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PIF from YKMV, First DE Shaves, and Adventures with German Customs!

Got my PIF in from YKMV (Thank you, Sir!) a few days ago... And here starts my journey...

YKMV's PIF included a Gillette Ball-End Tech, a blade sampler, a VDH starter pack with soap puck and boar hair brush, and a few soaps and creams (Arko and Toja)... I started out by putting in a Shark blade and giving her a try. .

First shave was with the Shark blade and VDH soap... Really good shave on my cheeks/chin/jaw... On my neck... Well.. let's just say I think it's gonna take me a while to learn how to shave my neck properly. I ended up taking about 4 passes, and still not BBS on my neck, and starting to feel some irritation... This is likely technique, and not anything to do with the quality of razor or soap..

VDH for my skin, was just a tad bit drying. YKMV did mention in a private message that VDH soap can be a little more drying than some soaps. I have oily skin that I always need to seek a balance for.. If I dry it out too much, it generates excess oil to compensate and I break out. Too much moisturizer, and it blocks my pores, and I break out. Nice clean scent, tho... I had trouble lathering it, but this is likely due to the extremely hard water here in Wiesbaden, Germany. I also think I squeezed out my brush too much. All in all, a good first shave. One or two very small cuts, that stopped bleeding by the end of the shave, no styptic pencil required.

For the next day's shave.. I tried blooming the VDH soap to see if that helped with lathering.. This seemed to help quite a bit, although I still had to work the lather for a longer time due to the hard water. Stayed with the Shark blade.. Still a very good shave on my face.. And still some work to do on figuring out my neck shaving.

Third day.. I tried the Arko soap. I rubbed it onto my wet face, and face lathered. This seemed to be much easier to build a lather. Resulted in a creamier lather, and what I felt to be, a more protective shave. I did change the blade (sorry, I don't remember which type of blade..).. A good shave all around.. Doing better on my neck area.. I felt less irritation, but did get a few weepers.. Had to use the styptic pencil. I believe this was due to applying too much pressure. The Gillette Ball-End Tech is not an especially aggressive razor. Perhaps time to put a sharper blade in?

Fourth day.... Same blade as the previous day... Tried the La Toja stick.... This stuff for me, was very good! Seemed to be easier to rub on my face than the Arko... Lathered up REALLY well. (I believe this is a tallow based soap?) But.... got lots of irritation on my neck! More cuts, as well!

Fifth day.. On a whim.... I took my razor apart to clean it.... And found it full of soap scum... From two day's shaving.. Lesson learned.... Clean your razor after every shave.. But ESPECIALLY when you have extremely hard water! Hard water generates lots of soap scum, which of course attracts more dirt. This is likely the reason my neck has been having problems. I used La Toja again today, and got a good shave on my face, but neck is fairly irritated, at the moment.

Sixth day. Weekend was here, decided to skip shaving for a day, due to neck irritation...

Seventh day (Today) ... Got in my Stirling order!! Stirling budget starter kit with DE37PS razor and synthetic brush... Three sample soaps, including Margaritas in the Artic!! Whoot! This order got held up in German customs for nearly a week! I had ordered it first with the international shipping, as I figured it would get here sooner.. Through a quirk of the German customs system, my package was marked as delivered in the tracking system, but held at German customs. I waited for three days to get the letter in the mail that told me where I could pick up my package, after paying additional customs...

Went to the customs office, with printout from the Stirling order, designating the cost of the items. The German government, in it's wisdom, has decided that any package shipped from out of country entitles them to an additional TWENTY percent customs fee!!! AND they include the shipping charges in the total amount, so you basically get to pay an additional 20% of the shipping cost, too! :glare: Fortunately, in this case, it only amounted to about an extra $12.00.

Note for the future... ALL orders from the U.S. will go to my APO address, thereby bypassing German Customs. Given that shipping times from the states average 10-14 days, getting held up in customs + additional costs negate any speed gained by fast international shipping.. This package, because I chose to ship it to my German address versus taking advantage of my military shipping address, cost me a approximately $30.00 more than it need to.. Never again!


So, onto today's shave.. Using the Stirling razor and changed my blade to a Feather so that I could get a little more aggressive shave.. I felt that I was using too much pressure with the Gillette Ball-End Tech, so wanted to try something a bit different... Maragaritas in the Artic shaving cream, with the synthetic brush...

Oh, what a pleasure! Stirling's Margaritas in the Artic has a very pronounced menthol coldness to it, that lasted at least 1/2 hour after my shave... Very nice smell, as well. Does smell like Margaritas, but not in an offputting way. With the Feather blade and more aggressive razor profile, I had to be much more careful with my shave... I really liked the synthetic brush, as well.. Turns out with my sensitive skin, boar's hair is just a bit too rough...

Shave took quite a bit longer than normal, as I was being very careful with the new razor and Feather blade... MITA soap was very luxurious, and I feel it moisturized my skin well. I do like the Feather blade very much as well, and might stick with it for awhile.... Finished it of with a cold water rinse, which combined with the MITA soap, left my face feeling very tingly.. I like it!

Wife smelled all the Stirling sample soaps, and liked all of them! For me, I have found out that I just don't prefer the smell of "regular" soap, i.e. Arko and La Toja... I like new and interesting smells! I bath with Coconut body wash, and will tend to choose Head and Shoulders shampoo with a Mint smell or similar... I still very much appreciate the opportunity that YKMV gave me to try these soaps though, so I could help establish my preferences! Thanks, buddy!

Now, out of honor to YKMV's generosity, I won't be keeping all the items in both his PIF and my Stirling order. His intention was to properly introduce me to DE safety shaving, and his PIF has accomplished that. Going forward, I will be choosing which razor/soaps work for me and PIF'ing the rest to a forum member.

All in all, this has been a good introduction to the world of DE safety shaving. While I am still learning proper technique, I am already noticing MUCH smoother shaves, at least on certain parts of my face, and the artisan soaps are leaving my face in MUCH better shape than regular shaving cream ever did.

YKMV... You da MAN!

Short Bus Russ
 
Yo, Russ....
Glad to know German Customs nicked you for "only" $12... you got off cheap! :tongue_sm
Great review and glad to know everything has arrived and you can start sorting out what works for you.
Like you, I started with a boar and have since switched to synthetics since I seem to have an allergic reaction to the animal dander in the brushes. PIF the VDH brush with no regrets.. they are decent albeit cheap brushes and they do build a good lather without the irritation for some guys.
My soap box is full of Stirling. It was my first soap and still top of the list... I've got a stack of samples and not enough time to try them all. Check out the website for Haslinger.... www.einseifer.de They have 2 shops in Germany but not very near Kaiserslautern however shipping is cheap and quick. The scents are very light, however.

Welcome to the Rabbit Hole. :a29:

Can't wait to hear more... :popc:
 
Great write up, and what a generous PIF. Your experience with the Tech mirrored mine. The Tech is a forgiving razor, in that it is harder for someone new to wet shaving to cut themselves. However, it has a relatively small window where the blade angle cuts close. More aggressive razors, with their bigger blade gaps, are easier to be cut with, but also accommodate a larger variation in blade angle that results in a close shave. Early on, I couldn't get a close shave with the Tech, no matter what blade I put in it. I wrote it off, and embarked on trying ever more aggressive razors. About a year later, I needed a razor that I wouldn't mind losing when I travelled out of the country. Imagine my surprise, when this razor, which I considered the least effective one I owned, ended up giving me the most comfortable BBS shaves I'd ever experienced. These days, I use it regularly. If you do decide it isn't for you, give it another try once you've gained some experience.
 
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