Total Noob - Some Ups & Downs So Far

[Pressroll]

Hi everyone! I've only been wet shaving for about three weeks so far. I switched because I had always had neck irritation from my Mach3 and I was ready to figure out how to remedy that. Spent a week researching and ended up getting a Merkur 34c and a sample blade pack from Amazon, Williams Mug Soap and Nivea aftershave balm. Overall the last few weeks have been great! No irritation at all and the ritual of shaving every morning has been very rewarding. I read a ton about Williams Mug (all the good and bad) and really put the time in to practice getting a good lather but, like everyone else I was intrigued by other soaps. I quickly picked up ARKO, VDH and Proraso Red to try. The ARKO performed spectacularly but the smell is a little much for me. Didn't care for the VDH overall but I imagine I'll continue using it. I was most excited for Proraso Red, so excited in fact that I bought the pre shave cream and aftershave at the same time. BIG MISTAKE. Unfortunately the scent of the Proraso Red gives me a really bad headache Now I'm stuck with $37 worth of products I won't be able to use. I guess I should've just stuck with the Williams and Nivea..... I look forward to learning more here and hopefully won't make the same mistake I made with the Proraso again.

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[dmshaver]

Welcome to B & B, enjoy your shaves!

 

[Contact_vs_Feedback]

Welcome to B&B @Pressroll

As for your products that you don't want to use, you can trade or sell it.

If you don't want to go ahead with Arko, then I wholeheartedly suggest that you try Tabac stick/ soap refill- it is a phenomenal soap with great lather, slickness, protection and post shave feel.

You don't have to break the bank for it and most likely, I believe that you'll be happy with it.
I love Tabac myself.

Bad experience with the shave products are sooner or later bound to happen, this experience let you know that you don't like artificial sandalwood smell (or just Red Proraso), so in future you will save even more money by avoiding large purchase without trying in samples.

See, all is not lost, don't feel too bad about it.

Good luck with your shave journey.

 

[cryhavoc]

Welcome to B&B!

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

Welcome to my favorite corner of the internet!

Now I'm stuck with $37 worth of products I won't be able to use.

Don't worry about having extra product. Just check out the B/S/T (Buy-Sell-Trade). Things get bought, sold, traded, even given away around here all the time. Check it out at B/S/T

I totally understand your issue - certain smells give me migraines. I was so scared when I started that I used almost nothing but unscented soaps (plenty of those exist) but I soon started expanding my horizons and found quite a few (14 at last count) that smell good but don't give me headaches.

A lot of companies (the soap companies themselves or resellers like Maggards) sell "sample" sizes so you can try them.

I just did that with a company called Seaforth - I ordered two samples - one was great, the other smelled nice but I know it'll give me a migraine because it's so strong. So I gave the other sample away to a fellow B&Ber.

 

[ajkel64]

Welcome to the forum from Australia and thanks for sharing your experience with us.

 

[Mempho]

Welcome aboard!

If you let the Arko air out for a week or two, the scent (stench?) becomes more tolerable. Plus one for Tabac, cheap, long-lasting and monster lather. And relax, most of us here have found our "entrance fee" ran a lot higher than $37.

 

[Invicta]

Welcome to B&B.
The Merkur 34C is a good razor paired with an Astra SP or GSB, to name but two.
Pity about the Proraso Sandalwood ASL but I am intrigued why it gives you a headache; one of the ingedients perhaps. First time I have come across a problem with that particular ASL.

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!

You made a great choice in the 34C!

 

[Iskaral Pust]

Welcome Pressroll! Like you, I just started using a safety razor a month ago, after 30+ years of using Mach3 cartridges. I was lucky that my first purchase, a Merkur 15C and Astra blades, were suitable and that I didn't have any reactions from any of the new products I bought. Instead of the canned aerosol gel that used to dry my face out, I bought a shave cream from a place in BC Canada called Rocky Mountain Barber Company. Really good and just a mild sandlewood scent. I liked it so much I also picked up their aftershave balm, which is a huge improvement over the alcohol-based fire-liquid I was punishing my face with before. There's lots of great people and information here, so I hope you enjoy the forum as much as we do!

 

[ackvil]

Welcome to B&B.

 

[Rhody]

Too bad. Looks like you front loaded things you don’t like in the buy and try roulette. I try to read scent description and profiles and reviews here first. I’m not that into samples but that can be a good way to try a host of stuff. Sometimes if you set something aside for a few weeks and try it again your experience might be different. I’d suggest that with proraso and see how it goes.

 

[Jan Sobieski]

Welcome! Some suggested selling or trading what you don't like, good idea, but you could also put it aside for six months or a year and see if your reaction changes later on. Who knows?
Oh, I see Rhody just gave the same advice with a shorter temporal spectrum forecast but I'll just leave what I wrote about waiting on trying your stuff again.

 

[La Malice]

Welcome to B&B.
The Merkur 34C is a good razor paired with an Astra SP or GSB, to name but two.
Pity about the Proraso Sandalwood ASL but I am intrigued why it gives you a headache; one of the ingedients perhaps. First time I have come across a problem with that particular ASL.

Do you mind giving the full name of the gsb blade ? Gillette Stainless steel "?"

 

[Invicta]

Do you mind giving the full name of the gsb blade ? Gillette Stainless steel "?"

Gillette Silver Blue, one of my favourite blades.

 

[Running With Scissors]

Welcome Pressroll, sorry you had a bad experience with Proraso Red, it's one of my favorites.......it's a good thing there's so much to choose from..

 

[Pressroll]

I want to thank everyone for the encouraging words. Since I first made my post I was able to find samples of other soaps as well as other members here supplying me with soaps and blades to try. The community here is great and I am so glad I joined. I plan to do a PIF in the future (they seem to be popular here!) and will include the Proraso Red items I have as well as anything else I don't plan on keeping. Thanks again and keep up the good work everyone!!

 

[South Dakota Guy]

Welcome to B&B! If you liked using the Arko shave stick (but not the scent) let me recommend La Toja shave sticks. It makes a wonderful lather. It is my go to when I am in the mood for face lathering. The scent isn't near as strong as Arko. It can be found on Amazon.

 

[Ivo4u2]

Welcome to the funny farm of shave addicts anonymous.

Proraso is a tad synthetic so really easy to understand make someone happy on the Bst section of bb!

Arko, great soap let it air for a month or so and it looses some of its aroma.

Stirling makes some real nice scents and quality soap for a great price. Recommend ordering some sample pucks (a sample puck will let you shave a couple of weeks!) and go from there. Be aware they have sheep tallow and normal tallow based soap. I prefer the beeeeeeh!.
For now you can always take the unscented witch hazel and asb to finish.
There are plenty of nice products out there have fun with the journey