Pre-Shave: Shower
Razor: Kamisori western grind (9)
Brush: Stirling 22mm synth
Lather: RazorRock Sandalwood
Post-shave: Alum, Nivea post shave balm
FRAT below.
Apologies for the crap photo.
Ninth shave with the Kamisori. I've been really happy with how far I've come and how fast I've progressed. The last couple of shaves in particular have resulted in the closest shaves I've ever had. I got to thinking and while the end result has been outstanding I'm always looking for ways to maximise and fast tract my learning. A discussion the other day with Sensei
@Draco Noir got me thinking, the bases of that discussion being is even if your WTG pass isn't perfect you can make up some or all that ground in the XTG or ATG pass. Then I thought rather than do my usual two or three pass shave what if I only did an WTG pass then I couldn't rely on another pass to make up for any areas that weren't quite up to standard.
This meant I really had to focus on getting every aspect of the WTG pass right. I quickly realised there were quite a few areas of my WTG pass were lacking and I had been relying on getting them in another pass. For example trying to get just under my nose even pushing it up was next to impossible yet was easy when going XTG. After trying various forms of hand related gymnastics I ended up being able to just get the area using the first half centimetre of the Kamisori. Certain areas of the chin, jawline and neck were similar where I'd rely on utilising a proportion of the blade and while I had done the exact thing in previous shaves once again I had been relying on getting them on the XTG or ATG pass due to the angles involved rather than in the WTG pass.
The whole shave wasn't much quicker than when I've done a three pass shave and obviously it also wasn't as close either but that wasn't what I was trying to achieve. What I did achieve was a nick free consistent single WTG pass shave that while not BBS, it was still relatively close to a DFS. While I had been enjoying the last couple of BBS shaves it's been an invaluable learning experience pairing everything back and focusing on improving the process to getting to BBS.
Ultimately a great WTG pass isn't imperative but it's also doesn't hurt and today's shave has not only helped improve my WTG pass but more importantly improved my dexterity with the blade which is always very satisfying. This is also in line with my long term goal to eventually become proficient with a traditional asymmetrical grind Kamisori, while this is obviously a long way off given my progress thus far it certainly appears to be an achievable goal especially with Draco's help and guidance.
Another trick I've been doing for want of a better description (not in line with becoming proficient with a traditional Kami) is any areas I could do with either hand I made sure to use my least dominate hand being my left. I find this a great way to fast track my dexterity with my non master hand especially in some of the more tricky and tighter spots. I'm not suggesting this would be a good idea for everyone but it works really well for me and something to consider.
Disclaimer: I'm right hand dominate but I'm somewhat ambidextrous and write with my left so although it's not as comfortable as my right it's not that huge of a leap for me.
FRAT: Focused on improving WTG pass only. Had a great shave and I achieved the desired result of improving my WTG pass and increasing my dexterity with the blade
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