Lurker...

Nisse said:
Took me about four weeks of training on cheap chunky Chinese blades before I was able to appreciate and really take advantage of the slick character of vintage full hollow blades.
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I've got my eye on a couple of auctions currently so hopefully they've not got too many watchers... My time will come!
 
Update from this Welsh lurker - Shaped beard by the way of shaving cheeks and neck, mainly. Cheeks went fine for 3 passes without a hitch, neck is still presenting with some 'razor rash'. The hair on my neck grows quite far down, is quite tough/short, lays relatively flat and is grain = up at the bottom, grain = down at the top and meets a bit under my jawline to go across inline with my jawline back towards my neck/ears (if you can envisage that difficult description).

Had a couple of 'pulls', rather than nicks. It was rashy and marginally bleedy which was remedied by use of an alum block (which I might look at changing, this one was beyond cheap and bit harder than a honey badger on heat). Cheeks are 'dolphin smooth' to coin FergieBilly's expression, neck leaving a bit to be desired.

I've narrowed my 'neck difficulties' down to a couple of issues:
(a) I'm struggling to see what I'm doing - a rugby injury circa 4 years ago means I have a metal plate under my eyeball which causes some double vision in extremes of gaze down and right.
(b) The razor doesn't seem to remove hairs when I'm attempting to remove shaving soap alone. E.g. with my cheeks, my aim is to remove the soap, the hair will come with it. If I try this on my neck, it seems to catch/snag, maybe because of the differences in grain and thickness? This is regardless of angle, from what I can gather. However, my angle may be way off and I can't tell at this early stage (another 'it'll come with time' point).

I'm sure it'll come with time! P&B Sanskrit is lovely to use, smells beautiful and far more protecting than the cheap soap I used previously. I'm already looking forward to using it again!
 
Benz3ne said:
Update from this Welsh lurker - Shaped beard by the way of shaving cheeks and neck, mainly. Cheeks went fine for 3 passes without a hitch, neck is still presenting with some 'razor rash'. The hair on my neck grows quite far down, is quite tough/short, lays relatively flat and is grain = up at the bottom, grain = down at the top and meets a bit under my jawline to go across inline with my jawline back towards my neck/ears (if you can envisage that difficult description).

Had a couple of 'pulls', rather than nicks. It was rashy and marginally bleedy which was remedied by use of an alum block (which I might look at changing, this one was beyond cheap and bit harder than a honey badger on heat). Cheeks are 'dolphin smooth' to coin FergieBilly's expression, neck leaving a bit to be desired.

I've narrowed my 'neck difficulties' down to a couple of issues:
(a) I'm struggling to see what I'm doing - a rugby injury circa 4 years ago means I have a metal plate under my eyeball which causes some double vision in extremes of gaze down and right.
(b) The razor doesn't seem to remove hairs when I'm attempting to remove shaving soap alone. E.g. with my cheeks, my aim is to remove the soap, the hair will come with it. If I try this on my neck, it seems to catch/snag, maybe because of the differences in grain and thickness? This is regardless of angle, from what I can gather. However, my angle may be way off and I can't tell at this early stage (another 'it'll come with time' point).

I'm sure it'll come with time! P&B Sanskrit is lovely to use, smells beautiful and far more protecting than the cheap soap I used previously. I'm already looking forward to using it again!
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Good write up. Glad you are still enjoying it albeit with some small issues. Angle is easy. You want the spines width away from your skin. Not wanting to teach you how to suck eggs, rather trying to help. Hope this does indeed help.
 
wayne mattison said:
Good write up. Glad you are still enjoying it albeit with some small issues. Angle is easy. You want the spines width away from your skin. Not wanting to teach you how to suck eggs, rather trying to help. Hope this does indeed help.
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That's great, cheers Wayne. Any help is welcome! I'm trying to keep it a spines width as per Lynn Abrams' starter vid. Your comment reaffirms that tip about angles. It'll come with time for sure. Thanks again sir.
 
Lurker update: Got impatient with waiting between shaves (I know daily isn't too short a wait, but it may have been for me) and tried to smooth my cheeks up a bit. I tried a 3 grain shave; WTG, XTG, ATG. Everything went smoothly and P&B Sanskrit still smells lovely, no surprises there. Managed to do it all with no nicks etc, and managed to tidy up my moustache, down the sides of my mouth and across my bottom lip (less the 'soul-patch' space). About 5 minutes after finishing, I've started presenting with some razor burn. It is uncomfortable and it is red. I think I may have been a bit over-confident and will stick to the 1 or 2 grain's (likely WTG and XTG) for a little while to ensure I have the technique down to a tee. It was more than likely an angle issue, again. I doubt it'll take me long to get that sorted.

Anything I can do for the time being? I might chuck a bit more Nivea post-shave balm on to soothe it a little, but aside from that I can't think of anything else to remedy it. I have no aloe vera, unfortunately.

Thanks guys!
 
