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Roughly one month in.....

Hello everyone....My first intro post was in this very forum on April 30. I want to post some of my reflections (that sounds so corny) on moving from carts to DE.

Definitely loving it
Shaving was not something I looked forward to before DE. Now, I love it. I love the ritual, the smell, the feel, everything. I look forward to shaving now! My issue with ingrown hairs around my chin and mouth has reduced dramatically and my neck is much less irritated (if it gets irritated at all) post-shave.

Right now, I'm a two-pass shaver
I'm not "baby butt" smooth, but at the moment two passes gives me an excellent close shave. Far better than one pass with a cart. A question for the room: I've found that on my second pass, a thinner layer of lather seems to work really well for me for whatever reason. Is it normal to go bit thinner on the lather the second and third passes? My facial hair is pretty tame...not overly coarse and not at all curly.

Exfoliation is huge
I got some exfoliant a couple of weeks and have used that before shaving a couple of times. It makes the whole DE experience even better.

Blades: no clear favorite
My first go was with a Wilkinson. I had nothing to compare it to, but was quite satisfied with shave I got and sold on the whole DE thing. After a couple rounds with that, I went to a Personna. Nice as well, though it started tugging a little on the third shave. Next up was an Astra. At first, I didn't really like it; it didn't feel as smooth and I nicked myself pretty good on my chin. But I just finished my fourth shave with it and it did well on the other three shaves. I got a little tug this past shave, so I decided to retire it. Not sure what brand out of the sampler pack I'll try next (want at least a few more shaves before I load up a Feather). But so far, I haven't encountered any craptacular blades. If anyone wants to nominate a blade for the next round (the sampler I got seems to have all the usual suspects), let me know!

My facial hair grows in all sorts of crazy directions
This is the first time I've paid attention to something like that. Probably why my cart shaving experience wasn't all that great (on top of the blades not really being blades a lot of the time). Very little of my facial hair grows "north to south." Turns out I've got a lot of angles and slopes.

Room for improvement
I'm still unlocking the secrets of making great lather. I've gotten pretty good, I think. I'm using Stirling Soaps and a nice Edwin Jagger badger brush. Every time I seem to get it just little more....lather-y? I'm also still working navigating the tight spots, like under my nose.

Cheers!
 
Definitely loving it
Shaving was not something I looked forward to before DE. Now, I love it. I love the ritual, the smell, the feel, everything. I look forward to shaving now!

That has been my experience as well. I’m 15 months in and still feel the same.

Welcome - you are clearly on the right track
 
Hello everyone....My first intro post was in this very forum on April 30. I want to post some of my reflections (that sounds so corny) on moving from carts to DE.

Definitely loving it
Shaving was not something I looked forward to before DE. Now, I love it. I love the ritual, the smell, the feel, everything. I look forward to shaving now! My issue with ingrown hairs around my chin and mouth has reduced dramatically and my neck is much less irritated (if it gets irritated at all) post-shave.

Right now, I'm a two-pass shaver
I'm not "baby butt" smooth, but at the moment two passes gives me an excellent close shave. Far better than one pass with a cart. A question for the room: I've found that on my second pass, a thinner layer of lather seems to work really well for me for whatever reason. Is it normal to go bit thinner on the lather the second and third passes? My facial hair is pretty tame...not overly coarse and not at all curly.

Exfoliation is huge
I got some exfoliant a couple of weeks and have used that before shaving a couple of times. It makes the whole DE experience even better.

Blades: no clear favorite
My first go was with a Wilkinson. I had nothing to compare it to, but was quite satisfied with shave I got and sold on the whole DE thing. After a couple rounds with that, I went to a Personna. Nice as well, though it started tugging a little on the third shave. Next up was an Astra. At first, I didn't really like it; it didn't feel as smooth and I nicked myself pretty good on my chin. But I just finished my fourth shave with it and it did well on the other three shaves. I got a little tug this past shave, so I decided to retire it. Not sure what brand out of the sampler pack I'll try next (want at least a few more shaves before I load up a Feather). But so far, I haven't encountered any craptacular blades. If anyone wants to nominate a blade for the next round (the sampler I got seems to have all the usual suspects), let me know!

My facial hair grows in all sorts of crazy directions
This is the first time I've paid attention to something like that. Probably why my cart shaving experience wasn't all that great (on top of the blades not really being blades a lot of the time). Very little of my facial hair grows "north to south." Turns out I've got a lot of angles and slopes.

Room for improvement
I'm still unlocking the secrets of making great lather. I've gotten pretty good, I think. I'm using Stirling Soaps and a nice Edwin Jagger badger brush. Every time I seem to get it just little more....lather-y? I'm also still working navigating the tight spots, like under my nose.

Cheers!
Once you remove the whiskers during the first pass there will be less for subsequent lather to adhere to. Therefore I think lathering after the first pass will just seem naturally thinner because of beard reduction. Does that make sense? ...... I hope
 
Good to hear you're enjoying the process. I switched from carts to DE after thinking for years that shaving was just an awful thing we had to endure as men. I was so fed up that I needed to find a way to make it better. So I started looking online and learned about DE safety razors. My first thought was that it was a bunch of BS. How could 1 blade be anywhere near as good as 3. All the marketing was telling me more was better. But, I was desperate for something better so I gave it a try. I won't say good carts don't exist, but I'm still happy with my decision years later. I'm sure you will be too.

