A rant about Youtubers . . . .

[Old Hippie]

Loving all the advice gang, looks like I came to the right forum for help and advice. Much appreciated.

Heck yeah you did! And welcome to our little corner of the shaving universe.

One thing I had to keep reminding myself early on in my discovery of wet-shaving was the idea that I was going to spend some money on things that I ultimately didn't like or felt like had maybe been "oversold." I always try to consider those things as "tuition" for the education. As mentioned, hang onto them and you can eventually offer them for sale or trade on the Buy/Sell/Trade ("BST") subforum here. You'll need to meet a minimum number of posts to do that, but just being part of the conversations around here for a while will take care of that.

I will be very interested to hear what you think of the Era. I've followed the development with interest. I'm not sure I really want to try one, as I have more of an interest in slants than in plain DEs -- but knowledge is power.

Don't bust yerself up over the soaps. We all have different preferences and sensitivities, and sometimes you just have to try something to see if it will work for you. Sometimes you can save a little aggravation by asking here about it and quite possibly someone with a similar set of likes and dislikes to yours will offer their perspective.

Again, welcome! Glad you're here.

O.H.

 

[ewk]

From what I have seen on YouTube, you should enjoy the Era.

But seriously, Blackland Razors are awesome, and the Era should be no exception. Welcome aboard the B&B circus.

 

[ShavingPanda]

That's too bad. Never fun spending money to be disappointed. That said, wetshaving and scents are experienced-based and a journey and this is just a step.

I'd recommed looking at the scent notes of the soaps you bought and see if there are certain scent notes you don't like, or if a few are to your liking.

Scents and shaving are subjective. I have an idea of what Iike now, and I tend to lean towards B&B memebers' reviews that align with what I like or don't like. For example, I am quite particular about leather scents so I approach them cautiously and look for reviews from those with similar likes/dislikes.

Enjoy the journey.

 

[Mempho]

100%.

 

[Dave himself]

Welcome to B&B sorry you've had a bad experience at the start of your wet shaving journey there's a wealth of knowledge on here and plenty of people who will try to help you. Except the ones that say Arko smells like a urinal cake now those people are dodgy. Welcome to the madhouse

 

[Lefonque]

Welcome to the forum. YouTube is worth every cent you pay for it. Having said that even as a wet shaver of many decade I do pick up some tips regarding shaving and I have adapted following advice when needed.

 

[Balthier]

Blind buys can be risky... best to get samples of the soap or aftershave if you can so you don't spend too much money on a full tub. You could likely find some of your favorite colognes or fragrances and more than likely a soap maker has made a clone of one of them.

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

The smells were so bad, I never used them! Still in the original packaging. Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Scent is one aspect of the soap. How is performance? Ease of lathering? Slickness? Post shave feel?

As a new B&B'er, as far as shaving advice you will get on the internet or on this forum, here's a term you better get used to...

YMMV

 

[luvmysuper]

Repost:

For the life of me I cannot understand the attraction some guy in his bathroom shaving has with so many people.
There is no way to vet their expertise aside from them saying so.
There is no way to vet if they really like a product or are being compensated by a company.
There is no way to vet if they are trying to be helpful or are looking to monetize clicks.
I dare say there are people right here on this forum who have higher expertise levels than any schmo on YouTube.
I've said it before, but it warrants repeating:
You don't need skill to be a youtube expert, all you need is a camera.
If you see some knucklehead on YouTube shaving with a weed whacker and peanut butter, you can be sure there are people out there subscribing to his channel and singing the wonders of a peanut butter/ weed whacker shave.

 

[Toothpick]

I’ll admit when I first started out I found a couple YouTube vids and gave them a watch. After I skipped through the first 10 minutes of crap, and got to the actual instruction they kinda did help. But I didn’t watch reviews. I needed to know how to hold the DE, angle, passes, etc. That took about…..2-3 videos and I was done. I haven’t watched a YT Shave video of any kind in YEARS.

1. They are mostly all shills
2. They are mostly all looking for some sort of fame
3. They are mostly all full of hot air that they must expel before they get to the actual shave part or review

I just can’t stand it. I tried to make a video though, I think I reviewed some Williams soap, new vs old. It was fun I gotta admit. But the whole time it was embarrassing thinking ”people are gonna watch me do this??”.

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!

I don’t pay much, if any, attention to YouTube videos, Amazon reviews, etc.

The guys here on B&B are much more reliable IMO!!

