Newbie.1st purchase and 1st shave

I've been gaining interest in wet shaving over the past couple years and recently decided to jump in and bid on some razor auctions. I won my 1st one with a last second bid (literally last second!) and started cleaning the razors up last week. The haul consisted of a Gem bullet tip w/the bullseye, a Gem MMOC and a Gem Junior...the lot also contained 3 DE razors that I know nothing about at this time and a Rolls Razor.

I dedided to start with the bullet tip since I've heard that they are more mild than the other 2 SEs. Hot water soak with some dish soap, another soak with some Scrubbing Bubbles gel (not ideal but it's what we had), an ultrasonic bath and some work with a toothbrush, q-tip and alcohol cleaned it up nicely. 1st shave was this past Saturday. Unfortunately, I still need to acquire a brush and proper shaving soap or creme (leaning towards Arko for some strange reason). The shave started off well and I quickly built some confidence, which came back to bite me hard as I think I got too aggressive. The result was a lot of blood, irritation and wincing after I applied the styptic pencil. Needless to say I learned my lesson and will be more patient and deliberate on my next shave! And I'm looking forward to it!

Hello and welcome, Seven333. Great to have you here. B&B is a super forum full of friendly, helpful shavers. You'll learn a lot here.

Sounds like a nice auction score. Congrats. I started with canned stuff, so that's OK and brush and soap/cream can come later.

Shave sounds OK also. Nobody likes nicks, but it sounds as if you are onto the cause, so that is key.

Enjoy your journey!

Welcome to the club, and welcome to the SE forum.

Watch the angle with the SEs in general. The long-flat of the head should be very close to flat on your face. The "guiding eye" on your Flying Wing (bullet tip) should be just about touching your face. Once you get the angle it will come together.

If you want to learn about your Rolls, there is a user group here: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...iety-of-Ancient*-Rolls-Razor-Shavers-(SOARRS)

Best of luck with your razors!

Welcome to the B&B, congrats on your razor lot...the SE's shave quality really improves with technique, and proper prep and lather.

I'm coming to enjoy the G injector I got. But I still have difficulty doing chin/jaw touchups without irritation. It seems there's less room for angle adjustment with these than a DE. With a DE, I can use light, short, XTG strokes at a larger angle to barely graze the skin while getting that last bit of stubble. With the injector, either the stroke is too light to finish it up right or it cuts well but then my skin gets irritated with just a couple of touchups in hard areas.

After my bloodletting experience last weekend, I decided to check my confidence at the door and pay more attention to angle and, more importantly, pressure. Results? A very fine shave! Some areas were closer than others but any doubts I had about using a SE are gone. Omega boar brush, Arko and test tube rack will be ordered this week. I'll continue to use the bullet tip for the time being but will move up to the Gem Junior and OCMM eventually!

Yes Sir thats great, good choice to start with the bullet tip, and using the GEM Junior next is the way to go...
I bet your going to like the Junior , I used one of mine this morning, wonderful razor.
Did you get one with the metal, or Bakelite handle?

Thanks, Calabash. The Junior is all metal, brass I assume. It cleaned up VERY well but I still need to get in some of the nooks and crannies a bit better. I was cautioned not to use Barkeepers Friend but I soaked the Junior and the MMOC in a weak BKF solution and hit them with a toothbrush...they are nice and shiny now

For sure don't use anything abrasive like powers, usually I will do an initial cleanup using canned Barbasol shave cream in the can.
Barbasol and an old toothbrush will work wonders, for most cleanups.

If you have a nickel plated razor, scrubbing bubbles works well to get heavy crud loosened up, but avoid with gold tone plating.

Also I have been getting excellent shaves with my GEM & Ever Ready's using the Treet SE blades, and have been finding them at Rite-Aid stores, they are packaged with the Rite-Aid store brand "Renewal" 10 blades for $4.99.