Greetings, all. Digging this site, lots of excellent info.
I've been of shaving age for 32 years. It's been a lifelong hassle, I've always hated shaving. I've always worn some type of facial hair in between a mustache and a full Grizzly Adams beard, but over the past few years my facial hair has turned white in big patches making me look about 20 years older than I am, so I'm keeping it all clean shaven now. And thanks to wet shaving, I'm thoroughly enjoying the entire process now, even looking forward to it.
I've been using a DE razor exclusively for about 6 months. I was about to drop an obscene amount of cash on my usual pack of Quattro Titanium carts, ran across a Micro Touch One razor on clearance for $9.99 and thought "that Pawn Stars dude torques me, but that's actually a pretty cool looking razor", so I bought it and a few packs of Personna blades. I cut the ish out of myself the first few times trying to use it like a Quattro, but once I got the hang of the technique, I stuck with it until one day I achieved the closest, most perfect shave of my entire life. It was a revelation, this piece of "outdated" technology absolutely trouncing the performance of the expensive 4 blade pivot carts I'd been using for years. So I started poking around online and found this site among others, and began scoring some starter swag.
I picked up a blade sampler and a few vintage TTO razors - an early Schick Krona and several SuperSpeeds, a 1948 or 49, a 1954 and two 1956's. The Krona was near mint but the Gillettes were all varying degrees of grungy and out of whack, so I took them apart, cleaned/polished them and carefully adjusted them with jeweler's pliers, and they all look and work great now. So far the Krona with a Feather blade gives me the closest shave, but the 40's SuperSpeed with a Nacet is by far the most comfortable, glides right through my iron stubble. Can't wait to expand my collection, the safety razor is a beautiful little piece of machinery.
Right now I only have one brush and two soaps, an Omega Pro 49 boar, some VdH Deluxe and a tub of Proraso White. The VdH is perfectly decent, but the Proraso is awesome, I love the subtle menthol that kicks in on the 2nd pass. Once I got the horrifying stench out of the Omega it's been a fantastic brush, hasn't shed any bristles, lathers like a beast and feels great, not too scratchy, not too soft. I know I've got several soaps coming in my Christmas stocking, so I'm waiting to buy any more.
I also picked up two things I never thought I'd buy in a million years - Aqua Velva and Pinaud Clubman. I was surprised to see how many people on this site considered both essentials. It was under $12 for both, a totally acceptable gamble. Both were love at first splash. I've known the scent of Clubman my entire life, I just never knew where it came from. Instant time machine back to my first barbershop haircut, and an instant feeling of being well-groomed and put together. My wife absolutely loves it on me. And the Aqua Velva... good God that glorious mentholated drydown! Makes me wish I could shave again just to feel that icy bite. I have pretty much the entire Clubman lineup on order now, should start arriving this week. Looking forward to seeing if I'm among the Lilac Vegetal "chosen".
Happy to be here and looking forward to learning more about my new hobby. Keep it smooth, gents!
I've been of shaving age for 32 years. It's been a lifelong hassle, I've always hated shaving. I've always worn some type of facial hair in between a mustache and a full Grizzly Adams beard, but over the past few years my facial hair has turned white in big patches making me look about 20 years older than I am, so I'm keeping it all clean shaven now. And thanks to wet shaving, I'm thoroughly enjoying the entire process now, even looking forward to it.
I've been using a DE razor exclusively for about 6 months. I was about to drop an obscene amount of cash on my usual pack of Quattro Titanium carts, ran across a Micro Touch One razor on clearance for $9.99 and thought "that Pawn Stars dude torques me, but that's actually a pretty cool looking razor", so I bought it and a few packs of Personna blades. I cut the ish out of myself the first few times trying to use it like a Quattro, but once I got the hang of the technique, I stuck with it until one day I achieved the closest, most perfect shave of my entire life. It was a revelation, this piece of "outdated" technology absolutely trouncing the performance of the expensive 4 blade pivot carts I'd been using for years. So I started poking around online and found this site among others, and began scoring some starter swag.
I picked up a blade sampler and a few vintage TTO razors - an early Schick Krona and several SuperSpeeds, a 1948 or 49, a 1954 and two 1956's. The Krona was near mint but the Gillettes were all varying degrees of grungy and out of whack, so I took them apart, cleaned/polished them and carefully adjusted them with jeweler's pliers, and they all look and work great now. So far the Krona with a Feather blade gives me the closest shave, but the 40's SuperSpeed with a Nacet is by far the most comfortable, glides right through my iron stubble. Can't wait to expand my collection, the safety razor is a beautiful little piece of machinery.
Right now I only have one brush and two soaps, an Omega Pro 49 boar, some VdH Deluxe and a tub of Proraso White. The VdH is perfectly decent, but the Proraso is awesome, I love the subtle menthol that kicks in on the 2nd pass. Once I got the horrifying stench out of the Omega it's been a fantastic brush, hasn't shed any bristles, lathers like a beast and feels great, not too scratchy, not too soft. I know I've got several soaps coming in my Christmas stocking, so I'm waiting to buy any more.
I also picked up two things I never thought I'd buy in a million years - Aqua Velva and Pinaud Clubman. I was surprised to see how many people on this site considered both essentials. It was under $12 for both, a totally acceptable gamble. Both were love at first splash. I've known the scent of Clubman my entire life, I just never knew where it came from. Instant time machine back to my first barbershop haircut, and an instant feeling of being well-groomed and put together. My wife absolutely loves it on me. And the Aqua Velva... good God that glorious mentholated drydown! Makes me wish I could shave again just to feel that icy bite. I have pretty much the entire Clubman lineup on order now, should start arriving this week. Looking forward to seeing if I'm among the Lilac Vegetal "chosen".
Happy to be here and looking forward to learning more about my new hobby. Keep it smooth, gents!
