My SR journey

Another birthday has come and I acquired a worthy companion to my custom straight razor - a silvertip badger brush from Mühle. It's beautiful in looks and performance alike. Soft, dense, heavy.

Last week I had a crisis of some sort, my shaves were terrible and I was covered in bumps Once again. Nice reminder that one cannot let himself go into autopilot mode. Tonight's shave was much better after a small break.

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rbscebu said:
If you ever let your concentration laps while SR shaving, your razor very quickly lets you know 😋.

I have a couple of Mühle badger brushes. They are lovely to lather with but I keep on returning to my no-brand Chinese guaranteed genuine pure best badger synthetic brush.
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I find it doesn't really matter what weapon I wield. Properly honed gold dollar, properly used, will shave me just as well as any other straight razor, if used with proper technique. Any brush will whip up lather, with any soap, with proper technique.

But I do enjoy a little bit of fancy.
 
TheBeast said:
Another birthday has come and I acquired a worthy companion to my custom straight razor - a silvertip badger brush from Mühle. It's beautiful in looks and performance alike. Soft, dense, heavy.

Last week I had a crisis of some sort, my shaves were terrible and I was covered in bumps Once again. Nice reminder that one cannot let himself go into autopilot mode. Tonight's shave was much better after a small break.

s

s
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Happy birthday @TheBeast (y)
 
Thank you for your wishes!

I might have developed my first preference for a shaving edge. I just love them fresh off the stone/diamond strop. I really liked the original Ark edge as well, but for now, I don't feel like getting into my first Ark so I'm sticking with what I have.

And what I have is an edge finnished on 0.25um diamond pasted balsa. For whatever reason, my 0.1 um paste seems to be a sham. My edge now has around 10-15 shaves on it. Before each shave I strop 10-20 laps on vintage flax linen firehose and 100 laps on clean leather. Just as it was new, it passes HHT in both directions flawlessly. But I can just FEEL that it is not what it used to be the first 1-2 shaves. Easy fix - just return to balsa for a few laps after every shave.
 
Another step forward in my journey!

Recently I felt like I was not progressing at All with my shaves. They were miles better than ever and consistent. But there was still some sting from an aftershave which meant a little too much irritation. Every Bad stroke resulted in a few hairs getting trapped underneath a see-through thin layer of skin. I could free them with a pair of tweezers, good rub with a towel or some chemical exfoliant. Some shaves were nearly picture perfect - and those are the ones that count and those are the ones I want to have each and Every time.

So I Challenged myself to shave in a new way. Lather, do only one stroke and don't touch that spot again. I would often buff a spot if I didn't remove All the hair on the first stroke - because my strokes were not consistent at all when I started. Not allowed anymore! Re-lather if needed and one more stroke to get only what I missed. And what a difference right away. Way less sting from the aftershave and overall a very very comfortable shave.

To add a pinch of Salt I sped Up the whole process. I wanted to be able to shave faster. That meant thinner lather (less soap loaded), whipped up much faster. And it absolutely didn't affect my shave negatively. Maybe it even allowed the razor to glide more freely.

So thats what I will be working towards next. My edge is holding on perfectly. Once I have to refresh it, I will keep going to balsa after Every shave but for now, I'm golden.
 
I remember a couple of years ago when I gave you your first shave-ready SR in Slovakia. Please accept my apology for guiding you into the rabbit hole.

I use to maintain my edge after each shave with 60 laps on 0.1μm diamond pasted balsa (hanging). Some time later, as my hanging balsa stropping technique improved (got lighter), I found that my edges was slowly deteriorating. I then changed my post-shave edge maintenance to 30 laps with the balsa strop in-hand plus 30 hanging. Has been that way for a couple of years now and no more edge deterioration.

My diamond pasted balsa blade edges now never need refreshing on whetstones.

Each post-shave maintenance balsa stropping takes me about 2 minutes. This can add up over time. If times was of the essence, overall it would be quicker to not maintain the edge with pasted balsa after each shave but rather just refresh the edge on whetstones when required. The only downside is that I prefer a crisp keen edge with each and every shave.
 
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There is absolutely no reason to apologise. Without your genorosity and care I would either never get where I am or it would take substantially longer. There is only space for my gratitude to you in this regard.

And another step forward! It just dawned on me to put some lotion on my face between getting out of the shower and preparing lather. First above the "shaving line", later all over, effectively replacing my proraso pre-shave. My skin feels a lot better. It doesnt hog all the moisture from the lather, doesnt get irritated so easy and the razor glides better. So pretty much all my problems just got smaller. And I always have a tub of CeraVe lotion or cream on the sink so it will see even more use. Post shave is fantastic as well as you might have guessed, without the need for alcohol splash or nivea balm. It's so interesting how the answers are so often right under your nose, especially when you are digging for them.
 
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