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I'll never forget my first...

what was your first DE shave?
and what parts of that formula remain in your kit/rotation?

Me?

<Item>-<Brand/Model> (<InRotation?>)
Razor - FOCS (Yes)
Blade - Personna Red (Yes)
Brush - Omega 10066 (No)
Soap/Cream - Proraso Green (Yes)
Aftershave/Balm - Proraso Green (Yes)
Fragrance - none

Notes: Proraso Green! What's not to like? cheap, readily available, smells nice. feels great. Performs well-enough. FOCS? it's like a fine Italian sports car - finicky and lots of fun. Stylish.
 
The first razor I bought was R41 together with a cheap badger brush, Derby blades and a soap I do not remember anymore.
Nothing remained in my rotation. R41 got sold, the brush got thrown away and I will never use Derby blades again (they are that terrible). Later I regretted that I sold R41 and bought another one but nowadays it does not see any use besides maybe one or two curiosity shaves a year.
 
If I'm really honest, then I'd consider my shave journey to have started last year and I'd rather not consider the almost a decade of atrocious shaves as shave at all.

So, things/ habit remain in the rotation :

Bowl : my late father's plastic bowl (atleast 30 years old)
Brush : Stubby synthetic 20 mm (1st good brush)
A/ S : Old Spice (5 years old)

Habit 1 : Face lathering is still preferred over bowl lathering
Habit 2 : Cold water is still preferred over warm/ hot water
 
what was your first DE shave?
and what parts of that formula remain in your kit/rotation?

Me?

<Item>-<Brand/Model> (<InRotation?>)
Razor - FOCS (Yes)
Blade - Personna Red (Yes)
Brush - Omega 10066 (No)
Soap/Cream - Proraso Green (Yes)
Aftershave/Balm - Proraso Green (Yes)
Fragrance - none

Notes: Proraso Green! What's not to like? cheap, readily available, smells nice. feels great. Performs well-enough. FOCS? it's like a fine Italian sports car - finicky and lots of fun. Stylish.
I forgot. I mean my first DE shave was in the late 60’s, probably 1967. All I can remember for sure is that it was a Gillette TTO razor, Gillette Blue Blades and Gillette Foamy. My aftershave would have been a splash of English Leather.
 
Can I count the Bic disposables I used in 2012, when escaping that August's hurricane? I fled to Jackson, MS, but forgot my Norelco. Greasy from lack of A/C and unshaven, I stopped at the local Target for a bag of Bics and some Barbasol. Even with that minimal kit I had the best shave I'd experienced in years. When I got home I started looking into real DE shaving.

My first real DE razor was the Merkur 23C, the long-handled version. It served me for a couple of years until I bought a Slim and was off to the razor races. The blades I tried then, Gillette Silver Blues, I no longer purchase; but I'm pretty sure I tried the Personna Reds, and they are still one of my standards. My first brush was the EJ badger, and while I prefer my synthetic now, I still use the animal hair brush from time to time.
 
It did not take me long to realize that real shave soaps and a brush were a lot better than the products I was using on my face even with the cartridge razors. I have been using decent soaps and decent brushes for a decade or so, not a lot of variety but decent soaps. It took a bad customer experience to push me into DE shaving.

I did not realize how unhappy I was with the chore of shaving while I was using a cartridge. Shaving was something I just had to do. About 4-months ago my last DSC handle broke and I still had 10-packs of DSC blades in the cabinet. I attempted to purchase a few handles for those blades and could not find them on their web site. I also could not find a contact number for DSC. I did send them an email asking how I could order a few more handles and never heard a response. Had I gotten a response I would have never picked up a DE razor. I waited about 10-days and decided I needed to make a change.

While my last remaining DSC handle was broken, I could hold it together and still shave with it. I started looking around for a DSC replacement. I thought the current selection of cartridge razors and blades were far too expensive. I did not care for the Harry's system and after my DSC experience was a little put off by joining a club. I purchased a ~$15.00 TTO at the local CVS and two 10-packs of their blades. I was not sure how it was going to work, but I figured that my grandfather used one and I should be able to figure it out. I think I was all in at around ~$30.00 and planned to get a couple months with that setup.

I cut myself a few times while learning to shave with the DE and gave myself pretty good razor burn. A google search led to some DE shaving discussions on several forums and I quickly improved my shaves. BadgerandBlade must of been where some of that discussion originated or I would not be a member here.

You guys know how it goes, I wanted something with a wooden handle (not sure why, I now own two) so I searched on ebay. You guys know how things go from there. I now have a dozen razors, three brushes, maybe 15 soaps, and 600 blades, and have started making my own soap. I am sure I am leaving some things out.

I still have most of those CVS branded blades, I will get to them sometime. I am not sure what brand they are but they are pretty good blades. I still use the first TTO I purchased. It is a little more aggressive than my 1950's Super Speed but it gives a fine shave.
 
I don't own any of these items.

Razor: Merkur 34c
Blade: Derby
Soap: Stirling Tea Tree
Brush: Semogue 1250
 
EJ DE89 (still have it but prefer Old Type when I use a DE)
Derby (heck no. Ordered a sample pack after the first shave)
Doc Elliot Classic Shave Soap (yes, but only occasionally for nostalgia)
Baxter of California silvertip (wore it out after 5 years of daily use)
 
TL; DR: I use nothing from my original DE shaving experience. Instead, thanks to what I've learned from this board, I get much better shaves from other products and techniques.

