Following on from my intro thread earlier in the week, my kit turned up this morning whilst I was on a lovely 50 mile cycle around the New Forest. It was was waiting for me when I got back so I unwrapped everything carefully and had a good look. The Merkur 30C looks like a good bit of kit, with even gaps on both sides.
I got a sample pack of blades with my kit and chose a Gillette 7 O'Clock for my first shave... best not to plump for the Feathers straight away, apparently. I am going to start a spreadsheet to record my progress.
I have always wet-shaved in the bath and couldn't see any reason to change now so I ran myself a very hot bath and soaked my face and brush, ready for a new experience.
After a good soak I applied some of the pre-shave and rubbed it into my face... smelled nice ! I rinsed that off after a while and got ready for the main event. Squirting an inch or so of Proraso cream into my hand I applied a thin layer to my face, shook the excess water off my brush and started to lather up. Worked a treat, and I appeared to have plenty of lather left for a second pass, not that I was planning one for my first shave.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I used short, light strokes WTG and got a pretty good result, with the only nick being taking the top off an ingrowing hair pimple from earlier in the week. I wasn't brave enough to try a pass XTG so I re-lathered and took my time tidying up under my nose and on my chin.
The end result is a relatively even shave that looked and felt like a 4-hour-old electric shave. A little rough ATG, but easily good enough for work etc.
It's going to take a while to get used to it, but I already know that I will never use another cartridge razor on my face ! I am looking forwards to another go tomorrow morning :icon_cheesygrin:
Thanks to everyone on here I have a new hobby... I can sense Acquisition Disorder setting in already as I've already started looking at shaving mugs and various post-shave creams / aftershaves etc :s
I got a sample pack of blades with my kit and chose a Gillette 7 O'Clock for my first shave... best not to plump for the Feathers straight away, apparently. I am going to start a spreadsheet to record my progress.
I have always wet-shaved in the bath and couldn't see any reason to change now so I ran myself a very hot bath and soaked my face and brush, ready for a new experience.
After a good soak I applied some of the pre-shave and rubbed it into my face... smelled nice ! I rinsed that off after a while and got ready for the main event. Squirting an inch or so of Proraso cream into my hand I applied a thin layer to my face, shook the excess water off my brush and started to lather up. Worked a treat, and I appeared to have plenty of lather left for a second pass, not that I was planning one for my first shave.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I used short, light strokes WTG and got a pretty good result, with the only nick being taking the top off an ingrowing hair pimple from earlier in the week. I wasn't brave enough to try a pass XTG so I re-lathered and took my time tidying up under my nose and on my chin.
The end result is a relatively even shave that looked and felt like a 4-hour-old electric shave. A little rough ATG, but easily good enough for work etc.
It's going to take a while to get used to it, but I already know that I will never use another cartridge razor on my face ! I am looking forwards to another go tomorrow morning :icon_cheesygrin:
Thanks to everyone on here I have a new hobby... I can sense Acquisition Disorder setting in already as I've already started looking at shaving mugs and various post-shave creams / aftershaves etc :s