[Milton Man]

Old School,
Absolutely no reason to feel as though you can't post in SOTD - we all start somewhere, and really, in the end, we all get to the same place. You should be proud for taking up the challenge of wet shaving with a straight. Whether or not you have a custom straight from Mastro Livi, or a Feather AC, we're all going after the BBS, so we're all equals.

Just like cars, we call get there - some just choose to plunk their money down for fancier versions.

Keep up the shaving journal - I know I'm sure enjoying it!

Good luck, and keep at it!

Mark

[gugi]

ha-ha I know what you mean - I was feeling a bit intimidated to post there too, even though I know I shouldn't... And I've got a silvertip vulfix, a cult-ish razor and few nice soaps... I do like your thread though being separate as it's very useful and if it were wattered down in sotd i may have not had the attention span to follow (i know i'm getting americanized and i don't even have a tv....)
i never got anything even close to you with excell/m3, just this unpleasent sensation after shaving. and i never gave it a serious thought that it may be possible to be avoided. that all is a side result from me deciding one day that a straight would be a cool thing to master.
very curious what you'll find about williams's mug soap.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Williams mug soap, first pass lather gets 4/10 dried up way too fast. Second pass lather gets an 8/10 I guess I didn't put enough effort into it first time round. The scent is a little lemony but not over powering which is good.

I found out today that my feather bounces/jumps along my chin, no matter how many faces I pull to get the skin taught. Perhaps its from growing a goatee so many times, only have it for like 3 months then shave it.

I won't judge TGQ or MB soaps for their lathers since I have only just learned how to build a proper one, I don't want them to get an unfair rating.
I am waiting to hear back from MB (Sue?) to see what scents are in Brummel to see if I can't automatically know what caused the reaction but for the time being Beau Brummel is going to become a dust collector. I'm not sure if thats unfair but hey once bitten twice shy yeah.

Now I just need to try the other 2 or 3 samples of TGQ I have before moving on to the apparent best on the market MWF.

Oh yeah, I got one nick under my chin. Had to let that one bleed out coz I don't have Alum or styptic.

[vgod]

[quote=OLD_SCHOOL;145950]Think I shall try out the Williams mug soap tomorrow.

when i first started, i did not want to invest much money if i did not have to. i bought a Williams soap, and borrowed a str8 from my father in-law. sometimes you have to go back to the basics. maybe the fancy soaps are giving you issues (which you may have mentioned before.)

i agree with Milton Man. i hate to see your pain, but i do enjoy the journal. keep the faith.

vgod

[OLD_SCHOOL]

I am naughty boy, I changed the blade on my cartridge shaver and shaved with that today. BUT only because I was in a hurry today and simply did not have time to use my feather, and I didn't make a mess like the other day.
I used TGQ Desert Ironwood finally and wow that was truly refreshing and a great lather, I give TGQ 9/10 for that.

Don't worry tomorrow it will be back to shaving with the feather. It feels horrible to be able to complete a shave in just a fraction of the time and it isn't as relaxing or as enjoyable as with a straight.

[rtaylor61]

How is your lather holding up? One thing you might do. I'm not sure where you are located, but drop a few dollars on an inexpensive shaving lather and practice, practice, practice.

RT

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Originally Posted by rtaylor61

How is your lather holding up? One thing you might do. I'm not sure where you are located, but drop a few dollars on an inexpensive shaving lather and practice, practice, practice.

RT

I have to import my soaps because there are none here with a shaving quality, I would just use them as hand soaps basically. So I will just keep practicing with TGQ.
Then again I could just practice with the soaps I am not fond of, just as long as they aren't going on my face.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Sorry to keep you all waiting. I hadn't shaved since Tuesday.

