SiBurning's Entry into the B&B Hall of Fame

Please allow me to introduce myself:

Username:
SiBurning


What is your real name?
Steve


What are your nicknames/aliases?
Stevieo, but I'm sure people call me a lot of other things behind my back


Where do you live?
NYC


What is your age (or) generation?
Let's just say I was at Woodstock


What are you in the real world?
software engineer, although most places only let me be a code hack


What is your favorite shave setup?
Gillette Super Adjustable set to 1
feather blade
penhaligon's cream


What are your hobbies and favorite activities?
Watching old horror films, reading ancient history, cooking, eating & drinking, repairing vintage audio equipment

What else should the members of B&B know about you?
I've been using a 1954 Gillette TTO for over a dozen years, just rubbing William's mug soap on my face. Joined after a quest to find better blades after the old Wilkinson's ran out. Also decided to try a straight, which I've been meaning to do for a long time.

Welcome to the Hall, Steve!

welcome to the community steve, enjoy your stay.

Welcome to the Hall!

Steve, Welcome to the Hall

Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Steve!

Welcome to the Hall, from a fellow New Yorker and tube/analog guy (I am hoping that's what you meant by vintage audio).

Enjoy!

Welcome to the Hall of Fame Steve!!

strat1117 said:

Welcome to the Hall, from a fellow New Yorker and tube/analog guy (I am hoping that's what you meant by vintage audio).

Enjoy!

Click to expand...

No tubes. Yet! Too high maintenance. I'm hoping to track down some of the stuff I listened to as a teenager. Also have a bunch of old test gear. Lately, every time I look at anything, I start dreaming of old victrolas, but I really want to play some wax cylinders.

Welcome to the hall

Thoughts and posts while learning to use a straight. It ought to be fun to look back on. I already remember things differently, and can't believe it's been a whole month already. Only wish I'd taken notes every day, so it would be more useful to others.

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May 23, 2009
First straight. Would a wedge be better?
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=91517

Pretty happy how it went, although my face looks like I need to learn to shave. There's slight shadow everywhere, especially the moustache area, the chin looks like I shaved yesterday, and I missed a spot at the back of my jaw. Couldn't quite do certain parts WTG, like under the jawline, so I went XTG, and it worked much better. Only one nick above the lip, but I went over that area about 7 times. Also felt a few love taps, so a little more care is in order. No burn or irritation, except for that nick.

Much as I want to reserve judgement for a while, I think this blade wasn't the best choice. There's a lot of places where the blade just won't move at any angle XTG or ATG, although WTG seems mostly fine. It just feels wrong, as if the blade's too thin. Probably should've got a wedge instead. Also seems like I should get a shorter length blade. Only part of the blade touched my skin most of the time, and I think a shorter blade length would be easier to maneuver.
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June 5, 2009
MAD 1 Month Update: before & after pictures
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=93379
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June 13, 2009
Looks like we're on the same train. Been using an extra hollow from rup for about a week. Same problem with the chin. I managed to get a little better at it, but what really helped was getting a normal full hollow. The thin part of the blade is about 1/8" shorter, and that made it easier to get a little better shave all around, but especually at the chin and moustache. Some people on the board have said a less hollow blade can be easier to work with for a beginner or people with thick hair. I'm looking to pick up a wedge or 1/4 hollow next. For now, I'll pay attention to what people recommend for you.
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June 13, 2009
I've only used the nosferatu feather (Feather DE) twice, but both times it managed to drink its fill. I've been using a DE for a dozen years, and haven't had a cut in the last 10 at least. I also just started with a straight last week, and have only managed weepers with it.

On the positive side, the first pass or two gives at least as close a shave as I can get with a DE. It actually does BBS with fewer passes. Some areas still need buffing, but I'm loathe to buff with Barney the Vampire.

I think the feather's poorly designed for general face shaving. The blade corners are very sharp, the blade's too short, and the blades are very thin and sharp, just like DE feathers. That's a nasty combination that's just lusting for blood.

