After a beard for so many years, I recently started shaving again, with DE for the first time in my life. I'm really enjoying this journey of discovery and new sensations, so I will share some of my experiences on this amazing forum. I hope you guys enjoy it. Please share any thoughts, tips and experiences you have. I can't wait to read them!
Prelude
After the cold winter months here in Berlin, spring finally came a few months ago. The weather became warm and sunny as quickly as if someone flipped a switch somewhere. With this warmth, something changed. I had my beard for so many years and it had become a part of me. But this weather ignited a spark, a desire, a longing for the satisfaction and refreshing feeling of a proper wet shave. After flirting with a Gillette Fusion for a few days I thought: "NO!". This is not right. We can do better! I want a real shave, a man's shave! I want an old-style razor with blades that'll peel you frickin' skin off if you look at them wrong. Not this "poking" of my face with a plastic stick shaped like something from the movie "Alien". It must be metal... steel... brass! I want soap in a bowl, and a brush that required the death of a small furry animal. I mean, I was pretty handy with my cartridge razor... how hard can this DE thing be?
So my soap, brush and Merkur Futur finally arrived, after what felt like 3 days of continuously hitting "refresh" on the DHL tracking website. But it was here! And I was ready for it! I had watched all the videos on Youtube. I was an expert. This would be great!
The first shave!
So I made my first lather. Okay, it didn't look exactly like what I'd seen online. It resembled spoiled milk more than anything else, if I'm honest, but it would have to do! I applied the lather for the first time with my brand new brush, really massaging it in with the wooden handle of my brush since I pushed so hard on it the hairs all laid flat against my face and did nothing whatsoever. There, all done! I nodded approvingly at myself in the mirror... Easy!
I grabbed my razor and made a smooth, confident, perfect straight pass from my chin to my neck, and, with that same perfection, cut so deep into my neck I wondered if I had just shaved me a trip to the hospital. I looked shocked at my razor in complete disbelief as if it had done this to me, on purpose! Was that what they meant online when they said "no pressure" and "you can't shave like you did with a cartridge"? Well, lesson learned there. And it taught me the limits of what Alum can do: Apparently it can't stop a bloodflow that would make Niagara Falls blush. Good to know.
Things have improved a lot since then. I changed to a Gillette L2 1966 Flathead since then which I like a lot better. I made massive improvements to my preparations. And I got a fantastic new soap: Boellis Panama 1924 in the Coffret. All was perfect... until it wasn't!
Allergic???
After enjoying the first few days of my wonderful new soap, I changed my preperation-routine since hairs were still too hard, even though it was much better than with my previous soap. In the new prep, I skipped my Shae-butter prep and just applied lather and let it sit there for a few minutes while I did the rest of my morning routine. After that, I'd wash, re-lather and shave. Finally... that did the job! Hairs like friggin' butter. No more jumping skin and so much smoother end-result.
But after a few days, I noticed my skin was fire-red after shaving, as if I had a birthmark all across my jaw and neck. I was shocked. This can't be... not with my wonderful new soap! Was I... allergic???
The next morning I jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom and started to lather: I had to know. Perhaps it was the hot shower where I had first washed my face with normal soap. My skin may have just been sensitive. Maybe it was just one time. Maybe this was actually a good thing and it meant my pores opened and I had really good blood-flow!! ... I quickly dismissed this last idea as this was just silly.
I lathered up, but instead of shaving, I jumped in the shower to rinse it off. No shaving, no other products: Just to test the soap. But as I rinsed, my hart sank. I could already feel it... like my skin was overheating. I quickly dried off and looked in the mirror. Yup, a color that any decent Bordeaux would kill for. This was terrible. I love the soap, the smell, the slickness, how much softer my hairs where and the amazing feeling after the shave. How could this be?
I shaved with my old soap after that with the mood of a prisoner living on just bread and water. The shaves felt somewhere between cutting bamboo with a spoon and pulling my hairs out with a pair of rusty pliers. Well, compared to my new soap, it did. Even with my new prep, it was not even close. I just could not enjoy it.
Today I was still in clinical denial, so I did what any stubborn man with more hope than sense would do... I tried again. I took a tiny bit of the soap on my finger with lots of water and put it on my cheek. No redness! That was promising! A little more soap, still very thin, put it on the whole shaving-area for a few seconds (ahhh, that wonderful almond smell, sigh). Rinsed it off. No redness! Hmm. Same amount, a bit longer. No redness! More soap. No redness! Used the brush to lather thinly on my face. No redness! More lather, more, more more. And still, no redness! Could this be? No really... could this be?
I stopped and had a drink to think about this. Could it be that I wasn't allergic, but just pushed my skin too far while it is not used to this yet? I rubbed my face. Hmm, did feel a bit dry. I've heard others say that about this soap and my face does tend to get redder with natural soaps due to dryness. I put a bit of Shea-butter on it and continued thinking. Maybe my skin does need to get used to this. I should take it easy then and let it get accustomed... do this multiple times over the coming days... building it up... not run the risk of going too fast... not over-stimulating my skin and go back to square-one... have patience... definitely not shave now... definitely not today... yes, that would be my approach!
I stood up, walked to the bathroom and had a shave with my new soap. (what did you think would happen?)
I applied some Shea-butter first to at least help with any dryness. I skipped bowl-lathering and lathered directly on my face with cold water... let's not get too crazy here. No problems so far. I shaved one pass and rinsed off with cold water. Still fine. I re-lathered, same routine with cold water and shaved another pass. Again, fine. One final pass. Fine! And the smoothness... the Smoothness! With the excitement of small child after a sugar overdose, I dashed to my computer, opened Badger&Blade and could not stop typing until this novel was finished. Amazing that you are still here
That's awesome! Thank you so much for that!! And what a shave, what a soap, what a relief! Life is good!
