Initial experiences, new questions, and n00b product insight

[TheChariot]

Month-long lurker checking in for the first time. The B&B Wiki and a multitude of Youtube videos converted me to wet shaving, and I can't be grateful enough. Right off the bat, I wanna say that the shaving community is very welcoming and helpful. My other hobby (and former career) is recording music, and that community can be somewhat prickly and defensive, which really deflates people's enthusiasm at times. B&B, on the other hand, is an oasis of knowledge and friendliness. I dig it.


SO.... I ended up at a very common starting point for new/young/broke/cheap wet shavers:

-DE89 (Too shiny to not own)
-small variety of blades to try out (Derby, Crystal/Personna, and Astra)
-Vanderhagen Deluxe starter kit
-Home made coat hanger contraption to hang my brush (oh it's classy, alright)
-I also got a Weishi Superspeed knockoff for free... haven't used it yet, but I suspect it'll be my travel razor for now

It's been a great experience for the past 4 weeks. I've ruled out the Derby blades. Just way too mild and grabby. I really think EJ should consider pairing a sharper blade in their DE89 packaging. I felt like I was shaving my face with a gun. Thankfully I didn't try these blades first, because that would've been very discouraging. The Astras and Crystals are equally great on my face, with perhaps a slight edge going to the Astras. I honestly don't even feel the need to try any more blades, although I might get a pack of Feather's out of sheer curiosity to see what all the hype is about. Perhaps they will pair well with the forgiving nature of the EJ.

The Vanderhagen kit...... eehhh.... it's tough to complain about $8. My budget is super tight, so I figured why not keep it cheap? I'm starting to burn through a little more money on the initial investment than I'd hoped to, but I feel like I'm close to settling on some long-term work horses. The VDH puck was drying out my face a bit (surprise, surprise), so that's where I experimented first. Not knowing what I was really looking for, I went with Proraso Green... everyone has to try that at some point, right? Hated it. Absolutely hated it. Tried again and again to lather it in different ways, and I just don't like that soap. Realizing that I wanted something much, much slicker (while still being affordable) I ordered a puck from Stirling that I can't wait to receive.

I was hoping to hang with the VDH boar brush until the holidays, but I'm not gonna make it man. It's just too.... meh. Doesn't really do anything too well. I did learn that I enjoy the backbone of a boar brush though, particularly for loading.

This leads me to my first questions for y'all. With YMMV fully considered, I'm hoping to buy 1 well-rounded boar brush. I'm still not over bowl lathering, and I don't have a major need for scrubbiness on the face. While price is a factor, I feel rather willing to pony up for the Semogue SOC for quality, aesthetic, and useful purposes. The only thing holding me back is that I'm not sure if a bigger brush will be too big for n00b to handle. Honestly, I'm a bit sloppy with the VDH brush. Would there be a learning curve with a larger brush? Because it might get annoying to get lather all over my sideburns every time, as I tend to keep them long.

OH! And another reason I'm considering the SOC that y'all might be able to shed some light on: I sort of have a hard time bowl lathering without getting lather all over the handle of my super-fancy-deluxe VDH brush, which is why I'm looking into brushes with a greater overall length, hopefully without going too crazy on the loft, which seems tough to find. Is that sort of a doofy reason? I mean, it has nothing to do with the performance of the brush on my face, but the DE89 isn't too grippy to begin with... it's annoying to rinse soap off my hand after each pass with the brush. Are there any other long-handled, but not-too-huge brushes that you guys would recommend? The Omega Pro and Semogue 2000 just seem like they'd be overkill in terms of size/loft.

For any other n0obz and aspiring wet shavers who may read this: take it to heart that probably 75-90% of shaving is highly subjective (the remaining 10-25% being that cartridges are stupid and should be cast into Mount Doom). That being said, if you're on a tight budget and can't afford (at least not yet) to build a collection of wet shaving goodies, I would not shy away from the Vanderhagen starter kit. I've gotten comfortable, irritation-free, BBS shaves with that cheapo starter kit, despite any misgivings I may have with using those products long-term, and I've managed to achieve that by FOLLOWING THE FUNDAMENTALS AND REFINING MY TECHNIQUE. Simple things like

• 1) Proper pre-shave preparation (shower, soaking your brush, cleaning your face, etc)
• 2) mapping the direction of your beard grain (some of it can grow in funky directions you've never noticed before)
• 3) Never skipping the WTG or XTG passes
• and 4) simply taking your time.

