Hi all, I've been meaning to join for a long time. This forum has been a lot of help to me and I hope to add something to it as well. I hope sharing my path (especially the mistakes!) will help others in turn. Here's some of the main stages I've gone through in wet shaving already. Please don't read this if staying awake for the next ten minutes is a priority for you:
1) Using cartridges and canned goo for 25 years. Usually a WTG pass and then buffing ATG (dry!). Even with this equipment, I liked shaving. I liked getting a close shave but never liked how much the carts cost, and that I could only get 6 or 7 shaves out of each. No matter how close my shave was, I always still had a five o'clock shadow. A colleague pointed this out once and just to show him, I decided to grow a full beard, which I kept for five years. It's not like I'm sensitive to teasing or anything.
2) Two years ago, I learned about traditional wet shaving stuff and tried an Edwin Jagger DE89, a Plissoft brush, and some Proraso products. I loved the software but the shaves were not close at all and I gave up after a few weeks of frustration. Looking back, I can see lots of problems: I was changing too many variables each day, not paying attention to my beard map, not spending enough time/effort on prep, not keeping any notes, and not permitting myself to use a cartridge to clean up the spots I couldn't get with the DE razor yet. Bravely abandoning all hope, I gave away all the hardware and went back to carts, but never again touched the canned goo.
3) A couple months ago, tired once again of the cost and general ineffectiveness of cartridges, I decided to try this again. I got a Muhle R41 and promised myself I'd tame it. I corrected all the mistakes in (2) above, and on shave #14 with the R41, I completed a full three pass shave with touchups and no need for the old cartridge. I walked on air the rest of the day.
4) Early-onset razor acquisition disorder. You knew this was coming. After 39 shaves with the R41 it was time for a slant. A RazoRock German 37 arrived, with a much more comfortable and secure feeling to it. 19 shaves later, I became the owner-operator of a Fatip Open Comb Slant, in the search for even greater rigidity. Suddenly ATG on the upper lip became a cinch. My technique and enjoyment of DE shaving has come a long way. But I still notice that five o'clock shadow all the time, no matter how well I've done. Maybe I just need to accept that's my skin and beard type, but I'm still curious if I can knock that back a bit more.
5) After my 60th DE shave, in the interest of science, I went back to my stash of cartridges (Fusion with 5 blades) to see what's what. My newfound technique yielded some awesome cart shaves, but I can still only get 6 shaves out of a cart, and at least two of those (the first and last) are not the most comfortable. The biggest shock of all is that the shaves took exactly the same amount of time as with my DE razors. Good prep and multiple passes determine the time variable for me now, not having five blades vs. one. YMMV.
6) Shavette insanity. I can't believe I am doing this. A Parker SRB with a half-DE Feather blade in it is now my WTG pass, followed up with one of my slants to finish the shave. After reading all the warnings about how unforgiving these DE shavettes are, I'm properly cautious with it but really enjoying being able to see what's happening right at the edge. And I'm beginning to get closer shaves on the plane of the cheeks than ever, with a slight reduction of that shadow. I can see the ergonomic and safety limitations of the SRB and want to dive deeper into straight edge shaving without honing and stropping yet, so...
7) I ordered a Feather SS Artist Club non-folding Shavette and some ProGuard blades last night.
Thank you, Gentle Reader, for joining me on this trip. It's great to have the company.
1) Using cartridges and canned goo for 25 years. Usually a WTG pass and then buffing ATG (dry!). Even with this equipment, I liked shaving. I liked getting a close shave but never liked how much the carts cost, and that I could only get 6 or 7 shaves out of each. No matter how close my shave was, I always still had a five o'clock shadow. A colleague pointed this out once and just to show him, I decided to grow a full beard, which I kept for five years. It's not like I'm sensitive to teasing or anything.
2) Two years ago, I learned about traditional wet shaving stuff and tried an Edwin Jagger DE89, a Plissoft brush, and some Proraso products. I loved the software but the shaves were not close at all and I gave up after a few weeks of frustration. Looking back, I can see lots of problems: I was changing too many variables each day, not paying attention to my beard map, not spending enough time/effort on prep, not keeping any notes, and not permitting myself to use a cartridge to clean up the spots I couldn't get with the DE razor yet. Bravely abandoning all hope, I gave away all the hardware and went back to carts, but never again touched the canned goo.
3) A couple months ago, tired once again of the cost and general ineffectiveness of cartridges, I decided to try this again. I got a Muhle R41 and promised myself I'd tame it. I corrected all the mistakes in (2) above, and on shave #14 with the R41, I completed a full three pass shave with touchups and no need for the old cartridge. I walked on air the rest of the day.
4) Early-onset razor acquisition disorder. You knew this was coming. After 39 shaves with the R41 it was time for a slant. A RazoRock German 37 arrived, with a much more comfortable and secure feeling to it. 19 shaves later, I became the owner-operator of a Fatip Open Comb Slant, in the search for even greater rigidity. Suddenly ATG on the upper lip became a cinch. My technique and enjoyment of DE shaving has come a long way. But I still notice that five o'clock shadow all the time, no matter how well I've done. Maybe I just need to accept that's my skin and beard type, but I'm still curious if I can knock that back a bit more.
5) After my 60th DE shave, in the interest of science, I went back to my stash of cartridges (Fusion with 5 blades) to see what's what. My newfound technique yielded some awesome cart shaves, but I can still only get 6 shaves out of a cart, and at least two of those (the first and last) are not the most comfortable. The biggest shock of all is that the shaves took exactly the same amount of time as with my DE razors. Good prep and multiple passes determine the time variable for me now, not having five blades vs. one. YMMV.
6) Shavette insanity. I can't believe I am doing this. A Parker SRB with a half-DE Feather blade in it is now my WTG pass, followed up with one of my slants to finish the shave. After reading all the warnings about how unforgiving these DE shavettes are, I'm properly cautious with it but really enjoying being able to see what's happening right at the edge. And I'm beginning to get closer shaves on the plane of the cheeks than ever, with a slight reduction of that shadow. I can see the ergonomic and safety limitations of the SRB and want to dive deeper into straight edge shaving without honing and stropping yet, so...
7) I ordered a Feather SS Artist Club non-folding Shavette and some ProGuard blades last night.
Thank you, Gentle Reader, for joining me on this trip. It's great to have the company.