At my age nostalgic memories can bring us back to enjoyable times in our past. I was thinking about buying my first aftershave from the five & dime. Which then triggered more distant memories of safety razors and my dad's fuller shave brush, with me trying to get a lather with Ivory soap Long story short....I landed here and found mountains of information, which led me to buy Razorock Mission Razor, Semogue 1305 bruch, a tub of cella and a tube of Proraso from B&BW. My wife thinks I'm crazy, as she remembers all the toilet paper stuck to my face after a shave
Welcome, welcome, your new trip in Traditional Shaving has begun! A critical item is to remember what the three Ts stand for: "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. THE 30 DAY RULE is the advice I give to you. 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. Select a soap or cream that is easy to generate good lather. Once you find that combination, and it may take a couple of weeks to find it, order a quantity of that blade enough for 30 days. 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
Let your wife think what she wants! I'm sure you don't have to look too far to find enough lipstick & nail polish to paint a town!!!!
So glad you found us here. I'm sure you will fit right in. You are off to a good start. Be sure to mark your location on the TSD map - instructions here.
Welcome to TSD. You're sure to enjoy traditional DE shaving. I love the 1305 and all the painted Semogue's as they're all great brushes that look cool and perform even better! One word of caution, it has a painted wooden handle and the paint can chip and flake if the handle is submerged during preparation. It did not know this and submerged my 1305 during preparation and all the beautiful green paint chipped/flaked off to bare wood. I googled this, and the reason was the wooden handle will expand and contract when soaked too long. It is a common problem with painted Semogue's. The brush still worked great (as it was all broken in) so I PIF'd it to a friend who was interested in wetshaving. Now when I prep my Semogue 1438, I just run it under warm water (bristles down) to get her ready and have had no problems with the paint. I'm sure I'll get another 1305 someday as it's a great brush. Once again, welcome..............
Welcome, and it only gets better! So many people to pass on their wisdom. Pull up a stump, and enjoy yourself.
That is some nice gear you have there. Go slow and concentrate on your angle and you won't need those toilet Paper stuck to your face haha =) If you are going to start learning you might want to invest in a styptic pencil for when accidents happen. Stops the bleeding very effective and will last many many years haha
I appreciate your advice! I have read that somewhere, so I just fill a cup 1/2 full of hot water and soak the bristles for several minutes. I checked the bristles last night and after five shaves: they are starting to split.
