A Newbie’s Manifesto
I'm really glad I found Badger and Blade - you guys are great! After lurking for several weeks, I decided to say hello and tell my story.
If someone told me just how insidious this whole Acquisition Disorder thing was going to be (with DE shaving), I am certain that I would have ignored their warnings and I would have gone for it anyway. I’ve always been drawn towards a variety of obsessions, subcultures and hobbies. Collecting vinyl and CDs is never ending, the Tiki Culture revival of the 90’s got me hooked on studying Mixology and searching for Hawaiian Shirts and, for some reason, I had to try every single black, oolong and green tea available. Thankfully, the price of guitars prevented me from buying more than two and I had to stop at four surfboards due to a lack of space. My deprived childhood needed to be corrected and when I finally started making enough disposable income at the age of 30, I bought a Harley, several collectable rifles and I took more than a few surfing trips. As you may have guessed, I’m still single, but luckily my wonderful girlfriend of seven years allows me my hobbies. There is no way you can be married and get away with keeping a ton of cr#p lying around the house! As long as my hording is restricted to the garage, my closet and the space under the bed, she says it’s OK.
Spending money on the amusing, non-necessities of life forces a person to divert their funds away from the more mundane things like, food, clothing and shelter. In 2004, I decided that spending money on shaving cream was cutting into more interesting things. Without any clue as to what I was about to get myself into, I bought a puck of Williams Shaving Soap at the local CVS for $2.00. I also bought a cheap shaving brush that immediately began to shed and continued shedding, for the next 8 years. Every single time I shaved there were four or five synthetic hairs that needed plucking from the lather on my face. Based on the positive reviews posted on Amazon.com, I finally bought an Edwin Jagger Best Badger brush in February 2012 - to my astonishment, it has, in five months, never lost a single hair!
For purely financial reasons, Amazon.com is kind enough to make merchandise suggestions to their visitors, based on the client's prior purchases. With the acquisition of my new shaving brush, Amazon began presenting suggestions for DE razors. I happily bought a Merkur Long Handle #180 and with joy in my heart, I proceeded to hack my face to bits, lost a few pints of blood and in the process gave myself a fabulous case of razor burn! In untrained hands, DE razors can be incredibly dangerous!!! Luckily, two thoughts crossed my mind: safety razors have been around for almost 100 years so, they can’t be that bad -and- perhaps, like sex, this was something that was going to require a bit of practice? If these revelations hadn’t occurred to me, I’m pretty sure that I would still be shaving with my Mach III.
The internet is a fantastic wealth of readily available knowledge and with a quick Google search of ‘safety razors’, I stumbled upon the blog, Bruce on Shaving and the Mantic and Geofatboy videos. I not only learned that practice does make perfect but, I also learned that there were vintage razors for sale and a nearly never ending supply of soaps, creams, aftershaves, blades and brushes to try! And what about single edge shaving? At that moment, I should have said, “Warning! Danger Will Robinson!” but instead, I fell for this new obsession hook, line and sinker.
Within three months, my new collection grew to include:
Merkur #180
Wilkinson Sword Classic
Edwin Jagger DE89bl
Weishi aluminum cheapo
1930 Gillette “New” Windsor Open Comb (with box, razor case, all in near mint condition)
1956 Gillette Blue Tip
1961 Gillette Fat Boy Adjustable (restored with a new Rhodium finish)
1966 Gillette Slim Adjustable
1970 Gillette Super Adjustable
1971 Gillette Blue Starburst (looking for the safest beginner’s shave)
1973 Gillette Tech (recommended for new guys like me)
Simpson Wee Scott (everyone should have one!)
Rooney Style 3, Size 3, super silvertip
Edwin Jagger best badger 1Ej947
Moss Skuttle
…and a variety of blades, shaving creams, after shave balms and lotions. My mailman has grown to hate me.
Because, I have sensitive skin and I’m still new at all this, I like to set my adjustables to 1 and I like the Gillette Blue Tip for its forgiving nature. I had read that Nancy Boy products work well on sensitive skin and I have to agree - I found that their shaving creams do a great job of reducing the chance of razor burn. Otoko is also fantastic for protecting against razor burn but, with shipping from Australia to the US, it is a little on the expensive side.
I’ve been a Bay Rum freak for many years prior to my introduction to DE shaving. Because, Burt’s Bees discontinued their Bay Rum Aftershave, I now use C.O. Bigalow’s Bay Rum #1401 regularly. C.O. Bigalow recently substituted their cool, retro looking glass bottles for plastic but, the balm inside it still the same light, non greasy, pleasant formula. I’m just glad they are still making it. Gilbert Henry is another good one but, it’s a bit strong for my particular taste so, I cut it with unscented balm. Gilbert Henry is a bit Christmas cakey in smell however, cutting it tones it down to a more serviceable level and makes it last longer. I recently emailed the makers of Captain’s Choice to see if they had any future intentions for making a balm but, unfortunately, they said that it wasn’t likely. Captain’s Choice lotion has a truly fantastic Bay Rum scent and I can only hope that someday they decide to produce a balm. Trumper’s Skin Food is really amazing stuff – Coral has a nice, old time, rose scent that my girlfriend likes.
As far as nicks, weepers and razor burn goes, I’m a bit retarded. It took three months for my skills to develop to the point where I was finally able to get a textbook, DFS and i just reached this milestone yesterday. As the pros on this blog have correctly stated, it’s all about taking your time, finding the correct geometry and the lack of pressure… and the less pressure in my life, the better!
All the best to everyone at Badger and Blade!!!
