I am new to DE Shaving - here's what I just bought!

[Deleted member 1045]

Do you have very coarse hair? I certainly have, and I've found that inadequate prep can cause similar problems to those you describe. Get the face hot and wet and keep it that way for three minutes (excluding pauses to re-wet a cloth if that's what you use). Alternatively, if you shave post shower, make sure you get loads of hot water on the beard area. Softening the hairs is crucial to a successful shave.

I am a barbarian! My hair is very very thick! It's like wire inside one of those old speaker cables! Very prickly! I did have a shower before my shave but where the shave started good it deteoriorated when i tried to get a clean shave. It looked clean but when i rubbed my hand over it it still made noise and i could still feel it (i.e. not clean shave), hence all the addiitional passes on a thinner and thinner lather!!!!

notstig, i'm gonna try the greek one next! johnny0 sent me some too - will try them soon too. I've got too many blades to try :s - will last me till oct or nov! On that note - how many times are you supposed to reuse a blade and when is it good to chuck it out and use a new one?

 

[chrisbell]

I am a barbarian! My hair is very very thick! It's like wire inside one of those old speaker cables! Very prickly! I did have a shower before my shave but where the shave started good it deteoriorated when i tried to get a clean shave. It looked clean but when i rubbed my hand over it it still made noise and i could still feel it (i.e. not clean shave), hence all the addiitional passes on a thinner and thinner lather!!!!

notstig, i'm gonna try the greek one next! johnny0 sent me some too - will try them soon too. I've got too many blades to try :s - will last me till oct or nov! On that note - how many times are you supposed to reuse a blade and when is it good to chuck it out and use a new one?

Don't get hung-up on trying to get BBS (babies' bum smooth) - for those of us with coarse beards, it's not doable unles every variabie is spot-on. Go for a comfortable, presentable shave rather than the perfect BBS softness. Even after a three-pass shave I still have a slight shadow and can feel roughness if I rub my hand against the grain. Speaking of which - have you properly mapped the direction of your beard growth?

As regards blades, I'm still a bit n00bish myself in terms of determining how long to use blades for. Generally speaking, some last longer than others; whilst I'm still trying various types from the sample pack I ordered, I throw the blade after three shaves.

 

[Yellow Jim]

I am a barbarian! My hair is very very thick! It's like wire inside one of those old speaker cables! Very prickly! I did have a shower before my shave but where the shave started good it deteoriorated when i tried to get a clean shave. It looked clean but when i rubbed my hand over it it still made noise and i could still feel it (i.e. not clean shave), hence all the addiitional passes on a thinner and thinner lather!!!!

notstig, i'm gonna try the greek one next! johnny0 sent me some too - will try them soon too. I've got too many blades to try :s - will last me till oct or nov! On that note - how many times are you supposed to reuse a blade and when is it good to chuck it out and use a new one?

I think you're expecting far too much this early on. Just concentrate on getting an irritation free shave at this stage. You should probably have stopped at the stage were you say it looked clean, rather than all the additional passes. What's the point in carving your face up trying to get it super smooth? It's going to grow back in a few hours anyway.

 

[Deleted member 1045]

I think you're expecting far too much this early on. Just concentrate on getting an irritation free shave at this stage. You should probably have stopped at the stage were you say it looked clean, rather than all the additional passes. What's the point in carving your face up trying to get it super smooth? It's going to grow back in a few hours anyway.

i wish i had stopped at the stage i looked clean. It's been 19 hours since my last shave and i am in pain still. My neck is still sore and my chin hurts too! . Clean look from now on.

as for other poster above you, yes i mapped my hair growth - whether it's accurate is open to debate

 

[chrisbell]

I think you're expecting far too much this early on. Just concentrate on getting an irritation free shave at this stage. You should probably have stopped at the stage were you say it looked clean, rather than all the additional passes. What's the point in carving your face up trying to get it super smooth? It's going to grow back in a few hours anyway.

i wish i had stopped at the stage i looked clean. It's been 19 hours since my last shave and i am in pain still. My neck is still sore and my chin hurts too! . Clean look from now on.

as for other poster above you, yes i mapped my hair growth - whether it's accurate is open to debate

Absolutely go for clean and presentable. As for mapping your beard, keep doing it every so often - you may find nuances you missed previously.

