Some newbies report problems the first time they use a new kind of shaving equipment, e.g. DE razors. Some give up pretty soon. There is a thread on B&B where somebody put up with consistently poor shaves for years before turning back to carts. How about you? What was your bottleneck? What took you the most time to experiment with? How did you achieve gratification?
For me, this about sums it up:
In summary, my first comfortable shaves came after a couple of months. Consistently good shaves maybe after a year. Reliable tools came years later (max of my second column and my response).
For me, this about sums it up:
Factor | Status |
Razor | Started with a Merkur 15C. Initially happy, then not. Tried out a dozen others, currently using Rockwell 6S and happy with it. Took me 8 years to find. |
Blades | Tried out every manufacturer on RBC, 1-5 brands per manufacturer. Found my first good blade after 3 months (Feather). |
Shaving brush | Had 3 - first badger, then boar and currently a synthetic (bought 2 years ago). Managed to repeatedly shave comfortably without any this year, took me 8 years to find out. |
Lubricants | Started with a Proraso soap and liked it immediately. Tried out other soaps, creams, gels, foams and oils over the years and found virtually all soaps and creams very good, a few gels too. Currently using creams and, more rarely, gels. |
Post-shave | Started with alum and balms. After technique improvement, found out I rarely need any balm and alum only irritates me more; took me about 6 months. |
Pre-shave | Tried Proraso pre-shave cream and after a month found out it had no benefit. |
In summary, my first comfortable shaves came after a couple of months. Consistently good shaves maybe after a year. Reliable tools came years later (max of my second column and my response).