step 1 completed

went to walmart today. found the van der hagen (i think that's the name) kit that everyone talked about. came with soap, bowl, and brush. i'll try it friday. can't try it tomorrow for various reasons and i'll have one more day to learn how to do the lather. also got some nivea which people said was good. i'll definitely use that tomorrow and see how that compares to the natural salve i've been using.
i'll let y'all know how it goes.
i plan on following the tutorials on here and youtube.
any other suggestions for someone who's completely new to this that may not be in the tutorials?

You're off to a good start. Just remember use NO PRESSURE, and take your time. You'll do fine and your technique will improve very quickly.

dpmtherrien said:

You're off to a good start. Just remember use NO PRESSURE, and take your time. You'll do fine and your technique will improve very quickly.

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i'm not using the DE yet. i'm starting slow and working my way up to de. i'm still gonna use my cartridge and in the meantime decide which de i want and where to get it. and i think it'll be better for me this way too. i can perfect my lathering without trying to perfect my use of a de at the same time.

praetorian2000 said:

i'm not using the DE yet. i'm starting slow and working my way up to de. i'm still gonna use my cartridge and in the meantime decide which de i want and where to get it. and i think it'll be better for me this way too. i can perfect my lathering without trying to perfect my use of a de at the same time.

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Nothing wrong with the way you are approaching this at all. Using a brush and making your own lather is a quantum leap towards improving your shaves. When you are ready to make the change to a DE there will be a learning curve. It is possible, yea likely, that your shaves will not be as good as the ones you are going to get with your cartridges. I would even suggest that you transition to a single blade disposable such as the excellent (for its type) Bic Metal Guard. It mimics a DE better than any other disposable and will help you to develop your angles. The most glaring drawback is that it is extremely light in weight when compared to even the lightest DE.
Just shave now and take good care of your face. This place is a treasure chest of shaving information. I mean honestly, look at how much time the members spend here on average. This is a forum about shaving for crying out loud!

Recently, I've been to 4 different Walmarts in this area, and only 1 of them carried the VDH kit, or even had pucks of soap. I did open the box of the kit, I really liked that bowl with it, and that brush had a black handle, mine had a green handle, but mine was packaged under the name Surry and came with a mug instead of bowl. I might have to pick up one of those kits when I use my puck of VDH, could always use the bowl and put the brush as a starter kit in BST, or even PIF it to someone who don't know where to start.

Nothing wrong with your approach at all. Master your lather and then move on to DE.