My grandfather shaved with tag ends of bar soap. As far as I know, right up until he switched to electric shaving. His grandson, (me) sees nothing wrong with spending $50 on a soap that will last a year. My wife, bless her heart, does. Seems she spent my soap budget on her $100 shampoo. Creams are lovely things. Strongly scented and a joy to lather. Also a huge waste of money compared to a triple milled soap. The same can be said of croaps too. The exception is some regional stuff in Europe and Northern Africa, Egypt, Hungary and the like. Between $1.50 and 2.00 a tube. Good stuff, hard to find in the U.S. Then there's Xpec. Doesn't get much traction around here, but is (or was) considered to be one of the best shaving creams ever made. It was selling for $80 a few years ago. The price has dropped down to a more reasonable $65, lately. I've never tried it. It's still sold, so apparently people think it's worth it. One thing I have found is that the "higher end" stuff generally lasts a lot longer, and tends to be more concentrated. They also spend more money on fragrance. Once I discovered Kiss my Face shaving cream, it pretty much ended my other shaving cream purchases. I can usually find it at health food stores in my area, so I don't wind up doubling the cost in shipping. The pumps on the pump bottles tend to be hit or miss, so I save a working pump from an empty bottle in case one doesn't work. It's one of the best 'bang per buck' shave creams out there.
You're spending too much on shaving stuff when you can no longer cover the bills for utility, house, food, medical, etc. There's plenty of inexpensive shaving gear out there that can be a joy to use and still give you a close, comfortable shave.
+1 Being envious of other people's shave stuff is the quickest way to suck the joy out of a new hobby. How come you didn't bother to look at it? They can be a bit of pain in the arse to tune back up, but once fettled, make nice shavers.
Polished chrome feels sticky to me on the face, like the skin is being suctioned to it. Oddly enough, I don't get that from the odd 1930's razor that has a chrome finish, rather than a nickel finish. Satin finishes don't stick like polished chrome does. There's lots of people out there where don't get that feeling from polished chrome, or if they do, it doesn't bother them. It bugs the heck outta me on most new production chrome plated razors. Some people find satin finishes more "draggy." Depends on the person. I will actively avoid polished chrome plated razors these days because of my aversion.
Some say so. But I think it's more a matter of technique. If ... the angle is right the grip is properly set back the force is on traction (not pressure) the lather is decent ... I've never found any appreciable difference on the skin. Just an aesthetic detail.
Something else to consider... If you're using a product for the first time and you don't think it'll work for you, set it aside and come back to it after a few months. I did that with single edge razors. Started off thinking they were too aggressive for me; caused razor burn. Came back to 'em some time later, after my technique had improved, and found them to be smooth, efficient, no trouble at all.
Actually, not. I've learned after many years, only with straight razor. The right angle is when the flat side of the primary bevel glides on the skin. https://www.classicshaving.com/blogs/shaving101-com/191-how-to-hold-a-safety-razor After decades of research, Gillette designed a new kind of handle (V1 on Mach3, V2 on Fusion). It's not just ergonomics, but a real engineering work to transform the hand action from pressure to traction. Therefore minimize the wrong direction of application of the force (vector), not perpendicular to the skin but parallel. This, with a simple T-handle, is feasible only with the grip set back. So you only take advantage of the weight of the razor. Better if with a well balanced razor (handle / head, weight 1:1) and long enough (min 85-90mm) to properly control the angle. The less the head curves the blade, the longer the handle needs (even 100mm), as in the Focus Tritok Flat. Just start with a little water. And add a little bit more times, up to the desired density.
i love nickel plate, specifically british gillette plating from the mid 1940's-late 50's.i've had an ej 89-chrome,merkur 34chrome,rr stainless mamba,silver plate early gillette,passed them all along.
I think craftsmen did a better job of polishing razors back in the day, which is where plating really matters. And yes, most razors pre-1970ish were nickel plated. The exception is the German zinc razors, which were chrome plated pretty early on. How much a razor sticks or drags is mostly due to the razor's design and the person's technique. When he's talking about traction, he is talking about pressure and motion being concentrated in the direction of razor travel, as it glides across your skin. You don't want the pressure being directed downwards toward the skin. The various grips shown on that classic shaving blog post will work, but are not ideal. It's kind of like teaching a toddler to hold oversized crayons. Those grips will give you control over pressure, at the cost of finesse. I use what used to be called a "three point pinch" grip. I'll try to track down the thread that talks about the different grips. Edit: The one big upside to those grips shown at classic shaving is that they are good for keeping people from using too much pressure. Holding the razor nearer the head, gives you more control over the razor, but at the cost of less sensitivity to pressure. Hope that makes sense.
There's nothing overly special about a Henson razor. The Henson AL just happened to come out at the right time, and was a mild razor. They advertised the heck out of it on Facebook and YouTube, got a lot of new shavers to adopt it, and that's all she wrote. Good marketing and an affordable price point (compared to other razors) still sells a lot of razors in this day and age. If the razor is well designed, 'riding the cap' will give you the proper shaving angle, already pre-baked into the design, as it were. Edit: Down under, huh? Check out a brand called 'Triumph & Disaster.' They are a Kiwi brand that started up a few years ago. I've never tried them, but the reviews are pretty good.
No, as long as you are not cross threading or over-tightening. If the parts don't go together easily and smoothly, back it off and start over. DO. NOT. FORCE.
Opinions. Yeah. My dislike of cast zinc razors is well known, so take this with a grain of salt. The Progress, like many other German made razors, is primarily cast zinc alloy. It's not the greatest thing to make a razor out of. It's hard and durable, but also brittle. It can last a lifetime. It can also break the very first time you drop it on a hard surface. The threads are the weak point. Daily disassembly won't hurt the razor, but will remove any plating on the threads, which can be a corrosion hot spot. Keeping your razor dry when you aren't shaving is the best way to stay on top of that sort of thing. More expensive razors are either vintage (usually brass, but not always) or modern, which usually means machined from aluminum, brass, or most commonly, stainless steel. Thread wear is not generally a problem with these razors, and when it is, it's because it was used daily for a lifetime.
Nope. Only overtightening ruins them. I clean the razor after every use. My older ones have been holding up well for about a century.
In all my time collecting, I've only run across one razor that had so much wear it was near unusable. Very few razors are old enough to have that much wear, and 99% of them are three piece razors made before 1920. The vintage twist-to-open razors can have their own issues, but 99% of those come from being dropped, and can usually be fixed with a pair of pliers. The average bloke doesn't need to worry if a used vintage razor works. If that is a concern, you can always buy from the forums.
Here's some resources you might find useful. https://www.reddit.com/r/wicked_edg...ndroidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button There is also an Australian specific shaving forum called Paste and Cut. https://paste-and-cut.com.au/community/ Edit: you are correct about there not being much, but on the upside, what you do have is mostly vintage British made razors, which are better quality than American made. I've always thought it was a crying shame the Brits never made a Gillette Adjustable.