A.L.
I'm really glad I found Badger and Blade - you guys are great! After lurking for several weeks, I decided to say hello and tell my story.
If someone told me just how insidious this whole Acquisition Disorder thing was going to be (with DE shaving), I am certain that I would have ignored their warnings and I would have gone for it anyway. I’ve always been drawn towards a variety of obsessions, subcultures and hobbies. Collecting vinyl and CDs is never ending, the Tiki Culture revival of the 90’s got me hooked on studying Mixology and searching for Hawaiian Shirts and, for some reason, I had to try every single black, oolong and green tea available. Thankfully, the price of guitars prevented me from buying more than two and I had to stop at four surfboards due to a lack of space. My deprived childhood needed to be corrected and when I finally started making enough disposable income at the age of 30, I bought a Harley, several collectable rifles and I took more than a few surfing trips. As you may have guessed, I’m still single, but luckily my wonderful girlfriend of seven years allows me my hobbies. There is no way you can be married and get away with keeping a ton of cr#p lying around the house! As long as my hording is restricted to the garage, my closet and the space under the bed, she says it’s OK.
Spending money on the amusing, non-necessities of life forces a person to divert their funds away from the more mundane things like, food, clothing and shelter. In 2004, I decided that spending money on shaving cream was cutting into more interesting things. Without any clue as to what I was about to get myself into, I bought a puck of Williams Shaving Soap at the local CVS for $2.00. I also bought a cheap shaving brush that immediately began to shed and continued shedding, for the next 8 years. Every single time I shaved there were four or five synthetic hairs that needed plucking from the lather on my face. Based on the positive reviews posted on Amazon.com, I finally bought an Edwin Jagger Best Badger brush in February 2012 - to my astonishment, it has, in five months, never lost a single hair!
For purely financial reasons, Amazon.com is kind enough to make merchandise suggestions to their visitors, based on the client's prior purchases. With the acquisition of my new shaving brush, Amazon began presenting suggestions for DE razors. I happily bought a Merkur Long Handle #180 and with joy in my heart, I proceeded to hack my face to bits, lost a few pints of blood and in the process gave myself a fabulous case of razor burn! In untrained hands, DE razors can be incredibly dangerous!!! Luckily, two thoughts crossed my mind: safety razors have been around for almost 100 years so, they can’t be that bad -and- perhaps, like sex, this was something that was going to require a bit of practice? If these revelations hadn’t occurred to me, I’m pretty sure that I would still be shaving with my Mach III.
The internet is a fantastic wealth of readily available knowledge and with a quick Google search of ‘safety razors’, I stumbled upon the blog, Bruce on Shaving and the Mantic and Geofatboy videos. I not only learned that practice does make perfect but, I also learned that there were vintage razors for sale and a nearly never ending supply of soaps, creams, aftershaves, blades and brushes to try! And what about single edge shaving? At that moment, I should have said, “Warning! Danger Will Robinson!” but instead, I fell for this new obsession hook, line and sinker.
Within three months, my new collection grew to include:
Merkur #180
Wilkinson Sword Classic
Edwin Jagger DE89bl
Weishi aluminum cheapo
1930 Gillette “New” Windsor Open Comb (with box, razor case, all in near mint condition)
1956 Gillette Blue Tip
1961 Gillette Fat Boy Adjustable (restored with a new Rhodium finish)
1966 Gillette Slim Adjustable
1970 Gillette Super Adjustable
1971 Gillette Blue Starburst (looking for the safest beginner’s shave)
1973 Gillette Tech (recommended for new guys like me)
Simpson Wee Scott (everyone should have one!)
Rooney Style 3, Size 3, super silvertip
Edwin Jagger best badger 1Ej947
Moss Skuttle
…and a variety of blades, shaving creams, after shave balms and lotions. My mailman has grown to hate me.
Because, I have sensitive skin and I’m still new at all this, I like to set my adjustables to 1 and I like the Gillette Blue Tip for its forgiving nature. I had read that Nancy Boy products work well on sensitive skin and I have to agree - I found that their shaving creams do a great job of reducing the chance of razor burn. Otoko is also fantastic for protecting against razor burn but, with shipping from Australia to the US, it is a little on the expensive side.
I’ve been a Bay Rum freak for many years prior to my introduction to DE shaving. Because, Burt’s Bees discontinued their Bay Rum Aftershave, I now use C.O. Bigalow’s Bay Rum #1401 regularly. C.O. Bigalow recently substituted their cool, retro looking glass bottles for plastic but, the balm inside it still the same light, non greasy, pleasant formula. I’m just glad they are still making it. Gilbert Henry is another good one but, it’s a bit strong for my particular taste so, I cut it with unscented balm. Gilbert Henry is a bit Christmas cakey in smell however, cutting it tones it down to a more serviceable level and makes it last longer. I recently emailed the makers of Captain’s Choice to see if they had any future intentions for making a balm but, unfortunately, they said that it wasn’t likely. Captain’s Choice lotion has a truly fantastic Bay Rum scent and I can only hope that someday they decide to produce a balm. Trumper’s Skin Food is really amazing stuff – Coral has a nice, old time, rose scent that my girlfriend likes.
As far as nicks, weepers and razor burn goes, I’m a bit retarded. It took three months for my skills to develop to the point where I was finally able to get a textbook, DFS and i just reached this milestone yesterday. As the pros on this blog have correctly stated, it’s all about taking your time, finding the correct geometry and the lack of pressure… and the less pressure in my life, the better!
All the best to everyone at Badger and Blade!!!
A.L.
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