Todays shave absolutely amazing, couldn't believe it. Not quite BBS coz I have difficulty around my chin, neck and jawline but it was good.
I changed my method a little today. I soaked my brush in hot water while I was in the shower, but when I finished, I couldn't be bothered having a shave at that moment so left the brush in the water. Several hours later I decide its time for a shave, I grab TGQ lime margarita, pick up my brush that now has cold water in it, swirl it around the soap a few times and BAM, the resulting lather is like I have seen Lynn do and other people on youtube, it was like whipped egg whites (Meringue) the lather was strong for the first pass but the second application obviously needed a little more work. I think though it is safe to say that I can build a good lather. Thanks again RT.
My skin isn't as dry and no razor burn, even though the 2nd pass got a little scary. 9razor bouncing over whiskers.

Lime Margarita has a pleasant scent to it, quite refreshing actually. Today is a cold and rainy day here but the scent from this soap really does warm me up and makes the day seem less miserable.

I have had a browse at prices and I have to say I think TGQ is very well priced, considering Colleen uses EO's and makes them by hand, they seem to be about the same price or cheaper than these mass produced soaps using FO's, so I do believe most of my shving soap requirements will be fulfilled by Colleen.

Have a great day.

[gugi]

nice update things seem to be getting much better, eh
not sure if you saw the recent thread about using warm/cold water and getting better results. also your brush is boar iirc, so the soaking may really help it - somebody else may have better comment on this.

well, if you're getting into colleen's soaps you may want to check out her thread in the vendors' corner and put your weigh in the scents and/or lathering department. she seems to always like getting feedback.
(unless you're planning to ask for cinnamon and not rose )

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Originally Posted by gugi

nice update things seem to be getting much better, eh
not sure if you saw the recent thread about using warm/cold water and getting better results. also your brush is boar iirc, so the soaking may really help it - somebody else may have better comment on this.

well, if you're getting into colleen's soaps you may want to check out her thread in the vendors' corner and put your weigh in the scents and/or lathering department. she seems to always like getting feedback.
(unless you're planning to ask for cinnamon and not rose )

I have been following that thread actually. I was going to post in it after I did my entry here, but I got a thousand things on my mind right now, I forgot. So now I got 1001 things.

[gugi]

yeah i just got a small scuttle and can't see myself getting weaned off warm lather even though my first 3 uses of the scuttle have resulted in worse lather longevity. i think i'd first attempt any possible to keep the lather alive, before giving up the warmth
otherwise somebody else will get quite a deal on a scuttle as i've already gotten it from a member for less the list price.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Well I just had a shave and used the one and only MWF and I must say I am quite disappointed, thats right disappointed. I found it to be no better than most of the soaps I have already tried, and personally I found it dried out too fast. When I say dried out I mean it was a good lather nicely built, a lot body but whilst I was shaving, it was like a shaving powder, dry and flakey. I do not see the need to spend what was it? $18 for that stuff. I'd rather buy 18 pucks of Williams mug soap, which is a good soap.

So at the end of the day I will give MWF 6/10, thats because while I was writing this review, I touched my face and realised I missed a spot, so went to look in the mirror to get that missed spot only to see, my skin is shiny but there are thousands of very fine wrinkles in my skin. Anything that highlights your wrinkles is bad

[rtaylor61]

Before giving up on MWF, use it for a week. Exclusively. All soaps and creams react differently. Knowing how to create a great lather with one or two doesn't make you an expert with all of them. I have a number of items I tried and was disappointed with, only to revisit them and discover I was missing out.

RT

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Originally Posted by rtaylor61

Before giving up on MWF, use it for a week. Exclusively. All soaps and creams react differently. Knowing how to create a great lather with one or two doesn't make you an expert with all of them. I have a number of items I tried and was disappointed with, only to revisit them and discover I was missing out.

RT

But what about the fact it (appears to have) highlighted many fine lines on my face? I know I'm getting older and wrinkles re inevitable but I would prefer not to hurry them along.

Actually I was also thinking that perhaps shaving soaps in general don't react well with my skin. My skin always seems to feel and look dry during and after a shave, except with Williams mug soap and TGQ soaps which although my skin feels dry, when I touch it, it feels nicely moisturized and soft.
Might be time to check out some of TGQ creams.

[Steelforge]

That's weird with the MWF, I really love that stuff either with my Feather or with a traditional straight.

