Wa aleikum salaam, Crackstar. Yeah jb, I have an electric razor which I used for a number of years as well, and I know exactly what you mean about the redness. Irritated my neck ever so much in particular, but it was quick. I picked the HD because most reviews described it as perfect for a newbie but also great for an experienced shaver, which sounded exactly like what I wanted. I used the slim for almost four months and found it gave me quite good shaves, so I want to take it slow with the HD as well. I may eventually move up to a slant, but if I find that the HD gives me what I'm looking for in a shave it could be the the only new razor I buy. In fact, had it not broken the slim may have been the only razor I owned. iAddressing what yourself and rodd mentioned, in terms of fixing my grandfather's razor, sol92258 mentioned in my other thread that he had a regular slim which is non-functioning, so once I get some affairs in order I may get into contact with him about that. I had the same thought as your suggestion working on a junk razor. I can take it apart, see how it works, and put it back together multiple times before attempting it on my grandfather's razor. Also, the spring in the regular slim may work in my grandfather's. From what I've read the cap on the end of the black handled TTO's will just slide right off and from there it's the same as a regular slim. While it seems to still work, I'm not using the razor right now in the thought that attempting to use it might make it worse, so I'm just not going to change anything for the moment. As for aftershave, I have the Nivea for Men replinishing balm at the moment. I bought myself a new bottle in early december, and then I received another one at Christmas from my mother, not knowing I already had a brand new bottle of it. Also at Christmas, I got a Nivea for Men Extreme Comfort aftershave from my Aunt, so I'm good for aftershave it seems. By the way, the extreme comfort is fantastic, it's definitely going to be my go to aftershave for winter. I've seen a lot of reference to heaviness of beards, but I can't say for certain where I fall into the scale. I would say that I at least fall into the light end of the heavy category. I'm a little wary of the feather blades, and I don't intend to use them until I'm very sure of my technique. Actually, other than the sentimental aspects, one of the reasons I intend to fix my grandfather's razor is that it will be quite good for taming a blade like the feathers. I intend to eventually get this sampler pack from Fendrihan http://www.fendrihan.com/razor-blades-sampler-precision-dorco-derby-astra-p-454.htm and also a pack of feathers. I'm located in Canada, so West coast shaving is not a great option for me along with a lot of the other sites. I don't know what my grandfather used for blades, but in terms of what he left behind for me, what you see in my picture is everything. So far soaps seem to be working pretty good for my daily shaves, using the wilkinson sword and williams. I look forward to trying the Proraso Aloe and Green tea when it arrives. I intend to place anorder from TSD store eventually, a sampler pack of Taylor creams to see which one I like the most, and also a sample of Tabac to try it out and see if I like the scent. Probably also some other things as well, it will likely be my only order because once again, I'm in Canada and cross-border stuff can get annoying. I haven't seen VDH anywhere near me, and I think I've read that it's not available in Canada. Shame about no quality creams in your nearby drug stores, I could always send you a tube of the Nivea cream if you'd like. I got my wilkinson, williams, and nivea tube at the local wal-mart. I've thought about a straight, but I will definitely have to work my way up to it very slowly. I am not ashamed to admit that they scare the living bejesus out of me. I've given myself some very unfun cuts with my Schick Xtreme, I can only imagine what I'd do to myself with a straight.
Definetly know what you mean about the cross border ordering. I am in Washington, DC and a lot of my pharmaceuticals come from your country. You can get them a lot cheaper then I can down here so why bother getting them locally if I can order them from your country and get a 95% discount with shipping figured in. The only thing I can advise you on the cross border trade is this - consider how much of a discount a merchant would need to compensate you for the risk that you under take by having your items shipped into the country. Would you be willing to risk it for $5 less in price, or would that need to be more like $15. Then I would look around the internet and see if you can find a merchant that is willing to give you that discount. In terms of my pharmaceuticals I was getting a 95% discount so I was definetly willing to take the risk. Sometimes you get thiefs selling fake items on the internet. For what its worth I can vouch for these companies, I have purchased from them before and would do so again THEY ARE DEFEINTLY NOT THIEFS: razorandbrush.com, knifecenter.com (yes they do carry shaving stuff as well)
So, I'll probably be getting my Best Badger Brush fairly soon, so any recommendations on removing that lovely smell I'm told it will have? I read about washing it with regular shampoo and that should help. Any confirmation of this? I'll probably be just using it to practice making lather and seeing how well it works for the first little while anyway, but I'd prefer to get rid of the smell sooner rather than later. Thanks.
Been doing this for years and this is the first I have ever heard of washing a brush in shampoo. I would get an acrylic stand and store the brush upside down with the bristles pointing to the floor. Wash the thing with plain water. My badger never had that smell at all so I would advise you not to worry about it.
Received my package from Rasage Poulin on Friday, which in addition to my order contained a number of goodies and a thank you card which was personally signed. I was surprised and impressed by it and will certainly be doing business there again. In terms of my order, there were also some other surprises in store for me, mostly about the size of things. When I opened the box the first thing I could see was my tub of Fraser's, at which I point I grabbed it, took it out and said "Holy S**t". I had read about it and expected it to be a large tub but it is in fact absolutely ginormous. And fantastic. I think it will be excellent for the winter months due to it's moisturising. I was surprised at the Edwin Jagger BBB (medium), it turned out to be smaller than I thought it would. It's actually considerably smaller than the brushes I inherited from my grandfather, not that I'm complaining because it certainly fits very comfortably in my hand. Also, it definitely has a smell on it, I noticed it after I wetted the brush for the first time, very reminiscent of wet dog actually. I washed it with some baby shampoo, which is nice and mild, and that lessened the scent somewhat. I'll likely wash it with baby shampoo once a month or so from here on out to keep it in good condition. I'm not going to use it to lather my face for probably a week, until I notice the scent has gone but I'm practicing making lather with it and enjoying it so far. Finally, the HD. I rooted around and found the very small box sitting in my package and thought to myself "Nah, it can't be that small..." I took the little box out and opened it up and sure enough, there was the HD. I almost said "Awww, it's so cute!" when I held it. Compared to my Super Adjustable this thing is incredibly tiny. It is also a different beast altogether and I'm trying to get used to it. The angle is very different than the one I used for my SA, and I'm getting some nicks, cuts, and irritation that I didn't get with my SA. For now I'm just chalking it up to inexperience but I'll only be using it on the weekends until I get it all sorted, and use my Xtreme3 for the work week. Also, something odd is that the head of the razor (the piece which you remove for blade exchange) "sticks" to my skin, instead of sliding across it. It happens with or without a blade, and with all of my shaving creams or soaps, or just a wet face. I'm not sure what causes it, maybe because the razor is just so new. I'll take it all as it comes.
