Hiya From Down Under

Hi all, I've been lurking on this forum for a few months so far and have as a direct result purchased my first DE (merkur 34HD) started actively trying to get a better shave and having some limited success achieving it. Just went from lurker to member to thank all the people who've been on here posting and unbeknownst to them have been gradually improving my shave.

Thanks all.

Welcome to B&B Jake!!!

What other shaving products do you use besides the razor?

Feel free to ask as many questions as you need to, we're here to help.

Happy shaving

Welcome to B&B

If you have not already done so, stop into the Hall of Fame and tell everyone a little about yourself

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/forumdisplay.php/30-Hall-of-Fame

Hi Jake: Welcome to B&B. We are glad that you are with us.

WARHAWK

gday Jake - welcome to B&B!

seems we've got some hot weather ahead! => http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/01/02/08/30/2014-brings-heat-wave-for-australia

Glad to have you here Jake.

chilliman64 said:

gday Jake - welcome to B&B!

seems we've got some hot weather ahead! => http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/01/02/08/30/2014-brings-heat-wave-for-australia

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Yeah mate they say it'll be the worst heat wave on record. Already hit the high thirties out west where I am (Celsius for anyone not local)

Welcome!

Welcome to the forum, Jake !!

Thanks again.

Welcome to the forum, Jake!

Gibbon138 said:

thanks for the warm welcome, besides the razor I'm using an e&j best badger brush, astra blades Crabtree & Evelyn west Indian lime shave soap and suavecito bay rum aftershave.

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Thanks for not lurking, now we can communicate with you and you can keep us posted on your next shave.

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard.

Greetings Jake, welcome to B&B.

G'Day Jake from Sydney, Australia (Down Under..."There's nothing like it"...Yeah Baby!!!).

Welcome aboard the B & B (besides being enrolled in the fictional, sacred and utopian Order of Shavedom). Please feel free to come up to the promenade / sun deck & 'sit-a-spell'.

Sounds like you're off to a great start and (on your way to shaving nirvana), yes, this Forum has the knowledge, ideas, and all around 'know-how' to assist in your Wet-Shaving experience. In a nut-shell...your 'gonna' love it here.

Q. Now that you're with us...besides your Merkur (I own the 23C & 38C), what brand of other tools (blades, brushes, soaps, scents, ect...), are you working with?

In my opinion, it was wise and sage advice to get a Razor Blade Sampler (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...pack?highlight), so that you'll see what blade would be a good fit (mild, moderate & aggressive, ect...), for your face and razor(s).

Also, the Thread entitled Wet Shaving Instructions & Tutorials (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...THIS-THREAD%21), maybe of great interest to you and is very informative to include B & B's Interactive ShaveWiki's ( http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/ ).

And please don't forget The 7 P's of Shaving...Prepare, Patience, Pressure, Practice, Persistence, Post shave and Passion (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/313490-New-Members!-The-6-P-s-of-Shaving).

Although, you may not be addicted yet (I think I'm holding up fairly well...with a few exceptions), because we all suffer (gladly and are doomed perhaps), from this shaving compulsion (and other Acquisition Disorders), because at times..."Resistance is futile".

"Lead us not into temptation. Just tell us where it is; we'll find it". Sam Levenson
Please don't forget once you get time....to tell us a little about yourself in the Hall of Fame sub-forum.​

“Life is [like] a razor, you are always in hot water or a scrape”. Anonymous

Hello and welcome to B&B!!

Ben

Hi all,
Jake again, still here, still learning.

SO!
Here we are, Seven months since joining, a move of house, a downsize of shaving area, change of employer and some incredible improvements in shave technique.

At one point during my learning curve I tested a shark blade, may as well have tested pushing an actual shark against my face for the effect it had... at the point that I was eagerly unwrapping and fitting the shark blade to my trusty Merkur HD there should have been an opera singer popping out behind me singing "Miiiiiissssstaaaaaaaaake!" but once my face healed (thankfully just a nasty razor rash and no actual cuts) I was eager to find out where I had gone wrong.

