Hi all, DE noob

Bloodbath said:

Hi everyone
I'm Jon, I live on the outskirts of Leeds. A week ago I decided Mr Gillette had been emptying my pockets for far too long now and decided to take the plunge into de wet shaving. I went out and got myself a cheap brush and soap from Boots and ordered a Merkur Futur. After a couple of shaves with the Merkur blade I ditched it in favour of a Personna platinum.
For tonight's shave I decided to have a go at a head shave too and .........

.......... well my forum name says it all :icon_eek:

I'm getting a fair amount of razor burn too on the neck area, but I'm guessing a lot of it is down to my technique but its fun (if not bloody) learning :icon_lol:

Next on the list is a proper badger brush and some wool fat soap to try

Anyways that's enough waffling from me for now, I'm off for a look around

Jon

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welcome

stick around here and mr gillettes grandfather will be raiding your pockets too

Hello and welcome!

Here are some golden rules, based on my experience:

Get a nice heavy razor. If it is too light and has a hollow handle get some bad boy ball bearings in there sharpish!

Now you have your heavy razor DO NOT APPLY ANY PRESSURE WHATSOEVER! Let the blade do all of the work. I think cartridge shaving promotes a heavy pressure technique with a light blade, turn that on it's head with a heavy razor and NO pressure.

Use a warm towel to get them pores open and use a GOOD pre shave. I use the Bluebeards Revenge stuff, highly recommended the lot of it.

Get the lather right with a nice badger brush. When you think it's right, it probably isn't. For me, it should be at least the consistency of squirty cream and will take a lot of frothing and much less water than you would think.

Use an alum block or witch hazel (Thayers is EXCELLENT but you might need to order it in from the states) or both! Great finish.

While starting to learn the new technique just go with the grain. Shave will be poor but it is about getting your technique spot on. Once you have had a week or two of this, do a second pass across the grain. Don't go against the grain until you have the first two 95% perfect. remember NO PRESSURE.

Change your blade. I only use mine twice because paying a couple of quid for 5 blades doesn't bother me when I might spend fifty quid on some after shave.

Finally, and most importantly, CUT UP YOUR CREDITS CARDS, CLOSE YOUR PAYPAL ACCOUNT AND NEVER USE EBAY AGAIN! This will put you in the poor house in no time!

Welcome to TSR!