I do tend to make my lather differently depending on what razor I'm using. If using a traditional straight I lather directly on my face and make a very thick and soapy lather. If I'm using my Feather I whip up a much lighter (less soap & more water) lather using a bowl, and then use that.

I am still finding I get weepers pretty much every shave with my Feather AC, as it's so much more unforgiving than a traditional. However, what I find does work is just doing 1 light pass with the grain, which gives me an acceptable shaver for work/church etc. I get a much better 1 pass shave with a Feather than I do with a traditional, and with 1 pass I find I get very few weepers and very little razor burn.

Keep it up mate, sounds like you are definately getting there. My first few weeks with straights were terrible, I wish I'd taken photo's now to prove how badly slashed up I got! I think it sounds like you're doing better than I was.

[rtaylor61]

Old School (By the way, got a first name?)

If I remember correctly, MWF has lanolin in it. Have you ever had a reaction to lanolin before?

No, certainly don't use it with those issues. I overlooked that somehow.

RT

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Well had a quick shave, needed to use my multi blade shaving system (thats a mouthful isn't it?) because I was in a hurry.
I paid for more of Colleens soaps coz they are the best at the moment. I used Bayrum and orange, it had an interesting scent to it, I'm not sure how often that will go on the order list.
Nothing else to say really.

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Today I realised several things whilst going through the process of shaving.
#1 The hotter the towel is not necessarily the better, in fact because our water runs on gas I set the temp at its highest which is 50 degrees. Felt nice didn't feel like it was very hot, however where the towel had been, was deep red.

#2 I still need to work on my lather building skills, either that or my face just loves to absorb any moisture from soaps and dry them out. I find I can get a better lather using cold water rather than hot though.

I'm not sure this needs numbering but either my blade is out of shape already or my beard is made of steel. I mean on my 1st pass on my neck the razor started to not move it would cling to the hairs and pull, not pleasant at all. I had to finish with the cartridge but funny thing, even that was grabbing. Now something is seriously wrong there, my blades up until just a month or 2 ago used to last a week, now its just several days. Could it be that my beard is getting tougher and will it one day get to the point where I can no longer shave it? It can't be my prep surely, I mean if heat is meant to weaken whiskers then that 50 degree towel should have nearly melted my whiskers off.

Todays experience was basically so unpleasant, I only did 1 pass, and nicked myself once with the feather, no slicing and dicing from the cartridge like last week, Iam contemplating buying a DE.

Oh yeah I used Lemon verbena TGQ today. My thoughts, good lather but smells too much like dishwashing detergent.

[Nicolas]

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

.... Nothing else to say really.

well

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

Today I realised several things whilst going through the process of shaving.
#1 The hotter the towel is not necessarily the better, in fact because our water runs on gas I set the temp at its highest which is 50 degrees. Felt nice didn't feel like it was very hot, however where the towel had been, was deep red.

#2 I still need to work on my lather building skills, either that or my face just loves to absorb any moisture from soaps and dry them out. I find I can get a better lather using cold water rather than hot though.

I'm not sure this needs numbering but either my blade is out of shape already or my beard is made of steel. I mean on my 1st pass on my neck the razor started to not move it would cling to the hairs and pull, not pleasant at all. I had to finish with the cartridge but funny thing, even that was grabbing. Now something is seriously wrong there, my blades up until just a month or 2 ago used to last a week, now its just several days. Could it be that my beard is getting tougher and will it one day get to the point where I can no longer shave it? It can't be my prep surely, I mean if heat is meant to weaken whiskers then that 50 degree towel should have nearly melted my whiskers off.

Todays experience was basically so unpleasant, I only did 1 pass, and nicked myself once with the feather, no slicing and dicing from the cartridge like last week, Iam contemplating buying a DE.

Oh yeah I used Lemon verbena TGQ today. My thoughts, good lather but smells too much like dishwashing detergent.

Just keep posting so we know you're alive and kicking

Sure you have a shave ready razor?

[OLD_SCHOOL]

Originally Posted by Nicolas

Sure you have a shave ready razor?

Its a feather