I've been poking at classic wet shaving for a few years now, and in 2008, I purchased my first replacement for my Gillette multi-blade cartridges. I ended up with a trusty, and at the time, well regarded straight razor - the Wapienica 5/8 quarter hollow straight razor. It was delivered to my home in November, 2008 and I was pretty excited to get started. I had a few other things come in as well, like a tub of TOBS avocado, a brush and a strop.
It. Was. A. Disaster. No hospital visit and no permanent scars, but wow, my pride took a serious hit. My face was raw, sore and irritated. Disappointed, the razor ended up in a drawer and I didn't touch it again until tonight, 13 years and 7 months later. A little while ago, I decided I wanted another go at straight razor shaving, with a few successful shavette shaves under my belt. I found my old Wapienica, and discovered a problem. It felt too heavy and unbalanced, and I think that's because of the very heavy steel scales. I also found an in-country FB group filled with like-minded wet shavers, and through them, made contact with someone who kindly helped me out with sharpening, stropping AND new custom made scales.
The result of tonight's shave? I had myself an awesome shave with no nicks, cuts or irritation. I took my time and went WTG and two passes XTG. I still don't dare going ATG for now, but I'm not in a hurry. I've ended up with a perfectly good SAS and happy skin, so I consider that a win. I no longer have the TOBS sandalwood I started out with, so tonight shave was with Zingari Man Merchant (brown-tinged lather is weird...) and a Yaqi Cola synthetic brush.
This is also the start of a personal mini-project, as hinted about in the subject. I actually still have every single razor, knife, etc. I've purchased since I started back in 2008, and I'm going to use them all in order of when I got them. Before that, I only used Gillette carts, so I won't be revisiting those. Next up is a razor I purchased in early 2009, to replace the Wapienica. That didn't go entirely as planned either, but more on that when I update this thread with my next shave.
It. Was. A. Disaster. No hospital visit and no permanent scars, but wow, my pride took a serious hit. My face was raw, sore and irritated. Disappointed, the razor ended up in a drawer and I didn't touch it again until tonight, 13 years and 7 months later. A little while ago, I decided I wanted another go at straight razor shaving, with a few successful shavette shaves under my belt. I found my old Wapienica, and discovered a problem. It felt too heavy and unbalanced, and I think that's because of the very heavy steel scales. I also found an in-country FB group filled with like-minded wet shavers, and through them, made contact with someone who kindly helped me out with sharpening, stropping AND new custom made scales.
The result of tonight's shave? I had myself an awesome shave with no nicks, cuts or irritation. I took my time and went WTG and two passes XTG. I still don't dare going ATG for now, but I'm not in a hurry. I've ended up with a perfectly good SAS and happy skin, so I consider that a win. I no longer have the TOBS sandalwood I started out with, so tonight shave was with Zingari Man Merchant (brown-tinged lather is weird...) and a Yaqi Cola synthetic brush.
This is also the start of a personal mini-project, as hinted about in the subject. I actually still have every single razor, knife, etc. I've purchased since I started back in 2008, and I'm going to use them all in order of when I got them. Before that, I only used Gillette carts, so I won't be revisiting those. Next up is a razor I purchased in early 2009, to replace the Wapienica. That didn't go entirely as planned either, but more on that when I update this thread with my next shave.
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