My first Damaskeene shave ...
Bulldog Face Wash
Erasmic Shaving Soap
Kent Infinity Silvertex
GEM Damaskeene - GEM Blue Star [1]
Hot Rinse, Cold Rinse & Alum Wash
Pinaud Lilac Vegetal
Face Lathered
Two Pass - WTG & Pinched XTG
Actually, the head on this Damaskeene is a replacement for one which arrived from the US a week or so back and was so bad I'd rather put it as unusable. Shame. Still, the handle was okay. I stropped the blade before use, having read that these can be a little rough; that, and the constitution of the steel responds very well to stropping ... and it did. It was a very smooth shave indeed! Thanks to Norfolk Dick for the blade.
Face lathered Erasmic is a sheer joy! First pass swept everything away, the second, a pass I call a "pinched XTG" goes from the extremities of my face to the middle in all directions, so I get an XTG across my face and an ATG up my neck and over my chin. I find this two pass system with an occasional "exploding XTG" (basically, from the middle out) seems to work for my face.
The alum wash proved a close and clean shave with no issues. Finally, a splash of The Veg' ... what a delight!
Bloomin' lovely!