I have always had an issue with shaving. I have pretty dense growth and course hair so shaving always left me sore and irritated. Top that with very dry areas and generally sensitive skin and it sucked during the winter. About 5 years ago I got serious about trying to make it better. Went from barbasol foam and whatever disposable razors were on sale to the newest gel and multi razor combo I could find. Those blades tore me up so I started downshifting and tried Mach 3, Harry’s, and finally Sensor. Looked into alternative shave creams like brushless stuff and somewhere in there I tossed in a brush and proraso/co bigelow products. I had a pretty comfortable shave finally and relatively close with my Proraso and Sensor combo. I had such good luck reducing the blades that I was dying to try DE shaving. I figured worst case I would get just as good of a shave and save money in the long term. I sat on that idea for about 6 months because I was worried about cutting my face off. I am not exactly a morning person and usually sleepwalk through most of my routine. I didn’t want to invest a chunk of startup money and find I didn’t like it. After months of reading about preshave prep and trying some variation with my current setup I stumbled across some well regarded intro razors and just couldn’t pass it up. If I tried and hated it, I was out maybe $15. If I liked it I could use the cheapie for travel and buy a good one. So I ordered a Rimei and grabbed some Derby blades from the local beauty supply store…and waited for the slow boat from China. That was about 2 months ago and I am still learning technique but have decided I am going to stick with it. The only times I have shaved with my old gear is when I traveled. I did a few shaves with the Derbys and am using some Wilkinson Sword Classic blades I picked up at an old pharmacy in Little 5 Points. Still using my Proraso but added Noxzema as a budget friendly preshave. Don’t know if it helps my beard but I like the tingle and it makes my face clean and soft, and that is enough for me on its own. I did grab a puck of Williams Mug Soap at that same pharmacy and tried it. Not bad but I have to practice lathering that stuff. And that is where I am today. Oh, and some Thayers unscented Witch Hazel, Nivea AS balm and Clubman AS. Since I decided to go all in, last week I went down to Atlanta Barber Supply and picked up some stuff and today I ordered some samples from Maggard. I hope to land on a rotation of 2 or 3 soap/creams, 2 aftershave scents, and maybe 2 blades and PIF everything else I have left over. I would like one blade type for quick and dirty daily shaves and the other for when I want the BBS (haven’t even TRIED for that yet. Sticking with DFS for now). Here is what is in the wings From Atlanta Barber Supply: Lucky Tiger Bay Rum AS, Col Conk Bay Rum soap, Feather blades, Personna Blue blades. From Maggard’s: Build your own blade pack (Astra SP Platinum, Crystal, Personna Red, Gillette SuperSharp, Lord Platinum), and samples of TOBS Sandalwood, Mr Taylor and St James. The one thing I am still looking into is my everyday razor. The local place has new Merkur 25c for $29 and 33C for $31. Those are competitive prices and I like to buy local if I can but not married to it. I am torn on long handle vs short…mainly because I just don’t know. Need to do more research. Anyway, I have had a lot of fun learning from the people here and hope to continue.
Welcome to TSD from another Atlanta area guy. Sounds like you are off to a great start. I have a EJ DE89 that I never use. If you are interested, I can PIF this too you. Just send me a private message. Either way keep us posted on your progress. Clint
Thanks everybody. Clint, very gracious, PM sent. It looks like I pushed a buddy over the edge too. He just ordered a Merkur and blade sample pack. Apparently he had been considering it for a while.
Glad you found us. I'm sure you will fit right in. Be sure to Mark YOUR location on the TSD map - instructions here. I used Williams today. It is a great "cheap soap." Join us on the Shave of the Day thread. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/sos-january-5-2015-january-11-2015.42376/page-4#post-771002
A critical lesson to learn is knowing what the three Ts stands for which is, "Technique Trumps Tools." Now I mention defective products, no amount of technique can overcome a defective product. The products must be ones that can work correctly. No out of alignment razors, or poorly manufactured blades that have bad edges, can be overcome by technique. Here is the advice I received when I started with a DE and so I freely give it to new users. The most important things in shaving are, your skin and technique. All other things fall in line behind those two things and to support them. Since the skin is a given fixed item, the next major item is technique. It is called 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 available to enjoy all the gear. Oh, and one last 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