Advice Needed - I'll try this here instead (XPOST from Check In)

[jdschave]

Tried posting this in newbie check in land...no advice yet! So I'm turning to the community at large.

I joined the DE shaving mob about three months ago...and I'm screwed. I now spend inordinate amounts of time considering new razors, brushes, soaps, etc. etc. etc. I haven't had an ingrown hair since I began down this road, and I am never turning back. That being said, here's my current set up (requests for recommendations and new toys to follow):

• Merkur 38 HD (amazing)
• Merkur super platinum blades (not impressed)
• Art of shaving pure badger brush (so so)
• Art of shaving lavender shave oil, cream, and aftershave.

Now, before I get lambasted for using art of shaving products, take into account it was my first purchase, and despite being overpriced, I find the products quite effective and wonderful to use.

So I have a few questions and am in serious need of suggestions. I'm currently considering trying feather blades and astra superior platinum blades. No problem there. I desperately need a new brush. The pure badger I find to be a bit scratchy and not the best lather machine. I'm looking for silvertip recommendations. I'm considering the following:

• http://www.royalshave.com/p/411-182-...ing-brush.html
• http://www.royalshave.com/p/411-214-...ny-handle.html
• http://pensoftheforest.co.uk/shaving...esin.html#horn

Any thoughts on these? Others I should consider? I'd like to spend between $50-$150 for a good quality brush that is soft and has some style to it.

Also, any soaps or creams worth checking out right off the bat? About to get a mug and start using that instead of the hand or the face.

Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[Niles]

Welcome! I don't have any problem with Art of Shaving soaps and creams. They're good. Razors are a big thing they overprice. Proraso soap and cream, DR Harris soap, Mitchell's Wool Fat soap, and Cella are a few "software" suggestions for you to look into. I'm a fan of Omega boar brushes. They're inexpensive and work well for me.

 

[duokun]

if you find pure badger to be too scratchy then check out a silvertip, however pure badger should be just fine at making lather. i mean this in a friendly way, but i just want you to realize that just getting a new brush may not help as much as refining your lathering technique.

That being said, i got a Pure Black Badger brush from Larry at Whipped Dog and it was a huge step up from the VdH Boar Brush i was using. However, i have gotten a bit better at lathering in general and now when i went back to my VdH Boar brush the other day I got much better results form it than i had before.

I haven't had too much experience with different soaps and creams yet, but the ones i have used have been good.

Prorasso/ C.O Bigelow is a great cream. easy to lather, the menthol is nice. cooling, perfect for warmer weather.

Speick is wonderful i have used both the shave stick and the cream. both are excellent.

Van der Hagen Delux soap. under $2 at many stores it is readily available and not a bad performer. there are much better soaps out there, but i have found it is a really good soap for the money.

as far as blades go, you can pick up a sampler pack relativly cheap from Amazon, or any of the B&B supporting vendors. you are three months in, so i figure your technique is going to be locked in fairly well, and that's a great time to start trying other blades.

check out Mantic59's videos on youtube if you havent already. they are great sources of info!

Welcome Aboard.

 

[dduck]

Consider a Whipped Dog Silvertip brush. All of $24 delivered for the 22 mm Silvertip brush. A total pleasure to use.

 

[jsmith]

As far as blades go, Feather and Astra SP both work very well for me. The Astra are way smoother on my face, and you just can't beat the price of $10 for 100 of them.

As duokun mentioned, Larry at whippeddog.com, will make you a silvertip brush for about $25. This price varies based on what size knot you go with and the type of handle you choose. I liked that I was able to choose from many different styles of handle, and i'm sure you would find one that you like. If you don't like scritchy I wouldn't suggest going for a pure badger from whipped dog, it is the most scritchy of the 5 brushes that I have.

 

[chiefum]

I have a silver tip from from Larry at whippeddog.....it was my first brush....but I love it.....performs very well....and it was very affordable.

