As a new member of P&C, I would like to share my traditional shaving journey.
I started shaving as a teen and at the same time I had acne. I was using a Mach 3 which resulted into what I thought was breakouts or more acne, on my neck. I switched to a Mach 5, watched some videos on how to shave (they were awful). What a surprise, even more pimples on my neck.
So I started digging around more and found out about a Philips OneBlade. I got it and voila - I was able to shave against the grain with it, very closely - and no more pimles. Problem solved! Or was it? nope.
A year or two later I really wanted to get back into wet shaving, because using OneBlade was just... bleh. I think around that time I was also starting to get some ingrowns (which I considered pimples) from it as well. So I got a cheap set of Wilkinson Sword brush, soap, safety razor and blades. I destroyed my neck on the first shave and made it worse the following days when I tried to shave again. And so from that day forward, my hunt for a bump free wet shave didn't stop. I just took a break from writing and shaved my neck with the old OneBlade, to see if I still get bumps from it.
I kept trying more and more DE razors, blades and soaps, creams, aftershaves. Then a shavette and straight razors. My first straight was a Titan honed to "shave ready" by a local guy. It was a terrible edge. My shavette does get me into a better place, but for some reason my skin just doesnt appreciate DE blades. So @rbscebu sent me his shave ready Comoy of London, which looks a lot like a rebranded Gold Dollar. This was my first contact with a well honed SR. I struggled with it and eventually ruined the edge and didn't get good enough with honing to try and refresh it. Since then I kept trying to hone my other straights with 10mm Naniwa superstones up to 12k but they were warping so I never had them truly flat. Last week I upped my game and got a set of Shapton Pros, Atoma 400 and a certified straight edge. Two nights before I set a very very decent bevel on my new Gold Dollar 208 on the new Shapton Pro 1.5k and it is dangerously close in sharpness to my other straights which I took through the whole progression up to 0.1 um diamond loaded balsa. So my honing should only get better, as well as my shaves. So I'll get this edge as fat as I can get it and then try my best to get a bump free shave. If that doesn't work out, I'll be taking a break.
With all this I was kind of on and off. I kept trying, actively, for a better shave for a few weeks, then I just rolled with whatever the outcome of the shave was and hoped it will magically get better. Now I am paying attention to every little detail. Going back to basics helped out a lot - pressure and angle. I can get a shave with zero irritation, the next day no bumps/ingrowns in sight. If I leave it like that and don't shave, the next day ingrowns show up. But they are gone 2-5 days later and I can repeat. If I keep shaving every day, my skin eventually ends up very irritated and covered in bumps. So I am considering a 12 week brake, to let my skin rest and get rid of leftover inflamation on my hair shafts. Sort of start with a clean slate. But that's no fun!
My favorites are my open comb safety razors with a Feather or KAI blades. Shavette with a Feather/KAI also works pretty good. Proraso white helps keep the irritation down, red helps to get an effortless cutting action and a smooth shave. Tabac and Saponificio Varesino are also very good soaps. Stirlings are usually my favourite. I like my plissoft brush but I have been using the AP cashmere exclusively for the past 6 moths since I got it. It's great. Aftershaves don't really matter much. As long as my shaving technique was acceptable and I hydrate my skin after the shave, it's pretty good.
My beard isn't dense, but the hairs are tough, dark and curly, growing extremely flat to the skin on my neck. So that's a perfect ingrown hair recipee. My shaves are a single WTG pass. I sometimes keep a beard and only shave my neck, so that the beard hides the bump covered pale neck. I can shave above my jawline against the grain no problem.
My goal is to get to a place where I can hone a decent edge and shave at least every other day without having to deal with bumps and ingrowns. I don't want to pull out hair with tweezers, I don't want to see red, inflamed spots on my neck. It would also be great to use up all the products that I have accumulated, as well as get some more use out of my safety razors. Obviously I love shopping new products, trying them out and shaving with edges that I honed. I just want to do so without being annoyed about what's going on with my neck after shaving.
Not giving up anytime soon, even if I didn't get far after 3 years. I remember the handful of shaves that I had which were juuust perfect. I just need to find them again and keep consistent with them. Honestly I got lost in trying out different stuff and lost the sight of my primary goal. But I'm back, ready to close this chapter and go on enjoying my hobby.
Safety razors:
Wilkinson sword Classic edition
Muhle R89
Muhle R41
Fatip Picolo
Parker 24C
Gillette Black Beauty short handle
Blades:
Feather
KAI
Astra green, blue
Personna blue
Gillete green, yellow, silver blue, platinum
Voskhod
Derby
Wilkinson
Muhle
Shark
Perma-sharp
some more I can't remember
Straigh razors:
Parker shavette
2x French vintage
2x USSR vintage
Sheffield vintage
2x Solingen vintage
Few gold dollars
Titan
Next month I will recieve a custom made River Razor striaght, 8/8 near wedge
Brushes:
Proraso boar
Nom badger
Bodyshop synthetic
Razorock plissoft
AP cashmere
Soaps/Creams:
Proraso white, blue, green, red
Muhle sandalwood
Nivea protect & care
Stirling, a few
Saponificio Varesino 70th edition
TOBS tobacco leaf
MWF
Tabac
Speick
Cella green
Barbus
Palmolive
Haslinger
Arko
and a few random cheap creams I cant remember
Aftershaves:
Proraso white blue
Nivea sensitive balm/splah, ultra sensitive balm, deep lotion
Alpa 378 splash
Barbus splash
TOBS lotion
I stopped using alum after 2 years because I think it dries out my skin and doesn't offer me any benefits
I started shaving as a teen and at the same time I had acne. I was using a Mach 3 which resulted into what I thought was breakouts or more acne, on my neck. I switched to a Mach 5, watched some videos on how to shave (they were awful). What a surprise, even more pimples on my neck.