 

[Hax]

FWIW: I find that lots of short strokes with the razor are more effective than going for one long swipe from my ear to my chin. But, that's just me of course!

I generally use a blade for two shaves at the moment. I figure that being new to DE shaving, I want to give myself the best chance at refining my technique with the least amount of pain and the better the blade, the more chance I have of achieving a comfortable, close shave. I have an EJ87 and find the Astra Platinum and Gillette 7 o'clock greens to work well with it. Again, this is personal.

You say that you're struggling lathering. I don't use creams, just hard soaps so not sure this applies so much. What I do is soak the brush and top of soap (depending on how hard the soap is that I'm using) in water for a minute or two. I then discard the water from the top of the soap and squeeze the water out of the brush and then shake it a few times.

Next, I load the brush up for maybe 20 seconds until I can see soap starting to collect on the bristles. Then I start trying to build a lather in my shaving bowl. At this stage, the any lather I do get is way too think. So, I wet my hand and drip a few drops of water into the bowl and continue. I then repeat this until I have what looks like a decent lather. This way, I have reasonable control over the amount of water in the bowl. Too much water and you'll not get any protection from the lather. Too little and it'll just dry on your face too quickly.

I can now get a decent lather pretty much every time - but it took me a while to get the hang of it.

And most important of all, do NOT put any pressure on the razor. With cartridges, I used to drag the razor about willy-nilly. With a DE, I don't put any pressure on at all.

The important thing is to remember this all takes time to learn - but it's time well spent IMHO.

 

[Yellow Jim]

i wish i had stopped at the stage i looked clean. It's been 19 hours since my last shave and i am in pain still. My neck is still sore and my chin hurts too! . Clean look from now on.

as for other poster above you, yes i mapped my hair growth - whether it's accurate is open to debate

Then leave your next shave until your face has recovered and take it easy next time out. One or two passes WTG using light pressure and see how that goes.

 

[chrisbell]

FWIW: I find that lots of short strokes with the razor are more effective than going for one long swipe from my ear to my chin. But, that's just me of course!

I do this when I have more than 24 hours of growth to remove. As for pressure, I haven';t tried this exercise, but, apparently, in the days of National Service in the UK, one of the lessons the young recruits would be taught was how to shave quickly and efficiently - apparently, they would get them to lather up and then remove the lather by using the razor minus a blade. Supposedly this taught them to shave as if they were just wiping the lather off rather than trying to scrape away hair.

 

[Deleted member 1045]

How sad am I, I just started a shaving diary on MS word. Here's the first entries:

22nd June 2011, First ever Double edge shave using my Edwin Jagger DEba11 and supplied Derby blades. Shaved at roughly 12pm after computer class. 5 passes – close shave (nice feeling after 3 passes but got painful by the 5th)
23rd June 2011, Second De shave. Same as above. Very painful and up to 6 passes on the throat area, against the grain.
25th June 2011. 3rd DE shave. Used NotTheStig's Greek PAΠиPA. It was blunt, so after two passes I used the old Derby but that seems blunt too! Has my facial hair become stiffer? Not sure, but that wasn't the best of shaves. I didn't go against the grain but did make 5 passes on the face in an attempt to get the visible hair off to no avail.

Today's shave was unsatisfying. I used the Geo F Trumper sandlewood cream instead of the proraso.

back to the drawing board.

 

[Mr Foo]

Posted by new2DE - Today 07:56 AM
I didn't go against the grain but did make 5 passes on the face in an attempt to get the visible hair off to no avail.

5 passes does seem like an awful lot.

Might be worth trying a different blade, I find the Derby ok but others seem to despise them.

Preparation is so important, especially with your hair type.