If I could redesign it, I'd make the blade longer and round the edges. I wouldn't change the thin sharp blade, because that's the main attraction and what makes it easy to get such close shave. It also happens to be its most dangerous feature.

Like with any blade, angle is important. If you want to always have the perfect angle, just use a DE that restricts you to using the one true angle. If you think a one true angle is bogus, then you know you won't always shave with the holder flat against your face. This is where it gets tricky. That blade is mighty thin and sharp, and will dig its teeth into your neck at the slightest provocation.

I find the chin to be easier than many other parts. Maybe it's because I have tougher skin there, but I think the real key is that the blade is wider than the small areas of chin it's required to touch at one time. The heavy blade holder makes it fairly easy to drag the blade across my chin and other areas, at least compared to a--for me, too light--full hollow straight.

If you want advice, leave the vampire hunting to more capable and faithful souls. Run, don't walk, and leave the vampire alone in its lair. A cut throat straight might take you out, but the nosferatu feather will take your immortal soul.

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June 15, 2009
Switching from every other day to every day is bound to cause some irritation. Like you, since joining the forum, I've gone from shaving 2 or 3 times a week to nearly every day, and my face itches and feels raw. As someone mentioned, using fewer passes can make up for it somewhat, but I think not completely. Two things that can help are better prep and post shave treatment, and better technique. Both are important. I'll leave it to those that can advise better.

I've only had to do this once before. I took a job that required a respectably clean shave every day. Since I had no time to adapt, what I did was to not try for BBS at all, but only go for looks good enough to get away with. I also filled in with an electric later in the day, and sometimes just used the electric to get a day off. It also bothers the face, but in a different way that's not cumulative with the scrape from wet shaving. After a while, it got easier, and the itching went away, but I never really learned to wet shave well every day. Could be that I was just using william's mug soap without a brush and some cream. Didn't know about B&B back then. Fortunately, you don't seem to need to go the electric route.

This time around, the irritation came after about three days, but hasn't gotten worse. If anything, it's better, but I do take off a day or two on weekends. And no electric. I find that extra prep time with hot water isn't very useful. The skin seems takes in more water when it's raw, and that's kind of counterproductive. What's missing is the oil. Haven't had the time to figure it out, but maybe a pre-shave oil, or an after shave balm containing oil would help.

Just take it easy and give it time. Taking a day off on the weekend is a good thing. Maybe Wednesday, too, for now.
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June 19, 2009
Yesterday I did over 300 passes on the strop to fix things up after 2 weeks of not stropping too well.

Was watching it under a microscope, and at some point after about 100 passes, I realized the only way to save the edge was to stretch out the bad side pushing all the imperfections to one side. One side was clean, and the other looked like it was uneven. Figured it might work to roll or elongate the edge from the bad side to expose what metal was still there. So I did about 40 laps on one side only with some pressure, then after I could see all the imperfections were rolled to the other side, I started the other way gently, and eventually back to a normal two way strop.

