CANNOT figure out Safety Razors- HELP!!!

I usually use 2 pumps in the palm of my hand, then smear that all around the beard and then get to it with the brush. It builds a real nice lather.

 

I use a locally made ceramic soup bowl for a lather bowl, but you just about any small bowl that you can hold comfortably, a coffee or shaving mug, a scuttle, whatever you're using now and by putting several small dabs on your face to face lather.

 

I think as your leaning towards continuing with your Fusion,working on face prep and finding a suitable soap or cream that works well for you without irritation may well be the better way to go....Now that you have "traditional" shaving equipment you can always revisit "traditional" shaving at a later time in the future..No matter if you shave with a Cart,DE,SE,Injector,Straight or a piece of glass, good face prep coupled with a good soap will still work wonders towards giving you a quality,close, pain free shave... Good Luck..

 

And you know what? Save the DE for weekends. Reduce the stress and make it a more leisurely thing for now.

 

Better yet, just give up, be done with all this safety razor business.
Now......
Send all your stuff to cool breeze.
Just kidd'in bud, hang in there, try some of the things the folks here proposed and it'll all work out.
Besides, de wasnt as good as carts or even worse, all thease fine shavers wouldnt be here.
You just gotta find your own personel sweet spot.
Oh yea, the "sweet spot"

We gotta be careful, we BOTH just revealed how ancient we are.

 

I'd take a big deep breath. Put down the razor for a day or two. And revisit. Deep breathes. Deep breathes.

 

Awesome advise

 

As Tom suggested you might consider a SE razor in stead of DE. My experience with them is that they're outstanding. Injectors are great (though too light for my taste). You might consider an Open Comb MicroMatic (OCMM). It has an aggressive reputation, though it hasn't cut me up (yet ;-) ). Otherwise there's loads of sound advice from fellow shavers.

So hang in there, take it easy, take it slow. You'll get there. I hope you're going to have as enjoyable shaves as most TSD members!

 

On the brush then face lather. I really didn't like KMF creams that much. But YMMV in all things shaving LOL

 

Here's my wisdom from my, oh, 6 DE shaves! You can read all you want and watch every youtube video you can find on shaving but ultimately you need to do it and experiment. Pretty much everything I've read and seen says to do 3 to 4 passes, 2 to 3 if you are just starting out. Now I can tell you that 3-4 passes hasn't got me anywhere near a close shave on parts of my face most days. Now yesterday and today I did a slight experiment. I never used to shave every day, usually every 2-3 days. I did a 3 pass shave yesterday, It wasn't smooth and it was kind of annoying to feel the stubble yesterday but today I shaved again and did a few more than 4 passes in places and got I think as close a shave as I've ever had. Luckily the hardest areas on my face to get a close shave also seem to have the toughest skin and I don't have any problems with multiple against the grain passes. I'm also trying out blades to see which ones work and don't and the current one isn't doing anything spectacular for me. I don't know if I would class my beard as coarse, I've never really thought about it, but it certainly isn't fine and it pretty much grows in whatever direction it feels like. I think from my initial experience you need to not expect an immediate like for like shave, not expect to use the same shave schedule as you might be used to, the technique you use is vastly different to multi-blade cartridge razors, and do a lot more experimentation to see what works and doesn't work. At the end of the day every blade you're going to put in your razor has the ability to cut through things way coarser, thicker and harder than your beard so you just have to figure out the best way to use them.

Like I said I'm very new to this but I don't see myself going to any other form of shaving. Right now I wouldn't say I'm in the group of folks who truly enjoys shaving and looks forward to the routine. However, I don't dislike shaving any more and I do find myself getting more attached to it.

 

I think the "No Pressure" thing can be over emphasized. With practice you will come to learn the right angle and how much pressure you can get by with. If you are not able to get a good enough shave with the DE, try a couple of WTG passes with the DE and finish with the cartridge. Using the soap and brush will do wonders for your skin over the canned goo. As you discover what works for you, you will notice that the DE is getting you closer and closer to what you are looking for, and eventually get rid of the cart all together. There are a ton of people with coarse beards getting great shaves withth DE razors.

I wish you luck!

 

One more thing that came to mind. One of the new wet shavers asked "you go against the grain with one of thease tfings?" Or somthing to that effect.
Do not be afraid of your new razor, cautious, respectful, careful , yes.
But dont be afraid of it.
If you are pulling a bdand new razor sharp blade across your face and its not cutting, it isnt the razor , Im with Him (above post) and I never considered the possibility that somr new guys have heard "no pressure" so much, they're terrifird to put the razor to task.
No pressure means let the weight of the razor do the work. not a feather light ghost pass. The heads are called safety razors for a reason. It is hard to realy gash yourself. cuts and nicks? sure, when you are learning. If you keep steady, light pressure through the long pull or short strokes, you arent going to slice off your face.
Also, I know I said it before just like many others, but the correct angle is EVERYTHING. Forget 30 degrees or whatever, find YOUR sweet spot, keep light, even pressure and you are good to go.
Also, unless you are just flat out allergic, ANY good soap,cream,post lube, after shave will provide fine results. Everyone has a favorite but basically, soap is soap, cream is cream etc. You will find a set up or 2 that you dig in the big way eventually, but if your blade is good and your technique sound, everything will turn up a dfs.
Good luck and keep the faith.

And I would like to add;
NO PRODUCT ON THE PLANET WILL PRODUCE A PERFECT SHAVE IF YOUR TECHNIQUE ISNT SOUND.
Perfect your shave, THEN fine tune your products.

 

Great advice. My fastest progress came when I sought and found enjoyment in this, and nurtured it like a hobby.

 

When I first started "traditional" shaving and joined up here at TSD I had issues with the "NO PREASURE" rule...I.M.O. the wording is misleading...The rule should be "CORRECT PREASURE" Once you master the "correct preasure" for your skin the number of passes you need to make is almost irrelevent... I agree with "Cool Breeze" fine tunning your technique is paramount...

 

As humans we often over think everything. Angles, pressure, razor, blades, soap, brush, oh my. At the end of the day, you're just shaving..

 

I like to use shorter strokes (that's not what she said) doh

You should try the merkur 34, I hear it's a more agressive shave than the de89l.

 

All great advice and I don't believe there is much more I could add to it, so I'll just add some moral support. Just take it slow and keep at it. I don't remember my first couple of shaves but I four they went off without a hitch. Muscle memory comes with repetition bud. Keep at it and you'll find the sweet spot. Good luck my friend.