Prelude
After the cold winter months here in Berlin, spring finally came a few months ago. The weather became warm and sunny as quickly as if someone flipped a switch somewhere. With this warmth, something changed. I had my beard for so many years and it had become a part of me. But this weather ignited a spark, a desire, a longing for the satisfaction and refreshing feeling of a proper wet shave. After flirting with a Gillette Fusion for a few days I thought: "NO!". This is not right. We can do better! I want a real shave, a man's shave! I want an old-style razor with blades that'll peel you frickin' skin off if you look at them wrong. Not this "poking" of my face with a plastic stick shaped like something from the movie "Alien". It must be metal... steel... brass! I want soap in a bowl, and a brush that required the death of a small furry animal. I mean, I was pretty handy with my cartridge razor... how hard can this DE thing be?
So my soap, brush and Merkur Futur finally arrived, after what felt like 3 days of continuously hitting "refresh" on the DHL tracking website. But it was here! And I was ready for it! I had watched all the videos on Youtube. I was an expert. This would be great!
The first shave!
So I made my first lather. Okay, it didn't look exactly like what I'd seen online. It resembled spoiled milk more than anything else, if I'm honest, but it would have to do! I applied the lather for the first time with my brand new brush, really massaging it in with the wooden handle of my brush since I pushed so hard on it the hairs all laid flat against my face and did nothing whatsoever. There, all done! I nodded approvingly at myself in the mirror... Easy!
I grabbed my razor and made a smooth, confident, perfect straight pass from my chin to my neck, and, with that same perfection, cut so deep into my neck I wondered if I had just shaved me a trip to the hospital. I looked shocked at my razor in complete disbelief as if it had done this to me, on purpose! Was that what they meant online when they said "no pressure" and "you can't shave like you did with a cartridge"? Well, lesson learned there. And it taught me the limits of what Alum can do: Apparently it can't stop a bloodflow that would make Niagara Falls blush. Good to know.
Things have improved a lot since then. I changed to a Gillette L2 1966 Flathead since then which I like a lot better. I made massive improvements to my preparations. And I got a fantastic new soap: Boellis Panama 1924 in the Coffret. All was perfect... until it wasn't!
Allergic???
After enjoying the first few days of my wonderful new soap, I changed my preperation-routine since hairs were still too hard, even though it was much better than with my previous soap. In the new prep, I skipped my Shae-butter prep and just applied lather and let it sit there for a few minutes while I did the rest of my morning routine. After that, I'd wash, re-lather and shave. Finally... that did the job! Hairs like friggin' butter. No more jumping skin and so much smoother end-result.
But after a few days, I noticed my skin was fire-red after shaving, as if I had a birthmark all across my jaw and neck. I was shocked. This can't be... not with my wonderful new soap! Was I... allergic???
The next morning I jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom and started to lather: I had to know. Perhaps it was the hot shower where I had first washed my face with normal soap. My skin may have just been sensitive. Maybe it was just one time. Maybe this was actually a good thing and it meant my pores opened and I had really good blood-flow!! ... I quickly dismissed this last idea as this was just silly.
I lathered up, but instead of shaving, I jumped in the shower to rinse it off. No shaving, no other products: Just to test the soap. But as I rinsed, my hart sank. I could already feel it... like my skin was overheating. I quickly dried off and looked in the mirror. Yup, a color that any decent Bordeaux would kill for. This was terrible. I love the soap, the smell, the slickness, how much softer my hairs where and the amazing feeling after the shave. How could this be?
I shaved with my old soap after that with the mood of a prisoner living on just bread and water. The shaves felt somewhere between cutting bamboo with a spoon and pulling my hairs out with a pair of rusty pliers. Well, compared to my new soap, it did. Even with my new prep, it was not even close. I just could not enjoy it.
Today I was still in clinical denial, so I did what any stubborn man with more hope than sense would do... I tried again. I took a tiny bit of the soap on my finger with lots of water and put it on my cheek. No redness! That was promising! A little more soap, still very thin, put it on the whole shaving-area for a few seconds (ahhh, that wonderful almond smell, sigh). Rinsed it off. No redness! Hmm. Same amount, a bit longer. No redness! More soap. No redness! Used the brush to lather thinly on my face. No redness! More lather, more, more more. And still, no redness! Could this be? No really... could this be?
I stopped and had a drink to think about this. Could it be that I wasn't allergic, but just pushed my skin too far while it is not used to this yet? I rubbed my face. Hmm, did feel a bit dry. I've heard others say that about this soap and my face does tend to get redder with natural soaps due to dryness. I put a bit of Shea-butter on it and continued thinking. Maybe my skin does need to get used to this. I should take it easy then and let it get accustomed... do this multiple times over the coming days... building it up... not run the risk of going too fast... not over-stimulating my skin and go back to square-one... have patience... definitely not shave now... definitely not today... yes, that would be my approach!
I stood up, walked to the bathroom and had a shave with my new soap. (what did you think would happen?)
I applied some Shea-butter first to at least help with any dryness. I skipped bowl-lathering and lathered directly on my face with cold water... let's not get too crazy here. No problems so far. I shaved one pass and rinsed off with cold water. Still fine. I re-lathered, same routine with cold water and shaved another pass. Again, fine. One final pass. Fine! And the smoothness... the Smoothness! With the excitement of small child after a sugar overdose, I dashed to my computer, opened Badger&Blade and could not stop typing until this novel was finished. Amazing that you are still here
That's awesome! Thank you so much for that!! And what a shave, what a soap, what a relief! Life is good!