Don't think I could have straightened the edge without being able to see it. Did a little test spot last night, since this was all done after shaving. The blade seems much sharper than it ever did. I had weepers the first two times shaving, and not since. Most likely I dulled the blade the first two days. We'll see if my skills improved or if the weepers come back.
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
It gets better a tiny bit every time. Ten shaves later, it's starting to look like I have 5 o'clock shadow right after a shave. Despite most people's advice, I got the hang of XTG and ATG pretty quick, and find it easier in some areas. Maybe that's the bad habits of 12 years with a DE. The razor burn never got too bad. Scraped a bunch of weepers pretty badly over my mustache area the first two times, and not a drop of blood since. It still feels like I might cut my face up bad, and I'm still wondering why it doesn't happen. Managed to roll the edge pretty bad, but worked through that and got the blade back to decent form. It still feels way too light. Picked up a second straight along the way--a normal full hollow--the first as one of those singing way long hollows. Not much difference, but it feels a little more stable. Also bought a wedge and a smiling blade, but they haven't arrived yet. It just seems like I need more heft to the blade. Also, it's hard to push the blade through 3" of hair, and I tend to rotate the blade, so I figure the curved smiling blade bight be better suited. Eventually, I'll find one I like, and it might turn out to be the first one.
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Saturday, June 20, 2009
During today's shave I noticed the blade going dull while I shaved. At first, it was just the tip end, so I move to the middle. Then that starting getting dull. Eventually, I had to stop with a very poor shave. My stropping hasn't been all that great, so it might be responsible. I'm not going to check while my face is still wet, though, so I just have to look poor tomorrow.
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Saturday, June 27, 2009
It seems to me it's very hard to make straight razor recommendations to newbies, especially about the type of blade to get. Maybe it's possible by going into details about previous shaving experience, hair growth, skin sensitivity, etc. But there's also a learning curve to get through. Aside from worrying about which blade to get and whether it's shave ready, there's shaving technique and stropping to worry about. I screwed up my first attempts at stropping, probably because I didn't strop nearly enough the first few times. Fortunately, I have a microscope and could actually see the damage and the effect of my stropping, so I can monitor my stropping and correct my technique as I go. It took about 300 passes to get the edge back.

I'm at about my 12th straight shave, maybe more. Have used three different razors honed by different people, and have a fourth ready for tomorrow. In addition to these, I've use a feather DE three times, and, while it cut me up a bit at first, I'm getting used to it. This variety takes a lot of the variables out of the picture, so I think it's safe to make some assumptions at this point. One thing that stands out for me is that grind seems to make a pretty big difference, although I think any razor will actually do, it being more about developing technique.

The first real straight, an extra hollow "singing" blade, felt too long and thin. I thought a wedge or near wedge would be better, but decided to go slow and got a normal full hollow. While it was easier to use, it still felt like scraping a credit card across my face, and I still thought I should try something more substantial. Also noticed I like to rotate the blade, so my next razors were a smiling wedge and a smiling hollow.

I just used the wedge for the first time, and my initial feeling that the original razor was too deep and thin seem correct. I initally thought it would be easier to cut myself with a wedge, given its heft, and I did indeed get one small cut that I didn't even notice until after drying off and looking at the results. I'm still surprised that I don't cut myself more often with these straights--there were at least three times during this shave that I thought I'd been cut. They're certainly a lot more forgiving than a feather DE. I do seem to get a closer shave with the thinner blades, but at the cost that I can't really get in close everywhere yet, so it ends up spotty. Then again, that might be a function of how sharp that extra hollow is--it's been pretty scary since I started stropping it right. Although it's too early to tell whether it's my technique or not, I hadn't shaved for two days before using the wedge, and think it went through all that hair a lot easier than the thinner blades would have done.

I also really took to the curved edge. It made it a lot easier to get into those concave areas on my neck, and to do smaller areas by rotating the end of the blade. Finally, with a curved blade, it's a lot easier to use just the heel end of the blade, which makes for quick, easy touch ups around my mouth and nose, where the point end would be less stable. I can't yet distinguish betwewen goodness from the smile and the wedge, so I'm looking forward to using the hollow smiley tomorrow.

Except for the wedge feeling a little different, all three blades felt pretty much the same and cut quite well once I figured out how. I think it's safe to say all three straights were shave ready. I'm sure the fourth will be too.

It's probably safe to say I'm not the typical straight newbie, not that there is such a thing. I've been going XTG since my first shave, and ATG since my second or third. I just found it easier in some places than WTG. Also been using a DE for at least a dozen years. After about a dozen shaves, I'm getting nearly respectable looking shaves, but still haven't the guts to completely clean up those last few hairs under the nose. Needless to say, my technique has improved quite a bit from that first awkward day.

Finally, if I had to pick one blade design at this point, it would be a smiling wedge with a Spanish point for getting into those small areas. Almost forgot, I ordered another wedge this week.
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Your opening reminds me of a great line from Austin Powers. "Allow myself to introduce... myself."

At least I think it was Austin Powers...

Welcome to B&B.

Hi Steve and welcome to the Hall!