NEW DE SHAVERS - What to buy to get started...

[Sideburns]

For those starting out, i can heartily recommend the Gillette King C Gillette razor. It a solid, well made version of the Muhle 89 and it comes with 5 of the excellent (tho very sharp) KCG blades. It has an RRP of £20, but is often half that price.

I have found the KCG razor works well with any blade and i personally think it shaves a little "better" than my EJ89.

Anything Proraso is cheap and good. Palmolive shave cream if you can find it.

Post shave, the Nivea Sensitive Balm (it’s often reduced in Supermarkets to around £4 a bottle) is a terrific balm for settling skin and remoisturizing post shave. I also keep a bottle of simple distilled Witch Hazel as a splash to use before the balm and it works well.

Thanks for that I have seen a little of the King C stuff at my local supermarket - though it appears to be all beard care stuff. I have seen the King C razor on Amazon too. Does a pre shave cream figure in your routine at all, or do you go straight on with the lathering process?

 

[Zorro]

Thanks for that I have seen a little of the King C stuff at my local supermarket - though it appears to be all beard care stuff. I have seen the King C razor on Amazon too. Does a pre shave cream figure in your routine at all, or do you go straight on with the lathering process?

Pre shave is basically anything you can do to moisturise your face skin and beard.

So shower first / wash or just wet your face / lather up and wait a minute or two / use a pre shave product if you have one .... any of these things so long as it gets your skin and stubble soft.

Some folks just use water, some use hair conditioner on their face in the shower. Really anything that makes the stubble as soft as possible.

In essence - if your face feels like dry sandpaper, it will be a tough shave for you and the razor blade !

The dedicated pre-shave products can be effective, but they really aren't a necessary purchase.

And remember - NO INWARD PRESSURE WITH A DE RAZOR - just enough to hold it against your skin and let it gently glide over your face and that lovely blade will do all the work for you

Enjoy

 

[Ebberman]

The bit that says "Derby shaving kit" is a link.
It's not obvious on this forum as everything that's a link has the same colour text as non-link text!
At least, that's how it appears to me

I have a dark page, true, but all text for me is white and links are blue. I've just tried White page, and yes, all is black. Dark page wins.

 

[Sideburns]

The dedicated pre-shave products can be effective, but they really aren't a necessary purchase.

And remember - NO INWARD PRESSURE WITH A DE RAZOR - just enough to hold it against your skin and let it gently glide over your face and that lovely blade will do all the work for you

Enjoy

Thanks for the pointers. I definitely need the slickness the pre-shave cream brings to my face. I’ve tried it with just a wet face and for reasons best known to my skin, it doesn’t seem to agree with my shave style.
As things stand I’m trying to stick with what works and achieve consistency. When I experiment, I’ll only change one thing.
You mention no inward pressure - I’ve found that’s the key to an irritation free shave. Easier said than done, due to years of reinforced behaviour with a cartridge style. It only takes a lapse in concentration and you can go back to old behaviour patterns - so the learning process for me is actually an un-learning process Unlearning all of the moves I did with a cartridge razor.
Thanks again.