Here’s hoping for a better result next time!
Mumblings of a once 20-year-old shaver
- Thread starter Letsgoalready
- Start date
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- #222
Today’s shave 1/3/25:
Pre-Shave: Hot Water Splash
Soap: Barrister and Mann Waves
Brush: CC Badger
Bowl: Captain’s Choice Cobalt Ceramic
Razor: .68 Gamechanger RazoRock
Blade: Astra SP (1)
After-Shave: Stirling Soap Co. Stirling Spice
Song of the Shave: None
Rating: 7
I need some help here, this brush is fighting me. I started with a quick 5-minute brush soak, then after I squeezed the water out I loaded the brush for longer than I have ever before. I thought I was good but there was barely any soap when I went to make my lather and I got a lackluster result. This led to many weepers today. Still had a very smooth face after. I don't know what to do at this point, any suggestions? I love the way the brush feels in my hand and on my face but it still is making a poor lather. Definitely a user error. Stirling Spice smelled so good. I flew everything back but I seem to have lost between 5~10 aftershave samples and 3 soap samples got ruined but it's okay because I have so many. I finally got my cabinet organized tho.
Pre-Shave: Hot Water Splash
Soap: Barrister and Mann Waves
Brush: CC Badger
Bowl: Captain’s Choice Cobalt Ceramic
Razor: .68 Gamechanger RazoRock
Blade: Astra SP (1)
After-Shave: Stirling Soap Co. Stirling Spice
Song of the Shave: None
Rating: 7
I need some help here, this brush is fighting me. I started with a quick 5-minute brush soak, then after I squeezed the water out I loaded the brush for longer than I have ever before. I thought I was good but there was barely any soap when I went to make my lather and I got a lackluster result. This led to many weepers today. Still had a very smooth face after. I don't know what to do at this point, any suggestions? I love the way the brush feels in my hand and on my face but it still is making a poor lather. Definitely a user error. Stirling Spice smelled so good. I flew everything back but I seem to have lost between 5~10 aftershave samples and 3 soap samples got ruined but it's okay because I have so many. I finally got my cabinet organized tho.
No input for the brush as I am learning my new brush, but what an awesome collection and setup!
Hard to know without being there. Maybe don't squeeze all the water out? I usually give my badgers a quick flick or two and then load. But every one is a little different in terms of density and how much water they hold.
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- #225
I'll give it a try, It's a pretty dense brush. Definitely my densest brush.
That’s an absolute minimum ten minutes might be better.
Brush maintenance and grooming will ensure proper performance. The hair in your brush knot may still be oily from the Badger. You should get a good clarifying hair shampoo and shampoo your brush knot a few times. This will remove any residual oils and ensure the hair is totally clean. When the brush is totally dried out a light grooming with wide spaced comb will ensure the knots shape for optimal performance.
If you bloom your soap and then pour the bloomed water onto your squeezed out damp brush and work the bloom water into the brush hair. Re squeeze the bloom water out and then totally load your brush with lather. And this should only take fifteen seconds top. A totally loaded brush means lather is coming out of the sides of the knot and the knot head and will not take any more lather. This should Always be your starting point with lathering. You have plenty of soap on hand don’t be cheap with the lather.
- Thread starter
- #227
Ill do some shampoo rinses tonight, I did 3 lathers with my Cella Soap before I started using it but I'll give this a try too.
Light pressure I'm assuming so I don't pull hairs out.
How much water, a few drops? enough to cover the soap?
Thank you so much for the advice.
Lather does not clean brush hair, nor will it remove heavy residue oils. You should shampoo your brushes once a year to ensure there isn’t too much soap residue from your soaps. Clean hair is critical for optimal knot performance.
Nice looking shave shelf. You have lots of soap. Use it with abandonment. It’s easily replaced and you’ll want to try many others. Another gripe of mine is campaigning blades. One and done works flawlessly. The two critical and easiest replaced components of your shave kit.
