Thought Id take this opportunity to introduce myself. I discovered this forum after it was mentioned on a woodworking forum. Lurked off and on for a while and seriously started lurking about a week ago. Have learned a lot but still havent got to all of it
not enough hours in the day!
I learned to shave using a DE razor, a nice heavy brass Gillette. Switched to the disposable two blade since they were cooler in college. Actually started using a brush and soap a few years ago when I got my grandfathers shaving mug and brush. The brush was beyond usable, but my wife found a nice pure badger brush at an antique mall for $3. WOW! What a difference.
Now fast forward to last weekend. SWMBO wanted to stop at a mall to get some special kind of makeup. I normally develop hives and break out in a cold sweat when I go into shopping malls, but I found The Art of Shaving store just around the corner. I started looking at straight razors, but decided Id better get comfortable again with DE razors. I walked out with a nice Merkur and some shaving cream.
Again WOW! As Emeril would say Take it up a notch Ill play around with the cream some more before making decision re soap or cream, and Ill order a sampler pack of blades, but Ive found the Merkur blades nice, though have nothing to compare yet
All of this has generated a few questions that Ive not discovered answers to. Ive yet to nick myself. Does the use of an alum block add anything other than stop bleeding? Im using my mug with the shaving cream. Would a bowl work better? And is there anything special about a shaving bowl vs. a cereal bowl?
Ive not yet figured out whether wet shaving is a slippery slope or a vortex (woodworking reference!), but Im already trying to figure out what kind of new brush to get, and looking to see if I can find my old razor buried in a box in the basement.
Mark
I learned to shave using a DE razor, a nice heavy brass Gillette. Switched to the disposable two blade since they were cooler in college. Actually started using a brush and soap a few years ago when I got my grandfathers shaving mug and brush. The brush was beyond usable, but my wife found a nice pure badger brush at an antique mall for $3. WOW! What a difference.
Now fast forward to last weekend. SWMBO wanted to stop at a mall to get some special kind of makeup. I normally develop hives and break out in a cold sweat when I go into shopping malls, but I found The Art of Shaving store just around the corner. I started looking at straight razors, but decided Id better get comfortable again with DE razors. I walked out with a nice Merkur and some shaving cream.
Again WOW! As Emeril would say Take it up a notch Ill play around with the cream some more before making decision re soap or cream, and Ill order a sampler pack of blades, but Ive found the Merkur blades nice, though have nothing to compare yet
All of this has generated a few questions that Ive not discovered answers to. Ive yet to nick myself. Does the use of an alum block add anything other than stop bleeding? Im using my mug with the shaving cream. Would a bowl work better? And is there anything special about a shaving bowl vs. a cereal bowl?
Ive not yet figured out whether wet shaving is a slippery slope or a vortex (woodworking reference!), but Im already trying to figure out what kind of new brush to get, and looking to see if I can find my old razor buried in a box in the basement.
Mark