 

[Cannon Cocker]

Welcome to B&B. Hopefully all you wasted was a few bucks on soaps and not hundreds and hundreds on DEs and straights (+strops and hones). I come to my trusted sources here to get ideas on what to use. BTW finding out stuff you DON'T like can be just as useful as finding out what stuff you do like.

 

[emwolf]

The one thing about all things shaving is YMMV. What smells great to someone may stink to the next guy.
However, like said above, these guys could be asked to promote the products, whether it sucks or not.

I also think it may be beneficial to name the products. Maybe someone here can suggest something better, we can know if we need to stay away, etc etc. And maybe someone here can help rectify the situation a little.

Sucks to spend money on a full tub to find out you hate the scent though. Hopefully you find what you're looking for soon, there's umpteen brands of quality products to sift through.

Case in point, I used Lilac Vegetal as an aftershave today. Some people will tell you it smells like a cat's litter box with a flower in it. I love the stuff.

 

[Smooth and Sharp]

Welcome aboard.

When I started I checked a lot of videos. Here's my 2 cents on shaving videos.

Hardware (yes)
1. It can be good to learn how to do lot of basic things like load a razor blade (like in an injector razor without the distributer ), how to clean a razor, how to face or bowl lather. See different techniques or some specific razor models. How to hold a razor, the angle etc. ( This forum is the best for all that too but sometimes when you start it helps having an image to understand what people meant with text)

Software (no)
2. The video "show" things but for the soaps, you can't smell through your screen. As for the performance, I probably tried over 40 soaps and they all performed from good to excellent so like others said the best to start on soaps is this forum. There is a ton of threads about what are your top soaps and the top 10 are always the same year after year. Once you have a reliable soap, you can work on your technique. Then when you're ready to explore other soaps, samples is the way to go for you're nose and you're wallet.

As @Eben Stone mentioned, feel free once you meet the minimum requirements to put all the soaps you don't like on the BST. You will get some money back and will still have learned a lesson.

 

[borwish]

Smell is so subjective. Many here love the smell of Tabac. It's the only soap my wife has banned me from using....

 

[RayClem]

With YouTube shaving video, you always have to consider the source. There are some folks who provide objective opinions. If something is bad, they will say so. Others are counting on continuing to get free stuff from vendors and manufacturers, so they will never say anything bad about a product for fear of offending the benefactor. Then there are the videos that are outright advertisements for products such as the videos openly sponsored by West Coast Shaving. That does not mean the videos or bad or the products are bad, but it can be like watching an infomercial on late night TV.

I do not do videos, but I do post quite a few reviews of shaving soaps. I always purchase my soaps at full retail price with my own money, so I have no incentive to slant the review. I realize that my reviews are based on my own subjective preferences, but I try to keep the reviews as objective as possible considering the nature of the evaluation.

Two YouTubers I used to follow a lot were Ruds Shaves and Michael Freedberg. They gave objective reviews. Unfortunately, neither of them is currently active in producing videos.

 

[Cedarwood77]

Yeah, I don't get it. Plus if my girlfriend ever caught me watching YouTube vids of guys shaving she would probably call me a pervert or something.

 

[slimshavy]

When I started I checked a lot of videos. Here's my 2 cents on shaving videos.
Hardware (yes)
1. It can be good to learn how to do lot of basic things like load a razor blade (like in an injector razor without the distributer ), how to clean a razor, how to face or bowl lather. See different techniques or some specific razor models. How to hold a razor, the angle etc. ( This forum is the best for all that too but sometimes when you start it helps having an image to understand what people meant with text)

This is absolutely useful. I looked at videos when I couldn't figure out a technique or process. Wikis and step-by-step instructions are helpful but sometimes you need to see something done. I don't get the mindset that if it's on YouTube it must be crap.

 

[linty1]

Hey welcome aboard! I don't get the shaving on youtube thing either, sometimes? I'll look at one just to see the size of a bowl or size of a brush in hand/on face but that's pretty much it. The thing that really gets me is the ones where you watch... and you know right away they are playing a "character" if that makes sense? And it just comes off as insincere. But that's just me.

I hope your next forays into wetshaving are more sucessful and fulfilling.

 

[Bosh Hog]

I have 2 or three youtubers I watch. If a product repeats between them, then I give it a go. Some guys are so obvious though. They absolutely love just about everything. I go for the ones that have nothing to gain or lose by their reviews.