SilentTuba's Straight Razor Shaving Journal

[SilentTuba]

Yesterday was shave #6. Had a concert to play last night, so it was important to get a good shave in.

Prep: hot shower
Strop: 60 laps on leather
Soap: Tabac
Brush: WD Silvertip
Blade: GD 66

Did two full passes, WTG and XTG. No nicks or cuts, one small weeper, and no irritation. I tried experimenting with some different grips for under my neck, with moderate success.

if there are any drawbacks, I still think I'm making my lather a little too dry. By the end of my first pass, it was starting to dry out and get flaky.

 

[Snikkeren]

One small weeper and no irritation. That doesn't sound too bad.

I love the Tabac soap. It's so easy to get a good lather from it. I soak my brush in hot water when I take a shower. Then, when I start my lather I resoak it under hot water. I just let the water drip off it, and then starts to load it with Tabac. I hold the Tabac so that the initial lather just runs in to my bowl. The initial lather is almoast just water with a bit of soap.
Then I load the brush really good, and squeeze the lather off on the edge of my bowl, before I load the brush again. Now I have enough soap and water to get a good slick lather. I go for the creamy consistence, not the foamy.

I also add a bit of water between the passes, so the lather gets more slick for the 2nd and mabe 3rd pass.

 

[SilentTuba]

Fallen slightly behind, completed shaves #7 and 8.

Shave 7:
GD 66
60 laps on leather
hot shower prep
MWF lathered with B&B Essential Brush

Some days, MWF is the best soap I have. Yesterday was not one of those days. Terrible lather. Managed to salvage it by super lathering with Proraso Green. Because of the lousy lather, there was some razor burn, but overall, not a terrible shave

Tonight was shave #8. Same prep, same blade, but I used Proraso Green and my WD silvertip.

This is was by far my best shave yet. Two complete passes, no irritation, no blood, and a DFS throughout, with some places being closer to BBS. Under my chin is still a tricky area, but the results tonight were pretty good; nearly as good as my DE, in fact. I have yet to attempt an ATG pass, but to be honest, I'm not sure I'm even going to; I rarely go ATG with the DE, and I usually end up regretting it.

Closing in on my tenth shave. Great progress so far!

 

[Shave_Rat]

if ATG with a DE isn't part of your rotation normally, and generally doesn't provide great results, it may be just the wiser to skip it with a straight as well. Stick to WTG or even XTG for a touch up pass, I'd say.

 

[buca3152]

Glad to see your really getting there. Keep up the good work! Sounds like your more than getting there, you may be there already.

 

[SilentTuba]

if ATG with a DE isn't part of your rotation normally, and generally doesn't provide great results, it may be just the wiser to skip it with a straight as well. Stick to WTG or even XTG for a touch up pass, I'd say.

That's basically what I was thinking. I can do my cheeks and sideburns with no problems,but under my chin/on my neck is always painful when I go ATG, so I've basically stopped doing it. With a DE, I usually do 2 passes: one WTG, one XTG. I have a fairly light beard, so that's really all I need. I've been doing the same with. The straight, and last night's shave was the closest I've gotten to DE results. My face felt so good afterwards I skipped the ASB altogether!

Glad to see your really getting there. Keep up the good work! Sounds like your more than getting there, you may be there already.

Thanks for the kind words! Definitely still have a lot to learn, though, including (shamefully) lathering. I thought I had lathering technique down pretty good, but I'm still struggling with certain products to get an acceptable lather for the straight. I think I'm too afraid of over hydrating, and getting lather that is too thin and unprotective, I end up with a lather that is too dry. Fine for the DE, not so much with the straight. I think I need to adopt "more water" as my personal mantra.

 

[buca3152]

Glycerin can help with that. I use it with certain soaps not all as I have hard water. It really fluffs that lather. Ymmv as always.

