To get right to the point: I had my first 9.8 morning shave. It was my first try of “Method Shaving,” a process and products developed by Charles Roberts of Enchante. I’m now (11/22/07) updating this post to bring into one post a summary of my experience to date.

I confess to a tendency to avoid or postpone trying something new. You may have noticed. A common flaw, but it gets in the way of all sorts of pleasant experiences—and, probably, some that turn out to be not so pleasant. At any rate, I’ve had one of the Roberts “Shave Cubes” sitting in the supplies cabinet for some time, along with the Hydrolast Wet Shaving Paste. And there they sat. I eventually got one of the Shavemaster shaving brushes, tried it once, didn’t quite get it, and it sat there, too.

Yesterday I used the Shavemaster again, and this time I rather liked it—I’m in the mood now, apparently. So this morning I decided to try all the Roberts stuff I had: my first Method shave. (”Method” is short for “Roberts Method of Wet Shaving,” which includes theory, products, and practices.)

Naturally, I didn’t read the manual—I’m a guy, right? I just leapt in, using what I recalled from having seen Mantic’s Method Shaving videos (below).

I got the Shave Cube, a 3″ cube of olive soap. It’s also available as a stack of three  3″ square bars, each 1″ thick—a little easier to handle and better if you travel. This soap has no particular fragrance, just soap. I wet it, held it in my left hand, and brushed it vigorously with the wet Shavemaster. It lathered up better than I expected—olive soaps generally are reluctant in the lather department. The lather comes up quickly, and you will renew the lather in the course of your four-pass shaves, using a little water and working up fresh lather. (Water is the secret to the good Method shave.)

Once the brush was full of lather, I put down the cube and used a little spatula to pick up a bit of the Hydrolast Wet Shaving Paste—you need enough to get the right mix, and experience helps here. I initially used an amount the size of a pea, but that was not enough. The size of a peanut (not in the shell, just a single peanut) seems about right.

The Shaving Paste I have is unscented, but has a sort of light, pleasant, clean scent. You can buy it in various fragrances. Plop the bit of paste in the splayed open center of your brush, then work it into the lather by making more lather in your cupped hand and or putting a driblet of water on the brush and lathering vigorously on the Cube once more.

Once you have a good amalgam of Paste and Lather, move to your wet beard and began brushing vigorously, as though creating a superlather from shaving soap and shaving cream. (In fact, I would not call the Wet Shaving Paste a shaving cream—it seems to be more the essential complement to the soap of the Shave Cube, to complete the lather.)

You can also add some Activator to the brush before working up the lather on your beard, but I don’t yet have that. I’ll be getting it, though.

Nice lather. Picked up the Edwin Jagger Georgian with the Sputnik blade (third shave) and did the first pass: downward, N-S. It went fine. In fact, it was exceptionally smooth and easy. I figured that the products, designed to make sure that the beard was really fully wetted, were working, and that the fully wetted beard offered practically no resistance to the blade. Good work, I thought.

I rinsed after the first pass, and—omigod!—my face was so slick. I couldn’t believe the lubrication I got from the Shave Cube + Shaving Paste combination. And it was not greasy—it was the slickness of skin that’s fully wet with pure water. People who bathe with very soft water know the feeling, but our water isn’t especially soft.

Rinse and re-lather, and the second pass is also downward, N-S. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I find that the double downward pass at the beginning does in fact do an excellent job. Evidence: I get better shaves.

Rinse and re-lather, and at this point you probably will have to renew the lather in the brush by adding just a little water and brushing the Cube again. The third pass is sideways, ear toward nose in general.

Finally, rinse and re-lather and do the fourth pass, which I do against the grain: upward, S-N.

I was astounded at the shave—and at my skin: it felt so smooth and soft and supple. And the shave was fantastic.

Go to the Enchante site and read more. You’ll find that I omitted some steps: I stopped too soon, as it were. After the passes I did, and the rinse, then one takes a little of the Cutting Balm (a liquid in a pump bottle) and rubs it over the face along with a little of the Wet Shaving Paste. This produces no lather, but a fine surface for a final pass to remove any surviving stubble. I think this could serve as the fourth pass in place of what I did.

The Method doesn’t include in its forms an against-the-grain pass—in fact, grain is not discussed. It focuses on N-S strokes (straight down), and sideways, ear-to-nose or chin strokes. In particular, the upper lip and chin get no across-the-grain attention—but, of course, one can modify the Method, and my lip and chin definitely require the across-the-grain (sideways) pass.

After that, rinse, dry, and apply the spray-on Tonic, then rub with the Conditioner until it’s absorbed, and then another light spray of the Tonic.

I know, I know: it sounds like: oh, too much. But, man!, I have such a good shave from just what I did that I’m willing to try the whole thing now.

People are a little apprehensive about Method shaving (and Method shavers), and I now understand why: it works too well. When you describe how good the shave is, people immediately get suspicious. It can’t be that good. Well, this one was, and you can be sure I will be trying the entire routine—with all the products—soon. And I will definitely use the Cube and Paste again tomorrow.

Now: Mantic’s videos on Method Shaving:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3: