What and where should a new wet shaver for his first month of shaving

[Jens]

One beautiful thing about DE shaving, even as a hobby/passion, is that you really do not need to spend a lot of money, to get quality shaving products. And vice versa: spending a lot of money on expensive products, is NOT a guarantee for particularly good quality.

I will give you just one example and recommendation: boar bristle shaving brushes.
(But something similar applies in the realms of soaps, aftershaves, blades, razors ... all the way around)

You can get a "natural bristles' boar brush by the Italian company Omega, for less than ten bucks, which in terms of performance and comfort works every bit as well as a 200 dollar top of the line badger brush. I speak from years of personal experience, own many of both, over the years I have spent thousands on boar and badger brushes alone (I am not wild about synthetics, but that is just my personal preference). If you want to try a good boar, I'd recommend a smaller boar, like the Omega 10066 natural bristle boar. Or one with similar dimensions (ca 24 mm "knot", 52 mm "loft").

Welcome to Shavedom, happy journey.

 

[Osyri]

All these temptations and amazing product suggestions! @Berwick12 I will try to resist and do as I initially intended, learn to shave first and then go down the rabbit hole =D

@Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker and @cajunrph , I'll join the dark side with you guys on a later date =D

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

All these temptations and amazing product suggestions! @Berwick12 I will try to resist and do as I initially intended, learn to shave first and then go down the rabbit hole =D

@Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker and @cajunrph , I'll join the dark side with you guys on a later date =D

Hello @Osyri !

There is a very good reason why I haven't flooded your thread with beautiful pictures of my gear. I could very easily if I wanted to, but my reason not to, has been very quite strategic. First of all, I do not wish to overwhelm you this early, with the amount of luxury shaving gear that there is to have out there, including hand made items.

Secondly, as I have said above, as well as other's have said, I 100% agree, that you need to learn how to shave properly, and get used to the gear you have first. Once you start making posts that you have mastered the arts of traditional wet shaving, and begin asking what else is available out there, thats when I will post pictures of all of my gear. It is then, that I feel, you will be ready for more.

Yes, I might be a B&B enabler, but I also know what its like to be a beginner, and I know it takes time. So yes, I do have some morals afterall lol. And who knows, maybe one day you will end up being a mentholated junkie like me, I don't have many of those types of friends on B&B, so, it will be interesting to see where you end up on this journey.

Just know that I am there, for any questions that you have, regarding how to shave, tips and tricks, and as well as educating you on whats out there. Thanks for your interest in traditional wet shaving, and thanks for reminding me on what it was like being a beginner, while the anticipation of, awaiting my new shaving purchases. You always remember your first!

 

[Osyri]

Hello [US=141870]@Osyri[/USER] !

There is a very good reason why I haven't flooded your thread with beautiful pictures of my gear. I could very easily if I wanted to, but my reason not to, has been very quite strategic. First of all, I do not wish to overwhelm you this early, with the amount of luxury shaving gear that there is to have out there, including hand made items.

Secondly, as I have said above, as well as other's have said, I 100% agree, that you need to learn how to shave properly, and get used to the gear you have first. Once you start making posts that you have mastered the arts of traditional wet shaving, and begin asking what else is available out there, thats when I will post pictures of all of my gear. It is then, that I feel, you will be ready for more.

Yes, I might be a B&B enabler, but I also know what its like to be a beginner, and I know it takes time. So yes, I do have some morals afterall lol. And who knows, maybe one day you will end up being a mentholated junkie like me, I don't have many of those types of friends on B&B, so, it will be interesting to see where you end up on this journey.

Just know that I am there, for any questions that you have, regarding how to shave, tips and tricks, and as well as educating you on whats out there. Thanks for your interest in traditional wet shaving, and thanks for reminding me on what it was like being a beginner, while the anticipation of, awaiting my new shaving purchases. You always remember your first!

Haha! Big Nurse is that you? or are you just an Enabler? today is my 3rd day of registering on this community!

Palpatine disguised as a beautiful shiny razor! I have looked thru a few of you guys posting and BST!

I will not give in on my 3rd day! I will make it to 30 days, that is my goal!

 

[tomas1870]

Hello @Osyri, my suggestion as advanced newbie but with lot of razors already.. probably best to learn and very cheap for me was Merkur Progress. Very easy razor, light weight, on low setting mild to learn in some more difficult parts, but if you need it can be also effective. For me mild razors work best with sharper blades. Some people think adjustable are not for beginner, I don't think so, it is much easier and can be fun without have to pay big money (for Merkur Progress for example). Second very interesting for learning in my opinion is Muhle R41, but with more forgiving blade like Astra SP. If used without pressure, just light touch and right angle is easy to find, fantastic results. Somebody is scary of R41, it is not so bad at all in reality. It was my second razor, in first month of wet shaving.

 

[Gentleman in Japan]

@Osyri welcome to B&B

As others have wet shaving doesnt have to be $$$$ but its just that for most of us here it has become a hobby, and a good one at that I'd say.

I'm currently shaving on a budget since moving east as I still haven't managed to get the polishing compounds for my balsa strop (ironic given my geographical location lol).
I am currently rotating between Feather disposables in my DE at a cost of probably less than $5 for a pack of 10 (550JPY roughly) and even less for a pack of 10 disposable kai straights at a cost of around 250JPY. I'm getting incredible results but boy do I miss the straight Razor shave.

As others have said too, it could be that your Razor is not the right one. So put in draw and try another. I'm using an old Goodfella DE which frankly is not the best but with a Feather blade it does what I need for now.

Also I recommend a good preshave oil too. Have found that makes a big difference in shave feel but also in post shave feel too. I only do 1 pass and maybe a second on cheeks only and get BBS every day. I'm now shaving 6 or 7 days per week too and get a Monday morning BBS shave even on a Thursday lol.

Keep at it and keep asking questions. There are many esteemed gentleman here who really know about shaving.