Greetings fellow shavers/B&B members/blade connoisseurs! Be prepared for a long read, I'm gonna pour my shave life story, short as it is, here. If anyone doesn't want to read something long, or is already bored, feel free to skip further reading.
I stumbled myself onto this forum not long ago, and thought I would become a lurker, but after a short while of looking and reading I said to myself "Funk it, why not!", so I registered, it has been some time since I have been a part of a forum, and I hope to be a long time active member. To be fair for the past 5-8 years I've probably shaven about 20-40 times, I like growing out a beard, even more so, I was lazy about shaving. I disliked the process, there was something always that bothered me, and of course I got pimples every time after shaving, because I make no compromises. If I do something, I do it properly, that means each shave was a BBS, and that meant passing many, MANY times with my Fusion in the beginning and afterwards with my Mach 3 Sensitive. Having the wonderful combination of being young and an expert cretin that knew everything, I didn't care about blades, soaps, pre-shaves etc. Hence I couldn't have known that it ACTUALLY MATTERED how many blades you pass through your skin, and their direct correlation with pimples/hives/irritation. It was the canned aerosol foam and a Mach 3, purrfect, as my cat would say.
Skip to a few months ago passing through a large supermarket chain, what did faith bestow upon my eyes, a Wilkinson Sword plastic DE razor with 5 blades included in a yellow package, I think most of you have seen it. I though "Wow one of those razors grandfathers use", of course I knew about DE before that but it was shoved so far back in the depths of my brain, that it well as could have not existed as a memory. It was 4$, but I postponed the buy, I like to read before I buy. And here is where I got hooked. I started reading about the blades, uses, types, brushes etc. And I found out about the less irritation part, because it's 3 or 5 times less blades. The idea of no pimples on my face after a shave really motivated me to dive into it. I bought the blade, easy stuff, but what about soap, aftershave, brush. I decided I was gonna be economical with the investment in these departments, because even though I was motivated by the idea of nice skin, I didn't know if it would last, or if reality would meet up my expectations. For soap and aftershave, I made my research and one of the items that always landed in the top3 category of choice was, Proraso green, soap and aftershave balm. Also I like menthol and eucalyptus veeery much. And as for the brush, I bought a(wait for it) 1$ one, that you could barely call a brush.
The day came, everything arrived, I had a free day and scheduled my first DE shave. I was a afraid because they are very sharp and thought that you needed some serious skills to shave well(not disrespecting anyone with this comment, it really does take hundreds of shaves to perfect your DE technique), and in general I was afraid of slicing my face open. The main thing that stuck to my head was, be careful, minimal pressure, very slow, careful, careful, careful.... I lathered in a bowl the awesome smelling Proraso, I loved it so much from the first sniff. Then I put it on my face, took a deeeep breath and took the first stroke! I gotta be honest with ya here, It was so so sooooo much easier and enjoyable than the cartridge razor, the blade glided through my face like a warm knife through butter. And no cuts, without any effort, I don't want to say I am a natural or brag, but it was so dang easy and fun. Even though it's a plastic one and the blades are some average ones, it was a HUUUGE step up from cartridge razors, and of course money savings.
The shave was done, I was pleased, everything was awesome. But I'm a perfectionist, I thought to myself, hey, I want to get an even closer shave, I want the best, the closest you can get, what can I do? Then I remembered about another blade from the depths of my mind, the STRAIGHT RAZOR. The true OG of shaving. One shave of the DE was enough to push me further for my quest of the PERFECT shave. I had a reminiscence of the saying "sharp as a razor". And I started searching, and quickly I found myself a Widerstrahl Solingen 6/8 Dutch end SR. Mint condition, for about 30-40$, I bought it, it was oiled, and it seemed sharp enough, I passed it over the hairs of my arm and it caught them. I was pleased.
Even though at the age of 28, one would think I am wiser than I was younger, NOPE. People in videos warned that when transitioning from Cartridge to DE, one must be careful, because there is a learning curve. They said the same about a SR. But I already did the DE with no problems, super easy. "Yeah right learning curve, just like they said last time, they all lie, it's gonna be easy as pie" I mocked the video laughingly. I learned how to hold the SR, I repeated the same pre-shave routine, lather of the bowl, face, yada yada and I took the first stroke. My f***ing heart sank to my the bottom of my feet, directly to the heels...... This time I was in over my head BIG TIME, but no turning back, never go back! I was quivering with fear, the learning curve on this thing was monstrous, and the angles were so different than what I was used to. It took me one funking hour to finish, ONE HOUR. The shave was terrible, atrocious.... But I survived, and was motivated to continue, and so I did and got better, I can make my right cheek glistening, but only the right one, I know that in a couple of hundreds of shaves, everything will be like that, patience is my friend, I have a mission and I will complete it. Also there is nothing more awesome than the smell of wet steel gliding through your face!!! Now knowing that I am invested, I ordered a niiice brush(pic in the bottom, I hope, I've forgotten to use forums).
Only problem is that, weeeeeell it seems that the guy I bought it from didn't sharpen it that well, it got dull after about 10-15 shaves. And now I am waiting for my 1000/3000/5000/8000/10000 whetstones to come, my strop and my thingamajig that you put on the strop, ah paste that was it. Until then I will shave with my new razor that I bought(which will also need some sharpening and stropping after some uses) my Dovo Bismarck(picture will be attached) that I bought for less than a 100$, a steal. Overall I am very happy with my venture so far, and I think I hooked one of my friends to join me on my quest, hopefully. At least so that I can sell him my Widerstrahl Solingen razor. For now I think one razor is enough. When this Corona thing passes, we're gonna go and search for some new soaps, smells, balms and other stuff, to indulge in this hobby/mania/fantasy! My hope is that I won't spend a lot more than I have right now. Thank you for reading this long and dull post, I hope I can be a positive, productive, helpful member of this community!
