thisISjoel's straight shaving diary

I'm doing two passes. I find that there are still a couple of spots after two that cos use a touch up but they're usually in a funny spot and direction on my neck.

Had a super busy weekend and didn't get a chance to shave at all so it looks like shave number 5 should happen tonight
 
Shave number 5.

Prep: Shower, hot towel.
Soap: Proraso red.
After: Cold towel, Imperial Leather.

Felt a little frisky today and went for an atg pass as my second pass (on my cheeks, chin and under my nose. My neck is two xtg passes). Went well on the cheeks, got a little nick on the right corner of the top lip and still struggled with the chin with a couple of nicks there too. The result is a really smooth shave on the cheeks, nice and close. Left hand is still behind, and I did swap to the right hand for some of the atg pass on the left side of my face because I just couldn't get my left hand to find the right angle.

Still enjoying the journey :)
 
Shave 6, the worst yet.

Oh boy, I done goofed up this time. Firstly, I shaved two days in a row which I don't really do, even with DEs. Lather was terrible, avocado, I think it's TOBS (it's a sample), it was dry, no slickness, no cushion. The razor felt like it was scraping my skin, but not cutting the hair. I tried to get some funky angles to go more against the grain on my neck. Irritation on my cheeks. Cut my chin, cut under my eye (being careless with the razor). It all went wrong.

I'm worried I might have wrecked the edge with poor stropping, it still cuts arm hair from a cm above the skin so it might just have been the crappy lather, but it really wasn't comfortable at all.

I'm going to take a day or two off and let my face heal before I get back on the horse.
 
bald as said:
Maybe tomorrow just shave your arms? :)

The one near the eye is a worry. Perhaps a tiny bit of walking before the all out running? When you shave next go back to all the things that worked correctly, and this is only me, but give the ATG a miss for a time at least.
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Yeah, for sure. Definitely got complacent. I wasn't even taking a stroke, just bring the razor up to start one and caught myself on the way up.

I knew the lather wasn't up to scratch before I even started shaving so I should have just called the whole thing off then. Didn't need to shave at all really. Too keen for my own good.
 
Shave 7, better than the last.

Shaver heaven barbershop, natio razor relief balm. Only did a wtg pass and half wtg half xtg pass. Couple nicks on the chin, but nothing too serious. Still got a fair amount of irritation, primarily on the neck. Probably poor technique. I feel like the blade is still cutting, but also scraping. I don't know if I've dulled it, but if a DE blade had given me today's shave it would have been turfed.

Overall, not the worst straight shave so far, but far from the best.
 
thisISjoel said:
Shave 7, better than the last.

Shaver heaven barbershop, natio razor relief balm. Only did a wtg pass and half wtg half xtg pass. Couple nicks on the chin, but nothing too serious. Still got a fair amount of irritation, primarily on the neck. Probably poor technique. I feel like the blade is still cutting, but also scraping. I don't know if I've dulled it, but if a DE blade had given me today's shave it would have been turfed.

Overall, not the worst straight shave so far, but far from the best.
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Keep up the good work Joel. What's your sharpening strategy going to be when the time comes?
 
Shave 8, getting back on track! Really took my time with everything, face lathered rhapsody straight out of the shower, worked plenty of water in and took my time to really work it into a nice, nice lather. Paid extra attention to the blade angle and pressure and the result was a really nice first pass.

For my first pass I just go north to south over my whole face and neck. This is pretty much wtg all over my face, but xtg on my neck. My neck hair grows mostly left to right, which makes getting a true wtg pass, especially with the straight, difficult.

Went for a second pass, south to North on the neck (xtg the other way), and combination wtg and xtg on the cheeks, upper lip and chin. Only got one small nick on the chin and one or two minimal spots of irritation on the neck.

Finished with imperial leather and a little macca root moisturiser from the body shop. Lovely.

Definitely taking the extra time and care improved this shave from the previous two.

EDIT: Should have mentioned this is one of the most consistently close shaves I've had with the straight yet!
 
Shave 9, bit of bloodshed, but a close shave and only superficial weeper type nicks.

Same soap and aftershave as yesterday.

