this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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WetShaving

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Share your Shave of the Day for Friday!

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[–] TriplePlaid@wetshav.ing 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

SOTD - 2026-02-06

  • Facewash: Stirling Activated Charcoal Facial Soap
  • Prep: Stirling Unscented Preshave Soap
  • Brush: Unbranded; badger? I reached out to the person who sold it to me and they aren't sure but they think it is badger.
  • Razor: Stirling de3p6s standard head
  • Blade: Gillette Silver Blue(1)
  • Lather: Farmcraft VT Cedar Shave Soap
  • Alum: Stirling Travel Size Alum
  • Toner: Stirling Unscented Witch Hazel & Aloe
  • Aftershave: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Splash
  • Serum: Ash Hopper Blueberry Serum
  • Balm: Stirling Deton-8 Aftershave Balm
  • Lotion: Humble Bee Botanicals "Calendulove" Face Cream
  • Fragrance: Stirling Deton-8 EdT

One of my best shaves so far, approaching DFS. First pass WTG. 2nd pass WTG on chin. 3rd pass XTG on chin and moustache. I changed a lot of things for today's shave which makes it hard to tell what made it so good. I think the blade was nice, but so was the shaving cream - nice cushion, sufficiently slick, mild but pleasant scent. Possibly the least feedback I have ever gotten from my alum!

I also changed up my preshave method a bit, trying something I saw on shavemyface.com. I showered as usual but this time after sudsing the preshave soap on my face I didn't rinse it straight off. Instead I got a washcloth damp with really dang hot water and held it on my face until it cooled down and then repeated 3x and then rinsing off fully before shaving. Maybe that helped more than my usual routine where I would just rinse it right off.

Also my package from Stirling arrived:

[–] snooting@wetshav.ing 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

At this point I don’t really do any pre shave. The most I’ll do is rub some of the extra lather from the tub on my face.

When I get irritation it’s usually because my lather or technique was off.

[–] TriplePlaid@wetshav.ing 3 points 15 hours ago

I think my technique is not anywhere close to perfect, so that is almost certainly part (or most) of the story here.

I really struggle to avoid tugging on my chin, so much that I find it almost impossible to do a smooth/fluid pass; the razor frequently catches. I think I am having a hard time keeping the angle correct as I navigate the quickly changing angles and that I have a bad habit of pressing the blade too hard. I feel like even when I am getting it to cut on my chin it is impossible to get a close shave, so then I do more passes which results in irritation. I have the same problem in my moustache area except the difficulty navigating contours isn't an issue there so idk why I can't get it close there.

I am also pretty inexperienced in making good lathers so that may be part of it as well. Overall though I feel that I have been making faster progress in this department, especially in the last week or two :)