WetShaving
This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
New subscribers welcome!
Please visit our wiki, which is always and forever a work in progress.
Check out these alternative front-ends for this server:
https://gem.wetshaving.social - a nice modern interface
https://old.wetshaving.social - designed to look like old.reddit.com
Our sister Mastodon instance is https://wetshaving.social.
Community Rules
Rule 1 - Behaviour and Etiquette
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Be Respectful. Do not bully, flame, or harass others.
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Malicious comments are not allowed but heated discussion and salty banter is okay.
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Low effort replies and complaints about content will be removed.
Rule 2 - Content Guidelines
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Mail Calls, Simple Questions, and SOTD posts belong in the recurring weekly threads.
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Posts must have sufficient content to generate a meaningful discussion.
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Images, links, or videos must include additional text that summarizes the topic.
Rule 3 - Reviews and Disclosure
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Use [First Impressions] in the title if your experience with the product is limited.
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Use the [Review] in the title if you can provide comprehensive details with enough familiarity to answer follow-up questions.
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Disclose how the product being reviewed was acquired (e.g., PIF, loan, or purchase). If the product was provided to you directly by the maker or vendor free of charge or at a discount, you must disclose this fact even if the item will later be returned to the maker or vendor.
Rule 4 - Advertising
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Vendors are to keep marketing within the biweekly Deals/New Products threads.
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Non-vendors may post topics about products if it will foster a compelling discussion.
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Do not solicit donations or share fundraisers without mod approval.
Rule 5 - Inappropriate Content
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All NSFW/L content must request mod approval and be flaired appropriately.
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Non-shaving related NSFW/L content is not allowed.
Rule 10 - Moderator Discretion
- The rules may not apply perfectly to every situation. The mods have final discretion.
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August 3, 2024
Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving 31mm x 57mm Moar Boar
Razor: J.A. Henckels Friodur 14 Full Hollow Square Point
Lather: Chicago Grooming - AG 1889 - Soap
Toner: Thayers - Lavender - Toner
Aftershave: Chicago Grooming - AG 1889 - Aftershave
Fragrance: Guerlain - Jicky - Eau de Toilette
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave. $headless $FriodomRiders
ย Edge Condition Album
Another day, another vacation from stropping. Today's shave was more comfortable and closer than the last two days. How can that be? I've done no stropping, and some straight razors shavers strop before the shave, during the shave, and after the shave. Well, all part of the grand plan.
TLDR; My technique is adapting. (Feel absolutely free to ignore the following.)
I thought of this "no stropping" challenge when @[email protected] first suggested the idea of FriodomRiders. I strop after shaving mostly because I want to make sure that the edges on my (mostly carbon steel) razors get completely dry. With stainless steel, that's really not an issue. Towel drying will suffice.
In my very early days of shaving (just after the asteroid wiped out the dinasaurs), a DE blade was supposed to go one month of (1-pass) shaves. No stropping. Since taking up the hobby and also understanding the value of multi-pass shaving, I tend to toss a DE blade between 8 and 12 uses. No stropping. Artist Club blade? Twenty-ish uses. No stropping. GEM twenty-ish uses (but 31 was no problem). No stropping. @[email protected] has put a few (๐) shaves on a single Nacet blade over the years. No stropping.
You get the point.
If machine-made blades provide great shaves and don't need daily stropping why in the world do straight razors? I think the answer is just tradition and perhaps, honing technique that relies on stropping for final edge condition. I think I'm relying on the former because I know I don't do the latter.
Since I knew I would try to go 31 days with one edge, I chose to create an edge that is slightly less refined, and I worked to create convex roundness at the apex. I expect that this type of edge is more durable at the expense of a little closeness. The shaves I had on days 1 and 2 were very comfortable and slightly less BBS than my normal 2-pass routine. Pretty much what I expected. For today's shave I played with angle and pressure a bit and was quite surprised to have shave quality that equals my normal straight razor shave. Perhaps you can teach an old dog new tricks!
In past years I have kept a microscope photo record of edge degradation. I'm doing that this year as well, but I think it isn't really necessary to update edge condition daily. This time around, I plan to make one photo each week. I made a photo of the edge condition before use, included it at the end of my honing video, but did not post it here.
Here is a photo of the razor's edge on July 31.
Ha! I didn't know about the connection between no stropping and the stainless challenge, but it makes a ton of sense!