From Method Shaving To A More Traditional Approach

I have just read Charles Roberts' "Method". It is very interesting and I have no doubt it is excellent and I do like his writing style.
But I am retired and the "Method" is labour intensive.
I now work very hard to avoid working hard,  labouring that is .
None of my present slap dash preparations for and the actual shave do I consider labourious. They are all gleeful pleasure.
I just can not bring myself to take a backward step into the labour force.

Mickey (The inveterate slouch.)

Mickey, you're speaking for me, as well. I enjoy my current wet shaving style and see no reason to make it more labo(u)r intensive.

Holy cow (literally). Another big thank you to andrewjs18 and vtmax. VT for pointing out that the modern good soaps can get me to the same basic place without creating my own product from scratch every morning.

I noticed that the soaps VT recommended (which I ordered and are on the way) are tallow soaps. Andrew mentioned Barrister and Mann, and I remembered I had a new Seville and a 42 sitting on my shelf. I'd hadn't gotten to them yet, so this was the first time using B&M this morning.

I lathered up the Seville with a Chubby 2 Synthetic (also newly acquired, and another first this morning), and good heavens, what an incredible lather, shave, post shave. Was able to easily do 3 passes and touch up without a hint of irritation, still had plenty of lather on my brush, just incredible.! I've posted a pic of the Seville, Chubby, lather, and OneBlade over on SOTD.

Thank you so much!

P.S. FWIW, Mickey and Freddy: The impression that Method Shaving (no longer possible because the products are gone) was laborious and time intensive is one that is easily understandable if one has just read or watched the (IMO) tedious and overly-verbose explanations of the process. But once I got through all of that and practiced a bit, I was able to get through making the mix, 4 passes with touchups, using a new Feather Platinum in a Merkur or Ikon Slant, shaving to BBS and beyond daily without a hint of irritation, clean everything, start to finish in about 10-15 minutes.

Michael P, B&M Seville smells fantastic, doesn't it?

Michael P, Seville is definitely on my short list.  I love all of my Barrister & Mann soaps. Will produces an amazing product.

I want to echo what the other guys said, Michael P about no one being offended, in the least. This board is different than most, as you'll see, as you gain "time in type" with DFS. As time goes on, you'll notice that the understructure of DFS is different than the other shave boards. With no vendors running things and a membership that doesn't take itself too seriously, the good times roll all by themselves.

Enjoy and welcome!

Andrew, Freddy! The scent, the lathering, the overall shave with the Seville was fantastic. I almost felt I didn't even need any after shave products, my face felt so good after just a warm and then cold rinse. I just ordered a few other of their tallow soaps to experiment with.

Perhaps it's the water out here, or the very hot weather, or the water (even though we have a whole house water softener), I've never gotten a lather like this with any soap save one. The other day, frustrated by what I thought were poor lathering skills, I pulled out a random brush and an old tub of Cella. Really good lather compared to my attempts with Trumpers soap, SV, and a TOB.

Then vt mentioned tallow, and I read the ingredients on the Cella jar and the lightbulb went on. Perhaps that's the difference, but whatever it is, I'm so happy I discovered (however belatedly) the Barrister and Mann soaps.

And beamon, thanks so much for the kind words. I didn't know that about this board, but I did notice the vibe is very nice here, and I've been made to feel most welcome.

Can't wait to have a nice traditional shave tomorrow, and thanks again!

If you are having trouble getting great lather from SV soaps then don't get too frustrated. I personally find them to be a very poor performer. Tallow is not a magic ingredient. Though Will doesn't make them anymore his Tre Citta vegan formula was just as good as what you just experienced. I will say that his new Glissant base is even better so I hope you picked up some Cologne Russe. It's one of my favorite scents from B&M.

Another option is the Nuàvia soap from PannaCrema. This a a vegan soap with minimal ingredients and many find it to be a top tier soap as do I.

To really throw you for a loop add Bufflehead to your list. The duck fat makes this soap quite unique. It's hard to explain but easy to understand once you try it.

Andrew, Freddy! The scent, the lathering, the overall shave with the Seville was fantastic. I almost felt I didn't even need any after shave products, my face felt so good after just a warm and then cold rinse. I just ordered a few other of their tallow soaps to experiment with.

Perhaps it's the water out here, or the very hot weather, or the water (even though we have a whole house water softener), I've never gotten a lather like this with any soap save one. The other day, frustrated by what I thought were poor lathering skills, I pulled out a random brush and an old tub of Cella. Really good lather compared to my attempts with Trumpers soap, SV, and a TOB.

Then vt mentioned tallow, and I read the ingredients on the Cella jar and the lightbulb went on. Perhaps that's the difference, but whatever it is, I'm so happy I discovered (however belatedly) the Barrister and Mann soaps.

And beamon, thanks so much for the kind words. I didn't know that about this board, but I did notice the vibe is very nice here, and I've been made to feel most welcome.

Can't wait to have a nice traditional shave tomorrow, and thanks again!

Michael, tallow soaps can be, and are, fantastic but so are some vegetable based soaps.  So much has to do with the maker.  Our artisans put in a lot of very hard work into their products and it shows.  If you are curious about a veggie soap and it is getting good reviews then don't be afraid to give it a try.  I have both types that I enjoy and a couple of very popular tallow soaps that just don't do it for me. (Cella and Mitchell's Wool Fat come to mind.)  Just because they don't ring my chimes doesn't mean they aren't good if so many folks sing their praises and they have been around so long.

Congratulations on B&M Seville.  As I said earlier, it is most definitely on my list, along with replacing my B&M Cheshire, which I love and shall be using for tomorrow's shave.

I always felt he guy (RIP) was just trying to sell products.

P.S. FWIW, Mickey and Freddy: The impression that Method Shaving (no longer possible because the products are gone) was laborious and time intensive is one that is easily understandable if one has just read or watched the (IMO) tedious and overly-verbose explanations of the process. But once I got through all of that and practiced a bit, I was able to get through making the mix, 4 passes with touchups, using a new Feather Platinum in a Merkur or Ikon Slant, shaving to BBS and beyond daily without a hint of irritation, clean everything, start to finish in about 10-15 minutes.

Michael P,

It takes me that long to shave my face exclusive of the preparations and après-shave dabbling.
I think my speed may fairly be called "a slovenly pace" and getting slower all the time with practice.

I no longer have important deadlines to meet and boy, do I appreciate that.

Mickey ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz