Learning to shave with the Feather Artist Club

[N0ggie]

I'm about 20 shaves in with my FAC-SS. (I post some of my weekend shaves with it on the SOTD threads)
At the moment I only have the Feather branded Pro Light (not keen), Pro Guard (very good & favourite of what I have) & Soft Guard (like these too) blades.
Following all the time and reading your thread I think I will get some of the regular Pro blades now & see how they go.

I used to use a shavette that takes half a d/e blade & decided to get the Feather as an upgrade really even though that gave me an ok shave. I did tend to get the odd little slice from the corner of a blade on that one. The Feather is way more easier & safer to use.

At the moment I have just been using what I thought would be the best blade I have for the task in hand in terms of beard growth & it's never more than 48 hours of growth so I don't think the likes of a Pro Super blade would ever be needed for my shaves. So I am guessing I would just get a smoother cutting action from a Pro blade over a Pro Guard?
I mentioned I didn't like the Pro Light blade & that was not knocking the actual blade as that's fine and I will use them up seeing as I have bought them. It was just the amount it protrudes which isn't very far so it takes me longer to adapt to the different angles and lower cutting ability to get the shave I want over using the Pro Guard blade which I have got used to. I can see it would be fine for other people and certain beard growth types or other body hair cutting tasks.
I have managed to come away every time with a shave I am happy with, comfortable with no cuts. I was going to leave my blade choices at that but now with this thread I am now intrigued to try the other options like you have been doing.

Keep at it, I appreciate the time and effort you are putting into this. This is a great tale.

 

[wintoid]

I'm about 20 shaves in with my FAC-SS. (I post some of my weekend shaves with it on the SOTD threads)
At the moment I only have the Feather branded Pro Light (not keen), Pro Guard (very good & favourite of what I have) & Soft Guard (like these too) blades.
Following all the time and reading your thread I think I will get some of the regular Pro blades now & see how they go.

I used to use a shavette that takes half a d/e blade & decided to get the Feather as an upgrade really even though that gave me an ok shave. I did tend to get the odd little slice from the corner of a blade on that one. The Feather is way more easier & safer to use.

At the moment I have just been using what I thought would be the best blade I have for the task in hand in terms of beard growth & it's never more than 48 hours of growth so I don't think the likes of a Pro Super blade would ever be needed for my shaves. So I am guessing I would just get a smoother cutting action from a Pro blade over a Pro Guard?
I mentioned I didn't like the Pro Light blade & that was not knocking the actual blade as that's fine and I will use them up seeing as I have bought them. It was just the amount it protrudes which isn't very far so it takes me longer to adapt to the different angles and lower cutting ability to get the shave I want over using the Pro Guard blade which I have got used to. I can see it would be fine for other people and certain beard growth types or other body hair cutting tasks.
I have managed to come away every time with a shave I am happy with, comfortable with no cuts. I was going to leave my blade choices at that but now with this thread I am now intrigued to try the other options like you have been doing.

Keep at it, I appreciate the time and effort you are putting into this. This is a great tale.

Cool thanks for your comments. I've not tried the Pro Light or the Soft Guard, but I'm overflowing with blades now, so I might save trying the Soft Guards for a later date, if I'm not completely off guarded blades by then. Not that I'm any kind of expert, but some people seem to think the Super blades work well with the SS razor because of the increased exposure, which opens up more angles. If I had to guess, I would say the Pro is sharper than the Super.

I'd like to think I'll settle with one blade in particular eventually. I want the closeness of the unguarded blades, but the safety of the guarded blades. Too much to ask perhaps, but if my technique improves, who knows?

 

[p.b]

This morning I started the shave with yesterday's Schick. After two strokes I thought I'd give it a trial in the General (if any AC razor can smooth a blade out its the General V1), something was not right as the razor didn't feel like it was cutting much and felt rough so in the SS goes a new Schick Proline. This was smoother but still dangerously sharp. Somehow the Schick feels more aggressive / sharper / dangerous than a Feather Super Pro. I had a nice shave but it wasn't what I'd call relaxing! I'll see if it mellows with age over the next four / five shaves - I was going to try out Simpsons Shaving Cream but I don't fancy using the Schick with an unknown soap (I'll save that for a R41 with a Feather!)

 

[Cheesepiece]

Simpsons creams are delightful. Cafe Latte is one of my all time favourites.

 

[wintoid]

Day 28 - Feather Artist Club DX with Feather Super Pro

Carrying on with the Super blade today, and fairly successful. No cuts of any significance, just a blood spot in the moustache area due to a new technique (see below). I'd say it was slightly less comfortable than usual, with a tiny sting to the alum, which has been completely absent since I started using the Feather system.

I'm still trying to find out new angles and ways to shave. I tried shaving the moustache outwards from the philtrum for the first time today. I think I'm going to keep doing that, although I don't yet have enough experience in that area to know what the best stretching strategy is. It does seem like that direction is going to be best, so that's some significant progress. It's close, and feels like it could go another round.

I'm starting to understand this thing about straight razor users making their lather wetter. On the first pass, by the time I'd done my cheeks and neck, the lather on my chin and moustache was just a little too dry. I had to wipe it off, add some water to my lather in the bowl, and relather. I guess the shave is slower, so there's more time for stuff to dry out.

On my third pass, I've taken to doing a sweeping stroke which starts north-to-south at the sideburns, but ends up going along the jawline towards the chin. It makes for something approximating ATG, but not really, on the dominant side. I tried the same move today on the non-dominant side, but of course the hair lies differently on that side, so it doesn't help very much.

That means my worst trouble spots are still a hollow in the lower neck of my non-dominant side, and the area just to the side of my mouth on the non-dominant side.

