Hi,
I'm new to DE shaving, I've been using either an electric or Gillette Mach3 for the past 30ish years. I moved away from electric to Mach3 except when I absolutely needed to, however I can never seem to do a daily shave with the Mach3, due to irritation - hence my reason for trying DE. I have no idea if I have coarse hair or not, although a barber once commented that I had really coarse hair when I had a hot shave years ago. For me it's always been what it's been, blood and guts if necessary...get the job done. Waiting a couple of days and going with the Mach3 gets me a very close shave that last more than a day...but I like the idea of smoother, more often at a lower cost. And frankly, a bit of pampering would be nice, if I can say that...
I've bought myself a Merkur 34C and a sample pack of both razors and 18 or so TOBs. I am assuming that, with the exception of the ones that are for sensitive skin, the creams are all about the same, except for scent? I've been switching them up daily, mostly getting the missus' approval...
As for the blades, in my sampler pack I have the blades below. I recognise my technique needs a lot of work, obviously. I started by using the Parker Premium, then I decided to do a rapid fire, two swipes per blade to see what it felt like on the day and now I'm going back to do a full shave on each. My observations so far:
Parker Premium Platinum - my first blade I tried, which cause more irritation than I remember from my first shave 30 years ago. I've done a full shave, three passes, with a lot of rework. Didn't matter how many passes I did, I couldn't get a close shave. I would say absolutely awful for me and I'm shuddering thinking of working through the 5 blades I have
Merkur Platinum stainless - I seemed to struggle to find the right angle for some reason. On my full shave it performed "okay" but was sort of annoying in that it didn't seem to cut as close as I would have liked
Astra green - I know it's popular, it didn't irritate but it didn't seem to get that close. I want to experiment more with this one
Wilkinson Sword - this was used only one day after a shave, so I was expecting a lot of irritation but it went well. My second favourite so far I think
Gillette Platinum - irritated me a bit on the two-pass test and again on the full shave. It didn't seem to give me that close a shave, and have a bit of irritation, but nothing like the Parker
Derby Extra - I've only tested it with a couple of strokes, but I liked it. This will be my next blade to test
Feather - Provided the closest shave with the least irritation. I like it, but then it's for "experienced users" and maybe my ego wants me to like it. So far, it's my favourite
The above testing was done with the same pre-shave prep. Which is to say, little to none. I have shaved in the past with nothing but water before (desperate times, desperate measures), but I'm reading and learning lots. I've been going the shower, lather, shave route but I'm going to try adding in a pre-shave Proraso and see if that does anything...
Looking at the above, my favourite is the Feather, then Wilkinson Sword, Derby/Astra and then Gillette, Merkur and Parker. Do my blade choices suggest anything? I'm wondering if maybe I have coarse hair and I'm better to go with more aggressive blades and secondly if there are blades I should try other than those above. My plan is to work on technique over the coming weeks/months and then decide if DE is better than the ol' Mach3. Thoughts?
Thanks
I'm new to DE shaving, I've been using either an electric or Gillette Mach3 for the past 30ish years. I moved away from electric to Mach3 except when I absolutely needed to, however I can never seem to do a daily shave with the Mach3, due to irritation - hence my reason for trying DE. I have no idea if I have coarse hair or not, although a barber once commented that I had really coarse hair when I had a hot shave years ago. For me it's always been what it's been, blood and guts if necessary...get the job done. Waiting a couple of days and going with the Mach3 gets me a very close shave that last more than a day...but I like the idea of smoother, more often at a lower cost. And frankly, a bit of pampering would be nice, if I can say that...
I've bought myself a Merkur 34C and a sample pack of both razors and 18 or so TOBs. I am assuming that, with the exception of the ones that are for sensitive skin, the creams are all about the same, except for scent? I've been switching them up daily, mostly getting the missus' approval...
As for the blades, in my sampler pack I have the blades below. I recognise my technique needs a lot of work, obviously. I started by using the Parker Premium, then I decided to do a rapid fire, two swipes per blade to see what it felt like on the day and now I'm going back to do a full shave on each. My observations so far:
Parker Premium Platinum - my first blade I tried, which cause more irritation than I remember from my first shave 30 years ago. I've done a full shave, three passes, with a lot of rework. Didn't matter how many passes I did, I couldn't get a close shave. I would say absolutely awful for me and I'm shuddering thinking of working through the 5 blades I have
Merkur Platinum stainless - I seemed to struggle to find the right angle for some reason. On my full shave it performed "okay" but was sort of annoying in that it didn't seem to cut as close as I would have liked
Astra green - I know it's popular, it didn't irritate but it didn't seem to get that close. I want to experiment more with this one
Wilkinson Sword - this was used only one day after a shave, so I was expecting a lot of irritation but it went well. My second favourite so far I think
Gillette Platinum - irritated me a bit on the two-pass test and again on the full shave. It didn't seem to give me that close a shave, and have a bit of irritation, but nothing like the Parker
Derby Extra - I've only tested it with a couple of strokes, but I liked it. This will be my next blade to test
Feather - Provided the closest shave with the least irritation. I like it, but then it's for "experienced users" and maybe my ego wants me to like it. So far, it's my favourite
The above testing was done with the same pre-shave prep. Which is to say, little to none. I have shaved in the past with nothing but water before (desperate times, desperate measures), but I'm reading and learning lots. I've been going the shower, lather, shave route but I'm going to try adding in a pre-shave Proraso and see if that does anything...
Looking at the above, my favourite is the Feather, then Wilkinson Sword, Derby/Astra and then Gillette, Merkur and Parker. Do my blade choices suggest anything? I'm wondering if maybe I have coarse hair and I'm better to go with more aggressive blades and secondly if there are blades I should try other than those above. My plan is to work on technique over the coming weeks/months and then decide if DE is better than the ol' Mach3. Thoughts?
Thanks