Discovery and general ramblings

[opliko]

I've been wetshaving for a couple months, loving it so far. I keep all my stuff in some shelving in our bathroom, and decided to peek in the medicine cabinet to discover my dad's razor. One of the gillette mach 5s I believe, the one with the vibrations like an electric. It looks all ratty and looks as if the blade(s?) haven't been changed in several weeks.

My purpose of this post was for recommendations on what kind of DE razor I should buy him. My first choices are probably a Feather Popular for similarities to a cartridge setup, or a long handled Merkur. I have a Merkur classic, and decided on the Feather blades, they slice right through my scrubbing pad caliber beard. Merkur blades seemed like garbage to me, Derbys were decent, and surprisingly the walmart personnas did well.

Next up for me is a 38C most likely, supposed to be a little more aggressive. As far as creams/etc. goes I have Proraso green tube, TOBS shaving shop and the tobs sample pack from Shaving Essentials. Picked up the VDH from walmart and didn't care too much for it. I have some Tabac original soap, Col Conk Bay Rum soap, and Proraso White soap on the way also. Any recommendations for an after shave? Was thinking of grabbing some TSD iced subzero +menthol after shave splash and/or Osage rub for the remainder of summer since I work outdoors.

One other thing I noticed is that most of my friends have no interest whatsoever with DE's or SE's. Out of all I would say my girlfriend has the biggest interest, bought a brush and tobs rose, which I enjoy.

Dave

 

[HoratioCaine]

Next up for me is a 38C most likely, supposed to be a little more aggressive.

My understanding is that all Merkur fixed head razors have essentially the same level of blade exposure/aggressiveness. The Classic is a three piece, whereas the 38C is a two piece, but the head geometry on both are practically identical. If you want something more aggressive, you might consider an adjustable, or a slant head. Ironically, I'm finding I like adjustables for the opposite reason: I can set my Progress to be milder than my 38C (or my Edwin Jagger), which my skin likes better.

 

[Koss]

My understanding is that all Merkur fixed head razors have essentially the same level of blade exposure/aggressiveness. The Classic is a three piece, whereas the 38C is a two piece, but the head geometry on both are practically identical. If you want something more aggressive, you might consider an adjustable. Ironically, I'm finding I like adjustables for the opposite reason: I can set my Progress to be milder than my 38C (or my Edwin Jagger), which my skin likes better.

+1! I am really glad I got into adjustables before getting too crazy with fixed heads... My two favorites shavers are the Merkur Futur, and the Gillette Slim.

Why not buy yourself an adjustable... and pass down your razor to your father! How often do you hear stories about a son passing down his old DE Razor!

 

[HoratioCaine]

The one caveat when it comes to adjustables is that newbies get tempted to go for higher and higher aggressiveness before they really master their technique. Turning that dial is just too alluring. If you find you're getting consistently good to excellent shaves using your Classic, then stepping up to an adjustable and gradually experimenting with different exposures over time is a good next step. If, on the other hand, you're getting less than satisfactory shaves, and you think that maybe a more aggressive razor is the answer, usually it's not. Master the technique, then get aggressive.

 

[RBE17]

The one caveat when it comes to adjustables is that newbies get tempted to go for higher and higher aggressiveness before they really master their technique. Turning that dial is just too alluring

Which is the exact reason why I put my Fatboy out of sight. I want to further my technique before I throw that into the mix.