What's really strange about this is that I've been wet shaving since I was 16 or so, which is 36 years now, and my cartridge/DE shaves were always WORSE on the dominant side. With the straight-style razor, I'm finding that the dominant side is definitely better.

 

[p.b]

3rd shave with the Schick and a slight improvement in smoothness, but still sharp as f#@£. NOT as comfortable as a Feather Pro, I'm already looking forward to wearing this blade out, the only reason I'm continuing with it is the hope that it might click into place and be the best blade / razor combo ever...

 

[MrK1]

I used a new Proline in my King Cobra last night. First time in a while as I have been trying to use up my stock of Kai blades.

First pass on 3 days growth was horrible. Really tuggy. Had loads of little bits of hair still left. Usually 2 passes and I'm
done. Needed 3 this time. 2and and 3rd passes were a lot smoother, still ended up with BBS.

I thought the first pass with a new blade would have been better.

 

[wintoid]

I used a new Proline in my King Cobra last night. First time in a while as I have been trying to use up my stock of Kai blades.

First pass on 3 days growth was horrible. Really tuggy. Had loads of little bits of hair still left. Usually 2 passes and I'm
done. Needed 3 this time. 2and and 3rd passes were a lot smoother, still ended up with BBS.

I thought the first pass with a new blade would have been better.

Interesting, the Proline has been the golden boy of AC blades for a while. Is the crown slipping?

 

[wintoid]

Day 29 - Feather Artist Club DX with Feather Super Pro

Well I can definitely shave with this combination. I feel the Super is the least sharp-feeling of the non-guarded blades I've used. Only a small step up from the Kai Protouch MG. That said, the Super has produced the least comfortable shaves of any blade I've used.

I went WTG/XTG/mix today, and then a little bit of touch up on the non-dominant side. I was using a soap that I like for its scent but not its performance, but it wasn't a problem. No cuts, but a little bit patchy. I stuck to shaving from the philtrum outwards towards the edges of the mouth, and that was fine, although I don't think I'm getting the bits right under my nose very well, so it needs more practice.

Today's lesson seems to be about momentum. The movement definitely has to start before the blade touches the face, especially in the chin area My chin bristles are probably the toughest hairs on my face, and I need a running jump to get them effectively. If I'm not going fast enough, there's a tendency for the blade to get slowed down by the first hairs, and if the motion was to stop completely, that would be a problem. This means that for me the first pass on the chin is the trickiest. Subsequent passes are much easier. I'm almost wondering if I should start with ATG on the chin, which I could definitely do, just because it would make the following passes easier.

Anyway, I'm closing in on a month of exclusively using these razors. I really look forward to the shave every morning. There's something new to learn every day.

 

[p.b]

Apart from 3 or 4 shaves a few weeks ago I've also been using the SS exclusively - however, I am sorely tempted to stray. I'm missing my Alu Karve, Blackbird, Vector and Sabre (seems AGES since I used the Sabre)

 

[p.b]

Third time lucky?

Yes. I've no idea if it was the soap or the blade smoothing out. In my experience the B&M Reserve Terror is every bit as good as the Mike's Natural so I'll have to conclude this it's the blade finally coming into its own. Very smooth shave, but right hand side under my chin is tender from the last two shaves so no ATG there so it's not BBS even if the rest of my face is.

 

[wintoid]

Day 30 - Feather Artist Club DX with Schick Proline

Saturday and Sunday are traditionally the days I take the most risk with shaving, so I figured I should go back and try the Proline blades again. The good news is that I was able to make it through a three pass shave with a Proline with very little difficulty. I did get a tiny pinprick cut in the moustache area, but I'm still learning this new direction of shaving in that area, and it would be unfair to blame the Proline.

I went WTG/XTG/mix and the shave was reasonable. The blade definitely feels sharper to me than a Super. I was far more wary that I would have been with a Super.

I've had a build-up of bristle right under the nose from the last few days of exclusively shaving with a Feather, and I decided to use a DE to clear those up. I think with a guarded blade, I'd have been prepared to have a go. I also seemed to leave a patch of hair on the jawline at one point, so I also used a DE to clear that up. Not sure why I didn't notice it in the actual shave.

In general I feel a bit more confident. It's really interesting how, in particular, my non-dominant hand now feels quite sure when performing operations that just 30 days ago would have felt almost impossible. Here's to the next 30 days!

 

[Cheesepiece]

I jumped back in yesterday with the Dubl Duck and scythed through probably a 7 days+ growth. Back down to a close comfortable result with just a single WTG pass. These types of razors don't flirt with clogging during the big jobs and it was ideal for bringing me back to looking like I could return to civilisation.

 

[p.b]

Fourth day on the Proline and it continues to smooth out yet retain it's fantastic sharpness. I shall continue to use this blade until it dies. Normally I find a Proline to go off the boil at the sixth shave, I suspect I'm utterly intolerant of tugging and bin my blades sooner than many. It will be intereting (to me anyway!) if this is different in a FAC.

 

[wintoid]

Day 31 - Feather Artist Club DX with Schick Proline

On the one hand, it's a work day, and I have some important video conferences, so don't really want to slice myself up, and I'm knackered because I slept really badly. On the other hand, the Proline didn't cut me yesterday. Today I went for reckless, and stuck with the Proline but went as tame as I could on the shave.

Three passes. Above the jaw was WTG/WTG/WTG and below the jaw was WTG/XTG/WTG. I didn't try the new shaving directions around the mouth but still got a tiny nick near the mouth, which is almost not worth mentioning, and stopped bleeding almost immediately. However, there were two moments where I felt a sting from the blade, both at the end of a stroke, both when I lingered on the skin too long. Both time I expected a cut but didn't get one. Phew!

I said on Saturday that I can definitely shave with a Super now. Well I definitely can't say that about a Proline yet.