Mapping the Terrain

Calming the savage beast

If you took my advice in my last post, you should already begin to see the benefits of using Witch Hazel. It is a great anti inflammatory agent that really reduces the redness and pain from razor burn. If you are a young guy with bouts of acne, you will also see an improvement in that also.

When I first started DE shaving, I had a lot of trouble with remembering to use light strokes. Having used those disposable cartridge type razors for so long, I was use to the fact that you had to press down on my skin to get it to shave. Using DE razors the opposite is true. You have to remember to use light pressure and let the blade do the cutting. If you press to hard then you will begin to irritate the skin and razor burn and bumps will be the end result. Witch hazel is your best first line of defence.

One thing I did fail to mention in my last post was that Dickenson's comes in two different types. There is the one I use that is in the blue bottle and is found in the pharmacy department, and then there is another type that is found in the cosmetic department. From reading the contents on the bottle there is not a noticeable difference in the contents of either. The main difference is the one found in the cosmetic department is a couple of dollars more.

First aid use

Cosmetic use

Mapping the direction of growth

So far I haven't ventured off into DE shaving products yet. If you are still shaving with the multi-blade shavers, don't make a change just yet. One of the basic things that you need to know first is how to shave with the growth and get the best benefit with each stroke.

Learning the direction of hair growth is kind of tricky (at least it was for me.) When you look at your face, look at it as five different quadrants. You have your right and left cheek, right and left neck and chin.

Spend some time rubbing your hand up and down and sideways across one of your cheeks. You will notice that you will feel the pickiness of your beard as you go against its direction of growth. Begin to make mental notes of this growth and see if it is the same on the other cheek. Do this also with each side of the neck areas. What you will notice is that the beard grows in all different directions and this needs to be remembered as you shave. I would recommend that you concentrate on one area such as your cheek and learn how to shave in relation to the growth.

In my particular case, the growth on my cheeks are the same on both sides. However, it grows straight down next to the ears, it angles outward and down from the end of the moustache area, and then from the ears to the chin right above the jawbone area.

My chin area grows inward from the corners of my mouth to the center of my chin. Under the jaw line, it grows from the bottom of my ears to the centre of my chin. Then the neck areas it grows from my Adam's apple to the side of my neck only to switch 180 degrees about two thirds of the way.

As you can see it is not uniform, but consistent in each quadrant so there is a pattern that needs to be discovered to get a close shave. this keeps you from dragging your razor over the same spot numerous times trying to get everything shaved off. Learn the growth, speed up the shave and get better feeling results!

Once the direction of growth is learned, then you can apply the three pass shaving method. This consist of first shaving with the grain (WTG), across the grain (XTG) and then against the grain (ATG). This is then followed by a few pick ups that may have been missed.

Here is a hand map to use that is easily found on the internet. Print it out and draw little arrows that show your growth.

Thick or thin, standing or lazy?

Another thing that you have to think about is what type of hair do you have. Is it thick and closely grown, is it thin and finely spaced? These things can make a difference when it come to selecting a razor and blade. It also makes a difference in what type od shaving cream you use. So, when you are mapping your direction of growth, it doesn't hurt to identify what type of hair is growing there. It will help you to remember when you start learning technique.

Another thing that you need to try and make note of is whether your hair stands out or lays down. I have both and as luck would have it, my beard lays down on my chin area. This makes getting a close shave on a hard to navigate area. My razor has a tendency to just ride over the hair if I can't make it stand up. So try and note this also.

Tough or sensitive?

I really envy those guys that have a tough skin. My most tender place is on my right neck area. If I don't get things just right with blades, soap and technique, shaving there will make me cry like a baby. Even though the hair is fine, the sensitivity of the skin is extremely high. If you are thick skinned, count your blessings!

Avoid ploughing dirt

Finally, avoid ploughing dirt! What I mean is, start learning to use less pressure on the razor. This is a very, very, important thing to remember once you switch from multiple blades to a single blade, When you get this under control, your shaves will become very comfortable and you will begin to feel like an artist. When I get that perfect shave with no razor burn or nicks, I point into the mirror and at my face and say; "Beat you again, you fiend!"

All's fair in love and war!

Why This Blog?

Why Am I Doing This?

I have no idea. I have the desire but I really don't have the time. For me time is a luxury that I do not have. My work days begin at four in the morning and they end at eleven at night. Only on the weekends do I get an extra three hours of sleep. So little things like shaving is something that has to be done in a hurry. It was only when I rediscovered double edge razor shaving and the satisfaction it brought did I see the dilemma I was in.

For me, starting out DE shaving took a lot of practice, patience, up front expense, septic pencils and most importantly time! How I hate the time clock! The most evil invention ever made. In our day and time the phrase "Rome wasn't built in a day" doesn't apply. Sometimes I wonder why the good Lord didn't make the days longer than 24 hours long. I sure could use a little extra time.

What got me started

It was about 4:30 one morning I was reading a news story about the success that the Dollar Shave Club  was having in the shaving world. After a little googling I ran across this video  Watching an old man with a walker getting tasered as he shook the locked razor blade cabinet sent me into hysterics! It also got me thinking about how to get a good close and cheap shave. 

YouTube was a valuable place to start. After watching hours of DE shaving clips and shopping on Amazon  I was ready to go. I bought razors, blades, soap, brushes. I know the UPS guy was getting tired of me! I spent quit a bit of time in front of the mirror each night. Upwards to thirty minutes for a shave! After a few months of this my wife asked me"do you realize how much time you spend doing this?"

What almost made me quit

Finishing up at 10:00 at night and then getting things ready for work the next day I realized I was taking away the few minutes of the day that we got to see each other. Unhappy, I tried going back to the old way of shaving with the disposable razors and canned shaving cream. The shaves just weren't as good but it only took me ten minutes. We got our time back and all was well. 

Almost.

As much as I tried to get my mind off DE shaving I couldn't. I got to thinking, if I can shave in ten minutes with the disposable, I should be able to do the same with my double edge. If I can get a better shave in the same amount of time, it would be worth the effort. So the challenge began. 

Getting things into perspective

Closing the gap to get a ten minute shave required doing things different. It also required to not experiment with new things and techniques with every shave. Getting a good enough shave was the goal and the smooth as a baby's bottom was the exception. 

Learning to cut corners began to give me new satisfaction. Getting a good shave in the least amount of time and expense involved became an obsessive challenge. I have timed a few of my shaves and the best I observed was twelve minutes. This is from the moment the brush hits the soap until the aftershave balm is recapped and back in the drawer.

What I plan to do here 

First, I do not plan to blog every day. I just don't have the time. I'll be doing good to get one in a week or so. I do not plan on many product reviews. There are so many of those out there already. What I do plan on doing is talking about what works for me and save me time.  I will talk about the products I use and how I get the most for my dollar. 

I don't have an elaborate shave den. Just half of two drawers in the bathroom. And those are small drawers! And a small cardboard box in the closet. It's not that the wife refuses to give up bathroom  real estate, I'm just afraid to ask for it. Once the wife takes it, it's gone for good!

So, let's see where this takes us. Hopefully somewhere profitable!