My Lessons (Bloodily) Learnt.
Point by Point.
• I start by soaking my brush in hot water.
I do this in the insulated metal mug that has
my Arko soap squished into the bottom of it.
• Wash face with soap & rinse with hot water.
I scrub those bristles!
• Squeeze excess water off the brush gently.
Don't shake it dry. Prepare the soap; whip it up.
• Work it into face with the brush for 1-2 minutes.
• Leave the soap on for 5 minutes. Go do summat else.
• Adjust the lather if needed; prepare the razor:
I rinse & tighten it after yesterday's cleaning.
• Shave with the grain; short strokes, rinsing blade
thoroughly as needed - no face pulling on this pass.
• When rinsing the razor & blade, I've found that letting
the water wash down the comb & blade lengthways
visibly blows more hair out of & off of the razorblade
than it does letting the water hit the razor 'comb on'.
• Re-lather; adjust wetness & consistency of lather if needed.
• Second pass, this time shaving against the grain......
Pulling those faces as I shave! Gurning!
Pull the skin taught where needed.
• Pat face with water; my third shaving pass if needed.
• Rinse face, apply deadly alum or just pat dry!
• Cleaning & storing my razor & blade:
Dissasemble razor, put blade to one side, clean & dry razor.
Take the blade & 'strop' it in a little liquid soap
on the palm of my hand, rinsing in hot water
then drying it thouroughly.
The angle seems to be important; too shallow a strop
results in a rougher feeling shave next time.
I want it scraping across the edge of my palm;
Rinse & dry it then oil the cutting edges;
I reassemble it with oiled blade in.
Blades & Razors Used:
Merkur short handled slant.
w/ Gillette Silver Blue - Face shave only
Eight Shaves from the one blade.
A little more 'drag' on the 6th shave.
Starts to give a slightly less clean shave on 7th.
More so on 8th, but wifey says it's still a 'good' one
Merkur short handled comb.
w/ Astra Platinum - Head shave only.
Seven shaves from the one blade.
A little more drag on the 4th shave.
Starts to give a slightly less clean shave on 5th.
More so on 6th, but wifey says it's 'okay'.
New blades for next week, I think.
Could get more shaves out of those blades -
- and compared to the slashing and dismembering
shaves I was giving myself beforehand -
they would be relatively smooth going, good ones!
But perhaps just not quite clean enough.
Also going to try a different bar soap to wash my face,
and start using the ToOBS shaving cream, just to see.
Still using men-u brush; I don't want to change too
many variables at this point - still learning!