So I went back to researching, read about lather, scuttles, bowls and hands, brushes and faces. I was sure that if my lather had been better my shave would have been better and then as if by chance I stumbled upon a post hidden somewhere in the depths of B&B that mentioned blade angle.

"Surely my blade angle had been okay" I mused as I started pouring through the vein of pure experience that article represented to me as a very new wet shaver.
I mean the hair had come off my face hadn't it? if my blade angle had been wrong I would have hairy patches wouldn't I?

Oh how wrong I was, my fellow B&B'ers.
I read on about how the DE really works, the optimal cutting angle and the no pressure being serious about NO PRESSURE.
I had peroused posts on the Crabtree and Evelyn west indian lime as well and was at least a little relieved to say that I was not the only person that couldn't get that soap to form any more than a bubbly mess.
I went back online to the shave shed, ordered myself a glass tub of tabac, a bottle of witch hazel astringent, TOBS Mr. Taylor, and Dr. Harris Arlington and picked up a stick of arko, a box of 100 astra platinum blades from ebay and once everything arrived in the post I effectively went back to the drawing board.

Before my next hot shower I set my E&J brush in a mug of hot water to soak, spread a few drops of water across the top of the tabac and set about my shower shave prep, I used water that was as hot as I was comfortable with and the west indian lime soap to prep my face. (the west indian lime was now relegated to shave prep and shower soap which it's marvellous at)

After my shower, with my face still warm, I squeezed then with a quick shake rid my prepared brush of excess water and set to the task of lathering the new soap.
To my delight I quickly worked up a thick creamy lather that was silky and slippery to the touch and looked more like lather than left over bath bubbles, I re-drenched my face and worked in circular motions with my brush to spread the tabac through my beard area.
I then moved on to paintbrush motions and added a few more drops of water at a time to the brush whenever I felt that the lather could be a bit slicker.
Once my face was sufficiently painted with thick, silky, slippery tabac I started running my Merkur HD (now fitted with the new Astra Superior Platinum blade) under hot water for a few seconds and, whilst keeping the NO PRESSURE and blade angle firmly at the front of my mind I set to removing the stubble from my face.
I carfully followed the contours and the hair growth patterns of my face, and slowly but surely the hair and the lather came away from my face, leaving only a much younger and softer looking face behind. I was going slowly enough that the lather on my neck had started to dry out by the time I got there in fact. "no matter" I thought to myself, as I rinsed off with very warm water and re-lathered. "no harm in going back to the soap". I re-wet and re-lathered my neck and with careful attention removed the hair and lather here as well. I was amazed at how easy it was to shave my "trouble area" (right side of my adams apple). I again rinsed, re-wet and re-latherd my face ready for my XTG pass.
Again it went smoothly, "No pressure, proper blade angle" repeated itself over and over again in my head and once again I removed stubble and lather but no skin, not even a graze.
I left it at two passes for the next three months or so. two passes gets me back to business presentation and till this day I still rarely require a ATG pass to get back to baby smooth.
Once my second pass was done I re-wet and re-lathered my face with what was left in my brush and whilst that lather was soaking into my now baby smooth (and much younger looking) face I rinsed out my brush and DE, put away my kit and grabbed my witch hazel and my bay rum.
A cold rinse and splash with Witch Hazel, I got dressed and once the witch hazel was mostly dry I splashed on the Suavecito Bay rum, ready for the day ahead.

Seven months of shaving and no more grazes, no more discomfort, no more sharks.

After this tale I wanted to thank you, yes you! sitting at your computer or on your tablet or phone commuting to work, you the reader and you the teacher, the blogger and the enthusiast. You, the old sage who passes on wisdom not in self interest but in the interests of keeping this art alive.

I appreciate you (as does my face).

Good to have you here, welcome.

Welcome Jake, we are all soooo different, I shaved with a shark blade this morning and got bbs, no issues