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New and somewhat bitten

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking these forums for a few weeks now, so I thought I'd say join the collective (mayhaps I'm being auto-assimilated? ;-) ), say hi and perhaps chime in here and there.

TL;DR ;-)

A bit of shaving background
I've been shaving with electrical shavers ever since I grew my first whiskers, which could be some 18 years now. Until last August, I was using a Braun 5612, which, while not bad, had a few years of service to its credit, but the beard trimmer is pretty blunt (practically useless with longer hair - I had to use my hair trimmer instead most of the time) and getting smooth with the shaving head took about 20 minutes of stretching my skin, pressing and while it would get me very smooth in most pleaces, I would usually be left with a red neck and areas under side burns for about 2-3 days, sensitive and all too. Battery life was starting to go south too.
Thus, I had been avoiding shaving as long as I could get away with it, but I had to do it eventually (longer beard annoys me) and I liked to shave smooth every now and then, despite the irritation.

Last August, I thought I'd treat myself to something possibly better and got a Philips OneBlade Pro QP6520/30. While it's excellent and very efficient to get a decent, but not quite smooth shave on the face (and some other areas) pretty quickly (which is as I had hoped), I ordered a Weishi 9306FL with it, thinking I'd give safety razors a try and see how they'd work for me when trying to get a smooth shave.

How I got bitten
For the sake of comparison, I also got a Gillette Mach 3 to compare it with the Weishi. On all attempts, both got me reasonably close shave, but my problem area - my neck - seems to be better with the Weishi. I have only been using hot water thus far with two exceptions - one using a soap lather, the other just cold water.
I find the Weishi to be an excellent value and a very good razor, but it's not that great when my facial hair gets a bit longer - there's some tugging even with Feather blades, regardless of the angle, but not that much and a lot less than with the Mach 3. Personna Platinum (Blue) seem to work best with the Weishi for most shaves for me, though.

Follow-up bites
I started exploring further options, experimented with angles, shaving pace and blades.

After quite a lot of thinking, reasearch and experimentation, I ended up being bitten by a case of RAD and got myself:
- Saiver 2.0 (probably one of the cheapest adjustable - surprisingly very good and efficient, but looks like it might not last too long),
- Wilkinson Sword DE (too mild - gave to a more experienced DE shaver friend to try too and told him to bin it if he would find it as poor as I did... he binned it),
- Gillette Guard (shaves pretty well, at least shorter stubble, but 10g is way too light for me - I kept finding myself applying a bit too much pressure with it),
- Fredricssons Chrome DE Safety Razor ( http://www.vintagerazors.co.uk/product-page/68dc6589-8908-35a2-16df-cd74ef131ac1 - got it because of the handle, but wanted to try the head too, as it looked similar to Edwin Jagger/Muhle/Merkur closecomb heads). The Fredricssons razor has a fairly poor plating on the head - not terrible, but not very good either. The first shave didn't go well at all, but was too experimental anyway, so I'll be trying again, even though the Saiver head was much better for me on the same handle. The handle is great for me, even though the plating is decent, but not great has a bit missing at the top where the head is screwed in.

Incoming still
I have also ordered some more expensive ones, which are all still on the way. Those are:
- Maggard MR 6 handle with their slant head and their v2 open comb head
and then a few Kickstarter projects:
- the Leaf (via Indiegogo),
- the Single Edge (Provision Supply's),
- Occam's Razor - I was very hesitant about this one, but I saw the shaving video done with it and seems to be about as efficient as the Razorock Hawk. The $109 pledge (4 x blade cartridge of choice), even with $25 shipping to Europe, makes the razor itself cost just a little bit more for me than the Hawk for me because of the included cartridges and expensive shipping from Italian Barber to Europe (plus possibly some taxes). While I'm still unsure about the handle, I think the head design would work brilliantly for me and unless the handle ends up being slippery, I think it should provide a decent grip because of the two prong design. Its 65g of weight should be just about OK for me, even if I would prefer it being at leaat 75g like the Weishi 9306FL.