Personally I do not shave daily. I like to give my skin some recovery time. Scraping a sharp blade across your mug isn't too good for it regardless of what razor is used. You can try a cold compress. A few ice cubes in a tea towel and applied to the area for a few minutes or put a couple of Aspirin in some warm water, just enough to let the tablets form a paste then apply that. Hope it gets better soon.
 
wayne mattison said:
Personally I do not shave daily. I like to give my skin some recovery time. Scraping a sharp blade across your mug isn't too good for it regardless of what razor is used. You can try a cold compress. A few ice cubes in a tea towel and applied to the area for a few minutes or put a couple of Aspirin in some warm water, just enough to let the tablets form a paste then apply that. Hope it gets better soon.
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Cheers Wayne. It's not too bad so it shouldn't take too long to sort itself out. Thanks for the pointers! I think my eagerness gave me the lesson of 'don't shave daily', at least this early on. Diolch (thanks)!
 
Wise choice skipping ATG, I shave daily but first weeks with SR it was WTG only, looking back I am quite impressed by my patience, it did pay off though, good shaves, better shaves, the very best of shaves, got there without major setbacks and enjoyed the journey.
 
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Nisse said:
Wise choice skipping ATG, I shave daily but first weeks with SR it was WTG only, looking back I am quite impressed by my patience, it did pay off though, good shaves, better shaves, the very best of shaves, got there without major setbacks and enjoyed the journey.
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Fortunately I wouldn't call this a 'major setback'. It was uncomfortable but I didn't push it to the point where I cut myself, where it lasted a week (it's all better today) or where I go 'oh what's the point?'.
I'm simply too curious for my own good...better for me to learn this way than to pussy-foot my way through the process and not get to where I want to be!
Dioch eto pawb! Thanks again all!
 
wayne mattison said:
Don't forget wet shaving is supposed to be a pleasurable experience. If you make your face sore and get razor bumps then you are defeating the objective. Pussy footing is the way to go. There is nothing wrong with taking your time and learning slowly.
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Absolutely! I'm still enjoying it - learning limits and having setbacks is enjoyable for me, it's not dissimilar to my degree. Trial and error etc ;) I think it's a stark reminder, having a bit of razor burn, that I should take it slow. Thanks for the reminder that slower = better in this instance! That's why I'm here, to have the guidance from those more experienced than myself!
Diolch yr fawr! Thanks a lot! :)
 
Benz3ne said:
Absolutely! I'm still enjoying it - learning limits and having setbacks is enjoyable for me, it's not dissimilar to my degree. Trial and error etc ;) I think it's a stark reminder, having a bit of razor burn, that I should take it slow. Thanks for the reminder that slower = better in this instance! That's why I'm here, to have the guidance from those more experienced than myself!
Diolch yr fawr! Thanks a lot! :)
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I know where you are coming from. If you stopped every time you fell off a bike you'd never learn to ride one. What's a grazed knee eh? Daliwch ati. :D
 
I Used to Scoff at the Old Dictum that it Takes a 100 Shaves to Master an SR..:eek:

It Took Me Around 30 Shaves to be What I Would Say Pretty Competent with an SR..After around a 100 Shaves My SR Shaving was in a Totally Different Place..I Would Equate My 1st 30 Shaves with Passing a Driving Test & Dumping My L Plates as Being Signed Off as Being Competent to Drive a Car..o_O

The 1st 30 Shaves for Me were Like Passing a Driving Test..It was My Foundation for Further Learning.. SR Shaving Just becomes Natural Like Driving a Car & that Doesn't Happen Overnight..The Remarkable Smooth, Close & Comfortable Shaves SRs have to Offer Comes to You With Time...You Cant Rush Time..:D

Billy
 
Fergiebilly said:
I Used to Scoff at the Old Dictum that it Takes a 100 Shaves to Master an SR..:eek:

It Took Me Around 30 Shaves to be What I Would Say Pretty Competent with an SR..After around a 100 Shaves My SR Shaving was in a Totally Different Place..I Would Equate My 1st 30 Shaves with Passing a Driving Test & Dumping My L Plates as Being Signed Off as Being Competent to Drive a Car..o_O

The 1st 30 Shaves for Me were Like Passing a Driving Test..It was My Foundation for Further Learning.. SR Shaving Just becomes Natural Like Driving a Car & that Doesn't Happen Overnight..The Remarkable Smooth, Close & Comfortable Shaves SRs have to Offer Comes to You With Time...You Cant Rush Time..:D

Billy
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+1 on all the above. I've still got my L plates on. Sometimes my head is frazzled trying to figure out the correct angle s for various parts but it's getting better every shave. They say time can bring about a change Listen I aint seen a dog gone thing.
 
wayne mattison said:
I know where you are coming from. If you stopped every time you fell off a bike you'd never learn to ride one. What's a grazed knee eh? Daliwch ati. :D
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Funny thing is, I taught myself to right a bike! Many grazed knees and a couple of hours late and I had it down!
Definitely, @Fergiebilly. It seems as soon as you pass your test clutch control isn't an issue!
All in due course, brethren!
 
Day 4 in the Welsh lurker house:
I had a much more reasonable shave. Not too close but neat enough and managed to do my neck without getting razor burn. All were with the grain, one pass only.
However... I was putting my razor away and had the misfortune to drop it - my brain decided it didn't fancy holding onto said razor. I've stropped it since for good measure but the front 1/5th, roughly, won't cut a hanging hair whereas the rest most certainly will. What do you suggest is the best course of action? There does seem to be a very, very minute chip but it really is negligible. The front 1/5th is still sharp and will cut hairs but not nearly as capably as the rest of the razor.
Bit bummed about it, though. Luck doesn't seem to have been in my favour of late!
Diolch.
 
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