Tomorrow will be 1 month since I moved from a lifetime of cartridges to a DE razor (and also a month since my embarrassing thread 'First Time Out - Won't Cut'! https://theshavingroom.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/first-time-out-wont-cut.48001/).
I'm getting good shaves now with rare occurrences of blood-letting and there were 2 things which made a huge difference to my shave and thought I'd share them:
The first thing was razor angle. I'd watched a lot of youtube shavers and they seemed to be holding the razor so the handle was largely pointing towards the floor, and copying this (in my approximation) I was trying to shave with far too high a blade angle (too 'low' a handle), therefore not cutting effectively and dragging the edge of the blade across my face rather than slicing. Raising the handle up was my first revelation. Seems obvious, but it wasn't at first.
The second thing is using more water to build lather. Lather consistency is difficult to learn, because what reference do you have? You can build a thick looking lather that looks like it'd be fine, and indeed does allow you to shave very well, but as time has progressed I've experimented with varying amounts of water and find that rather than relying on the water held by the brush, I'll add a few drops more a couple of times while I bowl lather, way beyond what I would ever have considered at first, and ultimately the lather will take on a shiny appearance and it is this which has given me access to truly enjoyable, close shaves.
I'm also trying to moderate the amount of cream I put in the bowl to build the lather. At first a tiny amount just didn't seem enough, but even a good fingertip's worth is probably 3 times what you need (3 pass shave, plus enough lather for another 10 passes thrown down the sink at the end). The amount of cream obviously needs balancing with the amount of water you're using to build the lather, so all in all I think I'm adding a LOT more water to the cream than originally. This has been something I had to work out for myself, but I think is important.
Another good piece of advice, which carried over from my obsession with fragrances some years ago, is never buy anything other than a basic budget product without sampling it first somehow. You will waste so much money buying based on reviews or other people's comments. Definitely start out with something basic to get you going and then seek out products in some way you can get a sampler to try or at least smell them in a store somewhere. Alternatively pick up the software being flipped in the BSTs because at least you're likely to get your money back if/when you don't like them.
Overall I know now I will never go back to cartridges. I've managed to keep my spending kind-of under control (I have 2 razors, 2 brushes, 300 blades, 3 tubs and 2 tubes of shaving cream, 1 after shave and 3 balms, alum block, styptic matches, and a cheap pre-shave oil from Sainsburys which I've stopped using), and know this is already a stupid amount, but has not been a substantial investment at all for what is part necessity and part hobby, and I don't have to think to buy the monthly can of goo or order more cartridges ever again. I should be good for 3 years with what I've got now - though of course it's easy to be swayed when the enjoyment factor is high. I'm always looking to be tempted, but only window shopping.
I'm very glad I tried DE shaving. I'd been seeing plenty of people talking about it on other forums I'm a member of and always passed it over as faff until one day for no real reason I thought I had to try it. Everyone should.
I'm getting good shaves now with rare occurrences of blood-letting and there were 2 things which made a huge difference to my shave and thought I'd share them:
The first thing was razor angle. I'd watched a lot of youtube shavers and they seemed to be holding the razor so the handle was largely pointing towards the floor, and copying this (in my approximation) I was trying to shave with far too high a blade angle (too 'low' a handle), therefore not cutting effectively and dragging the edge of the blade across my face rather than slicing. Raising the handle up was my first revelation. Seems obvious, but it wasn't at first.
The second thing is using more water to build lather. Lather consistency is difficult to learn, because what reference do you have? You can build a thick looking lather that looks like it'd be fine, and indeed does allow you to shave very well, but as time has progressed I've experimented with varying amounts of water and find that rather than relying on the water held by the brush, I'll add a few drops more a couple of times while I bowl lather, way beyond what I would ever have considered at first, and ultimately the lather will take on a shiny appearance and it is this which has given me access to truly enjoyable, close shaves.
I'm also trying to moderate the amount of cream I put in the bowl to build the lather. At first a tiny amount just didn't seem enough, but even a good fingertip's worth is probably 3 times what you need (3 pass shave, plus enough lather for another 10 passes thrown down the sink at the end). The amount of cream obviously needs balancing with the amount of water you're using to build the lather, so all in all I think I'm adding a LOT more water to the cream than originally. This has been something I had to work out for myself, but I think is important.
Another good piece of advice, which carried over from my obsession with fragrances some years ago, is never buy anything other than a basic budget product without sampling it first somehow. You will waste so much money buying based on reviews or other people's comments. Definitely start out with something basic to get you going and then seek out products in some way you can get a sampler to try or at least smell them in a store somewhere. Alternatively pick up the software being flipped in the BSTs because at least you're likely to get your money back if/when you don't like them.
Overall I know now I will never go back to cartridges. I've managed to keep my spending kind-of under control (I have 2 razors, 2 brushes, 300 blades, 3 tubs and 2 tubes of shaving cream, 1 after shave and 3 balms, alum block, styptic matches, and a cheap pre-shave oil from Sainsburys which I've stopped using), and know this is already a stupid amount, but has not been a substantial investment at all for what is part necessity and part hobby, and I don't have to think to buy the monthly can of goo or order more cartridges ever again. I should be good for 3 years with what I've got now - though of course it's easy to be swayed when the enjoyment factor is high. I'm always looking to be tempted, but only window shopping.
I'm very glad I tried DE shaving. I'd been seeing plenty of people talking about it on other forums I'm a member of and always passed it over as faff until one day for no real reason I thought I had to try it. Everyone should.