Shave ya later guys!
I stumbled myself onto this forum not long ago, and thought I would become a lurker, but after a short while of looking and reading I said to myself "Funk it, why not!", so I registered, it has been some time since I have been a part of a forum, and I hope to be a long time active member. To be fair for the past 5-8 years I've probably shaven about 20-40 times, I like growing out a beard, even more so, I was lazy about shaving. I disliked the process, there was something always that bothered me, and of course I got pimples every time after shaving, because I make no compromises. If I do something, I do it properly, that means each shave was a BBS, and that meant passing many, MANY times with my Fusion in the beginning and afterwards with my Mach 3 Sensitive. Having the wonderful combination of being young and an expert cretin that knew everything, I didn't care about blades, soaps, pre-shaves etc. Hence I couldn't have known that it ACTUALLY MATTERED how many blades you pass through your skin, and their direct correlation with pimples/hives/irritation. It was the canned aerosol foam and a Mach 3, purrfect, as my cat would say.
Skip to a few months ago passing through a large supermarket chain, what did faith bestow upon my eyes, a Wilkinson Sword plastic DE razor with 5 blades included in a yellow package, I think most of you have seen it. I though "Wow one of those razors grandfathers use", of course I knew about DE before that but it was shoved so far back in the depths of my brain, that it well as could have not existed as a memory. It was 4$, but I postponed the buy, I like to read before I buy. And here is where I got hooked. I started reading about the blades, uses, types, brushes etc. And I found out about the less irritation part, because it's 3 or 5 times less blades. The idea of no pimples on my face after a shave really motivated me to dive into it. I bought the blade, easy stuff, but what about soap, aftershave, brush. I decided I was gonna be economical with the investment in these departments, because even though I was motivated by the idea of nice skin, I didn't know if it would last, or if reality would meet up my expectations. For soap and aftershave, I made my research and one of the items that always landed in the top3 category of choice was, Proraso green, soap and aftershave balm. Also I like menthol and eucalyptus veeery much. And as for the brush, I bought a(wait for it) 1$ one, that you could barely call a brush.
The day came, everything arrived, I had a free day and scheduled my first DE shave. I was a afraid because they are very sharp and thought that you needed some serious skills to shave well(not disrespecting anyone with this comment, it really does take hundreds of shaves to perfect your DE technique), and in general I was afraid of slicing my face open. The main thing that stuck to my head was, be careful, minimal pressure, very slow, careful, careful, careful.... I lathered in a bowl the awesome smelling Proraso, I loved it so much from the first sniff. Then I put it on my face, took a deeeep breath and took the first stroke! I gotta be honest with ya here, It was so so sooooo much easier and enjoyable than the cartridge razor, the blade glided through my face like a warm knife through butter. And no cuts, without any effort, I don't want to say I am a natural or brag, but it was so dang easy and fun. Even though it's a plastic one and the blades are some average ones, it was a HUUUGE step up from cartridge razors, and of course money savings.
The shave was done, I was pleased, everything was awesome. But I'm a perfectionist, I thought to myself, hey, I want to get an even closer shave, I want the best, the closest you can get, what can I do? Then I remembered about another blade from the depths of my mind, the STRAIGHT RAZOR. The true OG of shaving. One shave of the DE was enough to push me further for my quest of the PERFECT shave. I had a reminiscence of the saying "sharp as a razor". And I started searching, and quickly I found myself a Widerstrahl Solingen 6/8 Dutch end SR. Mint condition, for about 30-40$, I bought it, it was oiled, and it seemed sharp enough, I passed it over the hairs of my arm and it caught them. I was pleased.
Even though at the age of 28, one would think I am wiser than I was younger, NOPE. People in videos warned that when transitioning from Cartridge to DE, one must be careful, because there is a learning curve. They said the same about a SR. But I already did the DE with no problems, super easy. "Yeah right learning curve, just like they said last time, they all lie, it's gonna be easy as pie" I mocked the video laughingly. I learned how to hold the SR, I repeated the same pre-shave routine, lather of the bowl, face, yada yada and I took the first stroke. My f***ing heart sank to my the bottom of my feet, directly to the heels...... This time I was in over my head BIG TIME, but no turning back, never go back! I was quivering with fear, the learning curve on this thing was monstrous, and the angles were so different than what I was used to. It took me one funking hour to finish, ONE HOUR. The shave was terrible, atrocious.... But I survived, and was motivated to continue, and so I did and got better, I can make my right cheek glistening, but only the right one, I know that in a couple of hundreds of shaves, everything will be like that, patience is my friend, I have a mission and I will complete it. Also there is nothing more awesome than the smell of wet steel gliding through your face!!! Now knowing that I am invested, I ordered a niiice brush(pic in the bottom, I hope, I've forgotten to use forums).
Only problem is that, weeeeeell it seems that the guy I bought it from didn't sharpen it that well, it got dull after about 10-15 shaves. And now I am waiting for my 1000/3000/5000/8000/10000 whetstones to come, my strop and my thingamajig that you put on the strop, ah paste that was it. Until then I will shave with my new razor that I bought(which will also need some sharpening and stropping after some uses) my Dovo Bismarck(picture will be attached) that I bought for less than a 100$, a steal. Overall I am very happy with my venture so far, and I think I hooked one of my friends to join me on my quest, hopefully. At least so that I can sell him my Widerstrahl Solingen razor. For now I think one razor is enough. When this Corona thing passes, we're gonna go and search for some new soaps, smells, balms and other stuff, to indulge in this hobby/mania/fantasy! My hope is that I won't spend a lot more than I have right now. Thank you for reading this long and dull post, I hope I can be a positive, productive, helpful member of this community!
Shave ya later guys!
