First DE shave last night

[Eagle]

Well gents most of my new appliances and products arrived (still waiting on the Tabac cream), and I enjoyed my first ever DE shave last night. A few observations and a couple questions. First though here's what I'm using: pure badger brush and some soap cakes from Porter of Bozeman, MT. A Mercur long handled razor w/ Mercur blade. A whipping bowl and hot water kettle.

I followed the instructions of a few sticky's here. ie: using boiling water to soak brush and whip lather. Squeezing and shaking water out of brush. Spending a few minutes whipping until obtaining a thick, creamy mix. That all went pretty well, but does raise my first question. How do you guys keep your idle lather hot/warm? As mentioned my water is piping, but after a few minutes sitting there while I made my first pass subsequent lathers were cool to cold. It doesn't seem feasible to spend 2 minutes whipping up new lather between each pass.

Bringing me to another point. I did not follow advice and only do one pass. I just didn't get a close shave on the first run and needed a few more passes. I did not find it irritated me too badly. I never scraped an area without first lathering, and I laid off the pressure. I'm sure those two things helped. I was also forced to tempt fate and go ATG and XTG in order to achieve some smoothness. In the end a bit of cheek redness a few hours later but nothing to get in a twist over. Question 2. Are you experienced guys getting smooth skin with one or two N - S passes? I've always kind of had to shave in all directions to achieve smoothness. For this first go I think I maintained a decent angle, but I'm pretty sure there were instances where I wasn't cutting (over the chin and down the neck especially). So I think that was part of it, but it just seems to me a couple N-S passes won't be enough.

The final results weren't too bad. I definitely got a closer shave than with disposables and w/ no pain and no nicks. I did not however achieve a totally smooth face. There was still some stubble to be fealt in some areas. All in all a pleasurable experience with these few areas of concern. Oh and btw I did go out and get some Aqua Velva Icy and Musk splashes. Also some Tabac cologne is on it's way. My wife thinks I've got a girlfriend to which I responded one is enough!

As always your thoughts and advice are sought and appreciated.

[Nesseca]

I keep my lather warm by keeping the bowl in a sink filled with hot water. Plus, a good pre-shave like Proraso might help with the smoothness and cut down on the nicks. Good luck and practice, practice, practice.

[Limey]

Hey, great start. I've got a very heavy beard and would probably have to do 8 passes in order to eliminate all stubble feel. It sounds like you did well with three. Now back to your question about keeping your lather a bit warmer as you progress through your shave well, there a bunch of shavers around here that use a scuttle to keep the brush and lather warm the entire shave. A good one of those to check out would be here and the Moss Scuttle here.

[burnwood]

Congradulations on getting to where you got. Capiche?

[thirdeye]

Well congrats. Sounds like your off to a good start.
When I whip a bowl of lather up I let the whole bowl (filled) float/sink in the basin with the brush that is half full of hot water. Once I am ready I whip up my lather then I let the bowl, brush and lather float between passes. This keeps the bowl, lather and brush plenty warm.

I do three passes, wtg, xtg and atg and most offen there is little touch up to be done. Just make sure you understand your beards growth pattern. Mapping your beard will help.
Enjoy!!!

[SMOKE]

Welcome! Sounds like you've already got pleanty of great advice. The only think I'll add is you shouldn't boil your brush! Very hot tap water will do a fine job. If you're getting a passable shave going WTG, I would stick with it until you feel your technique is improving. Then add an XTG.

Keep up the good work! You're off to a great start!

Regards,