I'm still "getting" the razor angle down and still having trouble maneuvering the neck areas. You also need to understand that my neck hairs grow all over the frickin' place as far as direction of hair, so it's not even remotely easy. I am still getting nicks, but overall the razor burn is much decreased... which I am relating to better blade angle.
My Proraso stuff and Alum Block came in from Em's Place, so I was anxious to use it. Woofta... nice menthol scent to wake you up and clear the sinuses. ;-)
Prep
After taking my shower I did not dry my face and then wet it even more from the sink and put the Proraso Pre/Post Shave Cream on fairly thick and let it sit for a while as I setup the rest of my stuff. I decided to try the "Super Lather" that LeisureGuy mentions in his book which consists of shaving soap as well as shaving cream. So I did my same trick of soaking my Aloe Vera soap and the Apothecary Mug in hot water while showering. Then I charged the Super Badger brush with the soap and added to the tip a dollop of the Proraso shaving cream and created the lather in the mug. I had to add a bit more water than I expected as it was rather thick and sticky to begin with. I may have actually overdone it a little with the water in the end, but the lather held up well, so maybe this was best yet (I have no "real" point of reference to compare it to) . I then let the lather sit on my beard longer than I ever have (not sure if it was two minutes, but it felt like it).
Shave
I first tried to follow the grain on ALL parts of my face (not easy, but I think I did well... no nicks on the first pass... a first for me). Next I tried XTG from one direction, then I relathered and tried the other direction. Since there was still a bit of stubble (keep in mind I started with a LOT longer stubble because of skipping about 36+ hours), I decided to do another XTG pass but somewhere between XTG and ATG. This got most areas BBS, but there were still some areas on my neck and chin that were being stubborn. So I lathered again, left it on for a little bit, then, feeling around with my left hand (razor in my right), I felt for those stubborn areas and did very short and light ATG passes, moving the remaining lather back over those areas if needed, and got a very nice BBS surface. There were nicks for sure, but not too bad considering how many passes I made and went ATG.
Post shave
Having the Alum Block, I was anxious to see how well it worked and what it would do for my shaving experience. I rinsed my face first with warm, then with cold water and made sure it was dripping wet. I then took the Alum Block and rubbed it ALL over my face. While LeisureGuy says it doesn't stop bleeding like styptic or the nick relief, it did do a fair job at stopping the bleeding from most of those areas. It also burned like an aftershave on the first pass, but subsequent passes over any area did not sting at all. It was a VERY pleasant experience and my neck/face looked/felt great! I then used my liquid nick relief for the two or three areas still showing some blood (not much blood at all mind you... not like before I ran the alum block over them) and finished off with the Aqua Velva Ice Sport aftershave... this yielded zero burn (I'm assuming because the Alum block already took care of that). I decided to try the Proraso Pre/Post Shave Cream and did NOT have a pleasant experience here. I'm thinking what happened was because of the Alum Block, but this time the Proraso cream felt almost sticky and kind of spun into little bits of putty... weird. SO, I don't see me ever using the Proraso Pre/Post Shave Cream for post application again. I REALLY liked the AoS Aftershave Balm when I used it, but I wonder if it would have the same effect after the alum block... a test is in order my next shave. Also, on the Proraso cream, while the scent and texture was great as a pre-shave cream, I didn't like it for after the shave. On the topic of texture though, what I noticed on my first pass, the only pass I made with the Proraso cream under the lather, the cream created a very hard to wash out layer of "gunk" under my razor blade. So, I'm not sure if I like that either... the scent as a pre-shave application was nice though... and I think it made a difference on my first pass, but I'm not positive.
Equipment:
- Merkur Vision 2000
- Merkur Super Platinum blade (I think on it's last use, but may use it once more to see)
- Proraso Pre-shaving Cream (before first pass only, let sit for about 2 minutes)
- Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera soap and Proraso (green) Shaving Cream for "Super Lather" (before first pass I let it sit on for about 2 minutes)
- Edwin Jagger Super Badger Brush
- Alum Block (all over face)
- Pinaud Clubman Liquid Nick Relief
- Aqua Velva Ice Sport aftershave
- Proraso Post-shaving Cream (did not like as a post shave application)
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