I'm ready to select my next razor to move up to for my DE shaving education. Started with a SS Blue Tip to begin with a mild razor and shave. Success with Astra SP and GSB blades. Did not care much for Voskhods. Things going very well so far, with only one small cut and one occasion of razor burn in the past month. Now, for the next razor... I have RAD and as such, seemed to have acquired a couple Techs, Slims, a Fatboy, a few different SS MODELS, including a red tip, both SC and LC New and an EJ DE89 among others. Which razor of these would be the logical next step in terms of agressiveness? Going to pair with an Astra SP blade again and progressively do the blade sampling with this next razor for about a month. I'm looking forward to this next step in my DE journey! Like some avatars say... Shaving is fun again!
I think you're way over thinking this and making it more complicated than it should be. No one here can tell you what the next "logical step" is, only you can determine what combination of blades and razors works best for you. So, just grab one, load a blade in it and see what happens.
What ever you try next take the time to work into it and build technique with each razor. You need to figure out how your face reacts to a more aggressive razor. I just learned the hard way this morning. It's exciting to try but take the time to learn to use it correctly.
While I must also agree with this, I'll offer up the Tech as the next logical (to me) step up. Although, if I had the amount of choices you have at my disposal, I wouldn't have the self discipline to get to know any of them well enough before trying another. That's a problem for a lot of us with RAD. I'm recovering from RAD and have pared down the "collection" in the past months to "only" a dozen or so, all of which I am very familiar.
I've got about 38 or 39 razors. This year, I am using each one for a week and then changing. I'm trying to give them all some lovin'.
But that's part of RAD !!! Besides, there has GOT to be a logical next step. Please remember, I am relative new at this and do not have the experience most people on here have. EVERYONE started somewhere and probably asked questions that were just as ignorant. I simply asked for a razor recommendation and yes, there ARE some here who can and will give a kind recommendation. I am simply looking for advise that may in some manner, make the learning curve more enjoyable. I am fully aware that 'only my face can tell me' but that answer does not help in any way. Often, little bits of sage advise or good recommendations come from stupid questions such as this and DO help newcomers greatly. Maybe I'm taking this out of context - words in type can have that effect. Why do questions such as this from "newbies" seem to generate irritation and condescending replies? IMHO, better not to reply than to reply in a negative manner.
I would suggest a Merkur 34C HD. I have one myself and it is a great razor not just in my opinion, but in general terms most people rate this razor very highly. For brushes I prefer Silvertip Badger, mid priced. Say between $60.00 and $100.00. Welcome aboard.
My answer was not intended to be negative or condescending, only an honest response to a question that has no answer. If you look at the recommendations you've received so far they are all over the place, with no consistency whatsoever. If one of the razors you currently have available actually is the the next "logical" choice doesn't it make sense that that is the one everyone would be recommending unanimously? Sure, we all started somewhere, but we all ended up where we are now by trial and error; mailboy67 summed it up perfectly in his post. Apparently he tried something that didn't work for him so he learned something much more valuable than three or four pages of members suggesting their favorite razor that may or may not work for you. My suggestion would be to ditch the DE razors for a while and look into a GEM 1912 or a Schick injector, but that isn't one of your choices so my recommendation is totally useless. But, it worked for me because I spent months, actually years, trying out all kinds of razors before settling on what I like and prefer to use, which is the SE types.
1) YES! 2) Not everyone will agree with whatever reasoning applies... but who cares? 3) I vote you use the Slim and progressively test the settings. You will limit the total number of variables while developing technique for the Slim. You will also learn a bit about razor aggressiveness. NOTES: a) Devloping technique in general only partially carries from one razor to the next, but there is some transferance. b) I pick Slim over FatBoy because its head is closer to other heads. It may turn out that you like the FatBoy way better than the Slim. However, I advise to start with the Slim. My advice is worth every penny you paid for it. While it may not be right, no one can really say it is wrong, can they? ENJOY!
