New to Safety Razor Questions!

[Panzerschwein]

Friends, this afternoon I was at Wal-Mart and was at the shaving aisle wanting to buy a Gillette Fusion razor after having lost my original. Well I hit the stupid call button for employees to come and unlock the case so I can get a razor. Well... about 15 minutes pass after hitting the button many times. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a silver Van Der Hagen safety razor sitting there.

Fed up, I snatch the safety razor and a few hours later find myself, nearly drunk off a case of Rolling Rock beer, staring at myself in nudity in my mirror with the safety razor in hand and a can of shaving cream nearby.

I shave.

The YouTube video said to use a 30° cant to the razor and I do my best. By the grace of the maker, my first pass results in no blood! I am thrilled. Yet, some hairs remain. A second pass results in no blood also!! Just a few razor bumps, but a mostly smooth face!!! . So maybe I’m not so bad at it?? Does the maker know?!

Regardless, improvement is needed to say the least. Friends, should I even be using Gillette aerosol shaving cream with this type of classic razor?? If not, what should I use?? Badger’s hairs brushes and shave powder?? I’ve no clue!!

And as for blades?? I’ve read the Solingen, Germany made Van Der Haven blades that come with this handle actually are not very good?? What are some better blades?? Some that are hopefully affordable!?!?

I’m frantic, yet addicted!! I just need guidance... and hopefully I’m looking for a cheaper yet retro and “old school” method of shaving the hairs from my face.

Please, HELP ME GUYS!!!

 

[Boghopper]

I’m sure the canned foam worked OK. You’ll probably have better results whipping up your own lather with a brush. Try Proraso soap, or Stirling soap. Both pretty cheap and perform well.
I hated those Van der Hagen blades. Buy a sampler pack of different blades.
Astra blades are good.

 

[GaryTha]

Congratulations. In my opinion, you bought one of the best razors there is. I recommend you ride the top cap just a bit while shaving. The blades that come with the VDH aren't great. I recommend 100 Astra SP blades. You can order them on Amazon for about $7.95 delivered.

Gillette Foamy cream works well. Don't add water. At most apply to a damp, not wet face. If it gets wet, it can irritate your face with daily use.

After about 75 shaves, you can try a soap. I use Williams Mug Soap with a Cremo horsehair brush. There is a learning curve for soap that can take some time. Stick with it.

There is a case to be made for trying other razors, blades, soaps, brushes, etc. But not when what you have is working reasonably well. Experience will trump supposedly better hardware and software.

 

[Whiterook]

First, lay off the Rolling Rock and get your self some decent beer like Guinness or Fat Tire. Next hop on Youtube and search for shaving videos. If you are like most of us, you are going to want to get some decent soap, a brush and a shaving bowl/mug. You might find that on your local pharmacy's shelf, or not. This is really subjective because your face and taste are different from everyone else. I started with Proraso products and an Omega boar brush. Those can be found on Amazon along with lots of other options.

 

[sugardaddy]

I would not recommend buying 100 blades until you know that a certain blade works for you. So buying a sampler, like the Top Ten from TryABlade.com. Ebay and Amazon also have samplers.

blades are super subjective and one person's favorite might be your least favorite.

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[sugardaddy]

It is good to find a blade that works well for you and stick with it for a few months as your technique improves. Many times if something goes wrong in the beginning, a novice shaver will blame his tools and head off to buy a new razor or different blades and not realize that it is simply their technique that needs to get better.

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[sugardaddy]

Stirling soaps are excellent. I would buy several of their samples because you'll get to experiment , but for just a few dollars each, every sample will give you about a month of shaves.

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[sugardaddy]

For helpful videos I would suggest searching YouTube for "Michael Freedberg four part wet shaving tutorial"
And mantic59 has a similar series that is very good.

I believe they both prefer to mix up there lather on their face... which is just fine and might be a great way to start out. I however, would rather mix mine up in a bowl . both methods are very valid and you can try both and see what you like.

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[sugardaddy]

I have found Omega boar brushes to be a bit on the scratchy side and they take a while to break-in.

If you want something more luxurious *and* inexpensive, I would check out the Semogue 1305 or the 2000 model. They won't hold very much soap in the first few uses because boar brushes take a bit to break in and become soft and open up. But after about a week of use either of the two brushes I mentioned should be very enjoyable to use.



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[sugardaddy]

You can definitely continue to use the Gillette aerosol shaving cream if you want. That might be a good idea as you develop your technique, proper angle, and that sort of thing.

you should pay attention to the way your hair/beard grows. The first pass should generally be in the same direction as your hair grows, something we call "with the grain" or WTG.

Often people choose to make the second pass be across the direction of your grain or 90° from the growth of your beard .

Then for the third pass, many go against the grain which means shaving in the opposite direction that your beard grows. I probably would not recommend that for you until you've shaved for a while. Sometimes it can cause irritation and razor burn or even cuts. Some people, like me, don't even do an against the grain pass because of that kind of irritation. I just do a second cross-grain pass .

Many times people's cheeks are easy to shave because the hair grows from the top to the bottom.But the neck area is where people have trouble because sometimes the directions go off in weird ways or have swirls , and so sometimes it's a challenge to figure outthe rightdirections to give you a good shave.

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[Joshua223]

Nice intro post lol.

You can get sampler blade packs from maggard razors. Shaving soap makers have soap and aftershave samples you can buy to try different scents.

WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

 

[sugardaddy]

Maggards is a great retailer for soap! Every soap they have is excellent. And I love their samples.

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[Panzerschwein]

Thank you all so much!! I just ordered a sampler pack of blades from Amazon. I am currently researching all websites and recommendations mentioned. This is really interesting!!

In general, though, how many shaves can a single blade be considered good for? Thanks!

 

[Boghopper]

Till it hurts!
Just joking. I get about 4 or 5 shaves from most blades. Everyone is different though - beard coarseness, skin type, technique.
Some people get up to a 100 plus shaves on a single blade which is absolutely baffling to me.

 

[Zipslack]

If you need supplies without ordering, check TJ Maxx/Burkes/Burlington/Marshall's stores for occasional Proraso creams and brushes.

 

[Old-Fashioned Coughy Pot]

+1 on getting a blade sampler. And Stirling Soaps are great with generous sized samples sized soaps that'll last a month of shaves E-Z, eh?

 

[Your Majesty]

Get a cheap boar brush, some proper soap or cream and blade sample pack and you are good to go.

 

[Invicta]

Welcome to B&B

In general, though, how many shaves can a single blade be considered good for?

Till performance drops off to an unacceptable level. This will change as your technique improves. Check the Shave Wiki for useful information; ShaveWiki | Badger & Blade

 

[sugardaddy]

Thank you all so much!! I just ordered a sampler pack of blades from Amazon. I am currently researching all websites and recommendations mentioned. This is really interesting!!

In general, though, how many shaves can a single blade be considered good for? Thanks!

Very easy for me to get 30 shaves from a blade

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[Panzerschwein]

Very easy for me to get 30 shaves from a blade

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Really? That’s awesome! So if you shave once a day and the blades are say $10 for 100, that means you’ve got almost a DECADE of shaving for $10???

Can this really be true??? Even at 4-5 shaves per blade, as another person mentioned, the savings over the Gillette cartridges are extreme. Very cool!! Not to mention doing this as just a fun retro hobby type thing as I’m very in to old fashioned type stuff!