I'm gonna start off by saying thanks.
Thanks to this online community for the wealth of knowledge and information posted here on threads and in the wiki that has been valuable for wetshaving newbies like myself. In particular to @ambrose for his method to break in shaving brushes, @Marco for his soap lathering method, @Dragonsbeard for his World Shave-off thread, @jamesspo for his Excalibur thread with info to getting the most out of a DE blade, @ShavingByTheNumbers for his infographic on blade angles, @Cal, @Raven Koenes, @Chan Eil Whiskers +@Esox for the information posted on Fatips, and many many others.
Like most people nowadays, I've been using cartridges and canned goo since I was old enough to shave, but have recently converted to DE wetshaving for a better quality and environmentally friendlier shave. It's supposed to be cheaper too (at least that's what I told myself to justify this new activity, it's not like I'll get any razor, soap, blade, brush and other acquisition disorders and end up spending loads, right guys? Right?
.....).
My dad uses cartridges and always has, so unfortunately I don't have the family connection or childhood memories many of you guys have of watching your fathers shave with DEs/SEs/straights when starting out with traditional shaving. This means I've had to rely on only the good old internet for my wetshaving information. After lurking various forums, reading guides and watching many of the wetshaving youtube channels such as mantic59, nick shaves, Michael Freedberg, geofatboy, Shave Tank , Kevy Shaves, Executive Shaving, PaulHfilms, Friendship Shaving, Another Cut Above and others (feel free to share any other great youtubers to learn from), I decided to take the plunge and dive right in.
This is what I have (so far):
Razor: Razorock Game Changer .84 - I know the usual advice to beginners is to get a razor like a 34C, or a DE89/R89 before moving on to something else but I wanted something fairly efficient for my dense coarse beard that is not made of zamak. A mid-aggressive/large blade gap razor that will punish bad technique but also give me a wider range of usable blade angles will hopefully be beginner-friendly too. I also take a "buy it for life"/ "he who buys cheap, buys twice" approach, so I'll pay a bit more for a 316 SS razor that will last rather than buy a zamak one and keep replacing it once it corrodes/accidentally breaks after a drop.
I'm having my first few shaves using the conventional 3-pass WTG/XTG/ATG approach (ATG is particularly challenging since beard-mapping shows that my neck grain goes sideways) and it's going well so far, bar the occasional nick/weeper caused by poor technique and pressure, a bad habit developed from years of cartridge use.
Also have a Fatip piccolo on the way intended to use as a travel razor. This was bought new so it will be the less aggressive v2 with the slightly wider top cap, but still efficient enough for every-other-day shaving.
I've picked the DE format due to the wider availability of modern razors/ blades/information out there (compared to SEs) + relative ease of use and speed (compared to using a straight).
Brushes: Simpsons Colonel X2L best badger (22mm knot, 45mm loft, broken in with the Ambrose method), Maggards tuxedo synthetic (24mm knot 58mm loft).
Blades: Astra SP (only ones I have used so far, on my 15th use of a blade that is still going strong thanks to the Excalibur thread info), feather hi stainless, polsilver SI, voskhod, personna platinum, rapira platinum lux, Derby
Soaps: MWF, Proraso Red, Phoenix+Beau Pall Mall, Tabac shave stick for travelling
Creams: Castle Forbes Lavender, TOBS Cedarwood
I'm based in the UK and like supporting local businesses hence my British creams and soaps (with the exception of tabac and proraso)
I look forward to posting more/getting to know the wonderful people on here!
Thanks to this online community for the wealth of knowledge and information posted here on threads and in the wiki that has been valuable for wetshaving newbies like myself. In particular to @ambrose for his method to break in shaving brushes, @Marco for his soap lathering method, @Dragonsbeard for his World Shave-off thread, @jamesspo for his Excalibur thread with info to getting the most out of a DE blade, @ShavingByTheNumbers for his infographic on blade angles, @Cal, @Raven Koenes, @Chan Eil Whiskers +@Esox for the information posted on Fatips, and many many others.
Like most people nowadays, I've been using cartridges and canned goo since I was old enough to shave, but have recently converted to DE wetshaving for a better quality and environmentally friendlier shave. It's supposed to be cheaper too (at least that's what I told myself to justify this new activity, it's not like I'll get any razor, soap, blade, brush and other acquisition disorders and end up spending loads, right guys? Right?
.....).My dad uses cartridges and always has, so unfortunately I don't have the family connection or childhood memories many of you guys have of watching your fathers shave with DEs/SEs/straights when starting out with traditional shaving. This means I've had to rely on only the good old internet for my wetshaving information. After lurking various forums, reading guides and watching many of the wetshaving youtube channels such as mantic59, nick shaves, Michael Freedberg, geofatboy, Shave Tank , Kevy Shaves, Executive Shaving, PaulHfilms, Friendship Shaving, Another Cut Above and others (feel free to share any other great youtubers to learn from), I decided to take the plunge and dive right in.
This is what I have (so far):
Razor: Razorock Game Changer .84 - I know the usual advice to beginners is to get a razor like a 34C, or a DE89/R89 before moving on to something else but I wanted something fairly efficient for my dense coarse beard that is not made of zamak. A mid-aggressive/large blade gap razor that will punish bad technique but also give me a wider range of usable blade angles will hopefully be beginner-friendly too. I also take a "buy it for life"/ "he who buys cheap, buys twice" approach, so I'll pay a bit more for a 316 SS razor that will last rather than buy a zamak one and keep replacing it once it corrodes/accidentally breaks after a drop.
I'm having my first few shaves using the conventional 3-pass WTG/XTG/ATG approach (ATG is particularly challenging since beard-mapping shows that my neck grain goes sideways) and it's going well so far, bar the occasional nick/weeper caused by poor technique and pressure, a bad habit developed from years of cartridge use.
Also have a Fatip piccolo on the way intended to use as a travel razor. This was bought new so it will be the less aggressive v2 with the slightly wider top cap, but still efficient enough for every-other-day shaving.
I've picked the DE format due to the wider availability of modern razors/ blades/information out there (compared to SEs) + relative ease of use and speed (compared to using a straight).
Brushes: Simpsons Colonel X2L best badger (22mm knot, 45mm loft, broken in with the Ambrose method), Maggards tuxedo synthetic (24mm knot 58mm loft).
Blades: Astra SP (only ones I have used so far, on my 15th use of a blade that is still going strong thanks to the Excalibur thread info), feather hi stainless, polsilver SI, voskhod, personna platinum, rapira platinum lux, Derby
Soaps: MWF, Proraso Red, Phoenix+Beau Pall Mall, Tabac shave stick for travelling
Creams: Castle Forbes Lavender, TOBS Cedarwood
I'm based in the UK and like supporting local businesses hence my British creams and soaps (with the exception of tabac and proraso)
I look forward to posting more/getting to know the wonderful people on here!
Last edited:
