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First DE shave this morning...

Hi

I'm 30, live in N. London, England.. When I first started shaving in my teens I used a Wilkinson Sword protector cartridge for about a fortnight and then, realising how overpriced they are, various disposables (Bic orange handle single, Gillette Blue II, mostly various supermarket bic copies) for another 15 years.

So for all of my adult life a swivel head .15p tesco disposable was my gold standard. I normally shave every third day, and used one disposable for each shave - normally thinning out with last times blade first and then a second pass with the new fresh disposable. I would normally make the lather out of shower gel in my hand.

Recently the hairs have been getting thicker and the process feels more like hacking than shaving and my face has been irritated and raw particularly around the jaw and neck. I sometimes get dry bumps on the neck and this has been happening more and more, esp this winter. In the end, on thursday having known that its my shaving routine thats responsible for a long time I decided to plan.. Id never heard of DE shaving.. my Dad uses an electric which I tried and ruled out years ago and had never taken the time to use the internet to look into this ever before.

Googling the product descriptions of some of the traditional shaving kit on amazon soon led me here. After a bit of look see I had my latest purchase and potential rough face solution narrowed down to either an EJ89 or a 34C... Though the only razor that I saw which jumped out at me and made we want to zoom in and admire was the merkur 1904 nickel gillette replica. I liked the handle a lot and it looked comfortable to hold, realising it was a similar price to the EJ but heavier, and by the manufacturer of the other one I considered -- I ordered it.

Did consider getting a blade sample pack but having read these forums a fair bit and already erring towards getting just one good blade and then perfecting my technique before entering an experimental phase, I went for 100 med prep personna from westcoast. £25 shipped and from the honest sounding testimonials these seem like the shiz as some would say :) may as well benefit from others trial and error is my philosophy.

One question - has anyone else in the UK or EU ordering blades from the US been asked to pay duty? Seems like a small package even 100 as they are so thin but if the value is marked on the declaration maybe they will try and get another 20% from me..

Anyway to the shave....

The postman rang my buzzer and the merkur 1904 arrives at 10, good job theres 2 days growth waiting to be seen to. I'm using a palmolive shaving stick (palmolive euro as you would say) and a cheap synthetic brush from a local chemist, razor loaded with the merkur sample blade from the box.

Wow! I washed the 3 pieces, put the blade on and soaked the whole apparatus in hot water. The handle feels great and the whole object is so sturdy and there is so little to go wrong this feels like it will last 100 years. Did 2 passes in just about the same order and directions as I would with a bic, taking into account the different hair patterns - and trying to follow the general advice from here and elsewhere about technique, using the weight etc. So close and comfortable its amazing, took me a few mins to get my confidence but this is so much better than what I was doing before!! I love it. No nicks but on my neck there is a touch of rawness where I held the blade at a silly angle but thats how you learn. My face feels so fresh!

So converted for life basically. Queued up ready to go in amazon is a badger-boar 404, mitchells lambfat soap block, and a cold pressed castor oil 100ml as I'm going to try the OCM as this forum has convinced me this along with my new shaving set up will solve my rough scratcy face problem once and for all. so thank you so much!!
 
Hello from another UK member! Glad to hear your first DE shave went well... After the initial learning curve, they will only get better!
 
Hello from another UK member! Glad to hear your first DE shave went well... After the initial learning curve, they will only get better!
I sort of realised that this morning, and already I'm looking forward to the next shave, looking forward to that learning curve and the new zen of shaving. Also thanks for the PM about the UK med prep supplier - the wait for the blades from the US is my only hold up atm.
  • MeanGene
    Welcome to B&B!​
  • mistervee123
    Quick conversions can sometimes be the best! Welcome to B&B from a yank.​
Thanks very much! Glad to have found this excellent resource, and looking forward to getting my castor oil to try the oil cleansing.. the forum could be the best news for my skin for a long time :001_tongu
 
Congratulations on taking your first step!
... I've always wanted to try Mitchell's Woolfat soap. Let us know how it works for you! You might also want to order a blade sampler to experiment and find out what works best with your face.

Oh yes: Welcome to B&B!

Best,

- ice
 
Freshfaced;

Welcom Sir from California's Left Coast. It's great to have you with us. Thanks for posting your journey so far. I placed an order with WCS also and it shipped the next day. Hopefully, today or tomorrow I'll get to try out my new purchases.

Again, welcome to B&B.
 
Welcome aboard,

I haven't paid duty on any items that I've had posted as yet. Going for all four corners of the globe currently.
Mitchells Woolfat is amazing, a good clean fresh scent and works really well (with Irish water anyway) I've never had a complaint with it.
Apparently the Tesco own brand DE blades are Israeli Med preps but I could be wrong and will stand corrected if need be.

Enjoy the ride.
 
Congratulations on taking your first step!
... I've always wanted to try Mitchell's Woolfat soap. Let us know how it works for you! You might also want to order a blade sampler to experiment and find out what works best with your face.

Oh yes: Welcome to B&B!

Best,

- ice

Thanks, and I'll def give some feedback on the mitchells when I've tried it. Actually am thinking about trying yellow 7 o'clocks and Bolzano Superinox from the UK - as they're available sooner than the ones on order from the US to have a bit of a comparison...
 
Thanks for all the welcome posts!

one thing I was thinking: as both sides of the blade look exactly the same and it doesn't seem to matter which was faces up when they're put in, and everyone uses their blades for multiple shaves, would it make sense to turn the blade upside down at the start of a new shave - so the other side points towards the face in use? Surely the blades would last longer... does anyone do it this way?
 
I sort of realised that this morning, and already I'm looking forward to the next shave, looking forward to that learning curve and the new zen of shaving.

With luck you will always look forward to your next shave. There really is something zen-like to the "ritual". At my busy house, it is my "me" time, nice hot shower followed by a great DE shave.

Welcome to B&B from Chicago!
 
Welcome to B&B, from another UK member!:thumbup1: I have bought a strop and several straight razors from the US, not to mention some soaps unavailable in the UK, and so far I haven't been stung for customs charges on anything. I get the impression they overlook incoming shaving parcels from the US.:001_unsur But I have received 2 parcels from Japan and that was a completely different story altogether.
 
Welcome and congratulations :001_smile

One question - has anyone else in the UK or EU ordering blades from the US been asked to pay duty? Seems like a small package even 100 as they are so thin but if the value is marked on the declaration maybe they will try and get another 20% from me..

In a recent buy from the US, I was informed by the customs that they are not really interested in orders with a value under 80€, that's including the postage. This was the Finnish Customs, so technically EU regulations, but UK might be different still.
 
Welcome aboard,

I haven't paid duty on any items that I've had posted as yet. Going for all four corners of the globe currently.
Mitchells Woolfat is amazing, a good clean fresh scent and works really well (with Irish water anyway) I've never had a complaint with it.
Apparently the Tesco own brand DE blades are Israeli Med preps but I could be wrong and will stand corrected if need be.

Enjoy the ride.

Picked up some of those tesco DE blades today while I wait for the personna med preps from the US - and they're MUCH MUCH sharper than the merkur blade.. huge difference and possible to get very close indeed! The packaging says made in Israel so seems to back up your theory.
 
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