 

[SilentTuba]

Been a while since I posted here, shaves 9 and 10 came and went without much fuss. Then the wife and I had a vacation to Disney World. Since we didn't check any bags, and I didn't feel like using a cart, I decided to tough it out and not shave during our trip. Got home Monday, and Tuesday evening set about to removing the week-long growth from my face. I learned a valuable lesson: if you're still exhausted from a trip, don't use a straight razor! I put a nasty cut in my right ear. Decided at that point to put the straight down and finish with the DE, lest I endure further damage. Tonight it's back to the straight. I'll report back after.

 

[SilentTuba]

Shaves 12 and 13 complete!

Shave 12 was 60 laps on the leather, then two passes, ***, XTG. Lathered with MWF and my Purple B&B Essential. This was a fantastic shave, no nicks, no cuts, and no need for aftershave, thanks to the Fat.

Shave 13 was this morning, and was very similar. Today, it was RazoRock Caribbean Coconut, lathered with my WD silver tip. I usually use the boar when lathering RR, but really wanted to use the WD today. Lather was spectacular, and the shave was great. One small nick , due to a momentary lapse of focus; a tiny horizontal movement of the razor. The cut closed right up with the styptic pencil.

Overall, feeling more comfortable every day with the straight. Results have reached the point where they are essentially the same as with my DE, save for a few hard to reach spots. I find myself wondering about trying different blades. I don't ever foresee myself owning more than 2-3 razors, but after the holidays, when the GRUC is over, I think I'll be looking for my second razor.

 

[rockviper]

Your last paragraph speaks volumes! It took me a while to get DE-quality shaves from my straights.

Don't sweat the few problem spots. I'm 300+ shaves in and still "settle" for non-DFS in a few spots on my neck. Since I shave every day (sometimes twice), it's just not worth chasing that last little bit in those hard to angle spots.

Good stuff!!

 

[SilentTuba]

Your last paragraph speaks volumes! It took me a while to get DE-quality shaves from my straights.

Don't sweat the few problem spots. I'm 300+ shaves in and still "settle" for non-DFS in a few spots on my neck. Since I shave every day (sometimes twice), it's just not worth chasing that last little bit in those hard to angle spots.

Good stuff!!

Thanks. I learned a few years ago with the DE to stop chasing perfection. Being able to feel some stubble on my neck (when I run my hand ATG) is a worthwhile trade off for no irritation.

 

[Shave_Rat]

It definitely took a pretty decent number of straight shaves to get to where I was with the DE. The great part was shortly after I hit that point, I surpassed my DE shaves on the level of irritation and nick free shaves, as well as getting the shaves as close as with the DEs.

 

[SilentTuba]

Shave 14 today. A bit of irritation, which I blame on my lather. Try as I might I just cannot get a good lather from the new AoS soap. I think it's being pulled from the rotation.

 

[Shave_Rat]

Shave 14 today. A bit of irritation, which I blame on my lather. Try as I might I just cannot get a good lather from the new AoS soap. I think it's being pulled from the rotation.

The learning curve on the shave is bad enough without having lather issues, I'd pull it from rotation for now as well if it's adding difficult variables to the shave.

 

[SilentTuba]

The learning curve on the shave is bad enough without having lather issues, I'd pull it from rotation for now as well if it's adding difficult variables to the shave.

The first pass wasn't too bad, and some of the issues were technique related, I think. While thinking about it last night, I need to pay more attention to blade angle; I think I'm going too steep, at times. By the second pass, though, the lather was unusable. There was basically nothing left, and it needed to be rescued by some Bige-raso cream.

It's a shame, as this is only the second time I gave up on a soap (the first was Arko, and I only ditched it because it irritated my skin. I liked it otherwise).

 

[SilentTuba]

Last night, I decided to use the DE for a full shave, for the first time since picking up the straight.

I dont know if anyone else has experienced this. But all the time spent working with the straight seems to have significantly improved my DE technique. Last night may have been the best DE shave I've ever had; fast, smooth, incredibly close in just two passes, and no irritatio. To speak of. I don't know if it's the extra attention to blade angle and pressure, or the work I've done on my lathering skills, but I am amazed at how easy it was to get a really excellent shave.

If nothing else, it serves as a reminder that I still have a ways to go with the straight.