New to DE's Looking for Razor Suggestions+Noob Guide

Well, shave number three was the same as before, except with a Israeli Personna Red. Wow. Unbelievable. Night and day difference. I shaved one pass with the grain like my two previous shaves. Zero razor burn. Zero nicks or cuts. It was a totally different shave. Got the same with the grain smoothness, but zero razor burn anywhere. I'm so happy.

I finally get it now. I still need to work on technique, but this was a massive step. Its so different. Granted, I am still going extremely slowly, but that will improve with time.
 
TriviaMonster said:
Well, shave number three was the same as before, except with a Israeli Personna Red. Wow. Unbelievable. Night and day difference. I shaved one pass with the grain like my two previous shaves. Zero razor burn. Zero nicks or cuts. It was a totally different shave. Got the same with the grain smoothness, but zero razor burn anywhere. I'm so happy.

I finally get it now. I still need to work on technique, but this was a massive step. Its so different. Granted, I am still going extremely slowly, but that will improve with time.
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That is good to hear. Derby's work for some folks. Others, not so much.

I can get by with them but prefer other blades. I had a pimple on my chin this a.m. and didn't notice it. My feather lopped it right off. Bled a bit but I didn't even notice it until I saw the red. Hadn't cut myself in so long I wasn't used to seeing that color at that time of the morning.

I haven't tried the Personna reds yet but I hear great things about them. I went retro lately and have purchased a 65 Gillette slim, a 48-50s model Super speed, and a 55 blue tip. No cash for anything else right now.

Sounds like you are getting good results now. If you are like me, you will want to try all the soaps and creams that others rave about.
 
I have three creams so far, RazoRock Cocoa, RazoRock Artisan Chianti Lavender, and C.O. Bigelow by Proraso. I have tried the Cocoa, and the C.O. Bigelow as of tonight. Both have given me a great shave with the Personna Red's. Really found my groove here and I have just been enjoying the past couple of shaves, it's very relaxing without the razor burn.

I would recommend the Personna Red's if anyone is having issues with finding a smooth, sharp (but not Feather sharp from what I understand) blade. It is very smooth.

Thanks to everybody for all your help, it has really paid off!
 
They are kind of like rubbing sharp warm butter across the face aren't they:p I really don't like saying "use blade X it is a wonder blade" because everyone has different results with the same blade. If there wsa one blade I would say try it to, it would be the IP Red, they are the closest thing I have found to a wonder blade. Just to cover my own butt I must include YMMV:p
 
Yeah unky, I see what you are saying. Sorry, I just got excited when I found a blade that worked so well. But I would say, objectively, that they are sharper than the Derby blades I was using. Smoothness is a subjective thing I guess.

Anywho, I have two shaves now with the Personna Red's. What a difference. I'm not committing to only these though. I will try the Crystal, Astra, and Feather's in a couple weeks after I get some more practice under my belt.
 
Congrats TriviaMonster! Seems like you're getting the hang of this a heck of a lot quicker than I did :p I'm really going to have to try some of those Personna Red's. If it's not too much trouble would you mind updating us with how you feel they compare to the Feathers, once you've gotten around to trying them? I know others have commented on it in this thread but since you're the OP and since you've already given us some insight into your experiences so far it'd be interesting (for myself at least) to see how they work out for you.
 
When I get around to trying the Feather's I will definitely post with my experience.

Oh, and my secret to getting the hang of it so fast? Haha, it's embarassing. I only put shave cream on about 1/4 of my face at a time. My whole shave takes about 1-1.5 hours start to finish. I know, HOLY !@#$, but I'm getting faster. I have found doing it this way allows me to go very slowly and makes sure my shaving cream doesn't turn to dust before I get to shave it off my face. My shaves have been getting progressively faster, and time is no factor since I have been shaving at night.

Proceed to make fun of me now that you know my secret.:p
 
If your lather is turning to dust, use more soap/cream. I know it sounds opposite of what you should do, but it works. I was having the same problem with my lather and my first thought was to add more water, but it only compounded the problem. Logically I went the other way and now my lather will out last my shave. I think what is going on is the extra soap keeps the water from evaporating, but I an no scientist.

My normal shave takes me about 30-45 minutes to do 4 passes. I can go faster but why shouldn't I enjoy the shave for all its worth. When I first started I was over an hour for a 3 pass shave and I never felt the need to rush it then either, the time just came down as I went along. Come to think of it I miss those long shaves:grumpy:

:p
 
TriviaMonster said:
My whole shave takes about 1-1.5 hours start to finish.

Proceed to make fun of me now that you know my secret.:p
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Speed will come. While I never invested that long in a shave, I can't really fault you for doing so...especially since you are getting such good results.

It takes me about 20 minutes to shave and that is including prep, clean up, and drying time between witch hazel and aftershaves.

My razor collection is slowly getting out of hand. The two Jaggers, two Gillettes found locally for 2.95 (super speed) and 3.95 for a blue tip, a pristine Slim adjustable that should be in tomorrow's mail, and after snooping around, discovered that I am getting a vintage ball end gold Tech for Father's day.

