All of a sudden I figured out how to shave properly. I'm so excited, I feel like a kid with his first drink or his first girl!
I started off right. I read the forum, I watched Mantic's videos, and I went to Amazon and bought the basic stuff: a Weishi butterfly DE from RetroRazor, Personna blades, a cheap boar brush, and some Proraso cream. Then Razor Acquisition Disorder set in and I started buying: more blades and creams, a razor stand, a Merkur 38C, and a badger brush. I read Leisureguy's book cover to cover. And still always ended up with either (a) tremendous razor burn and cuts or (b) an unsatisfactory shave.
I knew I was doing something wrong. I went back and watched the videos again. I reread Leisureguy's book. I decided the Merkur was "too aggressive for my sensitive face" and went back to the safe Weishi. I thought about going back to an electric razor.
Tonight, I approached the mirror with grim trepidation. And then I did something new: I turned off the exhaust fan in the bathroom, and I listened.
I heard scraping. I adjusted the blade angle. Now I didn't hear anything, but I was just pushing the cream around. I adjusted again, and suddenly I could hear each whisker being cut. I nearly wept with joy. Gleefully I finished up my third pass, washed up, and applied some Razor Defense.
I still need to work on my chin and neck technique, and I still have a lot of products to try out, but now I'm looking forward to my next shave!
Anyway, I want to thank all of you for creating and maintaining such an invaluable resource ... and to encourage the other newbies here to stick with it. I hope you all have your "eureka" moments like I just did.
I started off right. I read the forum, I watched Mantic's videos, and I went to Amazon and bought the basic stuff: a Weishi butterfly DE from RetroRazor, Personna blades, a cheap boar brush, and some Proraso cream. Then Razor Acquisition Disorder set in and I started buying: more blades and creams, a razor stand, a Merkur 38C, and a badger brush. I read Leisureguy's book cover to cover. And still always ended up with either (a) tremendous razor burn and cuts or (b) an unsatisfactory shave.
I knew I was doing something wrong. I went back and watched the videos again. I reread Leisureguy's book. I decided the Merkur was "too aggressive for my sensitive face" and went back to the safe Weishi. I thought about going back to an electric razor.
Tonight, I approached the mirror with grim trepidation. And then I did something new: I turned off the exhaust fan in the bathroom, and I listened.
I heard scraping. I adjusted the blade angle. Now I didn't hear anything, but I was just pushing the cream around. I adjusted again, and suddenly I could hear each whisker being cut. I nearly wept with joy. Gleefully I finished up my third pass, washed up, and applied some Razor Defense.
I still need to work on my chin and neck technique, and I still have a lot of products to try out, but now I'm looking forward to my next shave!
Anyway, I want to thank all of you for creating and maintaining such an invaluable resource ... and to encourage the other newbies here to stick with it. I hope you all have your "eureka" moments like I just did.
Sound can be a powerful tool in adjusting your angle. Congrats on figuring it out before going back to electric. Try and take your time with the "a lot of products to try," wouldn't want to hamper your new found progress by introducing too many variables at once. 
