New to safety razors. Got a few questions

At Walmart, you may find Cremo. Not everyone is a fan, but I've found when using a difficult soap, a dab of Cremo makes for better lather. Another cream to look for is C.O.Bigelow available at Bath & Body Works.

 

True, a man could do worse than a tub of TOBS cream. Easy to lather and a pretty good shave.

 

Does bath and body works sell any other shaving goods besides the shaving cream?

 

Bath & Body Works sells the C. O. Bigelow shaving cream in the tube (small or large) as well as canned aerosol Bigelow. They offer a variety of aftershave products too.

Getting a good lather from a puck can be difficult -- certainly more difficult than from a cream. The Bigelow/Proraso cream is excellent and very user friendly.
Art of Shaving stores are in shopping malls everywhere -- their shaving creams are very good, if overpriced.

Anyway, good luck and happy shaving!

 

Pucks are just malformed shave sticks.

 

Update: Shave #4 went pretty well. I used shaving foam out of a spray can, like I used to. I'll look into switching to something else later.

Practically no irritation or nicks this time, so I'm getting better. Though after 4 passes, I'm still not super smooth. I didn't glide as easily as some people make it sound, I had a lot or resistance in some areas. Is that maybe a matter of finding the right blade for me? I'm mostly focused on blade angle and not using any pressure, because those sound like the most important things, right?

 

Yes! Just focus on a nice low blade angle, minimal pressure. Just shave! The smooth comes later with a little practice.

 

Btw, yes I have been soaking my brush. Yesterday I put it in a bowl of warm water before getting in the shower.

Not at my usual mall, but there is one not to far from me. I'll check it out next time I'm out that way.

Oh! I forgot, I have a question. How long will a blade generally last? I'm told it's generally a week. Is that accurate?

 

My blades usually will give me eight comfortable shaves, which I can squeak into a dozen, if needed. Really though, the blades are quite cheap, and if I even imagine a blade is beginning to feel dull I will replace it. If you search here on Shave Den and other shaving forums you will find threads containing claims of blades lasting a month or longer! It's really up to you -- some folks use a fresh blade every shave.

My tally of eight shaves is just a lazy mans way of keeping track; I have an eight sided gaming die from a Dungeons & Dragons bundle that tells me when to switch. I always notice the difference a fresh, sharp blade makes on day one! I think that it's quite common for daily shavers to put in a fresh blade on monday -- another way to automate the schedule.

 

A blade will last until it starts to pull and tug. How long that is is different for everyone. Like @opsimath said, some are one and done, some are 2-3, I put a fresh blade in on Monday and toss after Friday's shave (that's five 3-pass shaves), others have taken blades into double digit shaves.
Really you have to ask your face.

 

Excellent answer. I use them for three days and toss.

 

Welcome to TSD, a place where(as I think you've experienced already), learning is FUN and FRIENDLY

 

That's what I've heard, I'm wondering if the current tug I'm getting from my blade is from lack of skill or cause the blade needs to be changed. I'll toss a new one in tonight to see.

One of the rare times when you wanna see a 1 on your d8. Lol

 

And shave sticks are just malformed pucks!

 

Yup. Actually just took left over puck scraps and stuffed 'em in a stick.

 

well welcome to the den, all very good advice from the the guys, your really going to like it here, now get to Amazon and buy$

 

As for blades I'm a big fan of feather. It is true technique over tools for handles, but not all are created equal. My first and favorite has been the merkur 34c. I am all over the place with soaps. So far I have Mitchell's wool fat the best.