I'm going to need a bigger bathroom.
 
Thats only 6 by my count, you have a ways to go yet, I try to keep my herd of razors under 20, and most of the time I do it.
 
Two passes here... eleven minutes flat from first turn of the faucet to last wipe of the counter (the job is not done until the tools are put away and the job site is clean). (I don't count the time spent weighing the soap because that's just a temporary thing while I get through my current soap evaluation project.)
 
Weighing the soap, Gollnick you jokester. Even though your serious. How many shaves from a soap are getting? Depends on soap I know, just curious.

Also, everyone takes the blade out of their razor and cleans the razor thoroughly before putting it away right? Or is that silly and it doesn't need to be cleaned everytime?
 
I just loosen the top and give the razor a good rinse under hot water, shake it off and put it away. My shave cabinet is well ventilated so they dry real fast. I clean my razors when I feel they needed it or I am bored:eek:.

I guess you could say I am the opposite of Gollnick, because I don't care about how long my soaps last, and I have been known to use a blade once and toss it just because I felt like a change. While I don't consider shaving a hobby, I do look at it as a pleasure, sort of the male equivalent to the long hot bath that so many women like, so why not enjoy it. Traditional wet shaving connects on so many levels it, you get people like Gollnick at one end and at the other end you get the extreme collectors that are willing to pay insane amounts of money to get a single razor. then there are all the combinations of the two that fall in the middle covering everything else.

Shaving is very much like the knife thing, utilitarian right through to the high end customs.
 
TriviaMonster said:
Also, everyone takes the blade out of their razor and cleans the razor thoroughly before putting it away right? Or is that silly and it doesn't need to be cleaned everytime?
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I never take the blades out for cleaning.....I just hose it down good with 70 percent alcohol after the final rinse. Then I wipe it down and the alcohol evaporates the rest of the water I can't get to with the towel.

I change blades quite often....I rarely go more than three or four days without changing them out.

I am hoping that either the Slim or the Tech I am getting soon like Derby blades as I have about 80 of them left. If not, I am going to pay them forward.

As far as soaps and creams and how long they last? Varies for me. I seem to get a ton of mileage out of Conk pucks, less for the VDH luxury, and a tube of Bigelow seems to last me maybe 30 shaves? Maybe a few less.

I like a lot of lather though and use plenty of product. This morning's lather was outstanding (Bigelow). Overflowing my bowl.

I got to get a scuttle to keep it warm.
 
I can see how a scuttle needs to be my next purchase now! More bowls to store the different soaps. Touch the brush to load it then lather up in the scuttle separately? That's the part I'm a little lost, the soaps that come in a bowl or cake. Or do you lather right on top of the soap? So far I used a sample squeeze pack and just put some in a bowl. There's a lot left in that pack so it will go far when traveling!
 
PapaTango52 said:
I can see how a scuttle needs to be my next purchase now! More bowls to store the different soaps. Touch the brush to load it then lather up in the scuttle separately? That's the part I'm a little lost, the soaps that come in a bowl or cake. Or do you lather right on top of the soap? So far I used a sample squeeze pack and just put some in a bowl. There's a lot left in that pack so it will go far when traveling!
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If I get a scuttle....and I am sure I will once this last vintage Gillette purchase is paid off, I'll use it as a lathering bowl similar to the way I use my pewter bowl. I keep a cake of VDH in a VDH apothecary mug and a cake of Conk Almond in an Old Spice mug. I can load the brush in those and then transfer over to the pewter bowl to whip up lather.

Or, if I am in a hurry, I just lather in the mugs the cakes are in. They are just a bit small to get a nice big lather so it is more of a face lathering process when I do it that way.

The pewter bowl is nice for whipping up a big lather with creams. I'm getting better and better at producing the lather that way. Seems like each time I do it, I get better results in quicker time.

But a scuttle would be nice to keep that lather warm/hot. Probably the final touch to an already luxurious daily experience.
 
I load the brush in the bowl the soaps came in (generally a plastic disposable one), then lather in a separate bowl (cheapo that came with my VDH deluxe shaving kit). Haven't had much luck with face lathering outside of my C.O. Bigelow crea, which lathers easily on my face, but you still need a bowl to load up the brush as far as I can tell.

I will post again tonight or tomorrow about tonight's shave. I haven't shaved in a few days and am looking forward to it.
 
PapaTango52 said:
I can see how a scuttle needs to be my next purchase now! More bowls to store the different soaps. Touch the brush to load it then lather up in the scuttle separately? That's the part I'm a little lost, the soaps that come in a bowl or cake. Or do you lather right on top of the soap? So far I used a sample squeeze pack and just put some in a bowl. There's a lot left in that pack so it will go far when traveling!
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I've had my scuttle for some time now and I absolutely love it. Mine is a Sara Bonnyman Moss scuttle.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! Those Saras look very nice. I spotted a bowl from Tiffany for the wife I think she's going to love and silver has anti-microbial properties too. She used the Parker yesterday with much contortion (hahhaha) but great success. Still going very slowly and carefully. She even cleaned up her side of counter!!! Things are looking good here.
 
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