down, on the bright side, you won't be last either.

Concentrate on you technique for now and don't obsess over a BBS, a DFS is great too. Remember pressure (or the lack of) and angle are very important. Out of the blades you ordered, try them and pick the one you like best, then stick with it for several weeks. This allows you work on technique.

Good luck in your future shaves.

Welcome to B&B!

Yeah, pre shave stuff tends to be overrated, IMO. Technique is far more important, which includes a good prep - beard properly hydrated, nice slick lather, etc ...

Good luck.

Welcome to B&B!

I consider myself to have somewhat sensitive skin, and the slickness provided by a quality soap or cream have been all I needed. Thus no pre-shave oil for me.

Welcome to the forum !!

I too have experienced the upside-down base plate shave.

Welcome. The wrong way plate has bit a number of us.

I too use no pre shave treatment. I used to wash my face with olive oil soap before I shaved, but I later deemed it unnecessary. A good lather is much more important than an oil or cream imho.
Now I just make sure that the stubble and my skin are properly hydrated before I shave. For that I simply use lukewarm water.
Having said that, many gentlemen find some sort of pre shave oil necessary. If you have sensitive skin or can't get your prep right, it might be a good idea to try one.

My pre-shave prep so far has been rubbing some shave cream into my beard with just a little bit of water and using my fingers to really massage it into my hair to ensure hydration for about a minute or two. I do this right after a shower or right after holding a damp towel to my hair for a couple of minutes. I have noticed a difference since I started doing this - though could just as easily be the result of a continual progression in my technique. I don't think pre-shave oils or soaps are really necessary if you take the time to invest a good prep routine (mine takes less than four minutes total). As for the angle, you'll learn. Check out some photo guides. But it's practice.

Welcome to B&B!

Hello and welcome. Great to have you here on B&B. No worries on the inverted baseplate. Many, many new shavers, and even some experienced ones, have made that same move. Glad you figured it out.

Thanks for all replies.
Great to know I am not considerably dafter than other people.

I had no patience to wait for the 3-day stubble so I had a go at it an hour ago. I did WTG and the occasional XTG - a bit messy all over the place trying to feel my way with the razor. I passed all areas many times. Under the chin/jawbone I did not get much hair cut away, especially not on the left side (I'm right-handed).

One thing I found problematic was that the soap got sticky pretty fast and I ended up applying it several times - though not in the sense "2 or 3-pass shaving", I just hade to really often reapply during the first and only pass, giving up on lather thickness and going for something more lubricative with more water). Now afterwards, "feeling WTG" with my hand it is smooth but there is still quite a lot of stubble left, and my skin is a tad sore.

I am thinking, would it be an idea to replace the soap with a ready-made cream during the period that I learn the razor technique? Perhaps applying a readymade cream with the brush gives a more forgiving lather that stays lubricative for a longer time?

Thanks for all replies.
Great to know I am not considerably dafter than other people.

I had no patience to wait for the 3-day stubble so I had a go at it an hour ago. I did WTG and the occasional XTG - a bit messy all over the place trying to feel my way with the razor. I passed all areas many times. Under the chin/jawbone I did not get much hair cut away, especially not on the left side (I'm right-handed).

One thing I found problematic was that the soap got sticky pretty fast and I ended up applying it several times - though not in the sense "2 or 3-pass shaving", I just hade to really often reapply during the first and only pass, giving up on lather thickness and going for something more lubricative with more water). Now afterwards, "feeling WTG" with my hand it is smooth but ATG it feels really "scrapy" and there is still quite a lot of stubble left, and my skin is a tad sore.

I am thinking, would it be an idea to replace the soap with a ready-made cream during the period that I learn the razor technique? Perhaps applying a readymade cream with the brush gives a more forgiving lather that stays lubricative for a longer time?

View attachment 569070View attachment 569071

OK, so we all make mistakes it's nothing to worry over. The main thing is to learn from the mistakes so that you don't make them again. Is there some reason your waiting till you have half a beard to shave?
When I started I shaved everyday and wished my hair grew fast enough to shave twice a day. I still wish that even now, but it just made me wonder why your waiting three days to shave again.

The main thing is to practice, NO PRESSURE, Watch the angle. Good hydration and good lather are your friends, when you think your getting good hydration of the beard double whatever you do and see if there is an improvement. I bet there will be.

Anyhow welcome and enjoy, this is after all shaving at its best!

dionesius3 said:

Is there some reason your waiting till you have half a beard to shave? .... but it just made me wonder why your waiting three days to shave again.

Click to expand...

Simply because 1) it does not grow very fast I think, and 2) in my previous life of cartridge shaving I have always had a tendency to get sore skin and small nicks when I try to remove stubble that is too short. I have felt it was harder to do a good job nicely when the stubble is too short (so actually I should not be overly concerned that my skin is a bit sore now ).

I only have my skin so I don't know if I have sensitive skin or not.

You could use a brushless cream while practicing.

Welcome to the forum!

One of the easiest lathering methods is from using a shave stick or taking the puck of soap and using it in shave stick fashion. In this way, you get plenty of soap coverage and then can build the lather directly on your face.

Creams are much easier to use in the beginning, but once you get your technique down, your 'software' (stick, soap, croap, cream) will be your choice. Right now, just learn to lather what you have. Too many variables will delay the learning process.

marty

Your lather being sticky could be an indication that it doesn't have enough water (or in any case, as much water is necessary) or that the product to water ratio is suboptimal. I had the same problem when I started and three things helped:
1st was Marco's method. It simply works wonders.

2nd was to "feel" if the lather is good with my face rather than with my eyes. A good technique for that is face or palm lathering. While on the subject, forget what you've seen in videos/tutorials. My optimal lather looks like a runny mess when compared to an instruction video. I've also found that most soaps require a bit more water than demonstrated in order to produce a good lather.

3rd and final is experimentation. Make some test lathers and see how much water your soap can withstand before it starts running, try different water/soap ratios etc. Sooner or later you'll find what works for you.

Lastly, a brushless cream is a very good idea.

PS: Welcome to B&B! I forgot to do so in my previous post.

AvariCe said:

I too use no pre shave treatment. I used to wash my face with olive oil soap before I shaved, but I later deemed it unnecessary. A good lather is much more important than an oil or cream imho.
Now I just make sure that the stubble and my skin are properly hydrated before I shave. For that I simply use lukewarm water.
Having said that, many gentlemen find some sort of pre shave oil necessary. If you have sensitive skin or can't get your prep right, it might be a good idea to try one.

Click to expand...

This! And welcome!

Welcome to B&B. Check out the Wiki for tips and tricks on lather making, beard mapping, and shaving procedures. Enjoy your adventure.

Welcome to B&B! Pre shave oils and other treatments are more of a YMMV thing. Personally, I have never noticed any difference.

Hello, welcome to B&B.