So I started digging around more and found out about a Philips OneBlade. I got it and voila - I was able to shave against the grain with it, very closely - and no more pimles. Problem solved! Or was it? nope.
A year or two later I really wanted to get back into wet shaving, because using OneBlade was just... bleh. I think around that time I was also starting to get some ingrowns (which I considered pimples) from it as well. So I got a cheap set of Wilkinson Sword brush, soap, safety razor and blades. I destroyed my neck on the first shave and made it worse the following days when I tried to shave again. And so from that day forward, my hunt for a bump free wet shave didn't stop. I just took a break from writing and shaved my neck with the old OneBlade, to see if I still get bumps from it.
I kept trying more and more DE razors, blades and soaps, creams, aftershaves. Then a shavette and straight razors. My first straight was a Titan honed to "shave ready" by a local guy. It was a terrible edge. My shavette does get me into a better place, but for some reason my skin just doesnt appreciate DE blades. So @rbscebu sent me his shave ready Comoy of London, which looks a lot like a rebranded Gold Dollar. This was my first contact with a well honed SR. I struggled with it and eventually ruined the edge and didn't get good enough with honing to try and refresh it. Since then I kept trying to hone my other straights with 10mm Naniwa superstones up to 12k but they were warping so I never had them truly flat. Last week I upped my game and got a set of Shapton Pros, Atoma 400 and a certified straight edge. Two nights before I set a very very decent bevel on my new Gold Dollar 208 on the new Shapton Pro 1.5k and it is dangerously close in sharpness to my other straights which I took through the whole progression up to 0.1 um diamond loaded balsa. So my honing should only get better, as well as my shaves. So I'll get this edge as fat as I can get it and then try my best to get a bump free shave. If that doesn't work out, I'll be taking a break.
With all this I was kind of on and off. I kept trying, actively, for a better shave for a few weeks, then I just rolled with whatever the outcome of the shave was and hoped it will magically get better. Now I am paying attention to every little detail. Going back to basics helped out a lot - pressure and angle. I can get a shave with zero irritation, the next day no bumps/ingrowns in sight. If I leave it like that and don't shave, the next day ingrowns show up. But they are gone 2-5 days later and I can repeat. If I keep shaving every day, my skin eventually ends up very irritated and covered in bumps. So I am considering a 12 week brake, to let my skin rest and get rid of leftover inflamation on my hair shafts. Sort of start with a clean slate. But that's no fun!
My favorites are my open comb safety razors with a Feather or KAI blades. Shavette with a Feather/KAI also works pretty good. Proraso white helps keep the irritation down, red helps to get an effortless cutting action and a smooth shave. Tabac and Saponificio Varesino are also very good soaps. Stirlings are usually my favourite. I like my plissoft brush but I have been using the AP cashmere exclusively for the past 6 moths since I got it. It's great. Aftershaves don't really matter much. As long as my shaving technique was acceptable and I hydrate my skin after the shave, it's pretty good.
My beard isn't dense, but the hairs are tough, dark and curly, growing extremely flat to the skin on my neck. So that's a perfect ingrown hair recipee. My shaves are a single WTG pass. I sometimes keep a beard and only shave my neck, so that the beard hides the bump covered pale neck. I can shave above my jawline against the grain no problem.
My goal is to get to a place where I can hone a decent edge and shave at least every other day without having to deal with bumps and ingrowns. I don't want to pull out hair with tweezers, I don't want to see red, inflamed spots on my neck. It would also be great to use up all the products that I have accumulated, as well as get some more use out of my safety razors. Obviously I love shopping new products, trying them out and shaving with edges that I honed. I just want to do so without being annoyed about what's going on with my neck after shaving.
Not giving up anytime soon, even if I didn't get far after 3 years. I remember the handful of shaves that I had which were juuust perfect. I just need to find them again and keep consistent with them. Honestly I got lost in trying out different stuff and lost the sight of my primary goal. But I'm back, ready to close this chapter and go on enjoying my hobby.
Safety razors:
Wilkinson sword Classic edition
Muhle R89
Muhle R41
Fatip Picolo
Parker 24C
Gillette Black Beauty short handle
Blades:
Feather
KAI
Astra green, blue
Personna blue
Gillete green, yellow, silver blue, platinum
Voskhod
Derby
Wilkinson
Muhle
Shark
Perma-sharp
some more I can't remember
Straigh razors:
Parker shavette
2x French vintage
2x USSR vintage
Sheffield vintage
2x Solingen vintage
Few gold dollars
Titan
Next month I will recieve a custom made River Razor striaght, 8/8 near wedge
Brushes:
Proraso boar
Nom badger
Bodyshop synthetic
Razorock plissoft
AP cashmere
Soaps/Creams:
Proraso white, blue, green, red
Muhle sandalwood
Nivea protect & care
Stirling, a few
Saponificio Varesino 70th edition
TOBS tobacco leaf
MWF
Tabac
Speick
Cella green
Barbus
Palmolive
Haslinger
Arko
and a few random cheap creams I cant remember
Aftershaves:
Proraso white blue
Nivea sensitive balm/splah, ultra sensitive balm, deep lotion
Alpa 378 splash
Barbus splash
TOBS lotion
I stopped using alum after 2 years because I think it dries out my skin and doesn't offer me any benefits