If I may comment on your boar in the back of the shelf. It doesn’t appear to have many split ends. A properly broken in boar will easily out perform your Badger knot by a long shot. It’ll load faster, be another half times softer than the Badger and scrub with a luxuriousness that’ll have your knees knocking. When using that boar always give it a rigorous towelling after use to promote split ends. I use boars exclusively and they easily outperform my two band badgers across the board. A few pics of the boar I just recently broke in.
The split ends are what makes boars so very soft. The hair stiffness of a boar in combination with their softness elevates a scrub to a sublime luxurious experience.
- Thread starter
- #229
Noted, I have solid puck shampoo so I'll use that a few times tonight.
Thank you, I use a lot and always have extra leftover in the bowl but I'll never run out.I just need to remind myself to use a lot every now and then.
I'm 1 or 2 uses per blade and then I bin it in that Powerade bottle. I got 44 different tucks to try for Christmas so I'm set for one or two and done for the next 2 years...
It's about 3 months old, I towel dry it after each use, maybe not as aggressively as I should. It's starting to split but still needs work. In that picture, it had just been taken out of the bag I had stored it in to fly so it's a little compressed. Your Boar brush is beautifully split.
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- #230
I just finished shampooing, spent about 15 minutes soaking and then did 4 rounds of lather and rinse for another 20 minutes. I used my puck shampoo and then lathered the shampoo in my boel making sure I got the full length of the hair. I rinsed thoroughly between lathers. Still smells lightly of natural scent. Towel dry at the end, anything else you recommend?
Sounds good. The knot hair should feel and smell cleaner. Try a couple of hand latherings with shave soap and see if there is difference in loading. Palm latherings are a good way to feel and judge the available dynamics of a brush’s performance.
+1
Wow. I haven't checked in here for a while and things are certainly gathering pace!
@JoWolf has a very thorough method for breaking in his boars before he uses them. But you can just use them and they will get there eventually. A moderately bleached Omega will probably take longer to break in than a highly bleached Zenith. No biggie. Keep at it!
Regarding the soap / badger conundrum, definitely bloom the soap. I usually cover the top of the soap with warm water while I shower. I then put some of the bloom water on my face and a teaspoon or so into the lather bowl to start the lather (I am still learning bowl lathering myself afer nearly 15 years exclusively face lathering). Not all soaps need blooming, but if a particular soap is proving a bit more difficult to load then a bloom usually sorts it out. Starting with a squeezed out brush, you can also try dribbling in a few drops of water at a time once it looks like no more loading is happening. So load, dribble in a bit of water, load some more, etc.
@JoWolf has a very thorough method for breaking in his boars before he uses them. But you can just use them and they will get there eventually. A moderately bleached Omega will probably take longer to break in than a highly bleached Zenith. No biggie. Keep at it!
Regarding the soap / badger conundrum, definitely bloom the soap. I usually cover the top of the soap with warm water while I shower. I then put some of the bloom water on my face and a teaspoon or so into the lather bowl to start the lather (I am still learning bowl lathering myself afer nearly 15 years exclusively face lathering). Not all soaps need blooming, but if a particular soap is proving a bit more difficult to load then a bloom usually sorts it out. Starting with a squeezed out brush, you can also try dribbling in a few drops of water at a time once it looks like no more loading is happening. So load, dribble in a bit of water, load some more, etc.
- Thread starter
- #234
Today’s shave 1/4/25:
Pre-Shave: Hot Shower
Soap: Barrister and Mann Seville
Brush: CC Badger
Bowl: Captain’s Choice Cobalt Ceramic
Razor: .68 Gamechanger RazoRock
Blade: Astra SP (1)
Post-Shave: CeraVe Facewash
After-Shave: Fine American Blend
Song of the Shave: What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers
Rating: 8.5 (BBS, just some other stuff)
@JoWolf is a wizard. After washing my brush and blooming my soap it was a night and day difference. I put just enough water to cover the soap before my shower. After my shower, I shook out my soaked brush instead of squeezing as @Darth Scandalous recommended and poured the few remaining drops of bloomed soap water into my brush. Loaded until the soap was coming out the sides of the brush and moved to the bowl, had to add a few drops of water 2 or 3 times before it was good. I've put a picture after loading before lathering below. I did my usual WTG, XTG, ATG. Still figuring out the GC .68 as I caught myself a few times as indicated by the tiny tiny red spots but nothing hurt. Soap and aftershave smelled really good. The soap was kinda musky and citrusy and the aftershave smelled very classic and barbershop-like. I decided to wash my face after I shaved before aftershave this time. Overall better shave today, have a great Saturday!
