First DE shave just completed

I purchased the Starter Kit from Garry's Sample Shop. It arrived today, so I gave it a whirl. Using the included Cello soap and Omega Professional brush and a Derby extra blade. Lathered, massaged, soaked, wiped clean, re-lathered, and shaved. Chased with the Pinaud Clubman sample.

There's a lot of talk around here of 1) cutting your face up or 2) having a rough shave the first time(s), but I guess I'm lucky. No nicks, very slight amount of reddened irritation (which does not hurt) on one spot on my neck is the only visible or palpable ill effect, and it's actually quite a smooth shave. A few crevice spots like under my bottom lip and jawline, or the tip of my shin are a little less close, but stll decent and the cheeks are completely smooth.

Fwiw, I'm 25 and have a fairly robust beard. It had been, I guess, a day and a half since I had last shaved.

Pretty happy with the experience/results

Nick

Same here! Just did my first DE shave this morning. No nicks, no cuts. Some very minor rough spots (as I am picky). Cheeks completely smooth as well! Well done.

CR

I'm not sure on the model of the razor. It has an open comb and ball end handle, though, and is, of course, an old Gilette (as per the kit).

Congrats to you both on great shaves. i think the amount of videos and help out there definitely leads to better first wet shaves. Did you do a lot of watching and reading before diving in?? I assume you did if you got a kit from Garry.

It only gets better.

Congratulations and welcome to B&B. The only thing I would suggest is that you get a sampler pack of blades so you can try different ones. Derby blades don't get much love on here so you might find a blade you like even better. I like the samplers from Maggard's as you can select which types of blades you want to try. Cella is great soap so you started off with good product. Its definitely among the fifteen or so soaps that I use regularly. What kind of razor are you currently using?

Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Congrats and Welcome! Sounds like you are well on your way to exceptional DE shaves.

My first one was rough! Way to much pressure and lots of cuts. Now, really good shaves from my DE.

Charlemagne said:

I'm not sure on the model of the razor. It has an open comb and ball end handle, though, and is, of course, an old Gilette (as per the kit).

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It's either an Old Type or a NEW I'm guessing. You would be able to easily tell from a Google Image search. Congrats on your first shave!

I forgot to provide the link to Maggard's earlier in case you aren't familiar with them. Some blades I would recommend trying are Gillette Silver Blue, Astra SP, Feather, Personna Red (Israeli), Polsilver Super Iridium, Personna Medical Prep, Personna Labs Blue, Gillette 7'Oclock Green, yellow or black.

froogle_jimmy said:

Congrats to you both on great shaves. i think the amount of videos and help out there definitely leads to better first wet shaves. Did you do a lot of watching and reading before diving in?? I assume you did if you got a kit from Garry.

It only gets better.

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Thanks. Actually, not a ton; I had read a bit, but much more about razors and such than technique. Read a little on that still, re: little to no pressure, approximate angle, and direction of stroke. Didn't watch any videos. Once I got started, though, I found it pretty easy to tell how it was working by feel, so just sort of did what came naturally and seemed right with my strokes.

Bloozepicker said:

Congratulations and welcome to B&B. The only thing I would suggest is that you get a sampler pack of blades so you can try different ones. Derby blades don't get much love on here so you might find a blade you like even better. I like the samplers from Maggard's as you can select which types of blades you want to try. Cella is great soap so you started off with good product. Its definitely among the fifteen or so soaps that I use regularly. What kind of razor are you currently using?

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I got the sampler offered by Garry along with the kit, so it has some Derbys, Sharks, Astras, and Feathers of various persuasions, I believe. Chose Derby to start pretty arbitrarily outside of the pervasive "avoid feathers" wisdom.

Bloozepicker said:

I forgot to provide the link to Maggard's earlier in case you aren't familiar with them. Some blades I would recommend trying are Gillette Silver Blue, Astra SP, Feather, Personna Red (Israeli), Polsilver Super Iridium, Personna Medical Prep, Personna Labs Blue, Gillette 7'Oclock Green, yellow or black.

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Thanks, may look into those once I've made some headway with the bunch I have here.

Crod said:

Same here! Just did my first DE shave this morning. No nicks, no cuts. Some very minor rough spots (as I am picky). Cheeks completely smooth as well! Well done.

CR

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http://cdn01.cdnwp.celebuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/14/request-five.gif

As for model, it looks similar to an Old Type, as far as I can tell as yet, though I'm not sure I'm adept at telling the difference or which facets are indicative of one model vs. another.

Actually, though :
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=361837&d=1376556995

It looks pretty similar to that all around. Open comb three piece, with the two bullet posts in addition to the screw for alignment. --- You know what, this is dumb, I'll just post a picture.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAC4I/SRbb088Xrtw/w977-h551-no/IMAG1139.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAC3s/PVmVDpOxqVs/w977-h551-no/IMAG1141.jpg

@Nick: Welcome to B&B. Glad to have you with us and congrats on your 1st DE shave. Here's to many more.

WARHAWK

Congratulations and welcome to B&B.

Very good software for an introduction to wets having. Very happy to hear you had a good experience and that you've already found Garry's Sample Shop.

Charlemagne said:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAC4I/SRbb088Xrtw/w977-h551-no/IMAG1139.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...AAAAC3s/PVmVDpOxqVs/w977-h551-no/IMAG1141.jpg

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Yep, that's an Old Type. An odd choice for a beginner razor IMO, I find mine to be kind of aggressive, but if it works for you, awesome! I highly recommend the NEW as well.

Congrats on the shave, and welcome to you.

TacticalPanda said:

Yep, that's an Old Type. An odd choice for a beginner razor IMO, I find mine to be kind of aggressive, but if it works for you, awesome! I highly recommend the NEW as well.

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*shrug* I've used it once, so I'm hardly an expert on it, but it's managed not to assault me so far.

Hi and welcome. DE shaving is a skill, but is is not as difficult as I first believed. Men have been doing this for thousands of years, right??

Old type razors are somewhat aggressive, so if you can get a nick-free shave with that, everything else will be very easy to control.

Shave away!!