Hello fellow shavers,
My name is Rohan, and I live in Melbourne Australia, I've just been reading your board for the last few hours and it looks like a great place to share shaving tips and advice openly so I guess I'm saying I'd like to become part of it.
I've been shaving for the last 15 years or so and I have yet to find a solution that suits me. Up till two years ago, I was using a number of different gillette blades, the best and most well known of these is the Mach 3, but I found that I often needed to shave every day to get a good shave, and ended up with pretty severe barber's rash if I did. It was that point when I started doing some research into how to get the best shave possible.
First I tried shave oils, then I tried changing my technique. The oil helped, the technique helped more (dare I say no one ever told me you shouldn't use pressure?!) and finally after problem after problem I settled on using an electric (braun 360 activator) which provides with an "ok" shave considering I use it daily but doesn't last the full day, isn't really all that close and often needs a good touch up with another electric later in the day if I am to be presentable for the entire day.
When ordinary methods fail to produce results, one should turn to the extraordinary
I'm Caucasian, and part Mediterranean so my beard grows relatively quickly but isn't overly thick or curly.
Here comes the dilemma, I would love to have a really nice smooth face, day in day out.
I am currently pondering going the "straight razor" route, but am slightly concerned about the initial outlay if it doesn't work out (~$400AU for a full kit worth of stuff, and getting esoteric items like the strop recommended in the shaving guide are going to be a bit tricky being that I'm in Australia- not to mention the fact I can't buy stuff on the forums for a while so I'd likely have to hone my own). Not to mention the learning curve - though I am always up for a challenge.
The DE razor is another option. I think it's a less attractive option though, mainly because of the requirement of a greater number of passes, I don't want to spend all morning shaving every morning. And I am not keen on the greater number of consumables.
Any advice to sway the decision would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance - Ro from Melbourne, Au
My name is Rohan, and I live in Melbourne Australia, I've just been reading your board for the last few hours and it looks like a great place to share shaving tips and advice openly so I guess I'm saying I'd like to become part of it.
I've been shaving for the last 15 years or so and I have yet to find a solution that suits me. Up till two years ago, I was using a number of different gillette blades, the best and most well known of these is the Mach 3, but I found that I often needed to shave every day to get a good shave, and ended up with pretty severe barber's rash if I did. It was that point when I started doing some research into how to get the best shave possible.
First I tried shave oils, then I tried changing my technique. The oil helped, the technique helped more (dare I say no one ever told me you shouldn't use pressure?!) and finally after problem after problem I settled on using an electric (braun 360 activator) which provides with an "ok" shave considering I use it daily but doesn't last the full day, isn't really all that close and often needs a good touch up with another electric later in the day if I am to be presentable for the entire day.
When ordinary methods fail to produce results, one should turn to the extraordinary
I'm Caucasian, and part Mediterranean so my beard grows relatively quickly but isn't overly thick or curly.
Here comes the dilemma, I would love to have a really nice smooth face, day in day out.
I am currently pondering going the "straight razor" route, but am slightly concerned about the initial outlay if it doesn't work out (~$400AU for a full kit worth of stuff, and getting esoteric items like the strop recommended in the shaving guide are going to be a bit tricky being that I'm in Australia- not to mention the fact I can't buy stuff on the forums for a while so I'd likely have to hone my own). Not to mention the learning curve - though I am always up for a challenge.
The DE razor is another option. I think it's a less attractive option though, mainly because of the requirement of a greater number of passes, I don't want to spend all morning shaving every morning. And I am not keen on the greater number of consumables.
Any advice to sway the decision would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance - Ro from Melbourne, Au