Hello to all,
In my quest to get a smoother shave and hopefully save some money I stumbled on something called wet shaving and safety razors. Being 36 years old I never was privy to DE shavers and Straight razors, I had seen them when I was young, but never thought to use one. In the more then 20 years of shaving I never had any idea that I could possibly be missing something. You see, through the years I developed what I thought was a shaving style that every man followed. Grab some gel to smear on your face, a 3 (now 6
) bladed cartridge razor with an aloe strip and a mirror. Work the gel into your face, and in my case my entire head now, shave once top to bottom, then bottom to top, and then any which way you can to get rid of the stubble that remains. Oh, and don't forget, push harder when the blade starts to dull.
Anyway, recently I've grown increasingly unhappy with the finished product of my shave. My girlfriend has even suggest that I'm "ruining" her shirts when I snuggle. What the heck? Sure enough, some of those delicate clothes dont hold up so well against my sandpaper face. So on a mission I go.
Looking on the internet I end up finding a local store in CT that sells a trial pack for DE shaving. That appeals to me, because the price of some shavers and brushes was enough to make me pass right over the idea of trying DE shaving. I'm looking for a great shave and to save money, not blow 500 dollars on a set and products just so I can bleed out on the bathroom floor. Now, just so we are all clear, I left a message with my sister who is an RN to stop by in case I do bleed out on the bathroom floor. Ha, I laugh now, only because I'm still alive to tell my story.
I purchased my started kit from Ray at Gentlemans best, and Ray if you happen to read this post, I'd like to thank you. My Mother even mentioned how welcoming you were and how impressed she was that you took the time to teach me to build a lather and part some tips on shaving. You have an excellent shop and are a very personable man.
Anyway, the time came to give it a go. I began with the obligatory shower which was strange for me. See I don't think I ever took a shower before shaving, and never showered were I didn't soap up my face and scrub it with a hand towel. I began to get nervous at this point, I had visions of nicks and scraps that turned into bleeding jugulars! The shower basin was exactly as it was every other shower I have taken, but my eyes still saw pools off blood around my feet, I was delirious.
Next step, lather. I had put some water in the plastic bag that the trial soap came in before I showered, so by now, it was a very moist soap. It was very easy to scrap onto the boar brush. Grab a little sauce bowl from the kitchen and have a go at it. I washed the brush as instructed before using it, which was a good thing, this new brush still had smaller bristles from the cutting during production no doubt, that were embedded into the brush. I imagine all brushes have some degree of this, barring those super expensive high quality craftsmanship ones. I achieved what I thought was a decent lather in about 4 minutes. I was careful not to get a soapy sudsy consistency, which meant having to get more soap on the brush periodically. The brush held more water then I expected, and while I was prepared to add drops of water at time so not to get to much water, I quickly realized that I didn't have enough soap for the amount of water in the brush, let alone worry about adding more.
I really can't stress how much Ray helped me here, you see, in his store he showed me every step to creating a lather, let me touch it, look at it, and experience it in person. For people who are being told what to do, or reading what to do, its not as beneficial as actually seeing and feeling what lather is supposed to look like. Even on youtube its difficult to understand, and most likely one of the reasons why people have to gain experience with lathering before they get the hang of it.
Brush that stuff on baby! The brush wasn't as exfoliating as I thought it would be. I was expecting a 3m green scrubby pad feeling, but it really wasn't. Maybe I was babying it some, but i spent a good 5 minutes applying that lather to my freshly wet face. Trying to use circular motions and really scrub around the hairs.
At this point I started sweating. My hand was a bit tense, not trembling, but I can not lie, I was nervous. I must sound like a real panty waist right about now, but rest assured I'm a tough guy, still, apprehension is intimidating. Place the shaver at 90degrees against my face, roll down to 45, start to slowly move the razor and bring the angle down to 30 degrees. The sound is addictive. Having a passion for things like guns and knives, hearing that blade do its job really does give you a sense of manly satisfaction. I may have even gave a man grunt like Tim Allen on "Home Improvement" completely unintentionally.
So know I'm on my third pass, going for broke on my first shave, not one nick or scrap, not discomfort and no burn. It was easy for me to understand the weight of the razor does the work. Even upsidedown strokes where you do apply presure, it was easy for me to feel the shave. In fact, I closed my eyes on the second pass to and shaved parts of my nech and cheek on feel. Now my face is smooth with exception of two strips along my right jaw bone and under my chin, I'm a big guy and having that extra chin fat makes shaving a bit harder since now matter how much I look at the ceiling, that skin isn't getting taught. Couple little touch ups and I'm smooth, I mean really smooth.
At this point I'm feeling confident. I mentioned to Ray that I had planned on trying DE razor on my face, but still using the mach 3 on my head out of fear of inexperience. Well, confidence will push you to excel, and I did. Head, shaved two passes with and against the grain, smooth. Being a big guy, I have what I call a "fat back" the fuzed skull plates on the back of my head added with the extra layer of comfort, read fat, give me a ridge that my mach 3 could not access. No matter how hard I push the blade, what angle, nothing, there is always that crevice that had some longer stubble. Not the case with the DE. It also got a closer shave around my ear, where again the mach 3 side walls don't allow a close shave.
I'm SOLD
I'll be going back to Gentlemans Best as Soon as I do some more research as to which tools I want to purchase, and what products I want to try first. I'll be reading the forums to find a nice razor and brush, which I don't mind spending some money on so long as its quality and will last me a few years, or more.
