New to B&B and wet-shaving

[Ringofvoid]

First of all, a big thanks to the community for having so many great resources for newbies like me! I just started wet shaving this Christmas after my family gifted me a Merkur 34c, a Viking Revolution soap sampler and a cheap badger brush & bowl set from Amazon. I'm three shaves in now with the included blade and thanks to all the guides, threads and videos...

Thick lather in a bowl each time (Thanks B&B wiki!!!)

No cuts, weepers, razor burn, ingrown hairs or anything besides hair removal: 2 DFS and 1 CCS using shower prep then WTG and XTG only.

I've been cartridge shaving since Gillette sent me a free Sensor for my 16th birthday (49 now). It worked great as the peach fuzz slowly developed into thick beard hair, then not as much. The cost of their cartridges became an increasing annoyance made worse by upgrading to a Mach3. I finally jumped ship to Harry's razors for the lower cost but their cartridges have been merely adequate. My routine has been shaving WTG with a mirror in the shower with shaving gel but with occasional bumps and red spots.

I saw an ad earlier this year for Supply razors which started me down the research road to DE razors. Based on B&B plus r/wicked_edge advice, I put together a selection of beginner razors as gift ideas for Xmas. While I waited, I mapped out my beard growth and tried a few new after shave products (finding out that moisturizing balm gives me instant acne). Now, I'm finally starting out & have Personna blades, an alum block and aftershave splash on the way.

Thanks again for being such a great and informative community!

 

[sanookd]

First of all, a big thanks to the community for having so many great resources for newbies like me! I just started wet shaving this Christmas after my family gifted me a Merkur 34c, a Viking Revolution soap sampler and a cheap badger brush & bowl set from Amazon. I'm three shaves in now with the included blade and thanks to all the guides, threads and videos...

Thick lather in a bowl each time (Thanks B&B wiki!!!)

No cuts, weepers, razor burn, ingrown hairs or anything besides hair removal: 2 DFS and 1 CCS using shower prep then WTG and XTG only.

I've been cartridge shaving since Gillette sent me a free Sensor for my 16th birthday (49 now). It worked great as the peach fuzz slowly developed into thick beard hair, then not as much. The cost of their cartridges became an increasing annoyance made worse by upgrading to a Mach3. I finally jumped ship to Harry's razors for the lower cost but their cartridges have been merely adequate. My routine has been shaving WTG with a mirror in the shower with shaving gel but with occasional bumps and red spots.

I saw an ad earlier this year for Supply razors which started me down the research road to DE razors. Based on B&B plus r/wicked_edge advice, I put together a selection of beginner razors as gift ideas for Xmas. While I waited, I mapped out my beard growth and tried a few new after shave products (finding out that moisturizing balm gives me instant acne). Now, I'm finally starting out & have Personna blades, an alum block and aftershave splash on the way.

Thanks again for being such a great and informative community!

Welcome to B&B and the rabbit hole aka Wet Shaving.
If you have the discipline (most of us don’t)
to restrain your wet shaving purchases you will save money over cartridges once you settle on a favorite blade, brush, razor and soap.
However there is no fun in that. The more you read here the more products you’ll be keen to try. That’s when you’ll discover the rabbit hole is bottomless. Good luck and enjoy the fun here.
If you really want a thrill explore the world of straight razor shaving!!

 

[Phoenixkh]

Welcome to the B&B community. The Journals and Diaries forum gave me so much information as I was able to read the journeys of others and was able to avoid a few things that didn't work for them..... and based on what they did like, I knew wouldn't work for me.

Add to that, there are some shave masters here with decades of experience... and quite a few quick learners as well. Their advice is priceless. You'll find them... and they'll find you.. This is an amazing source of great information and gentleman (and a few fine women as well) who are thoughtful, kind and helpful.

 

[DEgeezer]

Welcome to B&B!

 

[Lightcs1776]

Welcome! Glad you joined us.

 

[dmshaver]

Thanks for the great introduction! This is a friendly place with lots of helpful members. Glad you’ve joined, welcome!

 

[Dave himself]

Hi and welcome to B&B.

 

[blethenstrom]

Welcome to B&B the place where the smoothest bunch on the internet hangs out.

 

[Butch Waxx]

Welcome to B&B……Now hang on to your hat!

 

[Guido75]

Welcome to B&B. Sounds like you are off to a good start!

Enjoy!

Guido

 

[ralph029]

Welcome! I'd tell you to have fun here but most addictions only start out fun, hehehe.
My wife recently told some one, "This man (me) spends all his money on cigars, whisk(e)y, and shaving". Who in their right mind spends that much on shaving? We do! I see your post is about 14 hours old. It's too late to turn back now. Welcome aboard!

 

[Eric_75]

Hello and welcome to B & B!

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[J Schultz]

Welcome! The rabbit hole is real. At least your first razor was a gift.

 

[phdezra]

Welcome @Ringofvoid The 34c rocks, and even if your technique needs improvement, it is forgiving of mistakes and avoids most nicks even with sharpppppp blades like Nacet, Feather, Astra SP. Good luck.

 

[musicman1951]

Welcome to B&B, we're glad you're here.

 

[Ringofvoid]

The Personna blades arrived and I can confirm that I'm inexperienced enough that I can't tell any difference between them and the Merkur blade I started with. The alum block is now in place before my final cold rinse, but it's hard to tell if it's doing much. After a couple of minutes, I can feel a slight tingle in the neck areas where I have lingering bumps but that's about it. I've held off on aftershave for now & i'm using some High Time Bump Stopper 2 that I picked up at the supermarket. On my left side, all the bumps I had from using the Harry's razor are gone and there just a few that are still fading on the right neckline.

Assuming the remaining bumps fade, would a witch hazel & aloe aftershave be a good replacement for the bump stopper? I've had my eye on Stirling's Executive Man since my wife loves the smell of Creed Aventus, but is it likely to cause acne like Nivia aftershave balm did on my skin?

 

[euro]

My wallet doesn't like this forum. Leave while you can.....

 

[Hms123]

Welcome. Loved your introduction.

 

[Quaznoid]

You have a fine razor in the 34c. You don’t say which of the million different Personnas you have; the Lab Blues work best on most faces.

Don’t buy anything else. Shave with what you have for 6 months. Develop good technique. If you aren’t getting great shaves in 6 months, practice for another 6 months. Repeat.

Avoid buying stuff. It won’t help. Without good technique no hardware will solve the issue. There’s a lot of pressure to buy stuff on B&B but more stuff will not bring better shaves.

You have everything you need now. Practice.