Making the Switch After Almost 40 Years of Shaving

Bruce Willis Party GIF by IFC

Welcome to the friendliest forum I have ever had the honour of being a part of. Full of solid advice mixed with a little qwerkyness. ;)
 
Chalkie said:
Welcome, welcome and welcome.

My impression of the wet shaving population is that we are in the majority by a long way. The massive production of blades has to be going somewhere, it cannot just be in #####'s stash!!

View your shave in 3 parts; pre, shave and post.

The most important is the preparation. Get that right and the rest is fairly easy. Lots of soap and hot water, lots of rich, thick lather from a good source (does not need to be expensive). Blades are relatively cheap so order yourself a decent sample pack to try out a variety. A King C Gillette razor would be an excellent purchase. Remember to be kind to your skin after the event. A good moisturiser will bring you back to reality. Witch Hazel, aloe Vera are amazing. High Street shops stock some great products.

Most of all, just enjoy yourself.

Did I say Welcome??

WELCOME.
Click to expand...
King C with bic blades for the win ......... Just sayin.
 
rafterman said:
King C with bic blades for the win ......... Just sayin.
Click to expand...
Yup, its a great combo for me.

In terms of a resurgence of DE shaving, i suspect the reality is that if you have large factories geared towards blade production for cartridges i.e steel stock handling, furnaces, sharpening and finishing, packaging and distribution etc,etc, then it must be relatively straight forward to incorporate some DE blade production and finishing into that mix to serve the countries and markets that still have the demand.

I am guessing that cartridge blades start off much the same way as DE blades. A long, long strip of metal that has an edge put on it and is then cut down into individual blades ?
 
Zorro said:
Yup, its a great combo for me.

In terms of a resurgence of DE shaving, i suspect the reality is that if you have large factories geared towards blade production for cartridges i.e steel stock handling, furnaces, sharpening and finishing, packaging and distribution etc,etc, then it must be relatively straight forward to incorporate some DE blade production and finishing into that mix to serve the countries and markets that still have the demand.

I am guessing that cartridge blades start off much the same way as DE blades. A long, long strip of metal that has an edge put on it and is then cut down into individual blades ?
Click to expand...
 
Mike Smart said:
There’s a great bunch of guys on here and you’ll get some fantastic advice.
like you i was probably 30 plus years of cartridge which i hated.
Not only is wet shaving cheaper :unsure:
but it’s an enjoyable process for most of us
where cartridge was a chore.
All the very best to you
Click to expand...

That ^^^^^^^^


Steve Harvey Love GIF by ABC Network

Philipp Amthor Smile GIF by ZDF heute-show

A big welcome to TSR.
 
Last edited:
rafterman said:
This is how standard blades are made. It's different for feathers as they are honed by hand by a small Japanese gentleman who then decides it's sharp enough when splits a nats wing in half.
Click to expand...
This reminded me of reading in a car magazine several decades ago that the reason Corinthian leather was so soft was that toothless Italian women would chew on it until it was acceptably supple.

Now I know why both Corinthian leather and Feather razor blades are so expensive.
 
imnlfn said:
This reminded me of reading in a car magazine several decades ago that the reason Corinthian leather was so soft was that toothless Italian women would chew on it until it was acceptably supple.

Now I know why both Corinthian leather and Feather razor blades are so expensive.
Click to expand...
The only reason the feathers are so expensive is the fact the Japanese gentleman has no arms and performs the whole process with his feet.
 
imnlfn said:
I'm happy to find a shaving forum that's more sensible than Badger & Blade, which was the first one that I came across. I signed up for an account there yesterday and while I was composing my first post for their Welcome section, my account was "banned for spam" (???). I messaged the moderators, but from what I've seen elsewhere since then, I'm not expecting a reply and am not planning to make another attempt. Glad to be here instead.

In any case, here's my story so far:

In the last ten years or so (could've been more...I have a terrible sense of time), a guy I know one time happened to mention that he shaved with a safety razor. I was blown away at the time because I thought of those as obsolete technology and didn't think that anyone used them anymore. Fast forward to now and lately I began seeing YouTube videos about shaving with safety razors more and more often, making me realize that not only were people still using them, but they were having a resurgence.

I'm not sure exactly why I finally decided to pull the trigger, but after finding out that my friend has been using the same Merkur 23C all this time, I decided instead on an aluminum OliWorks M3teorite, which for the build quality, good reviews, choice of plates, and price seemed like a good choice. I've had it for a week and have used it four times already, despite having twenty Mach III cartridges to use up still. I opted for the same Cremo shave cream that he uses, though, and decided also to forgo a brush and a bowl.

The first three shaves were with one of the Filoso blades that came with the razor. The one today was with an Astra Platinum that was part of a sampler pack that I bought. Being nervous about shaving with a safety razor for the first time, my first two shaves were with the mild plate. After getting over my anxiety, plus experiencing a healthy amount of irritation because of all the passes I was making to get a smooth shave, I switched to the medium plate for my next two shaves, with much more pleasant results.

As I imagine is true for most shavers, I look for that balance between a perfectly smooth shave and an acceptable amount of irritation and nicks. Perhaps counterintuitively, my best shaves with my cartridge razor were with longer hair growth. In fact, I found shaving daily with a cartridge razor to be much less satisfying than shaving every two or three days or more. I have been very pleasantly surprised that the quality of shaves I've been getting now have been much less dependent on the frequency.

For my first safety razor shave, I strictly followed what I had learned about a first pass WTG and then a second pass XTG after a full relathering. By my fourth shave, I was starting more or less with a WTG pass, but then just relathering with what was left on my face and going straight into ATG mode. My beard doesn't grow in any one consistent direction, so I need to go every which way in order to get a consistently smooth result. That I do largely by feel with my other hand, which is how I would do it with a cartridge razor as well.

Now I need to figure out if my eventual goal should be to get to the most aggressive plate with a relatively mild blade, stick with the medium plate but a sharper blade, or get to the last plate with a sharp blade. As someone with large hands, I may also eventually end up swapping out the 3" aluminum handle of the M3teorite with a 4" stainless one. That would definitely ruin the aesthetics and probably the balance and amount of grip as well, but the current configuration just feels so dinky to me.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the new experience so far and look forward to hanging out with everyone in the future.
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum...I hope you find your ideal shaves and don't end up down too many rabbit holes....call outr f you do. I'm sure someone here can assist.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom