August 8, 2023

• Brush: Muninn Woodworks w/AP Shave Co 24mm Titanium Synthetic
• Razor: Weck Sextoblade (Straight Shave 289)
• Blade: Kismet (8)
• Lather: Saponificio Varesino - 70th Anniversary - Soap
• Post Shave: Saponificio Varesino - 70th Anniversary - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Thayers - Cucumber - Toner
• Fragrance: Saponificio Varesino - 70th Anniversary - Eau de Parfum  

2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

Kismet Blade - Losing My Edge
#Monthofweckoning

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I’ve been following @sgrdddy@sub.wetshaving.social’s slurry lather videos with interest. The slurry lather he makes is very reminiscent of my early one-pass shave lathers many years ago. It also reminds me of the one-pass shaves I used to do with bar soap, though bar soap lather needs to be applied in the area you intend to shave immediately because a full-face bar soap lather dries too quickly.

The point of this comment is to show that someone who is moderately competent at face lathering (me) doesn’t necessarily suffer from the problems that sgrdddy suggests exist with face lathering. I think my normal shaving pace is pretty time-efficient, and I generally have more than enough lather for 3 passes.

My discussion is intended as a contrast to slurry lathering which is a method that I think is completely valid. I think the slurry lather method is quicker, but does not provide as much enjoyment of the quality of the soap base (skin food, etc.), nor the scent. Obviously IMHO.

I timed my shave today. My brush loading time was 10 seconds. I loaded directly from the puck with a damp, not wet, brush.

After loading, I put down the brush, and took lather paste (aka protolather) from the puck and built my pre-shave. For this, I smear lather paste on face, add water with my hands and work this mixture into the beard. I add water until this pre-shave mixture is a very wet, very slick emulsion.

With the loaded brush I built a thick lather by splaying the brush and scrubbing the face, and adding water by dipping brush tips into a mug of water. I work at this until the lather is almost to the hydration I want, then I paint in water; again by dipping brush tips not dropping water into the brush. Total time into the shave was a little over 2 minutes after lather for the first pass was complete. (It takes much longer for me to describe this.)

The first pass was completed in after 7 minutes had passed.

I used the same lathering procedure for the second pass, starting with what remained in the brush. No tub loading. The entire 2-pass shave was complete, including aftershave and EdP in 14 minutes and about 30 seconds (rounding down).

Here’s the brush. It’s a little hard to tell from the pic, but there’s easily enough lather for a third pass and perhaps a fourth still available.

I’m not certain if this discussion is worthwhile. Feel free to ignore it.

I added another photo to the blade edge album today.