Hello Denizens of the Shave Den, I took up wet shaving in late July 2014. Lurking on this board gave much insight and direction to help me get started in a good direction. I currently have a Weishi 9306, Feather Popular, Cadet SSH02, Cadet SBF11s razors and a R/M89 type 3-piece by Utopia. Gillette Silver Blue is the current 30day blade. Ingrown hairs caused by Harry's cartridges started me on this journey. I will say they were the finest cartridges I had ever seen, better than Gillette, but nothing helped my face....until...I went to a Denver mall and talked to a lady at a shaving boutique...and here I am. And my face is feeling great. Where I live humidity is low and temps vary wildly, very windy and sunny generally too, so moisturizing and razor burn are big concerns with me. Current stuff in Rotation: Homemeade Pre-shave oil (Grapeseed plus Castor w/ tea tree, eucalyptus, mint- H/T SaraS ) Arko Shave Stick Proraso Red in a plastic tub Proraso Green in a plastic tub Van Der Hagen Blue Shave Soap VDH Glycerine VDH Sensitive Kirk's Hardwater Castille Harry's tube cream (a good product!) Nuka Lea Stick (Patiently awaiting TSD Sticks!) Barbon Figaro Generic Drug Counter Witch Hazel Pinaud Styptic Gentleman Jon Alum Pinaud Clubman AS Lotion AV Blue AV Ice Skin Bracer Brut Blade- Gillette Silver Blue (current fave) I also really like Hair tonic...1800-1960 style Vitalis Jeris Pinaud Clubman Hair tonic That's my den and I am sticking to it
Thank you Gents! and thanks for helping me realize that shaving can be pleasurable again...It appears all the technology existed by 1920 or so...I can't believe I bought into the Razor porn on tv commercials for 25 years (but then again $.05 blades aren't a growth industry, lol). The cost per shave is unbelievable....and how in the world did I miss out on real soap all those years...all that frustration...gone! Old school is the only school for me...and loving it every time.
Bama. First, cool name. Second, I'm with you on the face comfort thing. My electric and my very brief stint with cartridges always left me with a sore face. Didn't think it possible to have less irritation with DE shaving, but it is. So enjoy and welcome!!
to TSD "Bama Samurai" Nice kit you have there. Arko is my favorite shave soap. Corn Huskers Lotion works well as a preshave and it"s available locally(at least where I live) and it's very inexpensive. Vikings Sword is a great blade also made in the Personna plant in Israel.
Thanks everybody for chiming in. I had a really great experience today trying a Gilette Silver Blue in the 3piece. The amazing part was for the first time I felt nothing but the chrome of the razor head. It didn't even feel like shaving...yet it was basically BBS everywhere except the hard angle areas of chin and jaw. It was something short of a two pass job even though I had three day growth. I really took it slow shaving today but apparently the Silver Blue is highly compatible with me/my skill level/routine. I am still a bit puzzled as to how to objectively compare blades. I am 3 months in to DE razors and am starting to feel confident in the skill set required to make it work out well. Can anyone explain where this blade lies on the sharp/smooth continuum? Thanks in advance.
Welcome to the Den! Given your name, are you originally from Alabama? I have to say the weather in Colorado is nice! I spent some time there a few years back at the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado in Boulder during the summer months. Loved the Estes Park area!
One of our members put a lot of work into comparing current production blades (@GDCarrington). You can read his results here: https://sites.google.com/site/gdcarrington1/home/de-blade-challenge-ii My understanding is that blade #28 (Gillette stainless) is the same as silver blue. Maybe someone can comment to confirm. Silver blues have a large following and are thought to be at the upper end of sharp and smooth. I never got spectacular results from them, but as they say, only your face can decide/YMMV
You are off to a great start and it looks like you are ready to try THE 30 DAY RULE. THE 30 DAY RULE is as follows: Find a razor, then a blade that will not cause issues with your skin (that may take a few different blades in a sampler pack to find a suitable choice or it maybe the first out of the gate) and select a soap or cream that is easy to generate good lather. Once you find those, and it may take a couple of weeks to find this combination, order a quantity of that blade enough for 30 days, and then spend 30 days using nothing else until you build up your technique. (Note that only one brand blade is used for 30 days after each blade in the sampler pack is tested to make the decision on the blade brand to use for 30 days.) The 30 day clock starts when you have the right blade for you. After 30 days, change one and only one variable and work for another week then change another after another week. At that point you should be able to make better decisions because your technique is now in place. This will help you to avoid buying too much gear and stuff too soon without having the technique down to enjoy it all. This really does work. Oh and one more thing ... Welcome to the Den. We know you'll fit right in. So grab yourself a comfy chair, and give our threads a spin! Burma Shave
