Learning to shave with the Feather Artist Club

[wintoid]

There's some truth to that. I think perhaps it's not logical. When the problem isn't solved, I have something interesting occupying part of my mind. When the problem is solved, I may lose interest. I'm genuinely trying to get better, but perhaps not too fast

At the beginning, I had to get to the point where I knew enough of what I was doing to complete a shave without killing myself. Minimising variables was absolutely the way. But now I'm playing.

I welcome and value all input, especially from people far more experienced than myself. Part of recreation is not being beholden to anyone else, and doing things in my own way. It's more like art than science. I would like all and any input to continue, but that doesn't mean I will always follow that input.

 

[wintoid]

Day 60 - Feather Artist Club SS with Feather Professional

Crazy? Probably. The Feather Professional is my least favourite AC blade, at least when I've used it in SE razors. It seems to be much sharper than the Super Pro to me, and utterly unforgiving. Anyway, I was interested to give it a go.

I sneaked in a little 1-pass WTG tester last night. Call it day 59 1/2. No damage done.

Today's shave was 3 pass, WTG/XTG/ATG. I was very cautious. Given the mauling I received from a supposedly protective blade over the last 2 days, I really didn't want to make pizza of my face. Bizarrely, I received no cuts or weepers, but I was far less confident in my strokes, and probably as a result of that, the shave was much more patchy than it usually is.

 

[NeilJ]

Day 60 - Feather Artist Club SS with Feather Professional

Crazy? Probably. The Feather Professional is my least favourite AC blade, at least when I've used it in SE razors. It seems to be much sharper than the Super Pro to me, and utterly unforgiving. Anyway, I was interested to give it a go.

I sneaked in a little 1-pass WTG tester last night. Call it day 59 1/2. No damage done.

Today's shave was 3 pass, WTG/XTG/ATG. I was very cautious. Given the mauling I received from a supposedly protective blade over the last 2 days, I really didn't want to make pizza of my face. Bizarrely, I received no cuts or weepers, but I was far less confident in my strokes, and probably as a result of that, the shave was much more patchy than it usually is.

When I bought my SS I also bought a pack of Feather Professional blades, it was very ambitious in hindsight to start off using these blades as they are super sharp and the slightest error resulted in bloodshed. I have really been enjoying the Schick Proline's that was recommended by users. Once I've got a lot more experience I'd like to try the Pro's again as they do feel a very good quality blade.

 

[NeilJ]

Another very nice shave this morning, no errors again which is pleasing. I'm really enjoying a return to bowl lathering after a few years break from it. I'm learning to get my lathers a bit wetter than I would with a DE, I think it's made a big difference.

I've now got 5 two pass shaves on the Schick Proline, it will be interesting to see how many shaves it will give me. An excellent blade I gave to say.

 

[Merkurologist]

Right, I couldn't wait another day for the member \ seller to send me the blades that were supposed to come with the razor, I wanted to test the blades included in the sale first, just in case I liked them I could order some more, so under the circumstances I borrowed a single Feather Professional from a local friend.

Razor: Feather Artist Club SS
Blade: Feather Professional new and corked as advised on this thread.

3 pass shave WTG, XTG, ATG

Weepers: a tiny one, under my nose while going ATG

Overal overview of shave: Fantastic shave, very close, very smooth, very comfortable.... if there's any difference with the skills for Straight Razors then it's minimal.... I noticed two things, I'm used to shaving with a 6/8 and this is more like a 5/8 I think. I found the angle needed is narrower, flatter than I'm used to.
The lather I used was same I use for SR, with emphasis on slickness over cushioning.

This was the sharpest razor I've ever used so while more concentration is needed, it's easier to shave difficult spots, I'll explain.... on the bottom part of my neck I have two spots right and left that require going XTG right, and left on the other, side being so low on the neck I always struggle to shave there.....today, going ATG was enough.

The bonus for me was no more stropping the blade

 

[NeilJ]

Fantastic, sounds like you enjoyed the Artist Club experience. It's interesting to hear from someone with a background of using proper straights and how the AC compares. Like you say I also find that slickness over cushioning has helped me immensely.

I bought mine really to see if I could get on with straight razor techniques before possibly getting into the whole honing, stropping experience. At the moment I am loving the AC and can't see me using my DE any time soon as I get better results and a more involving shave with the AC. To let my skin recover the other week I shaved with a DE and to be honest found it quite boring, perhaps it's because I'm still new to straight shaving techniques and still trying to perfect my shaves that I really look forward to my shaves now.

 

[Merkurologist]

Fantastic, sounds like you enjoyed the Artist Club experience. It's interesting to hear from someone with a background of using proper straights and how the AC compares. Like you say I also find that slickness over cushioning has helped me immensely.

I bought mine really to see if I could get on with straight razor techniques before possibly getting into the whole honing, stropping experience. At the moment I am loving the AC and can't see me using my DE any time soon as I get better results and a more involving shave with the AC. To let my skin recover the other week I shaved with a DE and to be honest found it quite boring, perhaps it's because I'm still new to straight shaving techniques and still trying to perfect my shaves that I really look forward to my shaves now.

Well, I can understand your strategy but after today's experience, I'm glad I started with a traditional SR simply because the FAC is less forgiven.
I have always preferred sharp blades, having said that, the FAC is sharper than anything I experienced before.

Honing your own razor is something I didn't account for before I started and eventually I had to learn to refresh my blades. At the time lots of forum members were using the services of other members for honing their blades, Billy of this forum is very good and very helpful.

The one thing I could never enjoy was stropping, probably I need to invest on a good strop.

If you learn to shave with the FAC you would have done very well, I really think it takes more guts than learning with a traditional SR

The best advise I can give you is to take your time, no rush, if you can't afford the time go for a DE. I set myself 100 shaves to learn, after 50 I was probably almost there but I carried on perfecting my technique. I'm still perfecting it and I'm sure I will never stop.

I can see why you might find DE shaving a bit boring at the moment, the same happened to me but I overcame that phase and I still love DE shaving.

I take my hat off to anyone that is learning straight razor shaving with the FAC.

 

[lloydrm]

Same experience here as well. AC blades swayed me away from open blades for 3-4 years. I am glad I then tried a str8.

 

[NeilJ]

Very enjoyable shave again this morning, I really look forward to my shaves these days. It was my 6th two pass shave with the Schick Proline, I'm not quite sure but maybe it's very slightly losing its edge now but I'll carry on using it until I am sure.

I will probably end up going down the traditional straight route eventually but want to be able to master the AC first.

 

[wintoid]

Day 61 - Feather Artist Club SS with Schick Proline

I wasn't at all confident with yesterday's Feather Professional, so I swapped it with the blade in my SE, which was a Proline. Today's shave was fine. Comfortable and reasonably close with a few patchy bits.

Three passes, WTG/XTG/ATG, no cuts and no irritation to speak of. I was generally trying to make my strokes a bit more "rotational" and less straight, just to see if it helped to get closer. It didn't particularly, but it didn't seem to do any harm either.

 

[Merkurologist]

I was generally trying to make my strokes a bit more "rotational" and less straight,

Can you elaborate further so I can understand ?

Thank you.

 

[wintoid]

Can you elaborate further so I can understand ?

Thank you.

More of a scooping motion, I suppose. Just an experiment. I'm not saying it's better.

 

[UKRob]

@Merkurologist - there’s a school of thought that says a scything action (or guillotine) is more effective when using a straight razor. I’ve certainly used it on some areas but I find a curved (slight smile) blade works best. I assume the theory is much the same as using a J stroke with a DE razor.

 

[wintoid]

Day 62 - Feather Artist Club DX with Kai Protouch MG (1)

If I was going to do what @UKRob has suggested (which I may still do), and standardise on one combination of kit for a while, this would probably be it. When using this setup, I am confident, and the resulting shave is always good, and cuts are rare.

That's how it was today. Three passes WTG/XTG/ATG. More comfortable than any DE or SE I've used. The quality of shave sits somewhere in the top 10% of shaves I can get with any razor. I would not be surprised if, when the experimentation is all over, this is the setup I end up settling down with. The other blades may end up relegated to SE duties. I wonder how many shaves I can get out of a blade.

 

[The Gentleman]

Day 20- Feather Artist Club SS with KAI Protouch MG

A few days without using the AC. Saturday and sunday I tried to shave with a straight, with absolutely no success. It didn't cut. Yesterday I didn't shave at all, which is rare. So, up on the saddle again today with a full AC shave. Working from home so more time than when I'm at work. The result of this shave was very good. On my problem spots on the neck I didn't get BBS, but close enough to be satisfied. Cheek, chin and moustache area pretty much BBS. And irritation free. But, the second pass and the touch ups is to slow, so from now on I'll probably go with a DE on work days and the AC on weekends. Very happy with todays shave.