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Tales of a DE newb

Some posts on DE shaving had me thinking I might decapitate myself if I did it wrong. :laugh: Since you're reading this right now, it's obvious I remain decapitation-free.

Got a pack of Dollar General blades to go with the Fat Boy I had in a drawer for years and not sure where it came from.
Dollar General is my new favorite store, btw. Went in the first time for a $1 pack of blades, wound up going there three more times for other stuff that week. The person with me said, "How can they sell Monster Energy drinks so cheap?" That person's new favorite store now too, I think.

To keep things fair with my previous shaving, I kept it simple and mildly lathered up with hand soap and lukewarm water.
"Ok, here we go... the moment of truth...."
and... that was about it. :biggrin1:

I was expecting some big cut-myself fanfare, and some "this sure takes a long time" fanfare, but it didn't happen. It just worked. I definitely went slower than I would with a razor I was more familiar with, but even with newbing it up it certainly wasn't slow, and the cheap blade was plenty sharp for me.

Before this, I pulled a Gillette Sensor out of the drawer that I also didn't remember having. And before that, I generally just used various cheap disposables. Some thoughts:

I immediately missed a pivoting head. The first time I used the Sensor (again) weeks back, I felt spoiled. The Sensor also has the spring-loaded blades, but I don't know how much that helps over simply the pivot.

Gillette Fat Head has a fat head when trying to shave under your nose. Annoying.

I see lots of praise for Bic Metal single-blade disposables, but I hate them and think they're terrible. In fact, I was somewhat expecting DE to be terrible since some people say Bic Metal is as close to DE as a disposable gets.
The twin-blade cheapie Bic and Personna disposables are immensely better than the Metal imo.

And my main thought is probably, "I still can't believe I'm posting on a shaving forum." haha.

So, a successful DE first try, and I assume it will only get better. And while I currently think something like a Sensor is easier and quicker than DE, even right now I can say I could live with DE. Next stop is to get a Vector handle and some Atra cartridges and see how those compare. Just from a price and get 'er done standpoint, I think it will be a tough fight between DE and Atra, but we'll see. I don't know if I'll ever "enjoy" shaving like others around here do, but not long ago I never thought I'd ever post on a shaving forum, either. :wink2:
 
You are right that the pivoting head and springy blades are nice. I will concede that it offers a better system on face value, but I will also say that it only takes a slight learning curve to adjust to DE shave. Where you can pull a DE razor across your face just as quickly and with as much closeness as your pivoting head in short order. Where the advantage switches over to DE blades in that they are sharper and less costly, and again with some learning curve just as easy to use.

IMO the biggest shaving difference is building a traditional wet lather, using either soaps or creams. These will soften your whiskers better/faster than canned "gel" shaving cream.

Cheaper (sharper) razor blades + Cheaper (better) soap/creams = Win
 
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