Alrighty then, I'm jumping in with both feet. Here we go!

Magnaminous_G

Magnaminous_G

Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
2,090
Gonna feel the hit in my wallet, but screw it, might as well jump in with both feet if I'm gonna do it. Got this on order, put in today:

Merkur Futur, Satin Finish
Feather Razor Blades
Vulfix 2234 Brush
Taylor of Old Bond Street Lavender Shaving Cream
Thayer Witch Hazel Astringent With Aloe
Spilo My Nik Is Sealed Styptic Pen
Super Safety Razors Large Stainless Steel Shaving Soap Bowl
Edwin Jagger Chrome Razor and Shaving Brush Stand
 
Good stuff.

It's not as hard as a straight to learn, but there still is a slight learning curve to DEs. I nicked myself up pretty good my first time with my DE. Keep that in mind before you judge by your first shave.
 
No bad choices there at all!

But, not sure it will satisfy all your DE yearnings....this thing is compulsive:D:eek:
 
Magnaminous_G said:
Merkur Futur, Satin Finish
Feather Razor Blades
Vulfix 2234 Brush
Taylor of Old Bond Street Lavender Shaving Cream
Thayer Witch Hazel Astringent With Aloe
Spilo My Nik Is Sealed Styptic Pen
Super Safety Razors Large Stainless Steel Shaving Soap Bowl
Edwin Jagger Chrome Razor and Shaving Brush Stand
Click to expand...

That's a good kit.

I would suggest adding a blade bank box such as shown HERE for a buck.

I would also suggest an assortment of blades. I find that Feathers work wonderfully in my Futur; I used one today and got a superb shave. But, it wouldn't hurt to try a few others. BTW, if you e-mail or PM me your postal address, I'll send you a few BIC, Dorco, and Derby blades to try as my gift.
 
Gollnick said:
That's a good kit.

I would also suggest an assortment of blades.
Click to expand...

This, not everyone will find the same blade works for them. I personally can't use Feathers or Derbies, yet I like the way Dorco St-301s work for me where others hate them. I think finding the right blade for you is second only to technique to getting an amazing shave. Also check out Mantic59s youtube channel, there is more information there than you could get in 6 months of asking questions
 
Excellent choices, Mag G.

I have been doing some research on DE shaving over the last six weeks or so, and all your product choices have really good reviews.

+1 on Mantic59 You Tube vids. Very instructive if you are new to to wet shaving, and even some of us old dogs have learned some new tricks from his videos.
 
BlueyM said:
Excellent choices, Mag G.

I have been doing some research on DE shaving over the last six weeks or so, and all your product choices have really good reviews.

+1 on Mantic59 You Tube vids. Very instructive if you are new to to wet shaving, and even some of us old dogs have learned some new tricks from his videos.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I researched for a good couple of weeks before pulling the trigger, spending quite a bit of time lurking on here and on B&B. I just can't wait to get it all. So far, only the Merkur has arrived; the rest should get here this week! The Merkur Futur is a beauty, very heavy and industrial looking.

My ultimate dream is to start shaving at night, every night last thing before I go to bed, taking my time with the prep and lather, doing 3 or 4 passes, and getting a shave so BBS that it lasts throughout the next working day. Ahhh... that would be great. No more rushing my shave in the morning with that god-awful smelling, greenish-blue Gillette goo. No more beating the hell out of my poor skin (I've got sensitive skin) with those expensive, plastic Mach3 cartridges. In fact, I'm going to say, "Sayanora" to the Gillette company forever.

But I'm gonna do it the right way, knock wood... the slow way. I'm gonna do one WTG pass for the first few weeks or so, and then move to 2 WTG passes. Then, I'll move on to XTG. I read someone on B&B say that a newbie shouldn't move on to ATG until he has mastered his equipment and mastered WTG and XTG for three months. That's what I plan to do. I'll update my progress here. :D
 
The only problem with getting the BBS just before going to bed is that you will lay awake faceterbating all night:p

I stayed with with the grain for a few days, but less then a week before adding in ATG. I firmly believe that it is impossible to get a BBS without going ATG. The trick is to go slow and get comfortable with your razor. Being that you have been reading on B&B you know the no pressure motto and they mean it, your hand is only there to guide the razor and hold it at the proper angle.

I have been wet shaving with a DE for about 18 months now and it still takes me 30+ minutes to shave, after I get out of the shower, but I do a minimum of 4 passes. I always start with a north to south pass then do an angled pass down from nose to jaw line. After that I do a combination pass where I go right to left across my neck, and ear to chin pass on my cheeks. Then and only then do I do an ATG pass (south to north) with a bit of J hooking along the underside of the jaw to maintain the ATG.

