Wet shaving has made my shaving routine really enjoyable and its been almost a month since I started. I initially thought shave was good and I am done with the razor and blade, as all can guess it wasn't Over the past 1 month I have noticed my beard growth rate seems to have increased after I switched to de razor, may be placebo I am not sure but I then realized I needed daily shaved instead of alternate day shave as with a cartridge razor. If I do a 3 pass routine with last pass being ATG I can go on with alternate day shaving routine but I dont like going ATG as the new beard growth seems to slightly irritate my skin. a 3 pass WTG, XTG Ears to Nose and Nose to Ears seems to give very very comfortable shave but I feel like I didnt really have a good shave and by afternoon my face seems like I have got covered with ash and when I rub my fingers across it feels really coarse. To cut the story short I dont know if I have a coarse beard, how can I tell? I do seem to like sharpest/smoothest blades, Astra sp and Gillette black are my favourite (haven't tried feathers). The gillette black is very sharp and smooth and I love going ATG with this blade but it dies by 2 shaves if I go ATG, Astra dies in 1. I have hard water here so that could be also shortening the blade life. A 3 pass without ATG gives 3 nice shaves on Astra and about 6 on Gillette black. My current razor is EJ DE89L. How should I select my next razor with my beard type, I dont want to do ATG as both my blade and skin are not too happy with it. I am actually not sure if I should go for a new razor as my right razor seems be somewhere more aggressive than EJ and shave closer when doing WTG and XTG if I understood correctly. Finally why does the blade seem to loose its sharpness faster when shaving ATG?
I have a coarse beard and have found we are in a slight minority. If most of the advice given to shavers comes from guys with average or light beards then some of that advice doesn't apply to us. After going to DE my beard seemed to become heavier and coarser, I had to shave more frequently. I think its been said on the forums that the pattern of your beard growth changes with DE use , however I think the jury is out on exactly whats happening. ATG is a problem for the coarse beard, blade buffing can assist but its a finer line between getting very close and inviting irritation and nicks for us versus the light bearded. I think the coarse bearded need an aggressive razor. I have found open comb razors, new or vintage and slants work better than straight bar razors. The Razorock Jaws is my latest open comb and it works great and is very inexpensive. Blade wise I've found Gillette Sharpedge , Polsilver and Voskhod to work best for me , they are at a midway point between sharp and forgiving. Feathers are sharpest but I found they nicked me badly consistently so I don't use them. Extended blade experimentation is a good thing here as you want to find a blade that works best for you and you can read reviews to narrow down likely candidates. Beard prep is more important for the coarse beard, softening it up for shaving. A hot towel works . I have found Proraso preshave cream helps and Taylor of Old Bond Street preshave gel seemed effective for me.
This is common. It is a side effect of using a DE razor. It is not that your hair is growing faster, it is that you are not cutting as much hair off as you once did. Multi-bladed cartridge razors do lift and cut hair as they advertise. This means that the hair is being lifted from beneath the skin, then cut. This results in a very close, smooth shave, but also is the number one reason for ingrown hairs. Buying an adjustable razor is probably the best thing you can do at this point. Then you can figure out what works best. Many of us can recommend razors based off of the setting that you end up using the most on an adjustable razor. And do try Feather blades. If you like smooth and sharp, chances are you will fall in love with Feathers. It's because shaving ATG not only cuts hair, it also cuts a few layers of skin, just small amounts around the hair follicles, but that is enough to give razor burn and irritation. Cutting skin also dulls the blade faster.
was thinking of trying the razorock oc and merkur slant but the shipping from US makes a mess ...I envy all the folks in US for the choices of razor available I guess I will probably try a slant. Thanks for input
I'd recommend a slim adjustable, a fatboy, or a Gillette red tip over a slant any day, but my experience with slants has been all negative. So I'm a bit biased.
Have you checked out Connaught Shaving? They're in the UK but their shipping prices for most places are extremely reasonable.
Thanks, the prices seem slightly lower than most other EU vendors, I was mainly interested in the OC razor from razorock line as it was cheap and if it want right for me I could even PIF it these seem to in house brand and carried only by US vendors at the moment. Anyway will check out other OC choices as well.
The same factory in India produces quite a few good quality razors for different vendors. Supposedly very good value for an all/mostly brass based razor. Different vendors (Bullgoose, Shaveabuck, and Italian Barber/RazoRock) seem to have different offerings. Also, Razor Blades and More sell Matador razors which I understand are made at the same factory as well. Simpsons and Rooney also carry those razors, but with a hefty markup. Simpsons carries a SABI look alike (which retailed for $14), put their name on the handle and sells it for $80 (If I remember correctly). I know there was a quality issue and a member here got burned rather badly on the deal. I'd like to point out that it's the only time I have ever heard of Simpson's failing to provide some customer satisfaction.
The new RazoRock OC (Little Bastone) has the best handle out of the whole group of cadet razors IMO. There's always the Merkur Progress if you're looking for a more modern adjustable as well. It's higher settings are more aggressive than any of the Gillette adjustables, and the lower settings are just as comparable.
While I agree of your assessment as to what cartridge razors are doing, I don't believe what you're saying about the side effects of using a DE (beard growth rate having the appearance of increasing). I have no sense of my beard growth rate increasing. All I know is that my face stays much smoother for much longer into the day after using a DE or SE than it ever did using a cart. Even my wife has noticed the difference. If anything, growth rate has the appearance of actually slowing down.
I have a coarse beard also, yet I find that I am much better off using a mild and forgiving DE like a Super Speed. I have used aggressive ones also, like the Merkur Futur and Progress and I had a lot of trouble with them.
I have the same razor as you, the EJ DE89 and after some 2-3 months of so-and-so shaves I found out by accident an steeper angle(around 60-70) and suddenly the shaves became much more closer and I achieved BBS's very easy. So I suggest you to try to tweak the angles a little bit more before you move on to other razors.
Old guy, with a coarse beard here - and I need about 5 passes to get a decent shave out of an EJ. Just too mild. In fact, I have given up on the EJ - and now use its handle on the Lord L6 head! Yes, the Lord is also fairly mild - but much more efficient than the EJ. Actually, I think the Fatboy suggestion is a very good one, as are the open combs like a NEW or the new various Cadet types like the Razorock OC. My go-too razor is the Weber, and I find it about equivalent to the Fatboy on 6-7 as far as efficiency, but gentler on the face somehow. What Hanzo had to say is right on - the coarse bearded need more aggression, and beard prep is more important - and that doesn't mean fancy preshave oils or what have you - it means getting the oil out of the whisker, and giving it time and opportunity to absorb water. I always shave after showering, wash my face once in the shower with a quality soap (no cheap supermarket bars), then again at the sink, where I make up a bit of a lather with a glycerin or goats milk soap in my hands and leave that on my face while I prepare my lather. A quick rinse, apply my shaving lather, and baddaboom!
