First DE shave!

gunfixrjoe

gunfixrjoe

Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
2,553
Got my goodies today from Xander. Again can't thank him enough. So here goes....

Hot shower with a good scrub.
Shave Secret pre oil
Lathered together VDH deluxe with a little dab of Real Shaving Co cream with my new boar brush
Merkur 23c with Personna blade
Pure witch hazel rub after followed by Aqua Velva


I went slow and gentle and got no nicks. It was comfortable, but I can definitely feel a little roughness still there. I'll chalk it up to being a little too cautious. All in all I think I see why you guys like this so much.

Thanks again Xander. You da man!!!!
 
You'll get the hang of it. I think I'm in my 2nd year of using a DE. I had a rough and bloody start but now, I'm sold and won't go back. I set aside a good 10 minutes to shave. I usually do 2 passes (lather + shave X 2) and do opposite directions with each shave. Smooth as a baby's butt now.
 
Thats about what I do. Yes, it gives a nice close, fresh shaved feel. I enjoy it thru the day. DM
 
I do 3-4 passes, depending on what razor I am using, to get BBS shaves. Think of it this way, that cartridge razor you have been using has multiple blades and it tugs with one blade and cuts with the next. Each blade gets less lubrication than the blade before it, and it that when the whisker is pulled and cut it can be cut bellow the surface of your skin and cause ingrown hairs and minor irritation. The multiple bladed cartridges also cut the whisker ant an angle adding to the chance of ingrown hairs.

With a DE razor you only have one blade cutting per pass, it gets full lubrication, but you need to do multiple passes to get the multiple blade effect. The bonus is that the whisker doesn't get pulled and cut and cuts flatter, lessening the chance of ingrown hairs. Yes DE shaving takes longer than cartridge shaving, but I look at it as a little me time and its worth it.
 
It's all good. I really enjoyed the shave. I don't forsee myself going back to cartridges. My actual plan is to someday work myself up to a straight shave. I also already can feel less irritation.
 
When I switched it was an instant improvement. Ever since Gillette moved from the 2 bladed cartridge Atra I had been suffering from really bad irritation on my neck and rarely shaved because of it. I was searching for some sort of alternative or solution for my neck irritation when I stumbled on to DE shaving. I new about DE razors, watched my father shave with one for years, but had some misgivings about it. After some friendly advise from here and B&B, I made the switch and never looked back. Shaving it no longer a chore with painful results, its now 30 minutes of "me" time that I enjoy.
 
Awesome Joe! Glad everything made it there ok.

My routine is fill the sink with water as hot as it can get, drop my bowl and brush in it, take a shower, I use m hair conditioner as a preshave to soften my beard, get out and don't dry my face, make my lather with C.O. Bigelow, take a hot wet towel and hold it over my face for one minute, lather up and start WITH THE GRAIN first, wipe my face with a wet towel, the second pass is ACROSS THE GRAIN, and depending on how its going I might do another across the grain pass, and finally I finish up with AGAINST THE GRAIN and some buffing in a few problem areas. Wpe down with cold towel and touch up any weepers cause by Peter Pan Syndrome, let my face dry while I clean my brush and bowl and put everything away, then a liberal dose of Nivea sensitive skin ASB. I let that soak in while I do my hair and follow up with a couple shots of whatever cologne suits the day.

I recommend letting your beard go for an extra day than normal take a dry cotton ball and rub it against your face to map out exactly how your beard grows. It might surprise you, I have a couple spots that lay sideways under my chin that I could never get BBS until I found out how best to shave them.

Sounds like your off to a good start, just don't get over zealous and drop one of those feather blades in there, it took my a while before I could use them without bleedin on a regular basis. Now they're all I use, but like I mentioned in the letter, try to pick up some Astra Superior Platinum blades, great balance between keenness and longevity. Deffinitely worth trying.


-Xander!
 
gunfixrjoe said:
What do you mean by 'buffing'?
Click to expand...

mantic59, an infrequent poster here, has a number of entries on Youtube on the topic of wet shaving you might find watch-worthy...

[video=youtube;mfb22jUXLLs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfb22jUXLLs[/video]
 
I strongly recommend starting with only WTG passes for a week or more. Then add one XTG pass for a week or more. Then, finally add the ATG pass.
 
unky_gumbi said:
I do 3-4 passes, depending on what razor I am using, to get BBS shaves. Think of it this way, that cartridge razor you have been using has multiple blades and it tugs with one blade and cuts with the next. Each blade gets less lubrication than the blade before it, and it that when the whisker is pulled and cut it can be cut bellow the surface of your skin and cause ingrown hairs and minor irritation. The multiple bladed cartridges also cut the whisker ant an angle adding to the chance of ingrown hairs.

With a DE razor you only have one blade cutting per pass, it gets full lubrication, but you need to do multiple passes to get the multiple blade effect. The bonus is that the whisker doesn't get pulled and cut and cuts flatter, lessening the chance of ingrown hairs. Yes DE shaving takes longer than cartridge shaving, but I look at it as a little me time and its worth it.
Click to expand...

I hear this a lot on shaving forums, but I don't know much I believe it.

What is meant by, "Cartridges use the 'before' blades to pull and then the 'after' blades to cut?" The "before" blades pull the hair for the "after" ones to cut? The blades are too far apart for this to happen, so I don't see how that is.

And then in regards to shaving cream not being there for lubricant on the 2nd and 3rd/4th/5th/nth blades... What about the whole "use short, light strokes with a DE?" You obviously pass the same spots a little bit lightly when doing this, i.e. you're still passing the blade over unlubbed skin.

With all of that said, I certainly get a better and more comfortable shave with a DE compared with a razor. I just don't think it's because of the reasons we commonly hear repeated on forums.
 
The tug and pull is right from the P&G ads as early as the Trac II (released in 1971). My beard is dense enough that I would get some that are still being pulled by the leading blade when the following blade starts cutting, but the marketing was more that the first blade would pull the hair up and out a bit before cutting it and the following blade would catch that hair and cut it again before it had a chance to return. P&G have updated their ads so say they have "reduced the tug and pull" with thinner, sharper blades, but its still there. With a DE razor there is no way you would get that. It may tug and pull a bit, but you would have to be real fast to get that blade back on the same hair before it relaxed to its natural position. I don't know how old you are, but I am just old enough to remember the Trac II (I was all of 7 years old) commercial in this YouTube video, and my father grumbling about it not being a smooth as his old razor. I wish that old razor was still around, if I remember it right it was a Fatboy:o, or a Slim. Knowing my father it was an early Fatboy, he liked to hold on to things that worked and were built well:p

[video=youtube;DUqS05SYVCw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUqS05SYVCw[/video]

About the only time I run my blade over the same spot without relathering is during buffing, and I buff in such a way that I actually lay down some lather with each backstroke. When buffing with a DE I don't lift the razor off my face, that is how I get lather back.
 
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