The fundamentals will get you 3/4 of the way there. The worst shaves I've had are when I'm either rushing or skipping my pre-shave routine. It's just a no-no. And from what I've learned thus far, the rest of it seems to come down to experience and experimenting until you find your shave mecca. Even when you upgrade from those initial cheapo supplies, the VDH puck and brush (or whatever you start with) are perfectly usable as travel supplies for those without fat stacks of dough. Lastly, if you're trying to save money and make the best purchace possible, consult this helpful community before pulling the trigger. I basically wasted my money on the Proraso Green, but perhaps it could've been avoided if I'd hopped onto B&B and asked people if it was a particularly slick soap.

Thanks in advance for any input! Glad to finally be apart of the B&B forum!

 

[xxvaleria]

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard. The Semogue SOC gets a lot of love around here, and I'm sure you won't go wrong with it. Personally, I prefer Badger brushes, but that's just my taste. At any rate, it looks like you are off to a good start, and I wish you many years of excellent shaves.

 

[Random Shaver]

Month-long lurker checking in for the first time.

First and foremost, welcome to traditional wet shaving and B&B! I've been on the path for under a year, but thanks to the fine folks here and the wonderful YouTube videos, it's been a great experience. Let's now address some of your questions:

This leads me to my first questions for y'all. With YMMV fully considered, I'm hoping to buy 1 well-rounded boar brush. I'm still not over bowl lathering, and I don't have a major need for scrubbiness on the face. (...) Would there be a learning curve with a larger brush? Because it might get annoying to get lather all over my sideburns every time, as I tend to keep them long.

There's a learning curve with every brush, along the lines of how it performs as it breaks it, how much soap/cream to use when lathering with it, how much water it retains, etc. That said, my first brush was the ubiquitous Omega Professional 10048. It's quite large, so just about everything by comparison is smaller. My second brush was a SOC, which feels like it has a denser knot than the Pro 48. So, there were some lessons to learn there, but no show-stoppers by any stretch of the imagination.

As far as your sideburns? It's ok if they get cream on them. At the end of the day, it's all basically soap. If you get some on your sideburns, no big deal. Just wipe it off. It's shaving, not a mission to Mars. A little inaccuracy is ok.

OH! And another reason I'm considering the SOC that y'all might be able to shed some light on: I sort of have a hard time bowl lathering without getting lather all over the handle of my super-fancy-deluxe VDH brush

This doesn't really matter, from a performance perspective. With that in mind, what kind of bowl are you using? It's possible the bowl isn't large enough to lather effectively with. The other thing that may help is a technique from the baking world, and something many of our mothers probably did in the kitchen. If you see the lather starting to creep up the side of the lathering bowl, swirl the business end of the brush around the bowl to collect it, then go back to lathering. Imagine the technique you would use to collect, say, cake batter from the walls of the bowl and return it to the mixture in the base of the bowl. A larger brush won't keep your lather from creeping up the bowl, unfortunately.

One final note: All advice here is chock full of the wholesome goodness that is YMMV. Just because 99 out of 100 people say a product is good does not mean it will necessarily be good for you. I have yet to get any bad advice from the forum and the fine ladies and gentlemen here, but at the end of the day, what works best for you is going to be be based on your technique, your water, your tools, your skin, your prep, your location's conditions, etc. None of us can really address those issues, except for technique and tools, and even those are YMMV.

Best of luck, sir!

 

[TheChariot]

With that in mind, what kind of bowl are you using? It's possible the bowl isn't large enough to lather effectively with.

