Another first de razor post

A

allenwilliam

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3
Hi guys i just joined and couldnt wait to say i have my first de safety razor on its way! which is a Merkur Progress which was a bit hard to find as apprently Merkur are 5 months behind on their orders which is a pain as i would have also liked to have ordered a Merkur 37c Slant.
so to keep me busy while i wait for the progress to arrive i will be looking through the forums and also i would like to know what you guys have and what you think of your shaving equipment including soaps as i would also like to know what ones are the best to go for.
Many thanks guys and hope to hear from you!
 
Blyth Spirit said:
What ho allenwilliam?

Look and learn but most of all enjoy the learning curve! Remember there is no rush. :)


ps
I am a Slant 37c lover - EDIT: that sounds so wrong on every level - but you may wish to do a bit of shaving with something a little more (shall we say) regular, first....
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yeah most people i have spoken to say they love the slant hence why i would like to get hold of one asap as the waiting list could be a few weeks or a few months ( i am hoping just a few weeks! )
 
allenwilliam said:
i would like to know what you guys have and what you think of your shaving equipment including soaps as i would also like to know what ones are the best to go for.!
Click to expand...

Welcome to TSR!! :D

Well there are of course loads of soaps to try. If you want to dive right in without waiting for the postman just nip out and get a Palmolive shave stick. This is seriously good stuff that's available cheaply from most supermarkets. Further investigation may lead you to Tabac. I'm not mad on the scent but many love it and the quality and ease of lather is undeniable. A popular 'artisan' maker is Nanny's Silly Soap Company. There are many references to her (soft) soap here which is very highly rated. Have fun! :p
 
Welcome!

You can see what I have razor wise in my signature, on top of that I have a lovely simpson brush (Beaufort B1), and enough soaps/creams to shave until sometime into the next millennium.
Also get a starter pack of blades, to find what you get on with most, stick with one blade at a time, don't swap blades every day, use the same kind for 2 weeks.
In your choice of soaps, the world is you oyster, if you want something cheap and cheerful, go for Palmolive sticks, everyone swears by them. If you want to get something nicer, you can try some of our resident soap makers, Nanny (Soapalchemist) and Henk Verhaar, who make great stuff ;) If you want to go to the great commercial ones (some are excellent), I personally like TOBS (Taylor of Bond Street), Tabac, and L'Occitanie Cade.

Get one kind of soap that works for you, stick with it for a while, get your shaving technique right, in the beginning you need to limit variables, as to get used to your face and technique.
Then change variables one at a time.

I know it's tempting to buy lots of bits and goodies. (I've done it), but when your shave is wrong, you don't know why, because you're using a new soap in a new razor with a new blade... which one is the culprit?

Anyway, all that to say "Welcome!"

Ask away, the progress is a nice razor, it's not a bad thing that you didn't get the slant, use this one for a while, get used to it, and see where to go from there.

Cheers,

FB.
 
????? Have you come from another forum coz I don't know anybody outside shaving forums who loves a Slant?

If you fancy something non adjustable and non slant I'd have a look at the EJ 89L.
 
antdad said:
????? Have you come from another forum coz I don't know anybody outside shaving forums who loves a Slant?

If you fancy something non adjustable and non slant I'd have a look at the EJ 89L.
Click to expand...

No just all the vendors i have spoken to about getting one in stock said they are really popular and they like them plus i visited a few forums and read a few reviews cheers for the recommendation what do you think of the EJ 89L?
 
If you ask me.. and ofc this is only MY opinion .. But the thing with the popularity of the Slant is that everyone WANTS to like them.
When i started DE shaving, all the forum talk was of this mythical beast that delivered the most amazing shave.

I picked one up myself (Merkur 39C) due to the hype and well.. Its ok, but not 'Amazing'.
Sure it gives a good shave, but not radically better than any other of my razors. Plus its far more likely to give me a nick if im being flippant with my shave technique.
Sure as hell not a rushing razor.

For some people i guess they do deliver, some folks not so much.
Without trying it, its hard to say..
Give one a try for sure, but dont build it up to much in your mind and count on it to be the great shiny hope of shaving.

Anyway - Welcome to TSR!
 
allenwilliam said:
antdad said:
????? Have you come from another forum coz I don't know anybody outside shaving forums who loves a Slant?

If you fancy something non adjustable and non slant I'd have a look at the EJ 89L.
Click to expand...

No just all the vendors i have spoken to about getting one in stock said they are really popular and they like them plus i visited a few forums and read a few reviews cheers for the recommendation what do you think of the EJ 89L?
Click to expand...

The EJ 89L is definitely one of the better contemporary razor's I own, I find it has a better head, balance and finish than my Merkur 34C. If you are starting out it's the one I'd use.
 
Hi Allen,
There are so very many Razors, Soaps, Creams Aftershaves, Colognes, Pre shave preperations, Moisturizers and Blades around that if you were to ask what are the best then you would most likely get a barrage of different suggestions.

So basically, IMO, there's little point in listening to what others have to say as invariably they'll be wrong, you just need to know the folllowing :

A Merkur Futur is probably the ultimate shaving machine but it's just so good at what it does that it's almost boring to use.

An EJ89 Chatsworth is a true joy to own and use, with marvellous quality, much better than Merkur and the shave with the longer handle is in a lot of people's opinion, superb. ( not that their opinion matters of course ! )

A Merkur Progress or Mergress is as good as the Futur and with it's more realistic size head makes it much easier to wield around the contours of the face.

Vintage Gillettes etc..... whatever takes your fancy !

Of course others may have their opinions but as you will soon realise, they are just plain wrong ! :lol:
 
Hi & very welcome. The long handled slant was what I used for years without any probs, I'd agree with a previous post regarding the fact that one way or another it seems to be often given a bit of a rep. At the end of the day I'd say that if you're expecting something revolutionary from a slant you may well be disappointed. It's just, to me, a very nice razor which is neither a potential skinning knife nor yet the razor which will put all the others out of business.

The razor I finally started using daily instead of the slant was the Muehle 89, which is the same head as the Edwin Jagger, and it's one I'd happily recommend to anyone regardless of how great or small their shaving experience.

As regards soaps, there are more out there than you can shake a stick at, just read some of the posts on TSR & you'll soon pick up an idea of who thinks what and why. Only minor suggestion I'd dare to make about soaps is that you may wish to try a glycerine soap at some point. If you want to spend more money then for me Mama Bear from Badger & Hone or Traditional Shaving Co are the benchmark; if you'd rather spend less money just to try one out I doubt you'll do better than Scent from Heaven (they have a site & are on Ebay). At around £2 for 100 grms. they're amazing value for a really nice craftswoman made soap.

Otherwise, just have fun M8.

JohnnyO. \ :D
 
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