Newbies, tell us how is your shave progress so far, what have you learn?

Doug428 said:

3 days straight of a very fine shave. 5'oclock shadow not too bad. Just really nice shaves with zero irritation. Man, the cold water rinse is awesome. My current setup: arko soap, proraso preshave, fat boy, I think barber blades. I have really been searching for a good blade for me. I have coarse beard and sensitive skin. I need sharp blade but still smooth for me. I got the blades at my Food City store. They are topco and say made in Israel. They only have arrows on them and from my research I think same as tesco blade. I set fat boy to 5 1st pass, then 3&2 on next 2 passes. I shave with grain, then do the X for next two. Cold water rinse, witch hazel, proraso lime aftershave, I'm ready for the day

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BigAl09 said:

Every day I seem to be learning something. Found out two things today. First I've been using an EJ best Badger for a few weeks now and simply love it but noticed today I may have been getting rid of too much water after I soak it. Left my brush a little wetter than usual and managed to lather up my Prorazo green with minimal effort (very pleased but need to be able to replicate in future). Second discovery was that I couldn't help myself buying an EJ 89 with lined handle. Received it today and couldn't wait to use it. Had not shaven for a couple of days while awaiting my new razor. Initially I couldn't see why people were so enthusiastic about it as it seemed to shave pretty much like my late model Gillette Tech (which is renowned to be very mild). Please don't get me wrong I do really like this razor but wanted to see how different another razor could be. To cut a long story short it wasn't until I accidentally changed the angle a little and felt a more responsive cut. With a little experimentation I managed to improve my shave with the EJ89 and found I could shave what I think is a little more closely in two passes without pressure than with three passes with the Tech. I still need to greatly improve my technique and be more consistent. The Tech is smaller and lighter but still a good razor and a little more forgiving.

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Tee Dawg said:

I'm using the Derby extra blades.

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jstr2112 said:

wanted to jump back in a add some thoughts and to bump this awesome thread back to the first page.

Lather is pretty much a thing of the past - Muhle STF brush and good B&M soap - never a problem

Angle - still working on but took the plunge on a GEM OCMM and had to take my time a pay attention. Did really well with it and when I am using my Maggard DE I am finding the angle much easier. It is a more aggressive razor then my EJ but still fairly mild ( I guess).

Neck mapping - no idea what that means but I guess it means as you shave, feel what works - I have a feeling my neck is like a vortex in the way it grows - I go N-S then S-N then really after that I just knock out the areas that need it in the angle that feels the roughest when I run my hand over it. but really the point is - What works for you DO IT. There is no magic rule that is out there that some one will tell you when you learn the secret hand shake (although some of thing you learn after is pretty cool ) .

the only thing that I do not get is no matter how slow I go when I use a new blade be it a SE or Derby - I get weepers - every time, this I doubt will change but I am and probably always will be buying samples just to change it up.

cheers
jstr

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Tokyospike said:

Yes - still trying different ways. Slick skin and fingers make that area hard to stretch in a way that seems to help. Also, this is the one place where the width of the Mongoose works against me. The angle (ATG or XTG) I'm going for is a clumsy fit for the razor. And I can only give it a shot or two per shave, otherwise the area gets irritated. I'll find it eventually.

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dexutter said:

Good stuff! A lot of us get some unexpected aggression on the first run of a new blade. Some guys cork the blade (still not sure what that means...). I will occasionally palm strop the blade: Load it up, run it opposite of a shaving motion along your hand or arm 3-5 times per side. That helped a lot when I was trying blades. I haven't had to in a while (light pressure!!!) but I thought it helped!

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scotty51 said:

Second shave with my Feather AS-D2, love the razor but still learning the proper angle. I was getting pretty good with my Merkur 34c, now it's almost like starting over. No regrets spending the money on the AS-D2, just not getting as close of a shave yet, I know that will come with time.

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Private Lather said:

I just finished my fourth shave with my Mekur progress. My first shave I set it on four and used Barbasol sensitive shave cream with shave secret. It was a great shave. Second shave I used Van somebodys shave butter with shave secret and razor set to three and got a good shave. By this time I had been watching video on yourtube and had made my own preshave and had also bought a shave brush and creamo. Third shave with my own home made preshave and creamo put on with a shave brush with razor set to 2, I tore up me face and had irration, razor burn. Fourth shave I set my razor to one and used creamo this time applied to my face without using my brush also using my own home made pre shave and it was irration and burn city with some lose of blood. I think that I have tried to hard.

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Doug428 said:

3 days straight of a very fine shave. 5'oclock shadow not too bad. Just really nice shaves with zero irritation. Man, the cold water rinse is awesome. My current setup: arko soap, proraso preshave, fat boy, I think barber blades. I have really been searching for a good blade for me. I have coarse beard and sensitive skin. I need sharp blade but still smooth for me. I got the blades at my Food City store. They are topco and say made in Israel. They only have arrows on them and from my research I think same as tesco blade. I set fat boy to 5 1st pass, then 3&2 on next 2 passes. I shave with grain, then do the X for next two. Cold water rinse, witch hazel, proraso lime aftershave, I'm ready for the day

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Doug428 said:

I have tried them only one shave. I had some tugging and pulling, but it was only one shave. My prep could have been bad or something else. I am going to try them in a few different razors. I'm not giving up on any of the blades yet. However, I did have a really bad experience with voskhod blade. Shaved twice. Terrible pulling and bad razor burn, but I may try them again in the way future. Thanks for advice on the Astra's.

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joeyboy said:

Still on my blade hunt. I have tried GSB, Polsilver and Astra SP, today, in that order. I have also tried a few different creams: Speick ( I like), Trumper Lime (lacked protection, which I now understand), Proraso green (I like that stuff) and Stirling Soap. I am unsure about Stirling as I used it with the Astra today and that was the first time I have used that blade so I have no comparison. I got a BBS but feel I had to really fight with it. Going back to Speick tomorrow with the same blade as a reference. If I get the same thing, bye bye blade. I will try one more to ensure I didn't get a bad one.

Unreal how blades differ so much. I really think it was more the blade than the Stirling, although that was the first time I had lathered soap and my mastery may not be there. My cream lathering is good with no issues.

And the journey continues...

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alex2363 said:

Any update?

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joeyboy said:

Definitely the blade. Narrowed blades to polsilvers, GSB and I like personna reds israeli. The last is the dullest but works well for three shaves with no irritation. Still looking at the Moscow blades but haven't bought any yet.

Speick, tobs, trumper coconut and stirling are my go to now. Stirling seems to have the best post shave but the others are okay. I still really like speick.

I no longer cut or nick when I shave but find if the blade is degraded too much I apply too much pressure or the wrong angle and start scraping. I am changing blades sooner. Not worth it to get the one more shave at the risk of my neck.

Thanks for asking.

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DaBearDown said:

A major peice of sage advice I read on here and thought. Pshh Ill never make that mistake. But remember. Drag blade back and forth... not sidways... oh and a mirror is my worst enemy.
Edited because I can't spell

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