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Hi All,

Good afternoon,

I have been shaving for quite a while, but after reading the boards about true wet shaving, I finally decided to take the plunge.

I have been using a Vulfix brush and various creams and soaps and enjoying them very much, but am tired of the Fusion razor I've been using. After reading numerous posts about the Gillette Adjustable and GEM Micromatic, I got on eBay and won both. :biggrin: The GEM is here and the Gillette on it's way (along with Merkur, Feather, and Derby blades).

This morning for the first time I tried the GEM with some new ASR blades (Blue's I believe). Well........ I have a lot of bad habits to unlearn and some new skills to aquire. There was considerable blood letting (and not a styptic pencil in the house!).:redface: The good news was that in the areas where I got it right, I was amazed by how smooth it came out.

Undaunted, I will not abandon my trek after this brief set back! I figure that it's just a set of skills, so I should be able to learn.

Thanks for all the good information. I've been lurking for a month or so and have already picked up valuable information (my lathering technique has improved greatly thanks to what I found here).

Thanks again,:a14:



Christopher
 
piperc said:
Well........ I have a lot of bad habits to unlearn and some new skills to aquire. There was considerable blood letting (and not a styptic pencil in the house!).:redface:



Christopher

Hi Christopher, that was a lesson I learned the hard way. Amongst all the talk of the best razor and the best brushes for us rookies, no one ever tells you that a styptic pencil should be the first purchase you make when embarking on the wild ride that is wet shaving:mad: For shame:wink:
Welcome to B&B BTW.
Warm regards,
Alex
 
Christopher it sounds like you have jumped into the wet shaving game with both feet. Good luck and enjoy. You will find many chaps here who are quite knowledgeable and many who are not quite as knowledgeable, but they are all here to share and help a fellow shaver.
Interesting starting with a Gem. Rare in the sense that few use them. A word of warning, do be careful about the single edge blades you purchase. Many are "commercial" quality and not intended for shaving, but for stripping walls and cleaning windows.. Shaving with one of these could be disasterous, unless you wish to look like a recent escapee from a fencing academy!:001_smile
 
It's great to have you here Chris. Pay attention to your technique and take it slow. You'll be on your way to great shaves in no time.
 
Ron,

Thanks for the warning! I made sure to buy the ASR Blue's from the shaving aisle at my local pharmacy. I decided to try the GEM based on discussion on SMF and a bit here. Since I've always had a bit of trouble with angles, I reasoned that the GEM might be easier to get a start with.

I have a bad combination of tough stubble that grows every direction on my face and extremely sensitive skin. I have found great relief from burn by proper preparation, a few drops of PSO, and a high quality cream or soap (Trumpers, Proraso, Taylor's or Conk), coupled with a sharp blade. In my quest to improve my blades, I even tried cryo'd blades and an oil immersion system (not much improvement there) :idea:

Finally I figured that with the amount of information on B&B and SMF, there really does have to be "something" with what you're all saying. Now it's just a matter of time for me to learn what I need to.

BTW, a quick trip to the local Walgreens yeilded a styptic pencil. I put it to use after I washed my face to clear off a few scars. Nice! It works!:blush:

Thanks again for all the info!

Chris
 
AJS said:
Hi Christopher, that was a lesson I learned the hard way. Amongst all the talk of the best razor and the best brushes for us rookies, no one ever tells you that a styptic pencil should be the first purchase you make when embarking on the wild ride that is wet shaving:mad: For shame:wink:
Welcome to B&B BTW.
Warm regards,
Alex

I could not agree more, the styptic is critical. The only other piece of advice I would offer is this: assume that your first two weeks of wetshaving will give you poor results. You will have many bad habits to unlearn. Set the low expectation and take some time considering what worked and what didn't as you experiment. You skin will take some time to get used to the change anyway. Your early results will not be indicative of what you can expect later on.
Cheers,
Jeff
 
jmhAZ said:
I could not agree more, the styptic is critical. The only other piece of advice I would offer is this: assume that your first two weeks of wetshaving will give you poor results.

