My first De razor - Baili BD191
- Thread starter Terminator84
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Shipping the DE razor off? Might as well grow a beard too.
Then order another one. Just accept the fact that this will be a learning process, not something you will master overnight. It will be worth your time and tenacity, trust me. We have a great community of people here that are passionate about what we do, and are more than happy to help you get started.
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- #24
thanks! i want to clarify...i know wet shaving techniques pretty well, i have been applying them for 30+ years to cartridges. I ALWAYS use soaps and brushes (i Hate canned goos wholeheartedly), know my beard mapping quite well (almost all my hair grows top to bottom so unfortunately for me the WTG pass means more or less just moving the soap with EVERY razor except for a small area on my mustache) and perform XTG/ATG passes with every cartridge and routinely get a BBS shave, even with very humble one-blade BICs . Even with a short trial last year with the de89 i had a better shave than today with this f...ing baili 191. It's very strange because the bic disposables are very similar to the DE technique, no pivoting..almost no pressure etc. But with them i get a perfect shave, with the DE it looks like i have been fighting with my cats.
Some razors suck some don't!
I started with a Feather popular 7 months ago which shaved very well with the occasional weeper. Not long after that I found a Rockwell R1 at a Winners store on sale and picked it up. I shaved once with it. It cut the crap out of my face. I PIF'd it to someone months later (I should check up on him). I continued to use the Feather Popular until I got a Fendrihan comfort grip. No weepers or irritation from it. Granted my technique has improved as well I've gotten more razors and different blades some I've liked some I didn't. But that Rockwell was god-awful. Find and try another razor that works better for you. The experimenting is part of the enjoyable shaving experience, at least to me.
I started with a Feather popular 7 months ago which shaved very well with the occasional weeper. Not long after that I found a Rockwell R1 at a Winners store on sale and picked it up. I shaved once with it. It cut the crap out of my face. I PIF'd it to someone months later (I should check up on him). I continued to use the Feather Popular until I got a Fendrihan comfort grip. No weepers or irritation from it. Granted my technique has improved as well I've gotten more razors and different blades some I've liked some I didn't. But that Rockwell was god-awful. Find and try another razor that works better for you. The experimenting is part of the enjoyable shaving experience, at least to me.
With all due respect, your cartridge technique is not suitable for DE razors, if anything it is detrimental. I've been shaving with carts for almost as long as you did.
With carts, you are supposed to apply some pressure and I at least would also typically start with ATG passes right away, then clean up to BBS. When I got my first DE razor about 3 months ago, I pretty much shredded my face the first time by using these cartridge techniques. With DE, you are supposed to use zero pressure, and "prep" your face by going WTG then XTG and only then ATG. I now get practically no irritation and very rarely a weeper, in the same amount of time it would take me to shave with a cart.
That said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with carts, especially Schick Hydro 5 which I think is the best one on the market. I switched from carts to DE to make shaving fun again, rather than a chore. But carts are great too - they provide a close shave and require less preparation and less care. Whatever works for you.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
Here are my suggestions.
1. Forget the cheap chinese crap. Yes, crap. Some are good, some are bad, but within any particular model there is so much variance, some will be good, others not. Avoid them.
2. Get a Feather Popular. Not very expensive and it will be very consistent. You won't get a good one, you won't get a bad one you'll get a Feather Popular, to spec. Reading your post about your Bic experience, you might well pick up a Schick Injector model instead. You may well prefer SE to DE.
3. Spend a month learning to use the Popular or Injector.
4. Then if you don't like it go back to carts. You will have better cart shaves than EVER before. The technique that DE or SE shaving enforces will make cart shaving that much better.
5. It's no shame to prefer carts, to get a better shave from carts and so on. There is a reason carts rule the market place and it isn't just marketing. Grandad switched from DE to carts because they did the same thing easier, faster and safer.
6. No matter what, enjoy your tools and bollocks to whomever says you should use x y or z. Use whatever works for YOU and be proud of it.
1. Forget the cheap chinese crap. Yes, crap. Some are good, some are bad, but within any particular model there is so much variance, some will be good, others not. Avoid them.
2. Get a Feather Popular. Not very expensive and it will be very consistent. You won't get a good one, you won't get a bad one you'll get a Feather Popular, to spec. Reading your post about your Bic experience, you might well pick up a Schick Injector model instead. You may well prefer SE to DE.
3. Spend a month learning to use the Popular or Injector.
4. Then if you don't like it go back to carts. You will have better cart shaves than EVER before. The technique that DE or SE shaving enforces will make cart shaving that much better.
5. It's no shame to prefer carts, to get a better shave from carts and so on. There is a reason carts rule the market place and it isn't just marketing. Grandad switched from DE to carts because they did the same thing easier, faster and safer.
6. No matter what, enjoy your tools and bollocks to whomever says you should use x y or z. Use whatever works for YOU and be proud of it.
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Get a Merkur razor like a 34. I googled your razor....you see that space between the blade and the guard? You don't want that. Get a Merkur ( don't use the Merkur blades) and some Gillette Russian made blades and it'll be like night and day. I guarantee it.
PS. Don't rely on the Amazon reviews when it comes to razors.
PS. Don't rely on the Amazon reviews when it comes to razors.
THIS IS EXCELLENT ADVICE!
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
For DE my two favorite blades are Derby Premium and Merkur. Cost be damned a good blade is a good blade.
Blade choice is a very personal thing. Most people leave glowing reviews of Derby Premiums yet they give me irritation. Many complain of having their face shredded like lettuce by Feathers yet on the very first try I found it a super pleasant blade to use - and I have a sensitive skin and am still honing my shaving skill. I'd say one should keep trying different blades until they find at least a few ones that their face consistently likes. To me, the trick was in finding one blade that I knew worked well for me, using it for a week, then trying something else, switching back to my "benchmark blade", letting my face heal, trying another brand and so on.
Chandu
I Waxed The Badger.
I agree, but think most, not all, but most would find one or the other of those I mentioned to be a decent, maybe not best blade ever, but decent. I like the consistency of Merkur. They seem very linear to me. First shave, third shave, fifth shave will all feel the same until they don't, then it's time to change the blade. Even expensive DE blades are low cost compared to carts.
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