New to DE razors

I've scooped the missing part of the soap with a spatula and smeared it on the bottom of the bowl. Lathered in the bowl.

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I tend to give the brush a gentle but firm-ish squeeze and a single flick to remove excess water before going to the soap puck; you can always add small amounts of water to dry lather, but you can't remove excess from wet, thin lather.

This, in my view, is the perfect short form description of how to get your later right.

I would simply add "and load the absolute bejeesus out of it". [Except with P&B Albion, which only needs a smidge]
 
That is the plan: load it like I hate it. I just needed to find the right amount of soap when using samples.
Today I've used a quarter of the OSP Barbershop sample and also bloomed it for a bit longer than last time. The lather was just fine.

OSP Barbershop soap (sample)
Little Wren Pottery bowl
Semogue 1305
DE89
Rapira Super Stainless pink (2)
Alum, witchazel, L'Oréal moisturiser
BBS for the most of it, except for some iritation on my neck. However it was gone about an hour later.

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I'd say go overboard with the soap - it's one of the cheaper aspects of shaving, especially as it lasts a fair old while. Try a bit more than that next time and see where you go. I'd say as well, add water gradually. I've had foamy, dissipating lather from not enough water. It can be a tricky game trying to get it right. There's also little harm trying out a soap without shaving, just seeing how much water it can actually take and transferring that to your shaves down the line. The heavily-tallowed UK soaps such as OSP and P&B take on a lot of water. Like, loads. If I'm face lathering I tend to gather some damp, soapy paste on the brush while loading, transfer that to my face and add water gradually until I hit the sweet spot. Usually I end up with too much lather but, like I said, it's cheap enough and I'm not going to lose sleep over it! :)

Hope this helps and keep up the good work! :D OSP is great when you get it bang on!

Excellent piece of advice!
 
This is the travel kit:
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Soap: Meissner Tremonia Bay Rum (sample)
Bowl: Little Wren Pottery
Brush: Semogue 1305
Razor: DE89
Blade: Personna Chrome Platinum
After shave: Alum, Witchazel, Oriflame balm

The bay rum scent is nice, but there is no wow factor. The lather was just fine, but Saponificio Varesino is still my best performer. It was my first use of the personna blade: smooth and sharp. To me it seems very similar to Wilkinson Sword blades.
Very nice result overall, just a bit of iritation on my neck.
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In my experience most lather problems can be fixed with more soap.
I think you are totally right


My experience with the Gillette Tech:
I bought a British made ball end Tech from the BST forum here. Nothing fancy, user grade with visible brass. I'm guessing it is from the 1950s, but can't confirm. It is suppose to be a mild razor, but I find it aggressive and uncomfortable. Am I doing something wrong? The only blade that I managed to finish the shave with was the Polsilver Iridium, but even that left me with plenty of weepers. When I was not able to finish the shave with the Tech I would remove the blade and load it in the DE89 and that worked just fine. Maybe it is just one of those YMMV moments. At the moment I'm thinking about selling it, because I can't make it work.
 
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I will post pictures in about two weeks when I will get home.
I am again away and this time I took the PAA DOC with me. Great shaves! Three pass BBS with no irritation every day! Even better than the DE89!
 
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