Background:
Because of my job, I do shave on weekdays, but I have never particularly enjoyed it. My initial reactions to shaving were to go electric, and I used a Remington for a few years, and a Panasonic. As one could imagine, the shaves were... adequate, but only barely--and the hassle of an electric device badly outweighed the convenience (I went to college at a military academy, and so convenience was at a premium--there was no such thing as a leisurely morning shave).
Shortly after graduation, the frustrations of electric shaving got the better of me, and I moved to cartridge razors (the Gilette Sensor Excel, at the time) and foam-in-a-can and gel-in-a-can. The economics and mess of the gel-in-a-can bothered me, though--not to mention the perils of traveling with something pressurized in a container which travels to altitude.
And so eventually time passed, the cartridge razor evolved to the Mach 3, then Mach 3 Power, and I decided to at least make the switch to shaving soap (and tried a few) and a brush. Because I am a cheap bastard, I took a cheap brush--an Omega boar-bristle brush.
To be honest, the Mach 3 Power + brush lasted me quite a while, particularly when paired with a decent soap (Col Conk's Amber). I have heard many people complain about the quality of the M3 shave; I never really had a complaint (the powered vibro-shave is a strange feel, but not terrible). A few weeks ago, however, two important things happened to make me reexamine my shaving regimen:
1. I ran out of Col Conk and had to try a substitute. The local supply which carried Col Conk's glycerin soaps was out, but had a house brand, which I thought I'd try. To my surprise, the shave was not very good, and to my greater surprise, my face stung afterward. This made me revisit my choice of preparations.
2. The Gilette Fusion razor was announced, to my chagrin and alarm. The price of replacement blades for the M3 was obnoxious; that for the Fusion looked to be prohibitive. This made me revisit my choice of razor.
So, holding my M3/Omega/Shaving Soap in reserve, I laid in about $100 for a Vulfix 2234 Super Badger brush, a Merkur HD Classic, 10 Merkur blades, and a tub of Taylor's Rose--then hit Target for some Proraso cream and "aftershave milk". I took a week off from work for various reasons, and it seemed like as good a time as any to learn the whole wet-shaving drill.
I'd seen a lot of advice from old heads, and a lot of "wow, been shaving for 3 weeks and it's great" posts from new folk, but I thought it would be nice for those contemplating the switch to see some sequential posts about the experience starting from day 1. So here we go.
Because of my job, I do shave on weekdays, but I have never particularly enjoyed it. My initial reactions to shaving were to go electric, and I used a Remington for a few years, and a Panasonic. As one could imagine, the shaves were... adequate, but only barely--and the hassle of an electric device badly outweighed the convenience (I went to college at a military academy, and so convenience was at a premium--there was no such thing as a leisurely morning shave).
Shortly after graduation, the frustrations of electric shaving got the better of me, and I moved to cartridge razors (the Gilette Sensor Excel, at the time) and foam-in-a-can and gel-in-a-can. The economics and mess of the gel-in-a-can bothered me, though--not to mention the perils of traveling with something pressurized in a container which travels to altitude.
And so eventually time passed, the cartridge razor evolved to the Mach 3, then Mach 3 Power, and I decided to at least make the switch to shaving soap (and tried a few) and a brush. Because I am a cheap bastard, I took a cheap brush--an Omega boar-bristle brush.
To be honest, the Mach 3 Power + brush lasted me quite a while, particularly when paired with a decent soap (Col Conk's Amber). I have heard many people complain about the quality of the M3 shave; I never really had a complaint (the powered vibro-shave is a strange feel, but not terrible). A few weeks ago, however, two important things happened to make me reexamine my shaving regimen:
1. I ran out of Col Conk and had to try a substitute. The local supply which carried Col Conk's glycerin soaps was out, but had a house brand, which I thought I'd try. To my surprise, the shave was not very good, and to my greater surprise, my face stung afterward. This made me revisit my choice of preparations.
2. The Gilette Fusion razor was announced, to my chagrin and alarm. The price of replacement blades for the M3 was obnoxious; that for the Fusion looked to be prohibitive. This made me revisit my choice of razor.
So, holding my M3/Omega/Shaving Soap in reserve, I laid in about $100 for a Vulfix 2234 Super Badger brush, a Merkur HD Classic, 10 Merkur blades, and a tub of Taylor's Rose--then hit Target for some Proraso cream and "aftershave milk". I took a week off from work for various reasons, and it seemed like as good a time as any to learn the whole wet-shaving drill.
I'd seen a lot of advice from old heads, and a lot of "wow, been shaving for 3 weeks and it's great" posts from new folk, but I thought it would be nice for those contemplating the switch to see some sequential posts about the experience starting from day 1. So here we go.