 

[CGW409]

Agree with Duokun, a sampler pack is a must and from what I've seen much better quality blades at a much better price than the Merkur blades.
Also agree on the VDH shave soap but if you can find the VDH luxury shave soap so much the better,my local Target carries the luxury soap for 3.99 a puck so take a look at Target(I'm assuming you're in the US).
Other really good shave creams are any of the Taylor Of Old Bond Street (I'm partial to the Shave Shop or Mr.Taylor) or Truffit & Hill creams.
As for brushes VDH also makes a badger hair brush that can also be found at Target for 9.99 and has been my daily brush since May with no problems just be sure it's a badger brush as the boar and badger are similarly packaged.

 

[Aptivus]

I too am not a fan of the merkur blades, I did the sample as everyone is suggesting to you. I must say its fun to try a.l the different blades, currently I can't recommend the astras highly enough ! Have fun!

 

[vferdman]

Hi and welcome to the fold. Feather and Astra SP blades were my first two favorites and they still are. They are great and you can't go wrong. Feathers are pricey and do not last super long. 3 shaves, maybe 4. Which is fine, but they do cost a lot. What I found almost as sharp as Feathers and smoother, longer lasting and way cheaper are Super Max Super Platinum. Razorbladesandmore.com has them at something like $13/100. That's almost the price of Astra and these babies are sharper. Still, Astra SP is a fantastic value, very consistent and you can not go wrong by buying a 100 pack. Soaps: Arko stick can't be beat if its scent agrees with you (people are very divided about the scent, but mostly unanimous on performance). It costs about $2-$4 per 75g stick and is one of the most effective tallow-based shaving soaps out there. Palmolive shave stick is also fantastic, almost as good as Arko in performance and has a scent that appeals to more people. Cost is about $4 for a 50g stick. Cella is a legendary performer and I love using it. The scent is almond/marzipan and vry mild, which in my book is a good thing. Cost about $9 for a 150g tub. Proraso is reliably good all the time. $10/150g tub. Valobra stick is excellent in performance, but I am not crazy about the scent. These are the ones I have, use and enjoy. Other popular ones are Mitchel's Wool Fat (MWF) and Tabac. I have not tried those, but they get a lot of love. The brush I would highly recommend a Simpson in best grade of badger. Simpson's best badger is on the level of most silvertips and they are more dense than most others. In the $50-$100 range you would have many choices. Depending on what kind of lathering you do, what you like, etc. you would choose a brush that fits. I face lather and prefer smaller brushes so as not to fill my ears, eyes and nose with lather. My favorite badger brush so far is Simpson Commodore X1B. It costs about $50. There are a few other Simpsons in $50 range. Berkeley 46B is excellent and a bit larger than the Commodore X1. A very popular Simpson is Duke, which comes in 3 sizes starting at about $75 for the smallest, $85 for a medium. I would highly recommend you try a Simpson best badger brush for your second brush. It's what most other manufacturers try to emulate and for good reason. Simpson makes fantastic shaving brushes. Having said that, I would also recommend a good quality boar brush. An Omega (from Italy) or a Semogue (from Portugal). I seem to get along with Omega better than Semogue, but that's my limited experience. Boar brushes are at least a quarter of the cost of a good best badger and work extremely well, if a little different. They need to be broken in by just using them. While they are getting broken in they don't perform as well, but you got to stay with it and once broken in many guys tend to forget badgers exist. I like both and go back and forth. Really love the boars, though. If you get a good badger brush, you may want to pick up a $15 boar at the same time and break it in by hand lathering while enjoying the badger for shaving.

Hope that helps.

 

[Graybeard57]

I'm a fan of Omega boar brushes. They're inexpensive and work well for me.

+1 I use an Omega '49 boar brush, cost just over $10, and have no desire to return to my badger best at twice the price. Cannot speak to silver tip or other high end badgers, but the boar I use works great for me. Not picky when it comes to brushes, but I do like trying lots of soaps and blades.

Enjoy your shaves.

 

[Landri]

This is my favorite brush so far... nice price and overwhelming performance

 

[Renato1]

T

I joined the DE shaving mob about three months ago...and I'm screwed. I now spend inordinate amounts of time considering new razors, brushes, soaps, etc. etc. etc. I haven't had an ingrown hair since I began down this road, and I am never turning back. That being said, here's my current set up (requests for recommendations and new toys to follow):

• Merkur 38 HD (amazing)
• Merkur super platinum blades (not impressed)
• Art of shaving pure badger brush (so so)
• Art of shaving lavender shave oil, cream, and aftershave.