Also on the way should be:
- the Merkur Futur clone TX18 (which I saw mostly positive reviews for and I wanted at least one "proper" adjustable),
- a $15 DE safety razor from Aliexpress which I ordered because of the handle ( https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hea...r-for-Men-beard-hair-removal/32614647322.html ),
- a GEM Micromatic Clog Pruf (in decent shape - the only vintage that seemed interesting enough),
- Rocnel P (not very good reputation, but I think it might work for me).

I have considered the Rockwell 6C and 6S, but the design of the head makes me think it would clog too quickly, which I'm sure would annoy me - and the shipping for the 6C was expensive enough to make me wait until it gets reviews next year when it arrives in March, as then the prices when it's available locally would likely be about the same. Also, I found I like long, thicker, heavier handles, which makes them both somewhat less appealing too. Their Model T seemed great, except the handle seems too short and not exchangeable like on the 6C/6S and would arrive next year only too.

I have also tried a shavette, but the one I got is so light I have trouble telling when it's actually touching my face.

Hopefully, all of this pays off
I hope at least one of the incoming ones is what I'm looking for - great efficiency without tearing off layers of skin. Considering how close the Saiver came to that, I have some faith I'll get lucky here.
Plus, I'll keep one in my parents' house for my visits and I might give one or two away (and bin someof the cheaper ones). So far, from non-electric razors, only the Weishi and the Saiver are keepers (and the handle from the Fredricssons).

Apologies for the long post, but I thought I'd get it off my chest.

Thanks for reading. :)
 
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Welcome looks like you have a lot of experimenting coming up. I can tell you that the maggard MR6 handle is amazing. I chose the V3 head and I really enjoy it. It's been the only razor I've used. I wish you many smooth shaves

~ When in doubt...Post it in
Badger&Blade ~
 
Hello and welcome, Slapo. Great to have you here on B&B. Wander on over to the Hall of Fame and introduce yourself.
 
Welcome. Quite a journey finding what works best for you. You may find, as you gain technique and experience, that what didn't work for you in the beginning may work awesome for you later on. (After you spend a wagonload of dough lol.) You likely won't save money DE shaving. Welcome aboard, fasten your seat belt, and enjoy the ride. :thumbup:
 
Thanks everyone. :)
[MENTION=5821]mars[/MENTION]: I actually have been using only warm to hot water initially (first 5 shaves or so). The glide didn't last long, but, surprisingly, I had less irritation than with the Braun shaver when using the Weishi this way with a Persona Platinum (blue) blade or a Feather. Skin wasn't drying and only neck was a little irritated, but quite mildly and that passed after a few hours. Yep, I am a bit on the loopy side. :-D
Afterwards, I started using plain soap - lather in hands, transfer on face. After that, exfoliating pads (loofah didn't work very well, linen+cotton pad worked decent).
Just got my first brush yesterday and shaved with it using the Fredricssons Chrome razor with a Wilkinson Sword blade. So much smoother and easier this way. :-D. However, either the razor head or the blade itself (or the combination) don't work that well for me. The combination just doesn't seem very effective, less hair removed than with the Weishi, yet a lot more skin irritation (not terrible with a lather, though).

Oh well, will try a different combination later. While the head isn't quite to my liking, the handle is great. :-D
 
Welcome. Quite a journey finding what works best for you. You may find, as you gain technique and experience, that what didn't work for you in the beginning may work awesome for you later on. (After you spend a wagonload of dough lol.) You likely won't save money DE shaving. Welcome aboard, fasten your seat belt, and enjoy the ride. :thumbup:

Thanks for the tip. Good excuse to keep all the incoming razors, isn't it? :-D
 
You may not realize how funny this statement is. Now that you are a wet shaver you'll be paying it off over and over again!:lol: Enjoy your journey and B&B!

I hope the RAD, HAD and other disorders common on here aren't permanent. Then again, I can think of worse things. ;-)

That kind of reminds me of a quote from Due South:
"You let a wolf save your life and you pay and pay..."
 
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