Hello from the SF Bay Area

[DBT]

I have been lurking around the forum for a few weeks. With the great info I have seen, I finally decided to join.

I am fairly new to traditional shaving (4 months or so), from 30+ years of the cartridge, for about the last 10 with DSC. When I was still buying supplies in stores, I always saw a little available for DE but never really gave it much thought. Somehow, with YouTube autoplay running in the background, a video about "wet shaving" caught my attention.

With interest piqued, I headed to Amazon and ordered a few products to start with. A Vikings Blade Chieftan DE and a kit (shave cream, brush, pre-shave oil, and post shave balm) from Mountaineer Brand. I had trouble with a lather from the cream, so used the Chieftan with shave butter left over from DSC. Improved, but still not great. Not willing to give up, I discovered West Coast Shaving. Ordered a few soap/cream samplers, along with a blade sampler and a better brush (badger) ordered a Blackland Dart and 2 more brushes (synthetic and boar) with much better success. Today was my 5th shave with the Dart and my best to date. Still a newbie, but I would consider it a DFS. One little nick on the side of my mouth.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Welcome to the forums. Great to have you join us.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[ackvil]

Welcome to B&B.

 

[niels]

Hi @DBT . Welcome to the forum. Great to hear you are starting to enjoy DE shaving more and more. Once you start getting more technique and better results it can be quite addictive, can't it? I at least, still learn and get better shaves each week and I'm well over a year in. I hope it works out the same for you and wish you many great shaves to come

 

[Gryffindor]

Welcome aboard from sweltering Texas! Check out the Wiki here, and ask questions. Enjoy your shaves!

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[DBT]

Thanks all! This is a very helpful and friendly place to be.

I should add that I have not given up on the Mountaineer soap. I have several other products and they seem to work well. It is a pretty hard soap. I played with it a little last night (no shave) with the boar brush and was able to build a better lather than when I first started.

 

[niels]

Thanks all! This is a very helpful and friendly place to be.

I should add that I have not given up on the Mountaineer soap. I have several other products and they seem to work well. It is a pretty hard soap. I played with it a little last night (no shave) with the boar brush and was able to build a better lather than when I first started.

Sounds like you are on your way If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[xxvaleria]

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Welcome to B&B.

What soaps do you like best so far?

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Frank Shaves]

Welcome!

There is a lot great gear available. You should consider getting a sample pack of blades. Sample size soaps are also nice but there aren’t a lot of options for these.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DBT]

Welcome to B&B.

What soaps do you like best so far?

Happy shaves,

Jim

Given that today's shave was one of the best, I'll have to go with Chiseled Face Ghost Town Barber. It was my first use of it, but it seems to work well for me. I have a tub of Proraso Green that seems to work well also. With the Chieftan, I had my best shaves with St. James of London creams. I'm still too inexperienced to make much judgement at this point.

 

[DBT]

Welcome!

There is a lot great gear available. You should consider getting a sample pack of blades. Sample size soaps are also nice but there aren’t a lot of options for these.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the welcome!
I did order a sample pack of blades. In order to not judge too quickly, I have mostly been going through at least 3 of each blade before moving on to a new one. Maybe this isn't the best way? In the Chieftain, Derby and Wilkinson Sword worked pretty well. There was another that didn't work as well, so I only made it through 2 of those (blanking on the blade, I'm at work). I was using the Wilkinson in the Chieftain, so I have used it so far in the Dart.

I generally shave 3 days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), so each blade seems to last me almost 2 weeks.

 

[ajkel64]

Welcome to the forum, thanks for checking in with us.

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

There's no right or wrong way to figure it out. Some blades will last for a good many shaves. Some blades are uncomfortable to begin with but get much better. Some blades aren't worth finishing half a shave. Worse, the blade you like best will be one someone else hates (and you would too were you them).

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[OhioBob]

Welcome to the forums! There is vast knowledge available here and if you have questions just ask. I also would be considered a newbie as just started DE shaving in March of this year. I have learned a lot from reading posts from others. Keep at it and every shave gets better as I can attest to. Try not to go down the rabbit hole as many have done, but find what works for you. Best of luck!

 

[HatMagnet]

Welcome to B&B!

 

[Invicta]

Welcome to B&B.