I don't really understand what you mean by your "I'm screwed" statement.
To me, you appear to be one of the very few shining beacons of admirable restraint on this board.

Art of Shaving Cream is one of the slipperiest ones out there, I'm mystified as to why they market the pre-shave oil. The pre-shave oil is extremely good with some other dud creams I've tried, but totally unnecessary with the great AOS stuff.
Don't be surprised if some of your purchases don't measure up to the AOS cream.

I bought a $50 Edwin Jagger badger brush, then I bought a $10 one from Hong Kong. I can't tell any difference.

I suggest you now try some soap sticks, vegetable ones like La Toya and Arko and Derby, and tallow ones like Tabac, Irisch Moos and Wilkinson Sword. You will notice a distinct difference in shaving compared to the AOS cream.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[vferdman]

I don't really understand what you mean by your "I'm screwed" statement.
To me, you appear to be one of the very few shining beacons of admirable restraint on this board.

Art of Shaving Cream is one of the slipperiest ones out there, I'm mystified as to why they market the pre-shave oil. The pre-shave oil is extremely good with some other dud creams I've tried, but totally unnecessary with the great AOS stuff.
Don't be surprised if some of your purchases don't measure up to the AOS cream.

I bought a $50 Edwin Jagger badger brush, then I bought a $10 one from Hong Kong. I can't tell any difference.

I suggest you now try some soap sticks, vegetable ones like La Toya and Arko and Derby, and tallow ones like Tabac, Irisch Moos and Wilkinson Sword. You will notice a distinct difference in shaving compared to the AOS cream.
Cheers,
Renato

With all respect, Arko is tallow based. So is Euro Palmolive stick. Both wonderful shaving soaps.

 

[ImTheGluestick]

As many others have said, I'd grab a whipped dog brush. look up the specs on some popular high-end brushes, then ask Larry to make you one with the same specs--that way, when you want to upgrade, you'll have a sense of what you like in a knot.

 

[musicman1951]

You seem to be in good shape. I rarely read any love for Merkur blades. Your two choices are very good, but know that many shavers (especially new shavers) find the Feather blades produce a fair amount of blood - be gentle with those. I would also add Personna Labs.

Simpson brushes get lots of love here and they make quite a few for around $50. My favorite is a Kent BK8, but that would set you back closer to $150 if you got it from England. Check out the Simpson Berkeley or Case.

There are so many good creams. Razorock XXX is very nice. They make quite a few flavors for very little money. Castle Forbes Lavender (lime is also great), T&H Ultimate Comfort (and many other flavors) are very nice - but not so cheap.

I found it helpful to read a ton of posts on the different forums. After you read a few hours worth of posts in the Cream Forum you will see a handful of names over and over. I especially liked the "your 3 favorite creams" posts. That's how I found the Castle Forbes.

Part of the fun is trying a bunch and seeing what you like. Some sites offer sampler packs for a reasonable fee - a good way to find out you're glad to only have a little of some creams.

I would raid the kitchen cabinets for a giant coffee cup or, better yet, a few different sized bowls. You will find out what size you like and it won't cost you a cent. Then you can decide if you need to buy something or just stick with the cereal bowl. The lather doesn't care, but if you do you should get something that pleases your eye.

Enjoy the journey.

 

[sir-nix-alot]

Don't hate your AOS.

I thought their cream REALLY sucked when I first bought it. Felt like a total schmuck that they performed a cashectomy on me and made some nasty posts on here about them. Bought Proraso, Arko, T&H, Proraso Red and was happy with all of those. Then I decided that I didn't want to look at the container anymore, I went back and tried the AOS cream in haste. Much to my chagrin... IT WAS AWESOME!!!

Then I felt like a schmuck AGAIN - cause I was talking smack about a product that is really great. I just didn't know at the time how to lather it. I was using too little cream and too much water. Ill probably end up buying another tub...

 

[Renato1]

With all respect, Arko is tallow based. So is Euro Palmolive stick. Both wonderful shaving soaps.

You're right - I just read it on the microscopic writing on the wrapper.
Regards,
Renato