Some basic questions and a Hello!

**Porcupine Face** · 11-22-2007, 12:38 AM

Hi everyone,
After many years of fumbling with ingrown hairs and trying from dry sandpaper to wet canned goo multiblade shaving, I decided I wanted better. I found an Art of Shaving Travel Kit at Costco for $18 which includes a Badger brush (anyone knows what quality is it? I'd say Pure, meaning the lowest badger quality, but the bristles have the silvery color of a fine badger... however at that price??? It's small though), pre-shave oil, shaving cream and after shave balm. I don't care much for the after shave and the preshave oil feels weird on my fingers, but I love the cream and the brush. I still use a multiblade - fusion with the vibration thingy. I don't apply pressure though. I like the experience, but it's definitely not zen. However, what brought me to wet shaving is minimizing (holy grail would be eliminating) ingrown hairs. This is still something that is as elusive as an Unicorn. I also got a "treatment" at Nordstroms from Anthony's...
Anyhoo, my post is to request some advice. Should I continue doing what I'm doing? Any major changes you'd recommend? Also, I'd like to try different creams... Any recommendation as to the 2 or 3 essential creams to have? I fancy the idea of a sandalwood cream and maybe a coconut or almond cream. I hear a lot about Trafalgar and 1805. As you can see, I'm confused. Any suggestions are welcome.

**Jim** · 11-24-2007, 06:35 AM

Welcome to the B&B!
Take a look at this thread, and this one as well as the review section for some great ideas on products.

**BroJohn** · 11-24-2007, 06:48 AM

Porcupine -- (name? We're pretty friendly here...) Welcome to B&B.

The shave set is a fair intro to wetshaving, and a decent starter set. You'll likely find the shave oil of little to no value, but the other products are good.

As you check out the various forums here, you'll discover a number of 'pinned' or 'stickied' postings at the top of many forums. These are invaluable "How-to's" and are a 'must read'. B&B'er Mantic has produced a number of wet-shaving videos that he has posted to YouTube on the net. Take some time, starting with his 'intro to Wetshaving' series (second page of his video listings) --they are well worth your time.

-- John Gehman

**Kyle** · 11-24-2007, 07:03 AM

Welcome to B&B.

As you sort through your decisions regarding new lathering products, my advice would be to stick with established brands for right now (if you're not sure about one, ask us). There will be plenty of time down the road to be an experimenter, but for now an established product will remove one of the variables from finding that great shave.

Also, be sure to check out the review section - Tons of great info to be found there.

**SilkySmooth** · 11-24-2007, 11:48 AM

Welcome aboard!

==Tom

**rickw** · 11-24-2007, 02:16 PM

Welcome to B&B.

I've bought a couple of the AOS kits at Costco for around $15. Yes, the brush is Pure Badger. It is a little stiffer than a Best. Still works great. I used one of them until the odor was gone and then gave it to a friend of mine that was using canned goo. He is enjoying it along with a tube of Palmolive that I also gave him.