If you think about it, any razor blade will quite comfortably slice your finger to the bone, so it isn't going to have too much trouble removing facial hair.

Check the angle of the razor in relation to your face, it should be around 30 degrees.

Keep trying, but don't try too hard.

 

[Deleted member 1045]

Keep trying, but don't try too hard.

Hi Foo,

my first ever DE shave (before post 3 passes) was the best shave ever. The lather was fine, blade was new and sharp (was derby blade), and the shave overall wasn't that bad. I did one straight down, and two across hair swipes. I think i'm going to try that with my next shave as opposed to the straight down approach only. I'll have another go at mapping my grain direction too.

How's your shaving coming along? How long have you been at it?

On a final note, do you (or anyone reading this), know how to use: Proraso aftershave cream

I find that a small bit isn't enough to cover my whole face. Is this cream designed to be mixed in water or something? I feel i'm missing the point with the aftershave.

 

[huxley]

Ever thought about trying the shark blade, i love them and im very bristly.

It's one of the few blades that mows them down, without tearing up my face ime.

 

[Deleted member 1045]

Ever thought about trying the shark blade, i love them and im very bristly.

It's one of the few blades that mows them down, without tearing up my face ime.

Stig sent me one of those. I'll give it a go. The greek one is shit, and derby is okay but nothing special. . Have you got thick, wirey, coarse facial hair like me?

 

[JohnnyO]

Keep trying, but don't try too hard.

Hi Foo,

my first ever DE shave (before post 3 passes) was the best shave ever. The lather was fine, blade was new and sharp (was derby blade), and the shave overall wasn't that bad. I did one straight down, and two across hair swipes. I think i'm going to try that with my next shave as opposed to the straight down approach only. I'll have another go at mapping my grain direction too.

How's your shaving coming along? How long have you been at it?

On a final note, do you (or anyone reading this), know how to use: Proraso aftershave cream

I find that a small bit isn't enough to cover my whole face. Is this cream designed to be mixed in water or something? I feel i'm missing the point with the aftershave.

Maybe try leaving your wee handies wet when applying the Proraso ? Just rub a small amount between your wet palmns & then rub over face.
I don't know if you've given face lathering with the Proraso a go on a regular basis ? Just take the brush, nearer the drier than the wetter end of the spectrum, run it round the soap a few times then apply to wet face. You should be able to work up a nice lather like this. Keep lathering longer than you feel you really need to before commencing to shave.

Things will come good !

JohnnyO. \:dodgy:

 

[huxley]

If it's the super chrome, if so good as that's the better one, the super stainless is still a good blade mind.

I have stupidly coarse hair, my stubble is like sandpaper it's ridiculous.

What worked best for me, was an aggressive razor like a slant, teamed with a mild blade, meant it could shave my bristles without tearing up my face.

But if im honest, any blade from the lord factory works for me.

So big ben,lord,asco and shark.

Stig sent me one of those. I'll give it a go. The greek one is shit, and derby is okay but nothing special. . Have you got thick, wirey, coarse facial hair like me?

 

[Deleted member 1045]

Maybe try leaving your wee handies wet when applying the Proraso ? Just rub a small amount between your wet palmns & then rub over face.
I don't know if you've given face lathering with the Proraso a go on a regular basis ? Just take the brush, nearer the drier than the wetter end of the spectrum, run it round the soap a few times then apply to wet face. You should be able to work up a nice lather like this. Keep lathering longer than you feel you really need to before commencing to shave.

Things will come good !

JohnnyO. \:dodgy:

Hi Johnny!

Hope all is well. . I find lathering a tough thing. Every time I put a good lather on my face I feel it's dry and end up put a few drops and it goes thin and reminds me of the "dry" look mantic59 has on his video, then i add more water, and it becomes thinner and i can't get the thickness back :/ I think i'll stop thinking about mantic when next shaving so i don't get too hooked up on trying to get the lather more moist than dry :blush:

wish me luck for tomorrow's shave!