Shaving with a GEM for the first time.

[thepugilist]

I just got a GEM 1912 in the mail this morning and I want to give it a shave. The only thing that I have used up to this point has been a Merkur HD standard newbie razor. This may be an obvious question, but I figured that I had better go ahead and ask rather than not and regret it later.

When shaving with the GEM should I go by the angle that head is already at? I ask this because it seems like a little but more of an extreme angle than I use with my HD. I just want to try and make it as comfortable a shave as possible.

[Bertilak]

I just got a GEM 1912 in the mail this morning and I want to give it a shave. The only thing that I have used up to this point has been a Merkur HD standard newbie razor. This may be an obvious question, but I figured that I had better go ahead and ask rather than not and regret it later.

When shaving with the GEM should I go by the angle that head is already at? I ask this because it seems like a little but more of an extreme angle than I use with my HD. I just want to try and make it as comfortable a shave as possible.

Go by feel, and perhaps sound. Start with the razor in an overly-safe angle (e.g. handle horizontal if shaving downward on the cheek). Make small trial strokes, lowering the handle a bit each time. It will be pretty obvious when things are just right.

In other words -- the same as you should have done when first using your DE.