I'm new here, so I'll introduce myself with a bit of history followed by what I'm planning to do next:
My shaving career began when I was 13 and my dad bought me an electric razor and a bottle of cheap aftershave. I absolutely hated shaving with those, but didn't think there were any options. My dad did it like that, and at that point I had no reason to doubt him. Fast forward a "few" years. I'm doing military service (pretty much mandatory here in Finland), and they hand out Gillette Mach3 starter kits. These have a Mach3 razor and small cans of (Gillette) shaving gel and aftershave gel. They are like the handouts drug dealers use, designed to get you hooked but not last a long time. It works. I still didn't exactly love shaving, but this was a huge improvement over the electrics and this is what I've been shaving with ever since. Recently I happened to stumble upon the MSNBC article about shaving (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/) and found out that there is an even better way.
After that I've been reading through this forum, the leisureguy blog, shavemyface.com and the others like crazy. There is a better way and I want to try it. The problem is that I am in Finland and I don't know of a store that would have all I need. A few webstores carry Merkur razors, but thats pretty much it. Badger hair brushes aren't available. Only Merkur blades are sold and only in webstores (I think the difference between a local webstore and a UK or US webstore is very small, at least when ordering in large quantities).
Right now the plan is get the following from classicshaving.com:
Merkur HD
Merkur Double-Edge Razor Travel Case
Vulfix "Turnback" Super Badger Travel Brush
Truefitt & Hill Ultimate Comfort Shaving Cream
And get a blade sample pack from connaughtshaving.com (I will probably use them as my source of blades, far cheaper than ordering from the states, another option would be winkelplein.nu/barbershopsuply in the Netherlands)
I'm thinking of getting the travel stuff since I do travel every now and then, and also because I don't have a lot of bathroom space alloted to me...
For aftershaves I'm thinking of either staying with the Gillette gel or getting some Nivea stuff (both are locally available).
Any comments and/or suggestions are very welcome.
My shaving career began when I was 13 and my dad bought me an electric razor and a bottle of cheap aftershave. I absolutely hated shaving with those, but didn't think there were any options. My dad did it like that, and at that point I had no reason to doubt him. Fast forward a "few" years. I'm doing military service (pretty much mandatory here in Finland), and they hand out Gillette Mach3 starter kits. These have a Mach3 razor and small cans of (Gillette) shaving gel and aftershave gel. They are like the handouts drug dealers use, designed to get you hooked but not last a long time. It works. I still didn't exactly love shaving, but this was a huge improvement over the electrics and this is what I've been shaving with ever since. Recently I happened to stumble upon the MSNBC article about shaving (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/) and found out that there is an even better way.
After that I've been reading through this forum, the leisureguy blog, shavemyface.com and the others like crazy. There is a better way and I want to try it. The problem is that I am in Finland and I don't know of a store that would have all I need. A few webstores carry Merkur razors, but thats pretty much it. Badger hair brushes aren't available. Only Merkur blades are sold and only in webstores (I think the difference between a local webstore and a UK or US webstore is very small, at least when ordering in large quantities).
Right now the plan is get the following from classicshaving.com:
Merkur HD
Merkur Double-Edge Razor Travel Case
Vulfix "Turnback" Super Badger Travel Brush
Truefitt & Hill Ultimate Comfort Shaving Cream
And get a blade sample pack from connaughtshaving.com (I will probably use them as my source of blades, far cheaper than ordering from the states, another option would be winkelplein.nu/barbershopsuply in the Netherlands)
I'm thinking of getting the travel stuff since I do travel every now and then, and also because I don't have a lot of bathroom space alloted to me...
For aftershaves I'm thinking of either staying with the Gillette gel or getting some Nivea stuff (both are locally available).
Any comments and/or suggestions are very welcome.
