Grooming and Hygiene
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Snowy, He makes it look easy! Take your time at first. My suggestion is to start on a weekend. That way you can take your time, REALLY prep your face with a shower, some hot towels, more hot towels, get a nice lather, etc… Speed will come over time for sure. I started out watching Geofatboy, and my technique is modeled after his. I can bang out a quick shave now in about 5 minutes if need be.
Qinhan, I know. I feel the same way. And yes, you're (we're) crazy for wanting to try a straight razor. Just know that if you do decide to try it, you at least have the internet as a guide.
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@tmg:
Anyone here used a straight razor? Could do with some advice as to what to look for when buying your first one.
I cannot reccomend this company enough the straight razors are a work of art all hand forged in the USA http://www.hartsteel.com/catalog/item/7762903/8899242.htm
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Hey guys hope this helps
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/172786-Need-help-with-Straight-Razors-
Straight razors are badass -
This is a good classical straight razor:
http://www.manufactum.de/rasiermesser-hartgewebe-p1397222/The company is from Solingen.
Different handles are available, too:
http://www.barth-haefner.de/Rasiermesser-Dovo-Boeker-Golddachs-Puma-Thiers-Issard-Bismarck-Set.php -
Had my first menthol shave this morning, using Proraso Shaving Eucalyptus Menthol Formulation (HT seawolf), holyfeck, that was certainly an experience. Counting down the hours until I can use again tomorrow morning :).
Are you shaving all 3 ways with, against and cross grain. If your making 3 passes you shouldn't have to shave daily
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Thanks for the suggestion d666. I am making all 3 passes with/against/across, and certainly don't need to shave daily. Whilst I have time I'm making the most of it to help master the process. I'll likely drop down to every 3rd day or so in a few weeks, but am still in that experimentation stage. Christ, it's like I'm talking about drugs :|
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Thanks for the suggestion d666. I am making all 3 passes with/against/across, and certainly don't need to shave daily. Whilst I have time I'm making the most of it to help master the process. I'll likely drop down to every 3rd day or so in a few weeks, but am still in that experimentation stage. Christ, it's like I'm talking about drugs :|
Just remember this is probably the closest shave you have ever got. Your face needs to rejuvenate. I just don't want to see you end up with razor burn.
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Just thought I should offer some thoughts on DE shaving.
I am going to back you guys up, best move I ever made with regard to my shave routine. My skin ( and of course the good lady wife ) have benefited from the move from mass marketed cartridge style razors.
Razor burn and ingrown hairs are a thing of the past. I could not move back to a cartridge style razor again. I now really enjoy shaving and look forward to it.
My staple go to products are Proraso. You can't IMHO get much better bang for your buck than with the Proraso products. I did buy an expensive tub of Acqua Di Parma shave cream for the occasional shave, it is very very nice but nowhere near as good value as the Proraso.
Current razors used are the Merkur Futur, Merkur Vision, Feather AS-D1 and a straight Feather Artist SS.
The Futur is nice as it has a handy blade gap adjustment, you can extend it for attacking a few days worth of stubble or wind it down for multi pass daily shaving.
I would recommend the Futur over the Vision. While the Vision looks pretty amazing it is has quite a large head and is awkward to negotiate tricky parts of your face such as under your nose.If you shave every day and need a mild razor then the AS-D1 is a seriously good tool. It does need some perseverance though as the blade angle you need to maintain is much steeper than with the Merkur's. I nearly gave up on mine after the first week of poor to average shaves, stick with it and learn the angles and it becomes a very nice shaving tool.
Do not try and use any other blade than a Feather in this razor. In any other Razor a feather blade can be a bit of an animal and needs a careful touch against your face. A feather blade in the AS-D1 is a much easier proposition, you will actually struggle to purposely nick yourself with this combination. Any other blade in the AS-D1 would probably dumb it down to the point where it would not efficiently cut the beard.Feather blades are my favourite blade for most DE razors. Israeli Personna platinum blades are also very nice, not quite as sharp as the feather but a bit easier on your face. Again, blade choice is very personal, buy a variety pack and try a few different ones out to find what works for you best.
A top tip, if you find the first couple of shaves with a feather blade a bit harsh, carefully,…....... I repeat,.....................carefully!!,........... run the blade across a piece of cork a couple of times to take some of the aggressive nature out of the blade. I find that with a Feather blade the shave quality improves and gets more comfortable on the 2nd or 3rd shave.
For attacking multi day stubble I have been using a straight razor. I played around with various straights but got fed up honing and stropping etc. I was never any good at it and it was a bit of a faff that I could do without out.
I bought a Feather Artist DX open razor where you can replace the blade. What a tool this is, if you have a dense beard then this bad boy will hack through it extremely easily. I have recently picked up the newer Artist SS razor from Feather. I prefer this to the DX razor, it has a slightly different ( milder ) blade holder which helps protect your skin more effectively.If you don't fancy the hassle and upkeep of a straight then try out the Feather Artist SS, great tool.
What I would say with either the straight or the Artist style straights, take your time. I would not be using them as a quick 5 minute shave before heading to work. A nice leisurely weekend shave in a quiet bathroom with no kids running round or other distractions, is where you need to start with straight shaving. If you get your technique down then a quicker shave is possible.
I wrote a small guide to DE shaving for some work colleagues. I am pleased to say that the few who tried DE shaving are also now converts.
If any of you would like a copy of the guide please feel free to PM me and I can e-mail you a copy.
Happy shaving !!
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Thanks for the awesome contribution, ddtrash. I'm a huge fan of wet shaving, and couldn't back you up any harder.
:).