Went wtg and atg and attempted a clean up (this is where the weepers happened). Both passes were good, but the lather was drying out a bit, despite my attempts to put more water into it. Might have to load more soap.
 
Mate, and apologies if I'm telling you to suck eggs here, but are you adjusting the angle as you go XTG and ATG?

b678c4d507bfc7f1f32aa839335fe921.jpg


ATG needs the spine almost flat against the skin. I need to actually almost dig the spine into my skin on the neck/under chin area where the beard grows virtually parallel to (lays flat on) the skin. A real sore point for me...
 
stillshunter said:
Mate, and apologies if I'm telling you to suck eggs here, but are you adjusting the angle as you go XTG and ATG?

b678c4d507bfc7f1f32aa839335fe921.jpg


ATG needs the spine almost flat against the skin. I need to actually almost dig the spine into my skin on the neck/under chin area where the beard grows virtually parallel to (lays flat on) the skin. A real sore point for me...
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Thanks for that pic, man! That's really helpful :) I think I do adjust my angle similarly for atg, but I'll definitely be paying closer attention now.
 
thisISjoel said:
Thanks for that pic, man! That's really helpful :) I think I do adjust my angle similarly for atg, but I'll definitely be paying closer attention now.
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Paying close attention is the one thing that should never exit your straight shave. I'm six months in and still watch the blade like I do a drunk mate on the town.
 
Shave 10! This was yesterday, but I didn't get around to posting it.

Decided since I'd been having some issues with my lather that I'd try a bit of a bowl lathering/super lather. I mixed up shaver heaven barbershop, fauldings and a little proraso red (for flavour) in the bowl and made it as wet as I could.

The lather wasn't especially slick, but it didn't dry out on my face either so it was a bit of an improvement.

The shave went well. First pass with the grain everywhere except the neck (xtg) and second pass xtg everywhere with a teeny, tiny bit atg on the chin because I find it easier going South to North rather than East to West (or vice versa) there.

No cuts! One or two tiny weepers and a wee patch of irritation on my neck, but otherwise a pretty smooth shave :)

Keeping the razor much flatter on the second pass really did make it so much more comfortable! Thanks again @stillshunter for the tip!
 
Shave 11. Again, a day late posting, but meh.

Proraso green pre/post and soap.

Shaved before the shower, throwing back to something I used to do DE shaving. Lather was pretty good. Shave was mostly good. One cut on the chin (curse the chin!) and a little irritation on the neck (also curse the neck!).

Again, wtg and xtg, except chin (wtg and atg) and moustache (wtg and atg).

Something I noticed is that I'm forgetting to stretch the skin properly all the time. I always stretch before the first strokes, but something I'll forget to either a) move the stretching hand down my face as I shave b) stretch the skin on my neck c) both. So that's something I need to keep an eye on.
 
Shave 12, bit of a disaster.

Mixed it up and went back to the old omega s brush, not the softest face feel, but whips a good lather up into B&M Rhapsody. Lathered up, stropped the razor, rinsed off the lather, lathered again and shaved. WTG (w/xtg on neck, as always) and ATG (w/xtg the other way on neck). Re-opened the cut from the previous shave, got another nick or two and a couple of weepers, felt ok though. Splashed a bit of Dickinson's witch hazel and jumped in the shower. No face wash or anything, just water. Jumped out and toweled off and oh boy my face is a red splotchy mess! Not sure if it was the witch hazel or just a way worse shave than it felt like, but I'm in irritation city! I then threw on a splash of imperial leather (probablly shouldn't have) and felt the burn.

Popped an antihistamine incase it was some kind of mild allergic reaction and it seems to have settled things down a bit. Just had a quick squizz in the mirror and much of the redness has subsided.
 
Shave 13, unlucky?

Felt a bit frisky and decided to try three full passes! I've been mixing it up a bit with two pass shaves (wtg and xtg or wtg and atg) but I thought the atg pass might be a bit smoother if I went xtg first. Well, all I really managed to do was irritate myself in more places than usual. I got a closer shave on my neck than normal, but it came at a price. Went back to the whipped dog brush and shaver heaven barbershop (lovely soap!) and just used straight up coconut oil post shave. The coconut oil smells great and feels lovely, but it's a little greasy.

I'm going back to two pass shaves for the time being.
 
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