Good evening everyone from a shave newbie and lurker for a couple weeks. I've been working on my technique now for a week and voraciously watching and reading everything I can get my eyeballs on. My wife, who is a wonderful woman (hence we've been married now for 7 years), got me a couple books, including Leisureguy's for my birthday. I've watched Mantic's videos, which are wonderful and informative, and I've lurked a HUGE amount on the forums, especially looking at the reviews.
So far, I've gotten myself a:
Merkur HD
EJ Best Badger Brush
Derby Extra Blades
On the way, I've got:
Mama Bear's Soap
Spieck(sp?) Aftershave Splash
I'm waiting, almost patiently even, for the other items. Unfortunately, since I don't have any shave soap yet, I'm using my DE with regular canned foam.
I started out with the Derby blades for several days, but was getting a lot of nicks and doing my best to not get discouraged. I finally decided to change away from the Derby blades after trying two to make sure that it wasn't just a 'bum blade' and using them for a week to make sure it wasn't totally my technique, either of which were possiblities. After six days or so of 'facial hamburger', I decided to switch to the blade that came with my Merkur and see what happens for a few shaves.
Surprisingly, my shave was the best I'd gotten so far. Not perfect, but much better. I still had some nicks, but I was much smoother. Even the afore mentioned wife thought it was greatly improved. Tonight, I did what I'd been doing again, replicating the technique that worked for me as well as using the Merkur blade. Tonight's shave was the best so far.
I've still got a bit of learning to do, that's for sure, but I'm getting there, I'm happy to say. As my father would say, "Rome wasn't built in a day." Look forward to learning new things and can't wait for my soap to get here so I can try the new brush.
In any event, I just wanted to say 'Hello, I'm a newbie", thanks for the great forum filled with wonderful information, reviews, and encouragement.
So far, I've gotten myself a:
Merkur HD
EJ Best Badger Brush
Derby Extra Blades
On the way, I've got:
Mama Bear's Soap
Spieck(sp?) Aftershave Splash
I'm waiting, almost patiently even, for the other items. Unfortunately, since I don't have any shave soap yet, I'm using my DE with regular canned foam.
I started out with the Derby blades for several days, but was getting a lot of nicks and doing my best to not get discouraged. I finally decided to change away from the Derby blades after trying two to make sure that it wasn't just a 'bum blade' and using them for a week to make sure it wasn't totally my technique, either of which were possiblities. After six days or so of 'facial hamburger', I decided to switch to the blade that came with my Merkur and see what happens for a few shaves.
Surprisingly, my shave was the best I'd gotten so far. Not perfect, but much better. I still had some nicks, but I was much smoother. Even the afore mentioned wife thought it was greatly improved. Tonight, I did what I'd been doing again, replicating the technique that worked for me as well as using the Merkur blade. Tonight's shave was the best so far.
I've still got a bit of learning to do, that's for sure, but I'm getting there, I'm happy to say. As my father would say, "Rome wasn't built in a day." Look forward to learning new things and can't wait for my soap to get here so I can try the new brush.
In any event, I just wanted to say 'Hello, I'm a newbie", thanks for the great forum filled with wonderful information, reviews, and encouragement.
