Saturday 19th January 2019 PM
Pre-shave:- Warm rinse / Proraso Red Pre Shave cream
Brush:- Executive Shaving Company Medium Jock Synthetic
Soap/Cream:- OSP Barbershop Cream
Razor/Blade:- RazoRock Hawk / Schick Proline P-30 (1)
Post-shave:- Thayers Cucumber / Floid Vigoroso aftershave / Barts Balm Cinnamon and Patchouli balm
My first SE shave.......
I kept to a tried and tested routine, only changing the razor and accompanying blade. They did not disappoint.
I won't deny it, I was quite apprehensive when lining up my weapons of choice today. The blades had arrived in the post earlier and I was like a wee kid.....unwrapping the razor again, carefully sliding out a blade, putting them together, looking at them together in various lights, holding them up like Simba being born in the Lion King. After the initial excitement, doubt started to creep in.....the dreaded feeling of disappointment.... what if.....what if I hate it....what if it's like a blood bath.....what if it's not as good as my 6c and 7 o'clock combination....what if...what if.... I put the razor away until later when I was ready to shave.
After preparing and lathering up, it's so different holding the Hawk in comparison to say my Merkur 34c, or Rockwell 6c. The weight difference is enormous. Enormous to the extent that you feel like you're holding something brittle. The Hawk is so lightweight, but the blade exposure certainly makes up for that....it looks lethal.
The first few strokes reveal even more differences. The 1st and most obvious is one stroke literally shaves almost half my face. I also notice a change in having to pull the blade that little bit harder. Nothing major or concerning, just that the blade feels like it's pulling up my whiskers before slicing through them. It's not uncomfortable in any way, just different. It's like that throughout my shave, in particular the areas I've struggled previously to get BBS. I'm unsure if it's just the lesser weight of the razor, but it's too early to be thinking about changing handles yet.
Rinsing after the 1st pass is awesome. Everywhere seems like towards the end of a DE shave. Smooth in most places but a little more work needed. The 2nd and 3rd passes are done without incident. The smallest of weepers on my chin but I know that was me applying a tad too much pressure during one particular stroke as I was chasing BBS. Rinsing after my final pass and I was delighted. Yes, not 100% perfect, but for my 1st SE shave I'll take that.
Splashing on the Thayers and then the Floid I had that burn I love....the one that lets you know you've had a good shave, but not so nippy to tell you you've pushed it just a bit too far.
Sitting here I'm still feeling the good burn. Floid Vigoroso is a joy to behold!
As to my 1st SE shave, I can say with confidence that I've made a good choice by dipping my toe in. I can't stop rubbing my face and smiling.
Here's to many more shaves like this!
Have a great weekend folks. [emoji1303]