Pre-Shave: Hot Shower
Soap: Barrister and Mann Seville
Brush: CC Badger
Bowl: Captain’s Choice Cobalt Ceramic
Razor: .68 Gamechanger RazoRock
Blade: Astra SP (1)
Post-Shave: CeraVe Facewash
After-Shave: Fine American Blend
Song of the Shave: What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers
Rating: 8.5 (BBS, just some other stuff)
@JoWolf is a wizard. After washing my brush and blooming my soap it was a night and day difference. I put just enough water to cover the soap before my shower. After my shower, I shook out my soaked brush instead of squeezing as @Darth Scandalous recommended and poured the few remaining drops of bloomed soap water into my brush. Loaded until the soap was coming out the sides of the brush and moved to the bowl, had to add a few drops of water 2 or 3 times before it was good. I've put a picture after loading before lathering below. I did my usual WTG, XTG, ATG. Still figuring out the GC .68 as I caught myself a few times as indicated by the tiny tiny red spots but nothing hurt. Soap and aftershave smelled really good. The soap was kinda musky and citrusy and the aftershave smelled very classic and barbershop-like. I decided to wash my face after I shaved before aftershave this time. Overall better shave today, have a great Saturday!
- Thread starter
- #235
I've been acquiring a lot and trying everything under the sun. 40 soaps, 60 aftershave, and 44 different tucks of blades. I had to take the extra cabinet from my roommate
My Omega 48 is getting there, still needs time.
This worked so well today!
Joining B&B introduced me to all varieties of brushes. I had exclusively used a Plisson Badger Silver Tip for a couple of decades of cart shaving. Not knowing the difference my first boar I didn’t do any breaking in. That’s where I learned about brush burn. My sensitive skin issues were compounded and I almost discarded the idea of using boar brushes. But I wanted to try all types of hair brushes and I did. My journey into DE shaving has always been to explore all aspects of wet shaving. Settling on products and equipment that would deliver highest efficiency in use for my shave. My experience has been that highest efficiency always delivered highest comfort. I’ve found boars to perform with the best balance of efficiency and most definitely the best comfort achieved in my shaves.
On this one James I’m back to my car analogies. Why drive around in a car needing a tune up? You’ll get to your destination. You will miss out on the joy that optimal performance delivers.
An excellent idea which I used until I got into pre shave prep routines.
Agreed James both face lathering and bowl lathering are very much an art and learning process. Both with pros and cons. I had bowl lathered and also for a time used a shave scuttle mostly during my cart shaving days. I’m curious as to why you switched to bowl from face lathering? @Letsgoalready switched to bowl lathering because of skin sensitivity which I suspect may have been his boar still a bit on the rough side of comfort. Discovering the joys of boar brushes and the sublime luxury of a gentle scrub. I gave up on bowl lathering, badger hair, horse hair, synthetic plastics none of which could deliver the efficiency and comfort of a good boar brush face lathering.
- Thread starter
- #237
Right on the head there, I also find I have more control with bowl lathering with moisture and where I want the lather to be.
Outstanding! An excellently loaded brush. The correct starting point to a great shave.
Since you're still tuning in the Game Changer, I highly recommend using it with a lighter handle. Razorock pairs it with heavy handles which made it hard for me to figure them out as well. Switching to a lighter handle balanced the Game Changer head better and made it much more agile. That made it much easier for me to keep a light touch. Just wanted to share a suggestion.
An excellent suggestion. I recently switched from one Ti handle to another. The second Titanium handle was 6 grams heavier. This also made the OC95 Lupo handle heavier from the previous handle. The performance of the razor was radically different. I found that I could find and maintain the correct cutting angle easier and more consistent. Shaves were improved. We never know unless we try changes, and sometimes with great success.