In my quest to get a smoother shave and hopefully save some money I stumbled on something called wet shaving and safety razors. Being 36 years old I never was privy to DE shavers and Straight razors, I had seen them when I was young, but never thought to use one. In the more then 20 years of shaving I never had any idea that I could possibly be missing something. You see, through the years I developed what I thought was a shaving style that every man followed. Grab some gel to smear on your face, a 3 (now 6
) bladed cartridge razor with an aloe strip and a mirror. Work the gel into your face, and in my case my entire head now, shave once top to bottom, then bottom to top, and then any which way you can to get rid of the stubble that remains. Oh, and don't forget, push harder when the blade starts to dull.Anyway, recently I've grown increasingly unhappy with the finished product of my shave. My girlfriend has even suggest that I'm "ruining" her shirts when I snuggle. What the heck? Sure enough, some of those delicate clothes dont hold up so well against my sandpaper face. So on a mission I go.
Looking on the internet I end up finding a local store in CT that sells a trial pack for DE shaving. That appeals to me, because the price of some shavers and brushes was enough to make me pass right over the idea of trying DE shaving. I'm looking for a great shave and to save money, not blow 500 dollars on a set and products just so I can bleed out on the bathroom floor. Now, just so we are all clear, I left a message with my sister who is an RN to stop by in case I do bleed out on the bathroom floor. Ha, I laugh now, only because I'm still alive to tell my story.
I purchased my started kit from Ray at Gentlemans best, and Ray if you happen to read this post, I'd like to thank you. My Mother even mentioned how welcoming you were and how impressed she was that you took the time to teach me to build a lather and part some tips on shaving. You have an excellent shop and are a very personable man.
Anyway, the time came to give it a go. I began with the obligatory shower which was strange for me. See I don't think I ever took a shower before shaving, and never showered were I didn't soap up my face and scrub it with a hand towel. I began to get nervous at this point, I had visions of nicks and scraps that turned into bleeding jugulars! The shower basin was exactly as it was every other shower I have taken, but my eyes still saw pools off blood around my feet, I was delirious.
Next step, lather. I had put some water in the plastic bag that the trial soap came in before I showered, so by now, it was a very moist soap. It was very easy to scrap onto the boar brush. Grab a little sauce bowl from the kitchen and have a go at it. I washed the brush as instructed before using it, which was a good thing, this new brush still had smaller bristles from the cutting during production no doubt, that were embedded into the brush. I imagine all brushes have some degree of this, barring those super expensive high quality craftsmanship ones. I achieved what I thought was a decent lather in about 4 minutes. I was careful not to get a soapy sudsy consistency, which meant having to get more soap on the brush periodically. The brush held more water then I expected, and while I was prepared to add drops of water at time so not to get to much water, I quickly realized that I didn't have enough soap for the amount of water in the brush, let alone worry about adding more.
I really can't stress how much Ray helped me here, you see, in his store he showed me every step to creating a lather, let me touch it, look at it, and experience it in person. For people who are being told what to do, or reading what to do, its not as beneficial as actually seeing and feeling what lather is supposed to look like. Even on youtube its difficult to understand, and most likely one of the reasons why people have to gain experience with lathering before they get the hang of it.
Brush that stuff on baby! The brush wasn't as exfoliating as I thought it would be. I was expecting a 3m green scrubby pad feeling, but it really wasn't. Maybe I was babying it some, but i spent a good 5 minutes applying that lather to my freshly wet face. Trying to use circular motions and really scrub around the hairs.
At this point I started sweating. My hand was a bit tense, not trembling, but I can not lie, I was nervous. I must sound like a real panty waist right about now, but rest assured I'm a tough guy, still, apprehension is intimidating. Place the shaver at 90degrees against my face, roll down to 45, start to slowly move the razor and bring the angle down to 30 degrees. The sound is addictive. Having a passion for things like guns and knives, hearing that blade do its job really does give you a sense of manly satisfaction. I may have even gave a man grunt like Tim Allen on "Home Improvement" completely unintentionally.
So know I'm on my third pass, going for broke on my first shave, not one nick or scrap, not discomfort and no burn. It was easy for me to understand the weight of the razor does the work. Even upsidedown strokes where you do apply presure, it was easy for me to feel the shave. In fact, I closed my eyes on the second pass to and shaved parts of my nech and cheek on feel. Now my face is smooth with exception of two strips along my right jaw bone and under my chin, I'm a big guy and having that extra chin fat makes shaving a bit harder since now matter how much I look at the ceiling, that skin isn't getting taught. Couple little touch ups and I'm smooth, I mean really smooth.
At this point I'm feeling confident. I mentioned to Ray that I had planned on trying DE razor on my face, but still using the mach 3 on my head out of fear of inexperience. Well, confidence will push you to excel, and I did. Head, shaved two passes with and against the grain, smooth. Being a big guy, I have what I call a "fat back" the fuzed skull plates on the back of my head added with the extra layer of comfort, read fat, give me a ridge that my mach 3 could not access. No matter how hard I push the blade, what angle, nothing, there is always that crevice that had some longer stubble. Not the case with the DE. It also got a closer shave around my ear, where again the mach 3 side walls don't allow a close shave.
I'm SOLD
I'll be going back to Gentlemans Best as Soon as I do some more research as to which tools I want to purchase, and what products I want to try first. I'll be reading the forums to find a nice razor and brush, which I don't mind spending some money on so long as its quality and will last me a few years, or more.
