The shave routine I use lately...

Well I just wanted to share the routine I use lately and is the base for all my experimentation.
Pre-shave:
I splash some very warm water on my face, apply some proraso pre/post shave cream, massage it a bit on my face and then I use a hot damp towel over my face for 3-5 minutes.
Lather:
I use half a nickel of pre-shave oil (AOS unscented) with a few drops of pharmaceutical glycerin and proraso shaving cream. I use an omega pure badger brush to create the lather.
Shave:
I use a Gillette fatboy set at 3 with a Derby blade (still have some horizontal packs). Three passes, WTG, XTG and ATG. With some touch up in the end I can get BBS or very close to BBS.
After the shave:
Rinse lather with warm water, apply alum block and let the alum until I wash and dry the brush in a towel. Then I rinse with cold water and apply Thayers super medicated witch hazel oil. I leave it at that until I clean up my razor and put it in a jar with 95% alcohol. After that I splash some cold water on the face so I can apply easily some proraso pre/post shave cream.
That's about it!

What I am experimenting with right now is different razor blades. For the past 2 weeks it has been all Gillette (started with the new platinums in the cardboard box, now I am trying out swedes and I have some spoilers to finish this small gillette marathon). Also some Super Iridiums and Timor solingen are in the mail.

If you have any suggestions please share them with me!

Sounds like you're making great progress! I love my Fatboy on the 3-4 setting!

Since you're getting good shaves, you don't need to change anything.
If I had to give you a suggestion, it would be to simplify - do you really need TWO kinds of preshave, glycerin AND soap, alum, witchhazel and aftershave? I'll bet if your technique is good you could make do with soap, water and one aftershave product.

I don't do much pre-shave other than a shower and hot water on the face but I like to use witch hazel, neutrogena post shave lotion, let it soak in for a bit, then I put on Speick's ASB, let that soak in a bit and then do a splash of the Speick ASL and put on some Feather Kanwa after that.

I like the smells, and how my face feels and it feels right to me. In a rush, I'd probably just do the witch hazel and either the neutrogena or my ASB of the day.

If I shave every 2 or preferably 3 days yes I can make it a bit simpler even with my current technique with the same results (can see that when I shave late Thursday night and then late sunday night sometimes). If I have to shave every day though it's a different story since my skin get irritated much easier. Also the pre-shave is just one (proraso cream)...the preshave oil is used in the lather mix, not as a preshave.
I want to settle down on a blade first before changing the rest of the routine...I believe the blade is the factor that can really make a difference. I do everything else the same and with just a blade change I can get from an almost irritation free shave to a red face. Probably in the next 2 months I will have settled down in a specific blade and stick to it for long. I want to have tried about 10 blades before I settle down, even though I am very satisfied with Derby blades. Then I will start to make changes to the rest of the routine...Unless of course I read something here that makes me want to try it asap!

+1 on keeping the setup the same. The less changes the quicker you learn.

Luc said:

+1 on keeping the setup the same. The less changes the quicker you learn.

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+1. Or say we say in the U.S., if it ain't broke, don't "fix" it.

Luc said:

+1 on keeping the setup the same. The less changes the quicker you learn.

Click to expand...

During my first year, I was continuosly changing so many things I never knew for certain what worked and what didn't work. But I do understand your desire to experiment a little before settling into a routine. I'd just suggest that when you're satisfied that you've tried enough to settle in, you might then, slowly and over a long time, re-visit a few of the things you ruled out the first time around. I only have three razors in my rotation now, and it's really only two, since the Edwin Jagger DE89L and the Muhle R89 are the same head with different handles. And the third, the Merkur HD, which is very nearly the same razor as well, is one I tried early on before moving on to about 30 or 40 other razors.

I wanted to share how this routine evolved over time for me. I believe in the end that the razor/razor blade combination is the thing that counts most at the end of the day. After trying a lot of different combinations I can say that the differences are enormous to say the least. I have settled for 2 combinations that are on par for me:
- Gillette Fatboy + Timor Solingen blades
- Feather Popular + Feather blades
Using the above combinations I can cut down my routine with only very minor impact on the end result.
So here is my daily morning routine nowadays:
Pre-shave:
I splash some cool tap water on my face
Lather:
I use a few drops of pharmaceutical glycerin and proraso shaving cream. I use an omega pure badger brush to create the lather.
Shave:
I do one pass ATG on the cheeks and 2 ATG passes on the neck.
After the shave:
Rinse lather with tap water, apply alum block and let the alum until I wash and dry the brush in a towel. Then I rinse with cold water and apply Thayers super medicated witch hazel oil. I leave it at that until I clean up my razor. After that I apply some proraso pre/post shave cream (proraso is optional).
This results in BBS on the cheeks and DFS on the neck.
As you can see I do many things now that people suggest otherwise. I know that my technique is better now, but it is the razor/razor blade combination that makes it work. If I use any other blade with my razors with the above routine instead of BBS/DFS I get a bloodbath.
On the weekend when I have the time I indulge myself in my original routine, but on the weekdays I prefer the extra 10 minute sleep. Of course from time to time when I want to try a different blade I do the full routine.

I've tried to reduce and simplify my routine so I can get my face shaved more quickly and get on with things. My first DE shaves seemed to take forever with lots of preparation and multiple passes, but, as I've posted elsewhere, I've now shortened the routine. When I have more time I will indulge myself and my face and make it more of a ritual, but lately in the morning:

I splash with hot water two or three times. I apply the soap, a nice creamy one I've found to replace the Herban Cowboy I began with, with a brush and get a good lather as quickly as I can. I then make a careful ATG pass, being as thorough as I can with my 34C with Derby blade, and then lather again quickly, feel around for spots I missed, touch them up fairly aggressively, and then I'm done. I splash on cold water three or four times, lay on some after shave cream, and I'm good to go. No multiple passes, no burn, no irritation, no nicks, and I can get all this done in 6 minutes or less.