My first DE shaving experience and your recommendations for cream/ soap.

[MattSD]

I'll try to keep this short because Im sure there are a lot of first time posts just like this around, I just want to add my experience so that others thinking of making the switch to DE shaving have as much info as possible.

I ordered a Ball End Tech on ebay. It's a fairly nice example. A little more tarnished looking upon arrival than in the auction photographs, mainly just on the handle. I'm including the pictures from the auction so you can see exactly what I bid on. I think I probably overpayed slightly but I wanted it sooner rather than later and it was a nice enough specimen. When it came I was surprised by how small it is. From all the pictures I've seen I was expecting it to be bigger with a longer, fatter handle. I don't know if I find this to be a feature I would change or not as I haven't shaved with any other DE razors, although I suspect I would prefer a little more to hold on to. I am a very tactile person and I appreciate all aspects of using such a tool, the weight, the hand feel, the look. Every aspect of a tool effects how you feel about using it. I like the aesthetics even if the handle is a bit skinny and short.

On to the shave. I am not an extremely hairy guy, however in order to look halfway decent I have to shave every day. Even if I let the stache and goatee out a little I have to shave my cheeks and neck under my chin otherwise I end up looking shoddy very quickly. I don't grow a thick even stubble/ beard so things get uneven and patchy and just bad. I've been using cartridge razors for a long time, mach 3, mach3 turbo, Schick Quattro Titanium etc etc.. and all of them deliver an ok shave at an expensive price.

After my first shave with the little Tech I'm very pleased. I'm getting a closer shave with less effort (meaning less total passes and goofing around with angles etc). Took a little longer than I'm used to, mainly because I'm being careful. Today I did two passes from start to finish much quicker than yesterday (due to increased confidence, I think). I was convinced I was going to cut myself but so far my fingers and face have remained in tact. I enjoy shaving with the Tech a lot more than a cartridge razor. It's unbelievably smooth, it's like it's not there at all sometimes, I had to double check that it was actually working the first time I used it because I'm used to the cartridge variety dragging it's way across my face like one of those things that removes concrete from roads. The only drag I feel is when I change the angle to be more acute and apply a lot more pressure with my fingers on the handle. I haven't shaved against the grain of my facial hair probably since I was 16. I am 29 now. I might actually try that with this razor, it's so gentle. I'm not sure if that will make a difference but it might be interesting to try. Perhaps tomorrow morning. I am going through my razor variety pack starting with a Derby blade. I have a fair amount of Crystal, Dorco and Persona Platinum blades to try before trying others.

Bear in mind I am using ****ty canned Nivea shaving cream. I have yet to be able to pick up a mug/ soap and brush but I am on it.

Bottom line - I already love shaving with this DE razor. In my extremely limited experience it still beats the hell out of a cartridge razor and at (potentially) less than half the price. I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of trying it.

Ok so that wasn't short AT ALL. Sorry about that. If anybody has any recommendations on soaps or creams I'm all ears. I was thinking of trying the Taylor of Old Bond St. Sandalwood cream.. Amazon seems to have a good deal on Proraso Soap right now, which I've heard good things about. As I said, recommendations are welcome. I'm also thinking about other affordable razors to try out so if anyone has any ideas that are good for a beginner like myself that'd be pretty neat, too.

 

[Copierguy]

Welcome to B&B.
Congrats on a great start!!

 

[Predict]

TOBS sandalwood is a great cream. Proraso is great as well. You'll get a lot of different recommendations here and I would suggest you pick the one that sounds best to you scent wise. They all perform great and yeah they lather differently from each other but that doesn't matter as you will be starting fresh learning to lather.

 

[Dusty1]

Welcome! It's great to have you, and nice to hear everything is going well. I recomend to all new shavers they try Tabac soap first, it lathers easy and is very protective (not to mention my favorite). I started with the ball-end and Tabac as well. Enjoy your shave!

 

[StuMcB]

Arko, you just cant get it wrong IMHO, and a Omega or Semogue boar. PLeanty to choose from. Welcome to the forum and nice Tech by the way.

 

[MattSD]

Thanks for the recommendations and the warm welcome guys. I think I might go for a Semogue 1438. I think it's cool that they're made in Portugal. I lived there for a while.