Everyone's beard grows different, so what works for me or someone else may not work for you. Don't be afraid to try different things once you get comfortable with the DE razor.
 
Shaving just before retiring is actually very good. Provided you are not totally worn-out you can take your time and get an ultra close one. Getting it really close will last the day through, but I could never see how people achieve a really close shave by only shaving in one direction, can't get a result there! I shave against/with/across+ and if you take it carefully, you won't get irritation or nicks.

I also think shaving just before sleeping promotes a decent night's rest, job well done.
 
Shaving in the morning, provided you don't have to rush, is one of life's little luxuries IMO. I love the feel of warm lather and a smooth shave with a quality razor and the bracing feeling of a good aftershave.

I'm an old fashioned type, and I use a Merkur 34HD razor with Feather DE blades and Wahl Bay Rum After Shave.

I think my Grandad (1885- 1970) would have approved of my shaving choices, and in this day and age of so much instant and throwaway stuff, that's a Good Thing.
 
The Futur is a great razor, IMHO. Played with Feather blades with mine and a tab bit aggressive for me. . .even when spinning the adjustment down.

As mentioned already, look around for places that sell blade sample packages. Having four DE razors, I've found each perform differently - depending on the blade. Although, I have two razors that have performed exceptionally well with about anything I put in them. My Futur has been somewhat picky.

Another suggestion. . . .an alum block.
 
Okay guys, I had my first wet shave last night. All my gear finally arrived yesterday.

I meditated for a while in preparation (not really... but I did take a few deep breaths and think deeply about all I'd read/seen), and I shaved right before going to bed. I did the prep recommended on B&B here: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/How_to_pre-shave_prep. I had a 4-day stubble, which is pretty long, I guess. I did two passes, both WTG, with the Merkur Futur dialed to "1." Result: uneventful, not very close actually, not scary at all, pretty intuitive, no nicks. I think it's because I read the forums and watched those YouTube videos so many times that it was almost second-nature. My goal was not BBS or even DFS. My goal right now is just to avoid bloodshed. I don't like pain.

Reflections: The water from my tap doesn't get very hot at night. I think I'm going to buy one of those water-boiler thingies after work today to get quick, hot water at the sink. Also, the stainless steel shaving bowl I bought is very light and the bottom is hollow (like an upside-down bowl), so it floats in the sink. I might eventually look into a Scuttle or something like that. Can anyone recommend a good one? I think for my next shave, I'm going to dial the Futur to "2" to get a little more agression out of the shave, but I'm still going to stay WTG for a week or more.

Finished with cold rinse, Witch Hazel, and Nivea Sensitive Skin ASB. I can't really comment on the performance of the razor, brush, or cream because... well... they're the first--and only--ones I've ever used, so I have nothing to compare them to. I can say that the Edwin Jagger stand is good, nice and heavy and attractive and fits my razor and brush perfectly.

- Mag
 
I whip up my lather in a cappuccino mug, lots of room to maneuver without hitting the sides and it has a rounded bottom so there is no corners to worry about. It is also heavy ceramic so it holds the heat well. I get three passes before the lather cools off most times. Best thing about my mug is it was free, someone brought it to work because they didn't like it or use it and were looking to give it away.
 
You're doing fine. You're going to have this down pretty well in a week or ten days.

Yes, move up to f/2.0. But, keep in mind that the Futur gets agressive fast as you dial 'er up. Two is good; stop there for a few shaves.

I also suspect that you suffered from to many day's growth. Four days is a lot to mow down with just two WTG passes. Tomorrow will be better as you will be attacking only one day's growth.
 
Second wet shave:

I bought an electric water kettle after work today and used it to keep some water hot during my shave. Big improvement. I also bought one of those steel vacuum bowls that retains heat, large enough to sit my stainless shaving bowl inside. I used a hacksaw, hammer, and pry-bar to make two slits in the shaving bowl base so that it doesn't float in water anymore. That worked: I filled the vacuum bowl with hot water and kept my shaving bowl inside it.

When I wet shaved for the first time yesterday, my lather got cold after my pre-shave prep and it wouldn't lather anymore. I had to remake my lather after my pre-shave prep. Today on the second time around, the bowl stayed warm due to the above, and I was able to get my pre-shave prep and 2 WTG passes from the same lather, so I guess it's true what they say about keeping the lather warm.

