- Messages
- 277
- Location
- Preston, Lancs, UK
Just had my first ever DE shave. Was quite an interesting experience and one with a major lesson learnt.
I decided mid last week to dump the electric and get back to wet shaving, but this time "proper" shaving, as, having been reading up on this for a few weeks now, I kind of like the whole "ritual / me time" feeling of it.
I ordered a DE89 from amazon, which has stupidly still refused to arrive, so this afternoon, I nipped out to the local store and purchased a £4 cheapie - the package says Rimei Razor. I am also still waiting for my brush to arrive but thanks to an ever so generous forum member, who not only offered me two of his spare brushes and some cream and oil he does not use, but, more importantly, invited me into his home to spend what seemed like 10 minutes talking about and explaining the art of shaving. It was only after I got in the car that I realised we had been talking for an hour - time very very well spent - thank you.
Back to my story. I decided to have my first shave in the evening. I put hot water from the tap into my scuttle (managed to grab an old stock Steve Woodhead off ebay) and dropped the synthetic brush in it. Had a shower, applied some pre-shave oil and dumped the water from the scuttle. reloaded and put a dollop of Vulflix Lime cream in and started to work up a lather.
The lather was never going to be the whipped cream you see on you tube on my first attempt. It started off looking quite thin, but I added a bit of water and it started to get some body, not a lot, but a little. enough for me to slap it on my face, take a few deep breaths and grab the razor.
There was a RIMei Blade that came with the razor, I decided not to use this and put in a Personna platinum which was in a sample pack from a fellow forum member.
As I had 3 days growth, I knew which way my hair goes.. sort of away from my nose in most places apart from the sideburn area, anyway, I start with the cheeks, then the neck - all well and good so far. The chin area was very tricky, under the nose was fine.
Had a quick rinse to assess the damage. No cuts, but not a close a shave either, so, decided to go for a second pass.
Scuttle still had enough lather in it, so loaded the brush again and applied to face - enthusiastically... rather too enthusiastically - OW OW OW, that hurt. I was not expecting my face to be "sensitive"
. After gently finishing off lathering, I went for the second pass. It was then when I started to hear the noise of hair actually being cut - im sure I heard it in pass 1, but this time it was more prominent. finished the cheeks, and remembering what I read, I went across the grain. I then started to do the same to my neck area, only to realise have way thru that I was actually going against the grain, and there were quite a few patches of blood developing. Nothing major, but shows what either being cocky or dropping concentration can do. Did under my nose, which I found ridiculously easy considering what I have read about the problems people have, and then went to my chin area.
Another drop in concentration led me to thinking I was 20 years younger and using a Mach 3. A bit too much pressure and a big cut. - Another lesson here.
I decided that 2 passes would be enough for today. Rinsed off, wet the Alum block and put on face - OW OW OW again. That had a sting.. but.. quite an enjoyable one after the initial shock.
Tidied up, then rinsed off again and looked at the results.
The only bleeding left was on the chin, so I used one of those alum matchstick things to stop it dead.
So. an eventful first shave. Its about 50 mins since the shave and my face still feels a bit raw, so will put some balm on it now to cheer it up.
The shave itself was pretty good. still a bit rough, but only when you stroke against the grain so I am very pleased with it.
Will give my face a rest for a few days before I try again, this time hopefully the DE89 will be here. In between then, I have given myself 1000 lines - "I must concentrate more when shaving" - not really an onerous task as it only takes a few seconds in word to do....
Thanks for reading
I decided mid last week to dump the electric and get back to wet shaving, but this time "proper" shaving, as, having been reading up on this for a few weeks now, I kind of like the whole "ritual / me time" feeling of it.
I ordered a DE89 from amazon, which has stupidly still refused to arrive, so this afternoon, I nipped out to the local store and purchased a £4 cheapie - the package says Rimei Razor. I am also still waiting for my brush to arrive but thanks to an ever so generous forum member, who not only offered me two of his spare brushes and some cream and oil he does not use, but, more importantly, invited me into his home to spend what seemed like 10 minutes talking about and explaining the art of shaving. It was only after I got in the car that I realised we had been talking for an hour - time very very well spent - thank you.
Back to my story. I decided to have my first shave in the evening. I put hot water from the tap into my scuttle (managed to grab an old stock Steve Woodhead off ebay) and dropped the synthetic brush in it. Had a shower, applied some pre-shave oil and dumped the water from the scuttle. reloaded and put a dollop of Vulflix Lime cream in and started to work up a lather.
The lather was never going to be the whipped cream you see on you tube on my first attempt. It started off looking quite thin, but I added a bit of water and it started to get some body, not a lot, but a little. enough for me to slap it on my face, take a few deep breaths and grab the razor.
There was a RIMei Blade that came with the razor, I decided not to use this and put in a Personna platinum which was in a sample pack from a fellow forum member.
As I had 3 days growth, I knew which way my hair goes.. sort of away from my nose in most places apart from the sideburn area, anyway, I start with the cheeks, then the neck - all well and good so far. The chin area was very tricky, under the nose was fine.
Had a quick rinse to assess the damage. No cuts, but not a close a shave either, so, decided to go for a second pass.
Scuttle still had enough lather in it, so loaded the brush again and applied to face - enthusiastically... rather too enthusiastically - OW OW OW, that hurt. I was not expecting my face to be "sensitive"
. After gently finishing off lathering, I went for the second pass. It was then when I started to hear the noise of hair actually being cut - im sure I heard it in pass 1, but this time it was more prominent. finished the cheeks, and remembering what I read, I went across the grain. I then started to do the same to my neck area, only to realise have way thru that I was actually going against the grain, and there were quite a few patches of blood developing. Nothing major, but shows what either being cocky or dropping concentration can do. Did under my nose, which I found ridiculously easy considering what I have read about the problems people have, and then went to my chin area. Another drop in concentration led me to thinking I was 20 years younger and using a Mach 3. A bit too much pressure and a big cut. - Another lesson here.
I decided that 2 passes would be enough for today. Rinsed off, wet the Alum block and put on face - OW OW OW again. That had a sting.. but.. quite an enjoyable one after the initial shock.
Tidied up, then rinsed off again and looked at the results.
The only bleeding left was on the chin, so I used one of those alum matchstick things to stop it dead.
So. an eventful first shave. Its about 50 mins since the shave and my face still feels a bit raw, so will put some balm on it now to cheer it up.
The shave itself was pretty good. still a bit rough, but only when you stroke against the grain so I am very pleased with it.
Will give my face a rest for a few days before I try again, this time hopefully the DE89 will be here. In between then, I have given myself 1000 lines - "I must concentrate more when shaving" - not really an onerous task as it only takes a few seconds in word to do....
Thanks for reading
