Passive to Aggressive?

[Muscles]

I have been learning to wet-shave on a Merkur HD 34C with Derby Extras and have been really happy with my progress to date. A couple of iffy shaves but nothing to really complain about especially compared to the cartridge & canned goo or electric shaves of my past. I have mapped my facial hair growth, learned to apply minimal pressure and am getting better by the shave at whipping up a mean lather so in short - shaving life is good. So, tonight I decided to try out the E-3 Fat Boy that arrived 5 days ago.

I cleaned my face, showered, prepped with Proraso and hot towel and lathered up then took hold of the Fat Boy. I stared at it for a couple of seconds pondering which level to set it to and decided to start on #1. Two short strokes (did I put a blade in there?) and quickly adjusted it to #4, another few strokes (better, but let's see what this baby can do) and it was set to #7 and it felt really good (is that what they(read you) all mean by aggressive?). 4 passes later and my face is BBS. I used the Derby Extras tonight so the only variable would be the Razor itself.

I will see how my skin is tomorrow with regards to bumps etc but right now I am impressed. I don't think I could shave like that daily but would like to once a week.

 

[Muscles]

Tonight I got to try out the Proraso range and in particular the styptic gel. After 2 weeks of wet shaving I gave myself my first decent cut. Shaving with the Merkur HD and a Derby Extra blade I managed to remove a mole from my neck. The gel worked well and the blood stopped running down my neck after about 10 minutes.

All that aside the rest of the range was just as expected, a pleasure to use...

 

[sodajerk]

With the one exception, sounds like you're doing all right so far! The wiki aggressiveness chart you can see here has the HD falling between 3 and 4 adjustable setting. However, like you, I found that a setting of 6 or 7 was needed to match the HD shave.

 

[RCC]

With the one exception, sounds like you're doing all right so far! The wiki aggressiveness chart you can see here has the HD falling between 3 and 4 adjustable setting. However, like you, I found that a setting of 6 or 7 was needed to match the HD shave.

+1 I found that to be true as well.
Interestingly, after buying most of the "iconic" razors. FB, slim, DE89L, SS, NEW, Mergress etc and the full spectrum of blades...
I still think it's hard to beat an HD with a derby.

 

[my19]

I recently bought a Slim on the BST and tried it this week in place of one of my usual '40s-'50s style Superspeeds. I set the Slim on 3 -- from what I've read, about the same blade exposure as with an SS. But the shave with the Slim seemed more aggressive.

I wonder if it comes down to the heft of the razor -- the Slim weighs a fair amount more than the SS. The Slim seems a bit more awkward than the SS -- I'm sure because one is new to me and the other an old friend -- but the Slim has provided a better, closer shave, at least for three days with one Red Personna.

Does the HD weigh more than a Fatboy? Maybe that's a factor.

 

[CzechCzar]

+1 I found that to be true as well.
Interestingly, after buying most of the "iconic" razors. FB, slim, DE89L, SS, NEW, Mergress etc and the full spectrum of blades...
I still think it's hard to beat an HD with a derby.

You should try a bakelite.

 

[Muscles]

The Merkur weighs in at 83 grams and the Fat boy at 90 grams so not much between them. I am going to try my Executive tomorrow so I shall see how that compares to the two.

 

[Muscles]

Just had a great shave with The Executive. Dialed it in and left it at #5 using a Derby Extra blade. I like the aggressiveness at #5 and am hoping my skin will like it more than it did with the Fat Boy at #7. This time round I was a bit more used to the extra weight and size over the Merkur HD.

My lathering technique has come a long way and I seem to naturally be using shorter strokes and less pressure without having to think about it. I can see why the Fatboys/Executives are favorites around here and why you guys have rotations!

I wish my facial hair would grow faster - next up for trial will be the Slim...

 

[Muscles]

Just had a BBS shave with a Slim at level #4 with a feather platinum blade and it was my best DE shave yet. Normal Pre & Postand 4 great passes with some Proraso soap lather thought I thought was too wet but turned out to be great. I did 1 pass WTG, 1 XTG and 2 ATG. Followed that up with warm and cold rinse and then some Proraso AS - man I love the Proraso range.

I think I'll try the Fatboy/Feather combo tomorrow and try out 1 of my Simpsons brushes and see how it compares to todays shave.

 

[Sir Ronald]

With the one exception, sounds like you're doing all right so far! The wiki aggressiveness chart you can see here has the HD falling between 3 and 4 adjustable setting. However, like you, I found that a setting of 6 or 7 was needed to match the HD shave.

I don't really hold much merit to that aggressiveness chart. I had to dial the FB up to 7 to get it to match the aggressiveness of the HD. I don't know how people can shave with the FB on 3, it barely removes lather, let alone actual whisker

 

[Muscles]

Okay, so I tried the Fatboy and with it set #5 was comparable to the Gold Exec set at #4. Also over the 4 days, I've road-tested the Truefitt & Hill 1805 and Simpson's Chubby #1 and am really impressed.

The Chubby.
I love the feel of the Chubby and find it easier to hold on to even with lather on my fingers. It produces lather just as well as my Shavemac #177 and I reckon it will join the Shavemac as a go-to.

TF&H 1805
Not overpowering with scent which is a good thing and I can use less than other soaps & creams and get more lather which is good cause I want this one to last.

 

[bordeaaj]

Shaving with the Merkur HD and a Derby Extra blade I managed to remove a mole from my neck. The gel worked well and the blood stopped running down my neck after about 10 minutes.

All that aside the rest of the range was just as expected, a pleasure to use...

You probably just saved yourself several hundred dollars. Professional mole removal can be very expensive especially if you don't have coverage.

 

[Muscles]

Yeah, 2 weeks on it has healed but hasn't grown back... now if only I could get such a clean cut on the one on my top lip