What's new

Anyone ever consider the difficulty of skin adjustment?

Here is what I mean...

When you've been at this hobby for a few months, you will likely find yourself trying new products, of various sorts, every day of your shave week.

Myself personally, I find that now that I'm getting the hang of DE shaving, I shave with a different soap/cream and AS/ASB every day of a 5 day shave week. The only constant for a shave week is razor and blade. I wont change those day to day.

So, with all of this change...how do you really know how your skin is adjusting? It is as inevitable as the eventual destruction of our planet due to a Supernova of our sun (billions of years from now of course :001_smile) that you will stumble upon a chemical, EO, product etc. that your skin doesnt like. But, without waiting and sticking with that product over days...how will you ever know how your skin truly reacts?

So....this leads me to a bit of a poll, or question for the prestigious B&B club...how many times a week do you change your soap/cream/AS/ASB? Every day? Once a week?

Furthermore...if you change frequently, what is your method to determine what caused a particularly bad day's shaving irritation (assuming you get it from time to time...if not at least once a week?)
 
Wow...you only change your shave set up once a week? Impressive my friend! Perhaps the product part of the hobby has worn off on you and now its more about the experience with the existing product you have?
 
I've been a techie / trouble shooter most of my adult life. Longer than I like to think about sometimes.:lol: I find that changing more than one thing at a time is now very difficult for me.

For example, I've been testing blades from a WCS sample pack. It has taken me about a month and a half to test 3 different blades from the pack (Dorco, Crystal and Persona Red Pack) The reason is that after about 3 blades from anyone brand I go back to my regular shave routine for a week to ensure that all of the blades start from the same base.

The most radical change that I have made so far this year is adding a cream to my shave rotation - I added the C. O. Bigelow (Proraso) cream. The first shave was interesting - I had about double the correct amount of cream, and I nearly lost my face. However, I stuck with it for a few more days and I think I'll buy another tube or two of it.
 
I'm a person who likes a degree of consistency in my life, so I change the setup every monday. So its typically one soap/cream, AS or moisturizer combo per week. Since I only shave with Derbys and I only have two DE razor choices its not much of a drastic change each week.
 
Hmm...initial responses involve less daily change than I suspected! Perhaps I'm the anomaly! LOL
 
I've got about 3 soaps and 5 creams in my rotation and usually use a different one every day. However, whenever I get something new I will usually use it for a full week or so to see how I get on with it. After a week if I am happy that it is working out for me I'll put it in my collection.
 
I was doing the same as you at first Mamoo...but it seems that lately, I'm swapping every new thing immediately into the rotation...as a result, I think my face is having a poor time adjusting, particularly to some of the AS/ASBs I've tried.
 
For the "Down the Tubes" week, I used a different SC everyday, but I usually try to use the same set up until I've used up the SC and am ready to head to a new one (I confess to making the occasional change, but it's only for a day and then I'm back to the same product again).

I do occasionally switch razors, but I used a Tech for about 3 months and am now planning on using my 1949 SS for at least that long.

Fidelity really helps to hone your skill set - then you can start trying different things, one at a time.
 
Several years ago after discovering the great products that are available to try I set out on a personal journey of discovery- to try everything.

After the excitement of getting the great first shave had settled down and the serious Ad's were quenched, patterns started to develop.

I trended toward soaps, then triple milled, then tallow. When I first found B&B, my skin was dry and dissipated. The great products that I found here brought that around,and my skin is now in great shape. I do not use balms nearly as much as I did when I first started and stick with splashes now.

One of the greatest resources that we have at the B&B is the review section, however it is flawed, products that are easily accessed ( the green tube for example) are often rated by large numbers of new members very highly.
On the whole, its better to read individual reviews by experienced wetshavers. Always ask yourself when reading a review "What is the reviewer comparing this product to?" This tactic will help separate the wheat from the chaff and make your shave journey more pleasant.

Fidelity is very important to the new wetshaver, being deliberate and methodical in your changes will get you to a great consistent shaves much sooner than product hopping.

So to get back to the question presented by the OP- I use a different product for shaving every day, both soap & AS splash.
 
Last edited:
I tend to change things up a great deal, but if I have an especially good shave I may stick to that set up for another day or two. I think you are right though, once the AD's slow we all start to find what really works well.
 
I've been a techie / trouble shooter most of my adult life. Longer than I like to think about sometimes.:lol: I find that changing more than one thing at a time is now very difficult for me.
Agree. When running an experiment it is best to only one variable at a time, and have a baseline for comparison. I learned this both in the lab and on the shop floor.

After much experimentation, I determined my baseline shave to be RP Personnas loaded in a Merkur 38C, with Tabac soap. Nowadays when I try something new out I only change one variable; I'll never try a new blade and soap on the same day. And immediately after trying a new product, my next shave will be with my baseline setup. I'm less interested in new product than I am in getting a good shave.

Adopting this method has reduced my bad shave days to almost zero.
 
Yeah...thats the problem with all the acquisition disorders...if you get caught up in them, you're trying a new shave every time the mailman comes.

And that leads to problems!
 
Here is what I mean...

When you've been at this hobby for a few months, you will likely find yourself trying new products, of various sorts, every day of your shave week.

Myself personally, I find that now that I'm getting the hang of DE shaving, I shave with a different soap/cream and AS/ASB every day of a 5 day shave week. The only constant for a shave week is razor and blade. I wont change those day to day.

So, with all of this change...how do you really know how your skin is adjusting? It is as inevitable as the eventual destruction of our planet due to a Supernova of our sun (billions of years from now of course :001_smile) that you will stumble upon a chemical, EO, product etc. that your skin doesnt like. But, without waiting and sticking with that product over days...how will you ever know how your skin truly reacts?

So....this leads me to a bit of a poll, or question for the prestigious B&B club...how many times a week do you change your soap/cream/AS/ASB? Every day? Once a week?

Furthermore...if you change frequently, what is your method to determine what caused a particularly bad day's shaving irritation (assuming you get it from time to time...if not at least once a week?)

You are exactly right. I used to change my cream/soap daily in the beginning and suffered skin irritation as a result. I now know that Arko, Proraso, creams and soaps with EO in, Tabac and soaps with palm oil in all irritate me to a greater or lesser degree. I now stick to MWF, Pecksniffs and milder soaps and creams and don't suffer any problems. I wish I'd known it sooner as I could have saved myself a small fortune.
 
very rarely oddly enough since I now have a bunch of new razors. My RAD is currently out of control but I only have them to admire, not shave with. I have tried two of the vintage but find them sub par to my daily driver. In a moment of weakness I tried the Gillette Foamy Lime because I love lime, some Baxters ASB for kicks and I have tried Proraso Green cream to see what the hype is about.

But I am yet to try anything that would make me change my go-to items that simply work for me:
- Merkur 38C
- Mitchell's Wool Fat
- Aveeno Moisturizer with menthol
 
Top Bottom