Thanks for the replies! I'm using what feels like a somewhat small bowl that came with the VDH starter kit, although I've nothing to compare it to. Perhaps something wider would be less messy for me, but I've only got a month of experience under my belt and could probably stand to improve my lathering technique (less mess, more/better lather). Also, I never figured I'd get picky about the bowl. I'll try treating it like cake batter. I'm also approaching the point where I'm ready to at least try face lathering. Perhaps I'll dabble with that after I get my hands on the Stirling soap.

 

[Random Shaver]

I'm using what feels like a somewhat small bowl that came with the VDH starter kit, although I've nothing to compare it to.

I can't tell from the picture how big it is, but that's ok. My first bowl was a soup bowl/latte mug that I got from my local supermarket for $3. For me, having the handle is a big win, as I like having someplace to put my thumb that adds to the stability of the bowl while I hold it. By way of measurements, my bowl was 5" in diameter by 3.5" deep. I recently bought a new shaving bowl of a similar size that I felt was better suited to lathering, but there's no reason to buy something purpose-built. The latte mug worked just fine. Folks who have used the VDH kit can comment on the comparison between the two. I can't speak with any authority on the matter, unfortunately.

On a related note, something to keep in mind is that making lather is not like beating eggs or whipping cream. If your lather is "splashing" around the bowl, slow it down a little. That isn't to say that it shouldn't/can't climb up the walls of the bowl, but rather that slowing it down a little may slow the climbing, too.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Cheers.
Welcome.
Aside from blades...a decent boar brush seems to be one of the most cost effective upgrades you can make.
Oh...and btw...I love Proraso Green.
As they say...YMMV.
Enjoy.

 

[mcdig]

Greetings! Welcome to B&B. Go, go Proraso.

 

[alex2363]

View attachment 487140
Thanks for the replies! I'm using what feels like a somewhat small bowl that came with the VDH starter kit, although I've nothing to compare it to. Perhaps something wider would be less messy for me, but I've only got a month of experience under my belt and could probably stand to improve my lathering technique (less mess, more/better lather). Also, I never figured I'd get picky about the bowl. I'll try treating it like cake batter. I'm also approaching the point where I'm ready to at least try face lathering. Perhaps I'll dabble with that after I get my hands on the Stirling soap.

i have been face lathering for past few years, one of the best shave moves i ever made.

 

[Clubman4Life]

Hey, brotha! Welcome to the show!

I'm also a new guy and can say that face lathering is a better move. Just load a lot of product and go to town.

Check out some Nick Shaves videos on Youtube if you haven't already - he's very intelligent and cuts right to the chase.

I'd go with an Omega boar. Very good bang for your buck.

 

[TheChariot]

Nick Shaves was basically my biggest influence when it came to learning via YouTube, along with GeoFatboy. Despite the subjective nature of shaving, Nick somehow gets the point across on all fronts.

I'm hanging on to my Proraso Green and expect to give it a whirl again one of these days. I do enjoy the menthol feel, especially on a muggy day. I'm not going to dig into it again until I get more consistency in my overall technique (especially lathering, which I've been performing like it's a knife fight), and maybe I'll even explore pre-shave products that could help the Proraso agree with me a little more. People say that it provides great cushion, and I'm not even experienced enough to even know what that means yet. Right now I'm chasing slick slick slick.

And I did end up ordering an SOC after seeing it on eBay for $30. It'll take forever to get here since it's coming straight from Portugal via cheapo shipping, but I couldn't turn down that price.

 

[Clubman4Life]

Enjoy the SOC, I hear it's a great brush. As far as lathering, just load a lot more product and add more water to your face as you are face lathering. Proraso is one of my easiest soaps to lather.

Keep us posted.

 

[Random Shaver]

And I did end up ordering an SOC after seeing it on eBay for $30. It'll take forever to get here since it's coming straight from Portugal via cheapo shipping, but I couldn't turn down that price.

Excellent choice, sir. I recently acquired a SOC, and I absolutely love it. Nice, dense knot with plenty of backbone, but still splays nicely when using the "press and scrub" technique of applying lather.

 

[BSAGuy]

Hello and welcome. Sounds like you're off to a good start.

On brushes, look at the Semogue 1305, 620, or 610. A little less than the SOC, but very good performance.