Greetings and Salutations, I've been lurking for a couple of weeks now - researching wet shaving and collecting gear to get started. A fellow board member and good friend of mine Hey_Allen turned me on to the whole wet shaving scene, and after signing up for an Art of Shaving free starter kit - I visited the store and became quite intrigued with all this stuff - a store dedicated to shaving, who woulda thunk it 
I'm 42 and was never truly taught to shave, my Dad was a deadbeat and not around much - Mom handed me a Norelco electric when I was 14 and sheepishly admitted she didn't know how to teach me. I had my first "lesson" watching a fellow cadet in my MC-JROTC platoon hurriedly scraping his barely wet face with a single blade disposable and grimacing the whole time, just before we quickly raced out to role call. When my Electric finally bit the dust - and my fancy Panasonic Wet/Dry electric (that NEVER WORKED) got tossed, I switched to whatever the latest/greatest disposable was. Never really got a good shave, never used after shave (didnt really understand why I should), and heaven help me I should shave off the goat once in a while (read ingrown hair hell).
So after some research and contemplating my skin/beard makeup (bristles hard as steel wire, dry skin) and using my buddy's '73 Super Adjustable, I settled on a '60 Fatboy off eBay (not a show worthy model, but a good working unit) and a Merkur 34C off Craigslist (threw in like 40 random blades too, looks like he used it 5 times). Also went around and got some shaving soap samples and grabbed a Van Der Hagen luxury kit when it was pointed out in the forums here.
While gathering my goods, I tried shaving with the '73 and a Wilkinson Sword blade, had to crank that sucker up to 7 before I started getting a good shave - still made 3 passes to get anything remotely acceptable. Pondering mild/light shaver, boar brush, cheap (crappy?) VDH soap, blade choice perhaps.
Got my Fatboy, gave it a good scrubbing and soaked it in Alcohol for a bit, loaded it with a Merkur blade, pulled out the 3-piece AOS sampler and went at it. Fortunately, I was also blessed with a neat opportunity to get a scuttle made for me. My Daughter took Ceramics this quarter and was itching for a project, so I am using this as well. I started the adjustment dial at 3 and moved up to 5 after the first pass proved less than satisfactory. I re-lathered and made a total of 3 passes (down/up/sideways) Not a bad shave all in all, but still not even close to were I want to be. I also have Feather, Derby's and Astra's to try as well.
LOL - thanks for reading my life story, and thanks for the forums and the board. Its a lot of fun trying to pick up where I missed stuff due to being a mommas boy (bless her heart, she tried hard - and was tougher than most men I know).
Cheers
Todzki
I'm 42 and was never truly taught to shave, my Dad was a deadbeat and not around much - Mom handed me a Norelco electric when I was 14 and sheepishly admitted she didn't know how to teach me. I had my first "lesson" watching a fellow cadet in my MC-JROTC platoon hurriedly scraping his barely wet face with a single blade disposable and grimacing the whole time, just before we quickly raced out to role call. When my Electric finally bit the dust - and my fancy Panasonic Wet/Dry electric (that NEVER WORKED) got tossed, I switched to whatever the latest/greatest disposable was. Never really got a good shave, never used after shave (didnt really understand why I should), and heaven help me I should shave off the goat once in a while (read ingrown hair hell).
So after some research and contemplating my skin/beard makeup (bristles hard as steel wire, dry skin) and using my buddy's '73 Super Adjustable, I settled on a '60 Fatboy off eBay (not a show worthy model, but a good working unit) and a Merkur 34C off Craigslist (threw in like 40 random blades too, looks like he used it 5 times). Also went around and got some shaving soap samples and grabbed a Van Der Hagen luxury kit when it was pointed out in the forums here.
While gathering my goods, I tried shaving with the '73 and a Wilkinson Sword blade, had to crank that sucker up to 7 before I started getting a good shave - still made 3 passes to get anything remotely acceptable. Pondering mild/light shaver, boar brush, cheap (crappy?) VDH soap, blade choice perhaps.
Got my Fatboy, gave it a good scrubbing and soaked it in Alcohol for a bit, loaded it with a Merkur blade, pulled out the 3-piece AOS sampler and went at it. Fortunately, I was also blessed with a neat opportunity to get a scuttle made for me. My Daughter took Ceramics this quarter and was itching for a project, so I am using this as well. I started the adjustment dial at 3 and moved up to 5 after the first pass proved less than satisfactory. I re-lathered and made a total of 3 passes (down/up/sideways) Not a bad shave all in all, but still not even close to were I want to be. I also have Feather, Derby's and Astra's to try as well.
LOL - thanks for reading my life story, and thanks for the forums and the board. Its a lot of fun trying to pick up where I missed stuff due to being a mommas boy (bless her heart, she tried hard - and was tougher than most men I know).
Cheers
Todzki
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