My introduction and first question

Greetings,

I took the DE Safety Razor plunge about a week ago and while I'm overall very happy with the results, I find myself even more confused than I was when I first ordered all the gear.

A little background...I came across a thread on a music forum I visit about shaving. Always being fairly dissatisfied with the quality of shave I was getting and I was interested to see what everyone had to say about it. From there I found a link to the MSNBC wetshaving article and that opened up a whole new world of shaving ideas that I didn't know existed!

I've been bumming around here for a few days now and there is a lot of info so it's kind of overwhelming so I hope I'm not asking something that has been asked countless times before(though it probably has).

First off, I purchased a Murker Classic, a Vulfix pure badger brush, and some Taylor's cream in Almond. I've been pretty happy with my results so far but last night I had a pretty poor shave and I wanted some input.

My beard growth rate seems to vary quite a bit. Sometimes I can go days without shaving, other times I have a heavy stubble by lunch time. When I was using a cartridge razor, I could get away with ripping through my beard after it was a little longer than a close shave would allow, but it would get the job done fairly well without much hassle. However, last night when I tried it with the Merkur, I wasn't so lucky. There was a lot of pulling(3 shaves on the blade I was using, time for a new one?), and the closeness just wasn't there, granted it was a lot better than I ever got with a cartridge razor. Secondly, I got a lot of redness on my neck(my neck has always been a problem area, I either had to live with razor burn or constant stubble). So, I guess what I'm asking is, do I need to be a bit more religious about shaving regularly now? I normally shower after jogging in the morning and that's when I shave if I need it, so it's not a big deal really. Just curious!

Thanks for any replies! This seems to be an awesome place with a ton of very knowledgeable and generous people!

~Matt

Hi Matt!

Sounds like you're off to a good start, despite some trouble. Don't worry, it will start falling into place soon.

You don't mention what kind of blade you're using in the Merkur razor. All safety razor blades are not created equally; you should think about getting the blade sample pack from user letterk (link here).

The odds are you're simply using too much pressure on the razor. Try holding it by your thumb and first two fingers at the bottom of the handle--that'll force you to use as little pressure as possible.

You also might get some value from viewing my shaving videos (link in my sig) and Leisureguy's shaving blog (link here).

It will get better!

--Mark

I second the recommendations made by Mantic: the sampler packet of blades (different blades give very different shaves), his videos, and my general guide.

The source of the problem could be the blade and/or the blade angle. Be sure to keep the blade *almost* parallel to the skin it's shaving, so it hits the stubble at *almost* a right angle. Thus, you have to adjust the razor's position a fair amount as the skin curves so the blade is close to parallel to the particular skin getting shaved at that point. This works best if you make short strokes, so you can pay attention to angle (and pressure) for the entire stroke.

Practice will result in rapid improvement, once you've found the right blade.

Watch Manic's videos and read everything you can about building lather, prepping, beard grain and blade angle!

It's not like using a multi-blade, you can't come close to using the same amount of pressure as your probably use to using a cartridge shaver. The major difference, as I see it, between the two is with a DE razor, your actually trying to maintain contact with the blade and your beard only, leaving your skin out of the equation.

If your doing all that and your razor feels like it's pulling, your probably attacking the grain of your beard from the wrong direction. The grain of my beard changes often around my face and learning what's WTG, ATG or XTG is something you have to learn to avoid bumps, nicks and in-grown hairs.

This humble newbie who is learning from the Masters here sums it up this way;

Build as rich and thick lather you can to allow the blade to just float over your skin, (imo, learning to build super lather with cream and soap is a great thing to do). Find the right combo for you and your skin.

If you feel the blade touching your skin, stop and readjust the angle so the blade lifts back off it. Anyplace your skin and that blade make contact, you have a scrape/burn or maybe a bleeder.

Know your face! Learn the grain of your beard and never go against the grain unless you mean to, (on the 3rd or 4th pass), you'll save a lot pain if you do.

Enjoy your shaves and best wishes,,Patrick

Welcome Matt! Yep- its been asked about a million times! But thats what we are here for!

Take a look at these 2 posts by Kyle #1 #2

Hang in!

Thanks Jim! It's good to go back over those,,,Great job Kyle!

Thanks for the insight guys! The whole blade angle thing does have me a bit in the dark. I'll check out those videos when I get home tonight. Thanks in advance for doing that. That would be so helpful to any beginner at anything really. If a picture is worth a thousand words, than video must be worth a million.

As for the blades, yes I am using the Merkur blades as I ordered a 10 pack with the razor. I didn't know at the time that there were other blades out there and that they are not all created equal. However, from what I have read on here the Merkur blades are of good quality correct? Or did I miss something? Either way I'm totally taking advantage of the sample packs of blades and shaving creams! Very cool of those fellows to so that!

Thanks again!

~Matt

Some people like the Merkur blades, but most find the blades harsh and dull, not to put too fine a point on it. The sample packet includes Merkur, Israeli, Derby, Swedish Gillette, and Feather blades, and that's a good order in which to try them.

Double Edge and analogue seems a good combo to me


Welcome


Rob

Ahhh... Vinyl!!