My best shave ever....with a c**tridge

[weevil]

Yes, I know I shouldn't have, and I'm sorry :blushing:

I just wanted to say that, thanks to the mind-boggling amount of advice on this site, this morning's shave was the closest and most comfortable I've had in twenty-somthing years. Even though I used a cartridge.

Before you all vote to ban me from the forum, I only used the cartridge because I jumped the gun a little with my straight shaving. I ordered two shave-ready vintage straights (I wanted to try different widths and points), a brush, some soap and a strop. When everything except the strop had arrived--and thinking that the strop would arrive within a couple of days--I could wait no longer and used one straight razor, then, two days later, the second. It was only then that I bothered to check the delivery time on the strop, only to be told that it could be another week away.

Now, I'll happily go several days without shaving, but a week's a little too long, so I decided to use the cartridge which I thought I'd retired. I ripped the lubrication strip out, lathered up with the brush and soap (instead of the tinned goo I've used in the past), applied the same skin stretching method I'd used for the straights and went for one pass WTG. A quick rinse and re-lather, followed by one pass ATG and I've had my best shave ever.

Rest assured that I'm not returning to the cartridge. Even after just two straight shaves, I'm hooked. This post is simply a "thank you" to everyone whose advice I've followed regarding products:

Straights from Steve (The Invisible Edge), inspired by recommendations too numerous to list
Edwin Jagger Brush, after someone posted that, if they'd started with an Edwin Jagger, they might never have needed to buy any other
Col. Conk Amber Soap, having read that it's a good soap and an ideal benchmark by which newbies might judge other soaps
The strop, which I'm really looking forward to seeing, is coming from Tony Miller


...and techniques:

Joel's wonderful Interactive Guide to Straight Shaving
The tutorial on building lather with a brush
Numerous other scribes' advice on pre- and post-shave rituals


Thanks to you all for changing an uninspiring daily chore into something I hope to enjoy for life.

[Disburden]

Once you practice with the straight, daily, for months, you'll see the shave is way more superior and enjoyable than a cartridge.

[weevil]

Once you practice with the straight, daily, for months, you'll see the shave is way more superior and enjoyable than a cartridge.

I've always used multiple passes (often in many directions!) to get a good shave with the cartridge. Using it for the single WTG pass this morning allowed me to make a direct comparison to the straights (with which I have only tried single WTG thus far). I can already see that the straights are clearly better.

I've not shave closer with the straights yet (because I need to sort out my blade angles), but they obviously cut the hairs so much more efficiently. I shudder to think what they'd do if I applied the kind of pressure required to to shave with the cartidge razor. Probably shave my cheeks off.

I just wish I'd taken this step years ago.

[Ernie]

Before you all vote to ban me from the forum,
:lol::lol::lol:

Man, you had me there.

Learning the proper shaving methods will help your shave, not matter what you use to shave with. :smile:

[rabidpotatochip]

:lol::lol::lol:

Man, you had me there.

Learning the proper shaving methods will help your shave, not matter what you use to shave with. :smile:

+1 on proper methods being what helps.

I vote we ban him on account of thinking us a bunch of ban-happy forum-goers. :devil: