My mother in law bought me a product kit from eshave this past xmas. It included a badger brush with stand and verbena lime pre shave oil, shave cream and after shave soother. I was impressed at how better products improved the quality of my shave and began occasionally researching shaving. I have been seriously looking into DE shaving for the past couple of weeks and constantly found myself returning to B&B for info, and since I just completed my first DE shave I thought I would join.
My razor came today, a shiny new Muhle R89 that I ordered from Amazon. I also ordered a new Kent BK4 brush from ebay, the brush from eshave is a miserable shedder, as well as a collection of blade, cream and soap samples from maggardrazors. The brush and samples should be here in a couple of days but the razor came with one Muhle blade so I decided to give it a try.
First a hot shower, then I applied the preshave oil before preparing my lather. I prefer bowl lathering as it allows some time for the oil to do its work. After brushing on the lather I grabbed my razor took a deep breath and got started. I managed two passes with the grain and no blood so I am calling it a success. I rinsed with cold water and applied some unscented witch hazel with aloe followed by the after shave soother.
Its not as smooth as I would get from a single pass with a cartridge and my technique definitely needs work but the spots I thought I would have the most trouble with, my lip, chin and neck, are actually smoother than my cheeks. I am hoping to add an across the grain pass in the next couple of shaves once I am a bit more comfortable with my technique. For now I am not even considering an against the grain pass, I definitely need some practice before attempting that.
My razor came today, a shiny new Muhle R89 that I ordered from Amazon. I also ordered a new Kent BK4 brush from ebay, the brush from eshave is a miserable shedder, as well as a collection of blade, cream and soap samples from maggardrazors. The brush and samples should be here in a couple of days but the razor came with one Muhle blade so I decided to give it a try.
First a hot shower, then I applied the preshave oil before preparing my lather. I prefer bowl lathering as it allows some time for the oil to do its work. After brushing on the lather I grabbed my razor took a deep breath and got started. I managed two passes with the grain and no blood so I am calling it a success. I rinsed with cold water and applied some unscented witch hazel with aloe followed by the after shave soother.
Its not as smooth as I would get from a single pass with a cartridge and my technique definitely needs work but the spots I thought I would have the most trouble with, my lip, chin and neck, are actually smoother than my cheeks. I am hoping to add an across the grain pass in the next couple of shaves once I am a bit more comfortable with my technique. For now I am not even considering an against the grain pass, I definitely need some practice before attempting that.
