Hey guys! The other day I went to have a straight razor shave at a barber. The experience left me thinking my shaving at home could be so much better. The feeling of the brush applying a decent shaving cream to my face pretty much instantly made me want to rethink my current shaving strategy. I am currently using some sort of Gillette Fusion Ultra Power Premium Turbo with 5 blades for 5x the manliness or whatever they're up to these days... I am seriously considering a safety razor with brushes and creams and whatnot to make my shaving experience that much better. A few things though, one, I am a student and therefore would like to spend as little money as possibly to get a good shave. Two, I do not shave every day. At present I am shaving once a week (by then it's fairly long, I could probably do well with twice a week)...would the fact that I do not shave every day be something to consider in my decision on what razor to buy? I am looking at kits (like the Born To Shave set from Fendrihan (it won't let me post the link)), and I am wondering is anyone might have any pointers for someone who is not entirely sure what to get and wouldn't like to spend too much (while I understand this is not necessarily a cheap thing to get in to, it pays of in the end with the price of the blades?) Thanks, looking forward to hearing from you guys Kevin
Welcome to The Shave Den Kevin! A great community of guys and gals that enjoy wet shaving, I hope you enjoy your stay! Be sure to sign up for the February Newbie Give-Away for a chance to win some great shave gear! My first question would be why do you only shave once or twice a week? Is it a time constraint, or that you don't like shaving? If you wanna go cheap, there is a vintage Schick Krona in the classifieds for $12.00. You could go to Wal-Mart and get the Van Der Hagen starter kit for less than $10.00, and some Wal-Mart brand Personna blades for under $2.00 per package. I would recommend a blade sampler package to go with that eventually. Have a read through the Shave School sticky, and be sure to watch Mantic's shave videos while you are at it.
Dridecker, Thanks for the info! My primary reason is mainly because I don't feel my beard grows enough to warrant shaving more often. Even after a day or two the stubble that replaces my beard is almost unnoticeable. Time constraints would be another valid option as I have a few early classes during the week. But it certainly wouldn't be because I don't enjoy it, I love the feeling of a freshly shaven face . I'll take a look at the Shave School post, perhaps it will help me get my bearings around the whole subject. Also, I certainly wasn't expecting razors to get so low in price. I don't mind spending a bit more than that if you feel I could get better quality. Kevin
You are more than welcome Kevin. As long as your facial hair doesn't grow back in too thick, then there is nothing wrong with going a couple of days between shaves, there are others that do the same thing. As far as time constraints, an alarm clock is fully adjustable and will allow you extra time in the morning. Or do as I do and shave at night. That Krona is a quality razor, they just don't seem to enjoy the popularity, and hence the higher prices of the Gillette models. You could always go with a new razor too, there are some choices in the sticky I pointed you to. Whatever you decide, be sure to make sure you enjoy the shaves first and foremost, ask any questions you may have, and keep us up to date. :happy088
Kevin, I am also rather new to this, and rather on the cheap side, being a student myself. If you go piece-by-piece, get a Tweezerman brush from Amazon - mine was about $12. Then you can either get a cheap puck of shave soap and throw it in an old cereal bowl, or just get a tube of cream. As for razors, I can't really help you - I just bought the first cheap Gillette Superspeed I could get on ebay! Dave
you could post a Want to Buy (WTB) for a Gillette Tech in the classified section. They're a common three piece vintage razor that was produced in mass quantities. You can get a user grade Tech for approx. 10 bucks or so.
Welcome to The Shave Den, Kevin! I'd suggest before making any particular purchase decisions on a razor is peruse the Safety Razor Reviews forum to compare the myriad that are out there, and check out The Marketplace forum to see what deals abound. :happy088 [Added shortly after originally posting this...] BUT WAIT... At this point, check out this thread: "I'm a new wetshaver, which razor should I get?" When deciding on a razor, one thing to remember is this: Aggressiveness of a razor does not necessarily get you a better shave. NoobShaver, above, recommended a vintage Tech, and I'd second that. It's a fairly mild shaver, which will allow you to work on your technique without much danger of nicks or irritation. Also, there are a lot of them out there, so they're relatively inexpensive. Another option might be a vintage SuperSpeed, because the twist to open (TTO) feature makes them a breeze to use. :signs046 Again, Kevin, welcome! Enjoy good shaving!
Welcome to TSD! I hope you find a good, inexpensive vintage razor as Bill suggested. Unless you're in Colorado, all I can suggest is looking through the classifieds here.
Not to worry if you are on a tight budget. Like the others have already said you can get started pretty easy. I bought a vintage superspeed for 12.50 off another forum. That included shipping. I started with the walmart personnas but have since bought a 10 buck razor blade sampler from West Coast Shaving. And I bought the VDH starter set for less than 10 bucks for the soap, bowl, and brush. So you can get started for less than the cost of a new merkur razor. since I have started I also purchased some witch hazel and glycerin but these items are optional. Rick
