Hello all,
New guy here. I am normally the guy with a beard of some sort, due to never being too enthusiastic about shaving. However, I stumbled across the wet shaving community on YouTube last weekend and binge watched several videos.
The enthusiasm became in infectious and I decried to shave off a 10 month beard. I went to Wal-Mart and all I could find was a Van Der Hagen razor with some blades included in the box. I picked that up and went on a mad hunt for a proper shaving brush. After searching high and low, I finally gave up and bought a women's makeup brush (my girlfriends idea) to use instead.
The only soap puck I could find was Williams at Hy-Vee for a buck and some change, so I rolled with that. I then went to a Dollar Tree and picked up a glass bowl with slight ridges on the sides, to lather in. I also picked up a glass container with a lid to hold my puck of Williams. For aftershave, I picked up Stetson Cooling Moisture to begin with.
I went home and had my first DE wet shave ever. I ended up cutting my top lip twice and a few nicks here and there. A couple of days later I picked up some Aqua Velva Musk aftershave and gave it another go. I fared better on my second shave, with no serious wounds, and only a couple nicks.
On Friday night I picked up some Skin Bracer aftershave, as well as some Cremo Bourbon shave cream that comes in a tube. I excitedly came home and shave just for the fun of testing my new cream. WOW! Now we're talkin'...the scent was MUCH better (IMO) than the puck of Williams, and I finally had my first injury free wet shave.
I don't know if I was just starting to get better at shaving this way, if my blade had "broken in" a bit, or if the soap was really making that much of a difference. Either way, I was quite pleased with the results. The Skin Bracer aftershave was very nice as well. The scent is nice, but the performance was most impressive to me. It was a nice burn with the initial blast, followed by a cooling effect for a while. It felt great, and really did work to eliminate redness and irritation on my skin. I must say that I am 100% satisfied with those two purchases.
I went from absolutely hating to shave to now doing it for fun. Talk about doing a 180! Heck. last night I did an experiment using Equate brand canned gel left over from my days of cartridge shaving, just to see what would happen. It was horrible, to say the least. LOL! I ended up with bad razor burn and bumps. However, the Skin Bracer sorted that out for me, I really like that stuff! No cuts or nicks though, so that was a win. I did notice, however, that the razor was beginning to really tug, so I think it's time for a new blade, which I will put in before tonight's shave.
I ended up getting 5 shaves from the included Van Der Hagen blade, so that seems ok, but I have no other point of reference to go by. Generally, I am planning on only shaving 3 times a week on average. I just shaved a couple extra times this week because I wanted to test products, and I was enjoying the process for the first time in my life.
Anyway, today literally marks exactly one week into my wet shaving journey. I am really enjoying the hobby, so I decided to join here after discovering the forum. If you read this novel, I appreciate it, and am looking forward to getting to know everyone.
New guy here. I am normally the guy with a beard of some sort, due to never being too enthusiastic about shaving. However, I stumbled across the wet shaving community on YouTube last weekend and binge watched several videos.
The enthusiasm became in infectious and I decried to shave off a 10 month beard. I went to Wal-Mart and all I could find was a Van Der Hagen razor with some blades included in the box. I picked that up and went on a mad hunt for a proper shaving brush. After searching high and low, I finally gave up and bought a women's makeup brush (my girlfriends idea) to use instead.
The only soap puck I could find was Williams at Hy-Vee for a buck and some change, so I rolled with that. I then went to a Dollar Tree and picked up a glass bowl with slight ridges on the sides, to lather in. I also picked up a glass container with a lid to hold my puck of Williams. For aftershave, I picked up Stetson Cooling Moisture to begin with.
I went home and had my first DE wet shave ever. I ended up cutting my top lip twice and a few nicks here and there. A couple of days later I picked up some Aqua Velva Musk aftershave and gave it another go. I fared better on my second shave, with no serious wounds, and only a couple nicks.
On Friday night I picked up some Skin Bracer aftershave, as well as some Cremo Bourbon shave cream that comes in a tube. I excitedly came home and shave just for the fun of testing my new cream. WOW! Now we're talkin'...the scent was MUCH better (IMO) than the puck of Williams, and I finally had my first injury free wet shave.
I don't know if I was just starting to get better at shaving this way, if my blade had "broken in" a bit, or if the soap was really making that much of a difference. Either way, I was quite pleased with the results. The Skin Bracer aftershave was very nice as well. The scent is nice, but the performance was most impressive to me. It was a nice burn with the initial blast, followed by a cooling effect for a while. It felt great, and really did work to eliminate redness and irritation on my skin. I must say that I am 100% satisfied with those two purchases.
I went from absolutely hating to shave to now doing it for fun. Talk about doing a 180! Heck. last night I did an experiment using Equate brand canned gel left over from my days of cartridge shaving, just to see what would happen. It was horrible, to say the least. LOL! I ended up with bad razor burn and bumps. However, the Skin Bracer sorted that out for me, I really like that stuff! No cuts or nicks though, so that was a win. I did notice, however, that the razor was beginning to really tug, so I think it's time for a new blade, which I will put in before tonight's shave.
I ended up getting 5 shaves from the included Van Der Hagen blade, so that seems ok, but I have no other point of reference to go by. Generally, I am planning on only shaving 3 times a week on average. I just shaved a couple extra times this week because I wanted to test products, and I was enjoying the process for the first time in my life.
Anyway, today literally marks exactly one week into my wet shaving journey. I am really enjoying the hobby, so I decided to join here after discovering the forum. If you read this novel, I appreciate it, and am looking forward to getting to know everyone.
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