I didn't bleed out last night, I'll call that a success.
Figured I'd write up how my I did on my first proper shave.
A bit of history on me: for the last 15 years I've used either the Gillette Sensor or the Mach 3. Mainly because King Gillette's successors mailed me free razors over the years and know how to make a profit. I've got a somewhat tough beard and I found a "tough beard" gel worked ok with these razors. A few years ago I stopped using anything other than Ivory soap to shave with in the shower.
I tried shaving for the first time last night. I started by wrapping a scalding hot towel on my face. I continued by dropping the scalding towel in the sink while trying not to scream like a little girl, wringing it out a bit more and throwing a little bit of cold water on it. I then put it back on my face where it proceeded to fog up my glasses to the point where I couldn't see anything. Thankfully, Ann Marie was downstairs and not on the floor in the bathroom convulsing with fits of laughter.
I left the towel on my face for about a minute and a half before my patience wore out. I picked the brush up out of it's hot water bath in the mug, drained the mug, and drained the little bit of water off the soap into the mug. I whipped up a good lather, I'd like to think, for the first time. It probably was too wet because it foamed up, but it wasn't really creamy. It was definitely more like soap suds and less like whipped cream. Knowing it wasn't great, I still jumped in to shaving. I kept the mug half-submerged in the sink with warm water around it and used that to clean my razor during the process and hopefully keep the mug warm. I'm not sure it worked as well as I hoped.
Aside from one small nick near my chin, it went really well. I did three passes, two N-S and one E-W. I chickened out on the S-N pass this time. I failed to reapply warm water between passes, and learned that trying to work up a lather with what is left in the mug isn't as easy as you'd think it would be. I took the resulting soap soup as a sign to stop after my third pass. I ended up with what's probably an OK wet shave, but what I would consider a great shave with my old razor.
I splashed some cold water on my face, congratulated myself on a good job and then realized that I should have gotten some witch hazel. Mainly because that very low grade burning that was on my face could probably use it. So it's off to the drugstore to get some glycerin and witch hazel tonight.
All in all, I'm quite happy. I really enjoyed the shave and am keen to try it again tonight. I learned that hot water and excitement does take away my self-preservation instinct.
A bit of history on me: for the last 15 years I've used either the Gillette Sensor or the Mach 3. Mainly because King Gillette's successors mailed me free razors over the years and know how to make a profit. I've got a somewhat tough beard and I found a "tough beard" gel worked ok with these razors. A few years ago I stopped using anything other than Ivory soap to shave with in the shower.
I tried shaving for the first time last night. I started by wrapping a scalding hot towel on my face. I continued by dropping the scalding towel in the sink while trying not to scream like a little girl, wringing it out a bit more and throwing a little bit of cold water on it. I then put it back on my face where it proceeded to fog up my glasses to the point where I couldn't see anything. Thankfully, Ann Marie was downstairs and not on the floor in the bathroom convulsing with fits of laughter.
I left the towel on my face for about a minute and a half before my patience wore out. I picked the brush up out of it's hot water bath in the mug, drained the mug, and drained the little bit of water off the soap into the mug. I whipped up a good lather, I'd like to think, for the first time. It probably was too wet because it foamed up, but it wasn't really creamy. It was definitely more like soap suds and less like whipped cream. Knowing it wasn't great, I still jumped in to shaving. I kept the mug half-submerged in the sink with warm water around it and used that to clean my razor during the process and hopefully keep the mug warm. I'm not sure it worked as well as I hoped.
Aside from one small nick near my chin, it went really well. I did three passes, two N-S and one E-W. I chickened out on the S-N pass this time. I failed to reapply warm water between passes, and learned that trying to work up a lather with what is left in the mug isn't as easy as you'd think it would be. I took the resulting soap soup as a sign to stop after my third pass. I ended up with what's probably an OK wet shave, but what I would consider a great shave with my old razor.
I splashed some cold water on my face, congratulated myself on a good job and then realized that I should have gotten some witch hazel. Mainly because that very low grade burning that was on my face could probably use it. So it's off to the drugstore to get some glycerin and witch hazel tonight.
All in all, I'm quite happy. I really enjoyed the shave and am keen to try it again tonight. I learned that hot water and excitement does take away my self-preservation instinct.