Just a note - The derby blade seems considerably less sharp today (3rd shave). So that's history. On to the next blade. I'm assuming I'll get an even closer shave and maybe a slight increase in blade life with a better soap or cream than the gel I'm using. It really starts to dry on the face and isn't very pleasant.

 

[celestino]

Congratulations and i would suggest Mike's Natural, Mystic Water or Jabonman Soap!

 

[Chester]

Welcome to B&B! Glad to hear that you've taken the plunge!

The tech is a great razor to start with, btw.

While I'm a little in the minority, I don't have really strenuous objections to canned foams. Some canned foams, like Proraso and Barbasol, are very good, and give consistent lather you don't have to worry about. (Nivea's pretty good, too.) I keep a travel size can of Foamy in my dopp, so that I don't have to bring brush and bowl and cream with me on the road, for instance.

On the other hand, nothing beats good brush-built lather you make yourself. From my angle, start simple and practice for awhile before you commit to brush-built lather. Proraso is a good cream to start with, as it's easy to regulate the amount of product you're using (you can see how much you're squeezing out of the tube). I've used Palmolive, too, and that worked pretty well. Tube creams like these loft up easily without much effort. The key is learning the zone between lather that is too dry and lather that is too wet ... the "goldilocks" lather, and how to make it consistently, without having to give it much thought. You'll get that with practice.

When I started learning how to make lather, I used Proraso in the tube and made a bowl of lather every night before going to bed, for a whole week, washing them all down the drain. I practiced adding water slowly until I had something nice and slick, without being runny. After a week, I could produce a pretty easy bowl of lather. Remember, when you make your own lather, it's not going to be as stiff as what you get from the can, and it shouldn't be, because it's made by you, with a brush and water, instead of the expansion of propellant gasses through a nozzle. When you feel comfy with the lather you're making, use it every day and put the can aside. Every day can be another practice day. There are a couple tutorials over on the newbie forum about building lather, and telling "too dry" from "too wet". In a couple more weeks, you'll be making bowls of lather when you're half asleep, in just a couple minutes.

My cream recommendation (after you get the hang of making a Proraso lather, for example) is a pricey one, Truefitt & Hill 1805, but it's my favorite because it's easy to whip up a nice lather with minimal product and it has a lovely fragrance. Yeah, it's about 35 bucks a tub, but it lasts me about 4-5 months, so it's not such a big footprint on the ledger.

After creams, you may want to try soaps. It's a bit tougher, because soaps require a little more attention to details (like dampening the puck before you start) and a little more work (paying closer attention to how much water you use), but they can be very satisfying and very economical. I learned soap-made lather using Williams, but I've since switched to VanDerHagen Glycerin because it's just as cheap and it makes a slicker lather that's easier for me to create.

Anyhow, it's a great adventure. Welcome to the fold. Stick with it. You'll get inconsistent results for maybe as long as a few months, but remember that you're learning a skill. It's not trivial, especially if (like many of us) you grew up shaving with other, more clumsy (and less refined) tools and techniques.

Hope it helps,
-- Chet

 

[MattSD]

Hi, Chet. Thanks very much for your reply, I found it really helpful and informative. I Actually purchased an Arko stick and a Semogue boar brush this morning on ebay. Mostly because I'm trying to make the transition as easy on the pocket book as possible. I figure as my financial situation improves I can be more picky about what I try. I think I might try the Proraso Sandalwood Cream as well, though. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be and it seems that it comes very highly recommended.

I am using Nivea from a can. Mostly I'm finding the problem with it is that it dries too quickly and doesn't provide any real lubrication about half way through my shave. My skin really doesn't like it that much either. I can't wait to have a go at making lather! I'm growing a little more used to the Tech now. It doesn't seem quite as dinky in my hands as it first did.

Ps. I couldn't agree more with your point about being patient with inconsistent results. There is absolutely a level of skill involved that you don't learn with a cartridge razor. It will be interesting to see how different soaps/ blades effect the experience.

 

[MattSD]

Update, in case anyone is interested.

I shaved this morning with one of the Dorco blades I got in my variety pack. I can't say I'm impressed. It could be that at my level of experience I'm just being extremely inconsistent in my technique but I found the edges of this blade to be quite rough and the skin around my neck under my chin feels quite irritated. I also don't appear to have gotten nearly as close a shave as I was getting with the Derby blade. Time will tell.