Checkin'g back in

[piperc]

Hello all,

I started shaving last weekend with a GEM Micromatic and 'Bluestar' blades, but was having a terrible time with them. Lots of burn and even more blood. I knew my technique needed improvement, but jeez. This was bad.

Well, my 'new' Gillette adjustable (Fat Boy, I believe) arrived this week, along with some Merkurs, Feathers, and a whole mess of Derby blades. I posted a question to the group and received the advice to put a Derby in for my first shave. After my experience with the GEM, I throttled down the Gillette to a 2, broke out some Taylor's Avocado (and a bit of PSO for insurance) and went at it.

WOW!!!!!!!!! It was gentle and felt GOOD. I got through my shave feeling pretty darn good about it. The next day I tried again, moving to a 3 and openning a tube of Mr. Taylor's Own. Again, it felt good. This morning I decided to really take my time and go for it. I openned up to a 4 for the first pass after lathering up with the Colonel's Bay Rum and made my first pass with the grain. I lathered again for a sideways pass (turning back down to a 3) and then repeated for a full on against the grain. It all felt GREAT! Barely a brief sting with the alum block and a BBS shave.

Thanks sooo much for all the advice I've received here. This forum us great! Unfortunately, I now find myself in complete aquisition disorder. Soaps and creams (so many to try), razors (a Merkur??), brushes...... oh my. SWMBO saw me openning up my mail this week. Uh oh..... there was a comment made that I now have enough stuff for a year. I've run out of room in my medicine cabinet already.

One little accident to report, though. After cleanning my Gillette in Oxy Clean, I was giving it a short soak in a strong bleach solution (you know, typical guy, if 10% is good, 40% is better). I got distracted and forgot about it until the morning. I've managed to polish up most of it, but I think I nuked the chrome in a couple of spots. It now resembles 'Black Hills' gold at those points. It still shaves good, but I think I'll be on the lookout for another one.

Thanks again guys!


Chris

 

[Kyle]

Congrats, Chris! It will just keep getting better from here.

 

[SSLStudio]

Good job lad , and the Fatboy is an amazing razor much underrated. it has the right weight for me and I use almost no pressure the razor glides over the face.

I use it on the settings 9-8 but because I dont know any better playing with the settings I never saw a difference so I thought lets use the highest. but with touching up with PSO i'll go back to a 5-6 !

Also try to get in with the group deal here on the new injector , the injector is a nice more safe way to do touch ups. even if this injector will deliver me the best shave ever ill keep using the DE its fun.