My Kamisori Experience

Yesterday (Wednesday) morning I started my kamisori shaving experience with the Tosuka R2. I chose this razor out of the two as I found it easier to strop with, having a more robust handle.
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My first true kamisori shave went quite well. Only one very minor weeper on the left cheek. Although the blade was shave-ready as received, it was not quite up to the standard that I desired. There was some ever-so-slight tugging on the whiskers when performing my fool's pass. After that shave, I put the razor through a full diamond pasted balsa strop progression. This morning's (Thursday"s) shave showed a noticeable improvement in the fool's pass.

Others have suggested that when shaving with an asymmetrical kamisori, that they had to concentrate more on the shave angle. I did not experience that. This may be due to me having developed my technique where I determine the best shave angle by feel rather than sight. What I am finding though, is that I still need to refine my selection of stroke angles. If Japanese men can do it, I surely can.

After this morning's shave, I put the razor though another full balsa strop progression and will see if I notice and further improvement in the fool's pass tomorrow morning.
 
SpeedyPC said:
Me too, I’ve got every PC games and novels.

Also pre-order the new Assassin’s Creed Shadows Ultimate Edition today
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Wow, this is the one with the Naoe Sekiryu Character Pack in it yeah. Am on it right away. Don't know how I missed out on this, thanks Bruh. So excited.

One more reason to like Speedy.
 
rbscebu said:
Yesterday (Wednesday) morning I started my kamisori shaving experience with the Tosuka R2. I chose this razor out of the two as I found it easier to strop with, having a more robust handle.
2Wkt5Tc.jpg

​
My first true kamisori shave went quite well. Only one very minor weeper on the left cheek. Although the blade was shave-ready as received, it was not quite up to the standard that I desired. There was some ever-so-slight tugging on the whiskers when performing my fool's pass. After that shave, I put the razor through a full diamond pasted balsa strop progression. This morning's (Thursday"s) shave showed a noticeable improvement in the fool's pass.

Others have suggested that when shaving with an asymmetrical kamisori, that they had to concentrate more on the shave angle. I did not experience that. This may be due to me having developed my technique where I determine the best shave angle by feel rather than sight. What I am finding though, is that I still need to refine my selection of stroke angles. If Japanese men can do it, I surely can.

After this morning's shave, I put the razor though another full balsa strop progression and will see if I notice and further improvement in the fool's pass tomorrow morning.
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Richard...you are a LEGEND. There is something about the Kamisori design that has always been it's attractive feature. I know that the Japs are so focused on precision and design that aesthetically their goods and products are always visually appealing. Take Onitsuka Tiger and their sports avatar Asics.
 
Shave No. 3 with a true kamisori.

Before receiving the loan kamisoris from @LesC he warned me that shaving with them can become addictive. He was not wrong. This morning's shave was one of the closest and most comfortable shaves I have ever given myself and not a single little weeper. I am of course still leaning but it is starting to all come together.

What I learnt this morning was that the way you hold the razor can greatly influence the way it performs. With western style SRs, I have always adjusted my hold depending on which part of my face that I am shaving. I am now experimenting with different holds using this kamisori and it is starting to come together. I am still finding difficulty in just shaving with the Omote side against my face, particularly on my right jaw line when shaving chin to ear (ATG). That is about the only stroke that is still giving me trouble. Other than that, I'm hooked!
 
rbscebu said:
Shave No. 3 with a true kamisori.

Before receiving the loan kamisoris from @LesC he warned me that shaving with them can become addictive. He was not wrong. This morning's shave was one of the closest and most comfortable shaves I have ever given myself and not a single little weeper. I am of course still leaning but it is starting to all come together.

What I learnt this morning was that the way you hold the razor can greatly influence the way it performs. With western style SRs, I have always adjusted my hold depending on which part of my face that I am shaving. I am now experimenting with different holds using this kamisori and it is starting to come together. I am still finding difficulty in just shaving with the Omote side against my face, particularly on my right jaw line when shaving chin to ear (ATG). That is about the only stroke that is still giving me trouble. Other than that, I'm hooked
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@rbscebu, use the Ura for that pass, it ain't cheating and yes those shaves, IMHO using both, leave a Western S/R for BBS finish?
 
One thing I forgot to mention, after its second full balsa strop progression, I am finding this blade's edge being up to my requirements.

After this morning's shave, I gave the edge a half balsa strop progression (full without the 0.5μm). That should about finish it off. From now on, this razor should just need a normal 0.1μm hanging balsa stropping after each shave to keep the edge chrisp.
 
An observation. I measured to bevel angle of both kamisori.

Tosuke = 20.4°
Yamamasa = 17.8°

That 20.4° of the Tosuke is about the most obtuse bevel angle I have shaved with. When teaching SR shaving, I normally recommend to my students that their first SR should have a bevel angle of about 18° ±½° as that makes for a more forgiving edge. As their technique improves, they can move to more acute bevel angles.

Another observation is that when laying a kamisori down on a flat surface, do so with the Omote side down. That should keep the edge away from the hard flat surface.
 
Having now completed five daily shaves with the Tosuke R12 kamisori, I am impressed with kamisori shaving. I approached shaving with the intention of of shaving with it in the traditional way with the Omote side only towards my skin. Some of things that I have learnt with this adventure into kamisori shaving are:

It was advantages to first practice shave with a traditional SR shorty using just the reverse side towards my skin.

Like all SR shaving, edge keenness, skin stretching and shave angle is most important.

You cannot always shave in directions that you are use to so you need to try different directions. This can sometimes give you even better results than normal. For me, this was particularly so on my neck where the grain is horizontal from the throat outwards.

You need to develop many different ways of holding the kami while shaving.

You need to develop different muscle memory for kami shaving.

I'm not sure if it was the kamisori razor of the extra concentration that I put into my shaving but the shave results are generally better than what I get with western style SRs.

Now I will reluctantly put this Tosuke R12 away for tomorrow I move in to the Yamamasa kamisori with a different Razorock soap.
 
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