My first DE shave was with a MicroTouch One and a Dorco DT301. I didn't use a shave soap/cream, brush, nor any other now standard wet shaving accoutrements aside from hot water. Instead, I just used a little liquid body wash and shaved in the shower.

In retrospect, it took me waaaaay too many passes to get a clean shave. I didn't think too much of it as I just figured the MTO (and other DE razors) was (were) just less efficient than the cartridges I'd grown up using. I figured the irritation was part of the deal with these razors. I managed to put up with this for about a year or two before I even looked into improving my shave by researching wet shaving online.

It wasn't until I found B & B that I learned just how wrong I was! Not only did I learn better technique, but I discovered a world of better products that improved my shave experience. I started off my new journey by buying a new razor from West Coast Shaving (the WCS 88S) and paired it with a Van Der Hagen Luxury Boar Shaving Set.

From there, I moved on to Proraso soaps (I love the sandalwood and the white). Next I tried Cella. Then came more soaps and creams. Simultaneously, I tried a number of different affordable boar hair brushes and badger hair brushes. I also tried aftershave splashes and balms. Heck, I also bought an alum block from a local South Asian market! Not to mention the different blades I've tried and bought in bulk.

Thanks to what I've learned from this group, I now get great shaves with little to no irritation. I also no longer use either the MTO or the Dorco blades. Instead, I've found a number of blades that seem to work well for me and even some lesser discussed blades that seem to work best for me.
 

Ravenonrock

I shaved the pig
Merkur 38C
Feather blade
Pure Badger brush
Proraso Sandalwood
Old Spice

It was a fine razor, but I use a SR now, everything else still in play.
 
Razor - Merkur 34C (No)
Blade - Gillette Silver Blue (No)
Brush - Omega 10019 (Yes)
Soap/Cream - Proraso Red (Yes)
Aftershave - Proraso Red (Yes)

The Merkur was a mild shaver and a fine razor, but it just didn't "work" for me. Too inefficient for my whiskers. I might take Silver Blues for a spin again in my current razors someday, but Astra SPs have more or less been my go-to blade ever since I tried them. I still have my $7 Omega boar bristle brush that I started out with and it's wonderfully worn-in, so I'll use it until its no longer serviceable. Proraso Red has worked so well for me that I haven't really bothered trying anything else. It's reasonably priced, readily available, and my wife and I love the Sandalwood scent.
 
Wilkinson sword plastic razor - NO
Wilkinson sword blades - HELL NO
Wilkinson sword blue bowl - NO CHANCE IN HELL
Wilkinson sword brush - HELL NO
Nivea Balm - yes for some time but now maybe few times a year

As you can tell what I used was Wilkinson sword oriented set, not because I wanted, but because I could not get my hands on anything else at the time. I could get Giillette Platinum but I didn't because there were blades packed with razor. There was one other brush, Wilkinson was cheaper. There was also Palmolive cream, but I foolishly wanted soap and didn't even see that tube. It was a horrible experience, partly because of the set up. But it was not just the set up, I tried to shave at least a week of growth with that piece of plastic
 
Wilkinson sword plastic razor - YES
Wilkinson sword blades - HECK YES
Wifes leg shaving cream (happened to be men's gel) - it was the only thing available to get me started.

As you can see getting into DE shaving can be a less than $12 venture. It was a fantastic experience, great gear to learn technique on for the first couple of months until I was PIFed a Tech. I didn't even get a weeper the first time around.

All my sons also learned on the WSC plastic, had great shaves until they also got Techs. Now my wife uses the WSC plastic for her, the rounded edges and covered blade sides are easy to use.
 
I can't recall my first double edge shave (it was nearly 45 years ago!), but I do recall my first cut. I was using a Gillette Super, blade would probably be a Gillette branded blade, can of foam. I got my chin by slicing a flap of skin off the very tip. Ouch, bled and bled.
 
Razor: Maggard MR1 (still have it!)
Blade: Astra SP (no longer use)
Brush: VDH Badger (no longer have)
Soap: VDH (nope!)
Aftershave: generic witch hazel (no longer use)
 
1st: Monday February 24th, 2020
Razor: Merkur 38C (01) Blade: Astra SP (01) Soap: Proraso White (01). Brush: Omega 10098 (01).
Proraso After Shave Balm, Green Line, with Menthol and Eucalyptus Oil.
 
Aye. It was in either March or April 2013.

Wilkinson Sword Classic DE razor
Wilkinson Sword Classic blade
Wilkinson Sword Classic brush
Groomed Shave Cream - which was this stuff:
D1C6A4F1-3B68-4C55-A8B1-81C3EE0FDAC7.jpeg

Sold in ASDA - there was a line of products that were made by The Real Shaving Company (at the time Creightons) but exclusively sold at Asda. It had a nice sort of lemon- like scent. Very cheap for a tub too.
 
Razor: Gillette Pre War Fat Handle Tech- (Yes)
Blade: Derby Extra - (No)
Brush: VDH boar - ( Still gets used occasionally)
Soap: VDH - ( No)
Aftershave: Aqua Velva ( YES)
 
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