Complete and total newbie

Alright, so without getting into too much of a sob story. Raised by a single mom, taught myself to shave, currently use a Gilette Fusion proglide and shave AGAINST the grain. I use Edge shave gel. No after shave. No facial cleanser. Just hot water and that gel. Well, I never get a clean shave and I'm planning on joining the Navy, which means I need a close, perfect shave everyday of the week, so its time for a change!

So far, with my research, I've narrowed it down to two (but I'm open to suggestions) to the Baxter of California Safety Razor, or the Merkur 34C.

Now, as far as blades, brush, bowl, shaving cream, and anything else I need....I'm lost. I found little to no help in the way of these items to help in deciding.

So....help? Please?

Edit: And because it seems to matter, I do have rather coarse facial hair. It can get very thick if I let it grow, but this will be meant for clean shaving daily. My current gillete does give me razor burn (and I only shave about once a week because, well, laziness), so I do believe I have sensitive skin.

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard. The best advice I can give is to invest in one of the starter sets from one of our vendors here on B&B. They will contain everything you need to get started in shaving. Garry's Sample Shop is one of those vendors, and he has helped many beginners. After that, I recommend reading the stickies at the top of this forum, reading articles in the Wiki, and watching YouTube videos by Mantic59 and others for demonstrations of traditional shaving.

Hello and welcome to B&B. Great to have you here. Wander on over to the Hall of Fame and introduce yourself.

Excellent advice below. Contact Garry. He'll fix you up.

xxvaleria said:

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard. The best advice I can give is to invest in one of the starter sets from one of our vendors here on B&B. They will contain everything you need to get started in shaving. Garry's Sample Shop is one of those vendors, and he has helped many beginners. After that, I recommend reading the stickies at the top of this forum, reading articles in the Wiki, and watching YouTube videos by Mantic59 and others for demonstrations of traditional shaving.

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BSAGuy said:

Hello and welcome to B&B. Great to have you here. Wander on over to the Hall of Fame and introduce yourself.

Excellent advice below. Contact Garry. He'll fix you up.

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Is there like a contact for this guy or should I just order the starter kit from his site?

Hello and welcome.

I have coarse beard too. Started out with Wilkinson Sword Classic, moved up to Muhle R106, then Merkur HD and Merkur Futur. Even if i shave daily, only Futur provide me with close shaves. Others were fine too, especially HD, but would have to insist way too much for an BBS, for example.

But now, you say you shave once a week, so i ten to think you over-appreciate your beard coarseness. One week without shaving would be a pain for me, from about day three, i would start to feel itchy.

Skin sensitivity, again, might not be the case. Shaving once a week will make your multi-blade cart having problems removing the hair in few passes. Maybe it's getting clogged a lot or you simply have to insist too much over the same spot.

I suggest going with Merkur HD and, once you get a hang of DE shaving, if you feel the need for something more aggressive, going for an adjustable.

As other things, you do need a brush, something simple but effective like Omega 10066 would be just fine. If you want to go a little bit higher as price goes, you can try an synthetic. Plisson L'occitane is at around $30, and you get a great brush for the money. Easy to maintain, it dries faster, you don't need to soak it, it's generally easier to use.

Some blades. You can go for a variety pack, sample pack, from a shaving-related products vendor. Most of them have some kind of packs, with a pack from few known types of blades.

Soaps/creams, there are personal preferences. Nothing wrong with starting with whatever is available in your area. You should fine some kind of creams at stores near you. Nivea is pretty good, inexpensive and popular. The performance factor is not as important as people tend to say. A $2 shaving cream cam give you as good protection/glide/cushion as an $40 one. You will get a hang on specific creams and soaps over the time, scents, but, as you start out, you don't need to go for expensive products, as the quality of shave won't increase exponentially.

Welcome to B&B and way to serve the nation going into the Navy!

I would look into the Edwin Jagger razor. Beautifully chromed lifetime razor. I totally agree with the samples, get a nice sampler razor blade kit from one of our sponsors, something that has a dozen or so variety of blade brands. One will be a perfect match for your face and many will hate your face The fun is finding which one or two brands are perfect for you. One of the best all around soaps/creams is at Bath and Body Works - CO Bigelow. Buy a tube of that (of if they are having a sale, and they do often) grab whatever the sale is. With a cream you don't need to have a brush up front, you can lather that with your hands like you do with your gel currently. The brush is the most expensive part of your shaving experience so if funds don't allow now, don't worry! Save up and by yourself a quality brush from Simpson, Rooney, Thater, etc. Check out our brush forum, cream forum, and soap forum. No need for a bowl either until you get a brush and if you want to bowl lather (some people put the cream or soap on the brush and lather directly on your face, some lather up in the bowl and apply it to the face. One isn't better than the other).

Welcome again!

I highly recommend you join all of these PIF contests. Some are ending today so jump on those and maybe you'll get some freebies!


http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/460339-PIF-quot-The-4th-of-July-FunPack-quot
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/459821-Pif
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/460519-First-time-PIF...

Welcome.

jatyro91 said:

I'm planning on joining the Navy, which means I need a close, perfect shave everyday of the week, so its time for a change!

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It's the Navy. Your shaves, once you are out of recruit training, won't have to be as close and perfect as you think. Save those for date night!

First off welcome aboard.

Garry is a great guy to deal with, use the contact info on his site. He will get you some good gear to start with. If you want you can add some more samples too.

Tryablade.com is a good place to put together a sampler of blades (I suggest you get at least two of each blade, and keep a record of their performance).

Good luck, moving forward.

Good luck and welcome.

When you go through basic in the Navy in this day and age, if I remember hearing correctly, you won't be able to use a DE.

Welcome abroad.

Welcome to the forum !!

Welcome.

Welcome to B&B.

For a good starting off point look at the information at read this thread. The information there will direct you to where you can get answers to most of your shaving questions.

Welcome!

Glad you joined us!

Welcome. You've come to the right place!

Welcome to Badger & Blade!

jatyro91 said:

Alright, so without getting into too much of a sob story. Raised by a single mom, taught myself to shave, currently use a Gilette Fusion proglide and shave AGAINST the grain. I use Edge shave gel. No after shave. No facial cleanser. Just hot water and that gel. Well, I never get a clean shave and I'm planning on joining the Navy, which means I need a close, perfect shave everyday of the week, so its time for a change!

So far, with my research, I've narrowed it down to two (but I'm open to suggestions) to the Baxter of California Safety Razor, or the Merkur 34C.

Now, as far as blades, brush, bowl, shaving cream, and anything else I need....I'm lost. I found little to no help in the way of these items to help in deciding.

So....help? Please?

Edit: And because it seems to matter, I do have rather coarse facial hair. It can get very thick if I let it grow, but this will be meant for clean shaving daily. My current gillete does give me razor burn (and I only shave about once a week because, well, laziness), so I do believe I have sensitive skin.

Click to expand...

Due to the fact that you shaved once a week because of your laziness, your course hair maybe even thicker so it's best that you learn how to use proper technique and proper gear. Follow Jim's links and you should be ok. If you run into problems we are here for you.