DE-Day

[vertelselaar]

As I sit here with my face in bandages and a new pint of blood just administered after my first experience of shaving DE...

Hold on, that was last night's nightmare, this is what really happened.

I shave wet for over 20 years now, almost always with Gillette Sensor or Sensor Excel. I use a brush and shaving soap from a tube, mostly Palmolive but now for a change it happens to be Gillette. I am experienced in handling alum as well. Because the price of the Sensor refill blades sky rocket and the blades feel more and more blunt, I recently started looking for alternatives. I tried those tennisrackets with 4 or more blades which were so large and unhandy that I threw them out.

I was at my wits end and considered growing a beard when I, by cheer chance and good fortune, met a guy who knew about shaving DE. He told my all kinds of DE-stuff and opened up a new world for me that I didn't know even existed. As a result I enrolled to this club and got flooded by all the information collected.

Considering options and exellent advice I decided to buy a Mühle Safety Razor No.R89, some samples of blades and shaving soap in a bowl. The parcel got delivered to me on last Tuesday and I spent some days waiting for the opportunity to find time for my first DE-shave, which was today: DE-Day.

All went well. I gave my face a light scrub. The beard started its third day (I normally shave every other day except for weekends) and was ready. I applied the Gillette shaving soap (I succefully resisted the urge to apply the new soap) on my brush and worked it in. Then I took my Mühle Safety Razor No.R89 with a blade of Personna Red IP. The first thing I noticed was no blood. Then there was the sound, it was different, more crispy and clear. Shaving WTG went fine, then soap again and XTG and in some spots ATG. This grip and razor feel different compared to what I've been used to, of course, so I was very careful.

At the second pass I noticed a remarkable difference from the Gillette Sensor experience: that I had to smooth the skin. The Sensor-system has a lubricating strip on it which lubricates the skin just enough for a smooth passage. Of course the DE-raxor doesn't have a lubricating strip and therefore I used some extra water. Suddenly I understood the meaning of some blogs about oiling the skin, the penny dropped.

After the shave I used my usual Weleda aftershave balm (it has no alcohol in it and doesn't sting) and when that dried in I applied some bodylotion to smooth things off. This is what I always do and it works fine for me.

Conclusion: a superb experience! I've got 11 Gillette Sensor-blades that I'll use and when they are spent I convert fully to DE-shaving.

Thank you all for the information on this forum that helped me so much!

[icedoverfire]

Welcome to B&B and congratulations on your first DE shave! It'll only get better from here!

- ice

[talibeard]

Welcome vertelselaar (officially this time!). I am glad it worked out so well since I felt partly responsable for your experiment!

Now let the AD's take over!

[Optometrist]

Congratulations on that first shave.

David

[Luc]

Welcome to B&B!

[Marco]

Welcome to B&B and congrats!

[rm71]

Congrats and welcome!

[vertelselaar]

Thanks a lot. Next time I visit London I'll not only spend a fortune on SF and Fantasy books and pen-and-paper Roleplaying games, but also in the barbershops from now on. I fear a collection growing and a new storing facility needed. Plusside of this new venture is that the wife will be happy with the smoothness of my face.

[Eric V]

Welcome to B&B, post DE day!

[Greyfox]

Welcome. Glad you joined. Enjoy yourself here.

[talibeard]

I fear a collection growing and a new storing facility needed.

No need to fear; just create (lots of) room for your new hobby. And some secret spaces in the house as well since wives do not tend to understand every aspect of this game!

[Sledgehammer39]

Congrats and Welcome Aboard!!

[akira7799]

Welcome to B&B!

Congrats on the shave!

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to B&B !!

[Guinness Draught]

Welcome to B&B. DE's are awesome shavers. Straights are awesome shavers AND really fun!

[demaro]

Welcome to the group !!

[franstjohn]

Welcome aboard!

I enjoyed reading your post. It only gets better.

[dpmtherrien]

Welcome to the B., and congrats on that shave.

[jsj_297]

Welcome to b&b! Glad to hear of your early success! I say chunk them cartridges, and give Gillette the middle finger while your at it, theyve stolen enough of your money & time!! Its worth how ever much you lose by throwing them things where they belong, in the trashcan!!

Anyways, Heres to your continued success, and enjoyment, and to all your future AD's you don't even know you have yet......hahahaaa Good luck sir!

[vertelselaar]

Thanks for your encouragements! Today I had my second DE-shave. As I want to master my technique before I shave in the morning-rush to work, I'll spend those blasted last Gillettes through the week untill they are gone. Today however I had time enough and made a few adaptations. I didn't do the light scrub beforehand as I think it will dry out my skin too soon.

The second change was that I used some different shaving soap to make a more traditional lather, in this instance the Dr. Harris Arlington in its shaving bowl. Making good lather was easy and I liked the smell. Shaving went excellently without any hick-ups. I also enjoyed the challenge to find nice angles of the blade to my face, it requires some skill that I like to master.

My face however feels a bit different than shaving with the Gillette Sensor before. A bit more dried out and as if the pores are a bit more open or activated. Probably something my skin has to get used to in the transition between two shaving styles. All in all a great shave today as my cheeks are baby-bottom smooth and my smile goes from one ear to the other.