General questions and observations from a newb

I'm about 4 weeks in to DE shaving, so far things are pretty good!

When I started DE shaving I switched to castel forbes shaving cream.

I'm having trouble loading my brush with it. What is the propper procedure?
Right now I have to grab a chunk with my finger and put it in a bowl and whip alot. Its very dense. Simmilar to cold butter maybe? Maybe even denser?

Between that and my vulfix travel brush thats a little 'bendy' I'm having a bit of trouble really getting it whipped. It takes maybe 5 minutes? Because I have to constantly find the clump in the bowl. I've tried varrying amounts of water. If I use the necessary amount of water to make it easily disolve, it never whips up right.

The directions say to 'load up your brush' then whip in bowl (if memory serves) But its so dense, my brush wont 'grab' any.

What am i doing wrong?

One more question... when you get razor irritation, are you supposed to just keep shaving over it till your skin adjusts? Shave around it? Not shave till it clears?

(FYI i started using the Forbes unscented pre-shave and I havent had the problem in my last 3 shaves... but now that I've said that, I'm sure it will come back next shave...)

Thanks for all your help!

to load up, i swirl my brush on the cream - rather than scooping some into a bowl. that way you dont have to chase the snurdle round the bowl.

with irritation, just make sure you take care of it with some kind of aftershave product and you'll be fine. if you really hack your face up - just take a day off shaving and youll be fine.

good luck!

mdunn said:

to load up, i swirl my brush on the cream - rather than scooping some into a bowl.

Click to expand...

+1. If that doesn't work for you (thus giving you the green light for a brush upgrade ), try spreading the almond-sized chunk of cream into a thin layer at the base of your bowl. Let a bit of water sit on that for a minute or two, then drain the water from the cream and lather away with a damp (but not dripping) brish, adding small amounts of water as needed. Good luck!

mdunn said:

to load up, i swirl my brush on the cream - rather than scooping some into a bowl. that way you dont have to chase the snurdle round the bowl.
good luck!

Click to expand...

Ahah! I'm on to something here... How thick is your cream? What would you compare it to? Mine just wont seem to load. I'm wondering if i got old or overly dry stock... maybe sandlewood doesnt sell well...

I can mash my brush into it and hardly anything is picked up, this is after letting it soak up hot water and flicking the excess off. And the vulfix brush got good reviews so i wouldnt think it could be the problem. I'll have to go purchase some of the lavender to rule out any problems... And then a new brush... (Send me your LE's...)

I just cant imagine any brush picking up much of mine the way it is. Its like a thicker denser butter. I'll try the spreading it on the bowl... I'm not sure why that never occured to me...

Frankly, I don't think they've been making the cedarwood and sandalwood long enough for a jar to have dried out. CF is definitely known for being on the thick side, though I've not tried the variety you own. Have you tried just giving the contents of the jar a good stir? Sometimes that can help, as well.

Nice to see the ADs are progressing nicely -- that's always the best solution

With a floppy brush just pinch the base of the hairs to stiffen it. Then swirl your moistened, pinched brush like you would for a soap. Eventually you will get enough product loaded to begin making lather.

It is the nature of the cream, wonderful stuff indeed although I have the limes and man is it limey

one of my taylors creams (mr taylor, from memory) is hard like that. but i can still swirl and load up kinda like a soap.

maybe add a bit of water to the cream and mix it around.

if you live anywhere really cold that will make the cream thicker too.

I will try both stirring it up and pinching the brush.

I have to say as time consuming as shaving with a DE razor is, I've never looked forward to a shave or pamprerd myself like this before. I quite enjoy it!

my castle forbes is as thick as some soaps it would be difficult but not impossible to load up a floppy brush, as others said pinch the end of the brush together with a wet brush and swirl it around on top of the castle forbes same as you would if your loading up from a puck of soap once it is loaded enough and it may take at least 30 seconds to a minute especially with a softer brush then make your lather either in a mug or on face, if you find you don't have enough loaded go back and swirl on top some more, if you are going to stick with CF and it is great stuff I would upgrade to a stiffer brush like say a Rooney

as far as razor irritation if possible let it heal before you shave again

Maybe its time to let this post die... But I'll keep adding to it instead as its all relevent!

I had a new shave mug I tried to use. It was a disaster. Unbeknownst to me it has a small lip in the bottom, so my castle forbes soap hid in there and my lather was sub par. =(

I did try pinching the brush and that worked quite a bit better.

To rectify the situation I bought a 'saras lather bowl'. I'm optomistic that will help.

I also, (I blame Cranky) bought a Rooney brush. I was sad I missed out on the B&BLE and this went quite a ways in consoling me. I'm sure its not quite as good as a deal, but I think/hope the quality will be on par.

With two brushes and two mugs, two creams and after shaves, I'm well on my way to the two sets I wanted... So I dont have to lug all the crap back and forth between my place and my girlfriends.

Now I'm on the prowel for one additional razor, ideally smaller than my Futur.

Thanks for all your help guys, I sure am enjoying the simple pleasure of shaving again! I just cant say that enough!

FWIW, try this:

Fill your sink 1/4 way with HOT water (enough to cover the bristles) and drop your brush in it and let it soak. Next, put a dollop of cream in your lathering bowl along with about 1-2 tablespoons of HOT water. Let your brush and your cream sit with their respective hot water companions while you shower (or what ever your prep routine is).

When you're ready to shave, the hot water should have softened up the cream considerably. Then, take your brush out of the hot water and squeeze the excess water out (you'll use the water in your mug). Take the brush and start whipping up a lather from the softened cream in your bowl. Add HOT water as needed until you're happy with the consistency. IMHO, have it just a tad bit on the watery side as water is the true lubricant in "wet" shaving.

Happy Shaving!