What's new

5 Months in report!

5 Month update!

Ok, I've been going at this for a while now and I think I've settled in. The sampler pack is long gone now and I am into a fresh batch of Gillette Silver Blue blades. These aren't too bad, but I think that the Nascit (Sp?) blades actually work better with my razor and face. I'll be ordering some of those the next run.

A major revelation as to the quality of shave (and the safety of my skin) was figuring out how to shave with the grain of my beard. It seems like this area of focus accounts for at least 80% of my shave quality. I tried a lot of pass combos and finally ended up doing once with the grain, once cross grain and finally one more time with the grain. It doesn't have as great of a shave as when I do one across the grain pass in the rotatino, but my face thanks me. And, not a huge sacrifice to the shave quality.

I get a GREAT amount of pleasure from shaving now. It's officially a ritual that I enjoy. Put on some good music during the shave and it makes it that much better. A Zen time for me in the morning or at night, or whenever.

Now, for the setup:

Edwin Jagger DE86 razor: Pretty good. I haven't had any major problems with it, but one gripe I do have is that blades do not fit entirely snug on the three poles that they slide onto (it's a three piece). Thus, the blade will rotate ever so slightly from side to side pivoting on the central pole (it Does fit snug on the middle pole). This creates a situation where the blade sticks out a little more on one side of the razor than the other. If I pay attention to it while I'm putting it on, then I can straighten it as I tighten down, though. So, not a huge problem, but annoying none the less and it will effect the quality of the shave if I don't get it on straight.

Parker Best Badger Brush: No complaints here. I guess it's not "luxuriously smooth" as some brushes are touted to be, but I don't mind. Maybe I will once I experience something better. I don't know. Not a lot of shedding (almost none), and there didn't seem to be any break in period.

Prorasso: I've had the menthol (green), and the sandlewood (red). I like both equally and differently. It takes a lot of water but I find I can easily get a good lather with it. I have also used "The Art of Shaving" sandlewood, and I like it a lot as well, but I'm not able to get as good of a lather out of it, though it's a soft soap like the Prorasso.

Nivea sensitive after shave balm: Awesome. I recommend.

I'm starting to get this thing down now and I think that I can say that I have graduated from Noob status after 5 months. Oh, and I will have to say that I have gotten to the point where I hardly ever draw blood. A bad or old blade will do it, but that's about it. I get 3-4 shaves out of the Silver Blues.

Also, one observation for any new shavers reading this, I have tried the Feather blades and they aren't some mythical thing that is 10 times better than other blades. You may read some threads that make it seem that way, but there may be other blades that work with your particular razor better than Feathers, so don't rush out and buy 100 right off the bat. You could be in for a bad experience.

Anyhow, I'm still happy I found classic shaving and I'm going to be a lifer. There's no turning back. I know that some day I will be progressing to the straight razor. It is inevitable!
 
Great report. Glad to hear you're enjoying it so much. I'm in the same situation - never in a million years would I have expected to ever ENJOY shaving. I'm 51 and at best it's always been just something I did cuz I had to. I shaved as little as possible. I hate a beard, so had to shave at least every few days because I couldn't stand that itchy stage after about the 4th or 5th day. I basically had a few days growth most of the time.

Today it's something I look forward to. Glad to see you're finding it such a pleasant experience too. Give us some follow-up as time goes on.
 
5 year report:

My face has just as much hair as ever. The top of my head has less..... So, yeah, I still shave, still wet shaving, still have basically the same soaps (testament to economy of these products!), same razor. I’ve switched to Nacet blades and am happy. Also, the weak link in the setup seems to be the brush, which I find is too floppy for hard soaps like the prorasso. I just ordered up a Simpson Colonel x2L, which is reported to have more “backbone” to it, so we’ll see how that goes. Anyhow, thought it’d be fun to pop in after 5 years!
 
Top Bottom