What was the biggest mistake you ever made when you started wet shaving?
And I of course mean with a DE/SE/straight razor, and not brush/bowl with a cart.
For me -- trying to get Williams Mug Shaving Soap to work. The "modern" version, of course. The "good" version pre-dates my wet shaving journey by a long time, I think.
I just had too many bad shaves with that darn puck of whatever it is. The only times I got it to work even half decently was to add something like Noxzema face cleanser to it.
I had so many rough, irritating, bloody shaves with it. I grabbed some Van Der Hagen pucks after that, which were much, much better, but I kept trying to get Williams to work, since so many people swore by it. I watched dozens of vids, which gave me dozens of methods. None of them worked. And, I have a water softener in my house, so hard water was not the problem.
The ironic thing is that on the box it says that it won't dry up on your face -- but that's exactly what it does!
What's worse, when you are starting out with a DE, you naturally go slower, which gives Williams even more time to dry!
I revisited it many times after that -- still never got it to work. I used more water, less water, bloomed it overnight, bloomed it while showering, used hot water, warm water, cold water, face lathered, bowl lathered, etc. Tried 2 different boars, a badger, and a synthetic. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Yes, it's easy to lather -- but the lather dries fast on your face, and even before it dries, it is not a shave-worthy lather.
I was glad when they discontinued it last year -- I sold the 6 pucks I had left for $50. Not bad considering I paid around $1 - $2 each for them.
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