Congrats and welcome.
 

Hannah's Dad

I Can See Better Than Bigfoot.
Hello everyone....My first intro post was in this very forum on April 30. I want to post some of my reflections (that sounds so corny) on moving from carts to DE.

Definitely loving it
Shaving was not something I looked forward to before DE. Now, I love it. I love the ritual, the smell, the feel, everything. I look forward to shaving now! My issue with ingrown hairs around my chin and mouth has reduced dramatically and my neck is much less irritated (if it gets irritated at all) post-shave.

Right now, I'm a two-pass shaver
I'm not "baby butt" smooth, but at the moment two passes gives me an excellent close shave. Far better than one pass with a cart. A question for the room: I've found that on my second pass, a thinner layer of lather seems to work really well for me for whatever reason. Is it normal to go bit thinner on the lather the second and third passes? My facial hair is pretty tame...not overly coarse and not at all curly.

Exfoliation is huge
I got some exfoliant a couple of weeks and have used that before shaving a couple of times. It makes the whole DE experience even better.

Blades: no clear favorite
My first go was with a Wilkinson. I had nothing to compare it to, but was quite satisfied with shave I got and sold on the whole DE thing. After a couple rounds with that, I went to a Personna. Nice as well, though it started tugging a little on the third shave. Next up was an Astra. At first, I didn't really like it; it didn't feel as smooth and I nicked myself pretty good on my chin. But I just finished my fourth shave with it and it did well on the other three shaves. I got a little tug this past shave, so I decided to retire it. Not sure what brand out of the sampler pack I'll try next (want at least a few more shaves before I load up a Feather). But so far, I haven't encountered any craptacular blades. If anyone wants to nominate a blade for the next round (the sampler I got seems to have all the usual suspects), let me know!

My facial hair grows in all sorts of crazy directions
This is the first time I've paid attention to something like that. Probably why my cart shaving experience wasn't all that great (on top of the blades not really being blades a lot of the time). Very little of my facial hair grows "north to south." Turns out I've got a lot of angles and slopes.

Room for improvement
I'm still unlocking the secrets of making great lather. I've gotten pretty good, I think. I'm using Stirling Soaps and a nice Edwin Jagger badger brush. Every time I seem to get it just little more....lather-y? I'm also still working navigating the tight spots, like under my nose.

Cheers!
Well done!
 
Great job! I’m glad that it is going well and that you are enjoying it. If you think your face has improved, just wait until you’ve been doing it for a while and your technique is even better. Continue to learn each time and enjoy your shaves. The best part of traditional shaving and this community is learning to enjoy the shave, smells, techniques, different products, etc. and having a supporting community to share it with.
 
Your beard is similar to mine. Like you, my beard particularly on my neck changes grows in so many directions and then in spots swirls so that a WTG pass in meaningless. I look to see in what direction my beard grows the most and that becomes my WTG pass realizing that in some spots it may be XTG and ATG. I then use a very light touch in going in that direction. Every pass I make in every direction can be WTG, XTG, and ATG.
 
Congratulations!! Great progress!

In answer to your question: I prefer a slick lather to much of what is posted in videos, etc. More product and more water works well for me! :clap: :clap:
 
Hey all:

Thanks a bunch for your responses. I've got some Silver Blues in the sampler pack, so I'll load up one of those and get to work. I'm actually overdue for a shave (was trying to sneak one in today, but it didn't work out)!

Cheers!
 
I'm with BigJ the slicker lather is where it's at. So you are right where you should be with that second pass. Keep up the good work!
 
Next up was an Astra. At first, I didn't really like it; it didn't feel as smooth and I nicked myself pretty good on my chin. But I just finished my fourth shave with it and it did well on the other three shaves
Other people have commented on this. I find them slightly sharper than they need to be, and a bit less smooth, when they are new.

They are worth sticking with, though, because shave 2 onwards is nearly ideal.

I usually bin them after 7 days, out of a weekly routine, but they can work longer.
 
Welcome!!

My second pass lather seems thinner then the initial lather but still gives great glide and protection.

As far as blades go, I like Nacets and Voskhod blades. The number of shaves people get from each blade varies but 3-4 seems fairly common.
 
Thanks fellas! I've got some Voskhods in the sampler as well. I'll put those on stand-by after the GSB I have in there currently does it's time.

By the way, the GSB was a great shave...definitely the best one I've had. Smooth, no nicks, no sign of in-growns. My face hasn't looked this good in a while (not that I have much to work with in the first place :D).
 
I've had very similar experience. Two-pass plus the occasional touch-up if I don't do my part with technique. Usually high up under my jawline and at the base of my jaw toward the rear.

My findings so far seem to suggest that I get best results when the lather is less foamy and more creamy. Gives that super slick feeling that makes everything happen much more easily.

Great post, thanks for sharing your experience!
 
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