Its Quiet Out There....Too Quiet?

On the subject of carts, I was reasonably happy with Mach 3s for years, a little pricey but ok.  I'd change them once a week.  One thing I notice using DE and doing a nice 3 pass shave is that I don't get a 5:00 o'clock shadow/stubble that I always got with carts.  If there was an evening event or for date night with my wife I always had to shave again because hey, I'm not an animal.  But with a nice 3 pass DE shave that stubble doesn't show up til like, 3:00am and thats a good thing.

OK, I'm new to this (like a couple of weeks) - moved from carts to DE. When you say 2 or 3 passes, are you re-lathering your face between each pass? I see this takes more time than cartridges - but so far that's a good thing :-)

Oh yes, absolutely. Horrible irritation awaits you if you don't. I also took some time to work up to three passes, probably months. First pass with the grain (WTG) nice lather, then rinse with warm water and re-apply lather. Second pass, across the grain (XTG) you'll have to map your face over time to determine what actually is across the grain, is it totally horizontal or is it at a slight angle? Warm water rinse and re-apply lather, then against the grain (ATG) - this is the trickiest one to get used to because it risks causing the most irritation so I'd recommend after the third pass doing a warm water rinse then going over the face with an alum block then a cold water rinse and applying post shave. Your face will gradually get use to the process. I stuck with a one pass shave for a couple of months, then a two pass for a few more months and then gradually worked in the third pass. The alum block really helps soothing irritation. Eventually you won't need the alum block. I still use it occasionally if I get an irritating shave.

This may sound like a lengthy process but once you get the technique down its not really all that long. Maybe 20 minutes total. That said, take your time and enjoy the process Theres no need to rush.

On the subject of carts, I was reasonably happy with Mach 3s for years, a little pricey but ok.  I'd change them once a week.  One thing I notice using DE and doing a nice 3 pass shave is that I don't get a 5:00 o'clock shadow/stubble that I always got with carts.  If there was an evening event or for date night with my wife I always had to shave again because hey, I'm not an animal.  But with a nice 3 pass DE shave that stubble doesn't show up til like, 3:00am and thats a good thing.

OK, I'm new to this (like a couple of weeks) - moved from carts to DE. When you say 2 or 3 passes, are you re-lathering your face between each pass? I see this takes more time than cartridges - but so far that's a good thing :-)

Welcome to the world of traditional shaving.  You are asking good questions, and you got a good answer from Marko.  This is the forum at its best.  It is a very big part of what we are here for.

On the subject of carts, I was reasonably happy with Mach 3s for years, a little pricey but ok.  I'd change them once a week.  One thing I notice using DE and doing a nice 3 pass shave is that I don't get a 5:00 o'clock shadow/stubble that I always got with carts.  If there was an evening event or for date night with my wife I always had to shave again because hey, I'm not an animal.  But with a nice 3 pass DE shave that stubble doesn't show up til like, 3:00am and thats a good thing.

OK, I'm new to this (like a couple of weeks) - moved from carts to DE. When you say 2 or 3 passes, are you re-lathering your face between each pass? I see this takes more time than cartridges - but so far that's a good thing :-)

I have a couple of short (3 minute) videos that cover some basics with a Safety Razor.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMgs1g-...SQMLJa_55A

OK, I'm new to this (like a couple of weeks) - moved from carts to DE. When you say 2 or 3 passes, are you re-lathering your face between each pass? I see this takes more time than cartridges - but so far that's a good thing :-)

Yes, you need to relather, as the others have noted.

In addition to the forum, this book might prove helpful:

Dr. Shave's Book of Shaving
Online: https://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/dr-s...of-shaving
Download loadable PDF: https://www.executive-shaving.co.uk/medi...having.pdf

I wish that had been available when I started wetshaving. It never hurts to have multiple sources of information. If you have any questions, please ask. As you have seen, people here are really friendly and ready to help!

Edit:. I almost forgot, Mantic59's YouTube channel is a godsend:

https://youtube.com/user/mantic59

Thanks so much Marko , HighSpeed , dominicr , and Tbone - SO helpful - will look at all of those resources - Such an amazing and helpful site!
Thanks again!
Ian

Thanks so much Marko , HighSpeed , dominicr , and Tbone - SO helpful - will look at all of those resources - Such an amazing and helpful site!
Thanks again!
Ian

No problem, we were all beginners at one time too. That Mantic youtube channel is excellent.

An additional tip on re-lathering - even within the same pass, try not to go over a spot without lather once you've made an initial pass. I know its tempting to just quickly pass the razor over the same spot once or twice more and it may even feel like there's enough lubrication but trust me, there isn't, and you're risking some irritation and/or burn. Its true that some soaps are a little more forgiving and you might be able to get away with that no-lather pass but why risk it? The lather is right there, just slap a little more on that spot you want to go over again and you're good.

Thanks so much Marko , HighSpeed , dominicr , and Tbone - SO helpful - will look at all of those resources - Such an amazing and helpful site!
Thanks again!
Ian

No problem, we were all beginners at one time too.  That Mantic youtube channel is excellent.  

An additional tip on re-lathering - even within the same pass, try not to go over a spot without lather once you've made an initial pass.  I know its tempting to just quickly pass the razor over the same spot once or twice more and it may even feel like there's enough lubrication but trust me, there isn't, and you're risking some irritation and/or burn.  Its true that some soaps are a little more forgiving and you might be able to get away with that no-lather pass but why risk it?  The lather is right there, just slap a little more on that spot you want to go over again and you're good.

Thanks - I wonder if there's anything like this site for cartridge shavers, which seems like kindergarten right now :-)

I doubt it. Cartridge shavers aren’t generally going to be so high involvement.


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IanG153 there may be but I doubt it too - I shaved for a year or two with carts and brush and soap and there was little I could find on making your cart shave better. They're pretty much a go - no go sort of thing. I did find this device called a Razorpit which was a rubber stropping device that was supposed to keep the cart blades clean thereby making them last longer. The premise was carts didn't actually dull as quickly as they seemed to, they just got dirty/gummy and performance decreased. I used one for a while and to be honest, I'm not sure it actually did anything. The fact that you spent some time on "blade maintenance" and spent $30+ on it may have caused me to believe it actually did something - confirmation bias

https://www.fendrihan.ca/products/razorp...-sharpener

https://www.razorpit.com

The history of the placebo effect is a fascinating read :-)