Hello from Maryland: A new wet shaver (referred from Flyertalk) and a complaint

Hi all,
I was directed to this forum from the flyertalk forum where I had started a thread on one bagging while on travel (I travel quite a bit). Till around a month ago, I had no idea about the passion (and umm the amount of money that is spent) on wet shaving tools and I always thought my dad's DE razors were a thing of the past.

Since then, I've learned about how good the hair of that animal that burrows a hole in my backyard is supposed to be (and how expensive it can get, depending on the prefix that is attached to the word badger), about knots, backbone, angle of shave etc.

I've been a cartridge user since I started shaving and recently got myself an Edwin Jagger 89BL and a Muhle anodized silver travel brush (synthetic) for travel (I read synthetic is better than badger for travel) and look forward to using it, and asking questions/sharing experiences, which brings me to my complaint...

...the FAQ and info tips are TOO THOROUGH Its amazing. If one actually reads them, any question a newbie can actually think of is answered to perfection, so I will hesitate to ask any questions, because everything is already documented beautifully. Hats off to those who wrote these tips!

Welcome to B&B

Welcome to the club

Welcome!

Welcome fellow Marylander.

Welcome to the forum !!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to the forum and you can still ask questions, if you like!

Welcome!

Glad to have you join us! Where 'bouts in MD?

-- John Gehman

Welcome!

By the way, I wouldn't hesitate to ask questions. Because there is so much info, it can be difficult to wade through. For example, I wanted a new brush, but after reading loads of stuff, I didn't know what one would work. So I posted a thread looking for recommendations, and people were really helpful. In some forums, people will blast you for posting a question when it's answered in a sticky. That's not true here; sure, you should try to find your answer in stickies and wikis, but if you have a question even after that, ask it!

Welcome!

howdy

welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard.

Thank you for the warm welcome - and the encouragement to ask questions!

So I did shave for the very first time today (with the DE, that is). I was using the Edwin Jagger listed above and the Derby blades that came along. Some early observations (chalk this to my inexperience)

1) I'm sort of struggling to find the accurate angle, it seems there is _very_little_ blade that is exposed with this razor and I am often removing the lather with the metal of the razor (the safety grooves) instead of the blade touching my skin. For those that use this particular razor, is 30 degrees (to the skin) the angle that works for you?

2) I had to do a 5 pass today to get a clean shave, but I am hoping to get better (and yes, I still have razor burns)

(For my fellow Marylanders: Hello! I'm based in Urbana)

thx

Hello and welcome to B&B!!

Ben

You call that a complaint?

Welcome to B&B!

Reading info on the wiki is cool but then discussion is so much more personal...

The EJ has, IME, a pretty wide "usable" angle but a narrow "sweet spot" (if that makes sense). Try laying the head flat against your skin and then tilting your arm with a locked wrist and then just moving the elbow. If you're also stretching the skin and making "shave faces" you should have a flat piece of skin, and be mitigating angle movement.
Does that make sense?

Don't be shy if you have a question. We need to make the information evolve in Wiki also. If we don't have any conversations about it, it cannot evolve! and welcome to the forum!