I dialed the Futur to "2" this time for both WTG passes, and it definitely had more bite on the beard. I could hear and feel it, and I was able to get the spot right under the nose (missed it yesterday). I did get a wee bit of irritation on my neck today. I know that if I tried XTG and ATG, I'd cut myself... I can sense it. One of these days, I hope I can get BBS with no irritation on a regular basis. I feel like I've got a while to go, though. I still feel patches of roughness on the sides of my mouth and right around the chin, but I don't dare try another pass.
 
With a bit of experience, you will discover the "problem" areas on your face which need a few extra strokes. I have two funny areas, one on each side of the face, each less than the area of a quarter, where the hair grows at odd angles; these areas are directly over the actual joint of the jaw and so my guess is that the irregularity in hair "grain" is due to the underlying bone structure. So, when I make my "regular" passes, I add a few quick extra strokes at angles in these two areas. This is much faster and actually more effective than adding additional full passes. You'll find these little optimizations for your face.
 
Gollnick said:
With a bit of experience, you will discover the "problem" areas on your face which need a few extra strokes. I have two funny areas, one on each side of the face, each less than the area of a quarter, where the hair grows at odd angles; these areas are directly over the actual joint of the jaw and so my guess is that the irregularity in hair "grain" is due to the underlying bone structure. So, when I make my "regular" passes, I add a few quick extra strokes at angles in these two areas. This is much faster and actually more effective than adding additional full passes. You'll find these little optimizations for your face.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll try that for my shave tomorrow now that I know my "problem" areas. I appreciate your encouragement and all the great info you post on this forum! :)
 
Gollnick said:
With a bit of experience, you will discover the "problem" areas on your face which need a few extra strokes. I have two funny areas, one on each side of the face, each less than the area of a quarter, where the hair grows at odd angles; these areas are directly over the actual joint of the jaw and so my guess is that the irregularity in hair "grain" is due to the underlying bone structure. So, when I make my "regular" passes, I add a few quick extra strokes at angles in these two areas. This is much faster and actually more effective than adding additional full passes. You'll find these little optimizations for your face.
Click to expand...

Yup! My problem area is the hollow of my neck on my right side. The hairs grow at a nearly horizontal angle that makes an against-the-grain pass difficult to achieve.
 
Fourth wet shave:

Again, 2 passes WTG. It's not that I'm an especially patient person, but I can "feel" that I will cut myself if I try XTG. I dialed the Futur to position "2.5" for a little bit more aggression in the shave, and I'm glad I did. I got more feedback from the blade.

I read a lot more on the forums these days, too, and I'm too tired to list it all, but suffice to say that I got better lather this time by using more shaving cream and whipping it better to make a thicker, peakier lather that was much slicker than my first 3 shaves. For my 3rd shave, I had a bit of blade "skipping" which I learned was due to my lather being bad (too much water, not thick or slick enough). Today, for the 4th shave, I fixed the lather problem and had no more skipping.

I also focused more today on breaking my Gillette Mach3 bad habit of trying to perform long, slow passes with pressure. I suspected that that was partly the reason I got slight irritation before. I consciously tried to use quicker, shorter, lighter passes, and the results felt and looked much better this time. On my lower-neck, instead of craning my neck and going with the grain, I relaxed my neck, lowered my head, and went for straight up-and-down passes. Much better. I could hear the blade shaving the hairs, and I didn't get any irritation afterward.

I've decided now that I don't really like the steel shaving bowl. Maybe it's because I'm using a relatively large brush (Vulfix 2234), but there's not much room to swirl around in it, and the lather overflows past the lip. Plus it's just very light and doesn't hold heat. I think I want to get one of those large scuttles from one of the popular potteries: Georgetown, Dirty Bird, or Becker. I like the idea of filling a scuttle's inside chamber with hot water to keep lather warm.

Still no blood and gore, so I'm very happy that I've avoided that so far, although I've "felt" a few close calls in the sensitive regions (upper lip area). It's interesting when I look at my face closely in the mirror now; the effect of the DE razor looks different from the effect of the Gillette Mach3... it looks like it creates a different effect on the skin and beard hairs. I am very much looking forward to the day when I can confidently get an XTG pass in with no pain. And afterward rubbing my hand along my face and feeling BBS. For the moment, though, my shave is definitely better now than a pass or two with the Mach3, but it's still not actually smooth when I rub my fingers against the grain. I'll keep practicing.

Funny thing is I also find that I like shaving at night now. Not a chore, at all. In fact, I kind of look forward to it. :)
 
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