- Messages
- 13
So second shave - second post - second go around with the Merkur 34C!
I won't pretend I'm shaving well yet. Some patches just underneath the nose still look like I only did one feeble barely-shaved pass. (My whole face basically looks like one pass behind the three I did - hah!) BUT crucially I can actually go out to work this way unlike before.
Three things were less intimidating this time :
- comfortably holding the short handle
- the non-pivoting razor head
- the radically different feel and sound of the blade slicing my hair off.
I should emphasise how much more comfortable the razor felt between my fingers this time - that part just did not click first time probably due to Gillette Fusion withdrawal symptoms.
I've stacked the deck towards safety rather than closeness by using Derby Extras which seems to have paid off with no cuts. The trade off is the closeness but I'm not gonna be arrogant enough to blame the tool. I'm gonna heed guru "mantic59" 's advice, stick with the same blade type, refine my technique first, and then after some improvement move up to the Astra Greens I originally intended to.
This is clearly a gradual learning curve for me, possibly more so than most. I haven't even tried across the grain yet. But that'll be what I do next now I can actually hold the damn thing. I will say this though - the easier parts of my face such as around the sideburns do actually feel smoother and surprisingly the stubble overall feels significantly less sharp than my cartridge days. Maybe that's the pre-shave, the Proraso, the blade, - whatever it is I'm definitely enjoying the switch.
(I gave a little account of popping the DE cherry in this post here : http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/into-battle.47008/#post-708110 .)
I won't pretend I'm shaving well yet. Some patches just underneath the nose still look like I only did one feeble barely-shaved pass. (My whole face basically looks like one pass behind the three I did - hah!) BUT crucially I can actually go out to work this way unlike before.
Three things were less intimidating this time :
- comfortably holding the short handle
- the non-pivoting razor head
- the radically different feel and sound of the blade slicing my hair off.
I should emphasise how much more comfortable the razor felt between my fingers this time - that part just did not click first time probably due to Gillette Fusion withdrawal symptoms.
I've stacked the deck towards safety rather than closeness by using Derby Extras which seems to have paid off with no cuts. The trade off is the closeness but I'm not gonna be arrogant enough to blame the tool. I'm gonna heed guru "mantic59" 's advice, stick with the same blade type, refine my technique first, and then after some improvement move up to the Astra Greens I originally intended to.
This is clearly a gradual learning curve for me, possibly more so than most. I haven't even tried across the grain yet. But that'll be what I do next now I can actually hold the damn thing. I will say this though - the easier parts of my face such as around the sideburns do actually feel smoother and surprisingly the stubble overall feels significantly less sharp than my cartridge days. Maybe that's the pre-shave, the Proraso, the blade, - whatever it is I'm definitely enjoying the switch.
(I gave a little account of popping the DE cherry in this post here : http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk/community/index.php?threads/into-battle.47008/#post-708110 .)