Actually, I don't think this warning is universal. I've only been wetshaving for about 7 or 8 weeks, but I do not own a styptic pencil or an alum block, though I want to try one just because, well, I can! :biggrin:

But I have never had a really bad shave, bad nicks, or weepers that did not close up with a cold splash of water and some Witch Hazel. From day one I was having fairly comfortable shaves, and they just get better every time I shave.

I'm sure I will happen upon that bad day shaving, and I know that cuts will happen from time to time, but I can't say that newcomers to wetshaving should expect (insert time period here) of poor results to start because I don't think everyone has those.

I suppose it's best not to inflate expectations, and it's always a great idea to encourage new shavers to take it slow and learn the proper technique. I don't think fear is a great motivator though.

What can I say - I'm a positive reinforcement kind of guy.

Peace,

Pierre
 
vox_rox said:
Actually, I don't think this warning is universal. I've only been wetshaving for about 7 or 8 weeks, but I do not own a styptic pencil or an alum block, though I want to try one just because, well, I can! :biggrin:

But I have never had a really bad shave, bad nicks, or weepers that did not close up with a cold splash of water and some Witch Hazel. From day one I was having fairly comfortable shaves, and they just get better every time I shave.

I'm sure I will happen upon that bad day shaving, and I know that cuts will happen from time to time, but I can't say that newcomers to wetshaving should expect (insert time period here) of poor results to start because I don't think everyone has those.

I suppose it's best not to inflate expectations, and it's always a great idea to encourage new shavers to take it slow and learn the proper technique. I don't think fear is a great motivator though.

What can I say - I'm a positive reinforcement kind of guy.

Peace,

Pierre

Hi Pierre,
I don't disagree with any particular point you made. The part you quoted me on though is taken out of context. My intent was to indicate that the conversion takes some time and some missteps are to be expected. The remainder of my post clarified that point. Setting a moderate to low expectation to begin with mitigates the danger of becoming discouraged early on and quitting the experiment. I don't think I employed fear and I wasn't really motivatign but attempting to reassure. Since most beginners (myself included) experience a learning curve I think it is comforting to know that substandard results are common in the beginning. I just wanted to clarify as I had a much different interpretation as the reader of the piece you quoted than I did as the writer of the original post.

That being said the blanket statement was a bit gloomy and you make a fair point regarding differing experiences. Ultimately I think we are coming from the same place. BTW, I am enviuos that you never required a styptic.
Cheers,
Jeff
 
Thanks all for the words of encouragement. This morning went much, much better. Only one real bleeder, but it was from yesterday (so I'm NOT counting that one!).

Can't wait to try again!

Chris
 
jmhAZ said:
Hi Pierre,
I don't disagree with any particular point you made. The part you quoted me on though is taken out of context. My intent was to indicate that the conversion takes some time and some missteps are to be expected.

Yup, you're right. Mea culpa. I guess I just got so excited about my own initial good results that I figured everyone should, and then I go on to say the opposite. Clearly there are two people living in my head, and even THEY can't agree. Maybe I'll get some help for that. I'm thinking a 16-year-old single Malt Scotch might od the trick. Might have to go 18, we'll see.

jmhAZ said:
That being said the blanket statement was a bit gloomy and you make a fair point regarding differing experiences. Ultimately I think we are coming from the same place. BTW, I am enviuos that you never required a styptic.
Cheers,
Jeff

Well, gloomy or not, I think you make a fair point, and when I read about the intial bloddy experinces that many first-time wet shavers go through, I think it would be advisable, as we both mentioned in our posts, to take it slow and don't give up early even if the experinces is tinted slightly red.

As for envy, I don't think I deserve it. If you had watched me the first time I shaved, you would have thought that I was moving in slow motion, or part sloth, or both. It was alsmost comical. And, maybe, that's the way to go. Uber-cautious, slow and steady wins the race and all that.

Either way, your point is taken, and I really don't believe that you're a fear monger.

Really.

Peace,

Pierre
 
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