Ok - after much lurking, I put a Derby blade into my Merkur 34C and gave it a try. Nice hot shower, lathered up my face with Art of Shaving Sandalwood with my boar brush.
Then held the 34C gingerly and went at it. Quickly learned I could tell if the angle was right (or at least close to right) by if I could hear the hairs being cut. Did WTG passes of both cheeks with no issues... then tackled the neck. My beard on my neck grows all in one direction, from my left ear to my right ear. It has always been challenging with a cartridge to get my neck very smooth at all, and I get terrible irritation and ingrown hairs if I ever go ATG on my neck. Usually I do a WTG pass, then one XTG straight-down pass. Occassionally another XTG upward if I want it a bit smoother. In fact, DE shaving appeals to me mainly in the hopes that I can get less irritation on my neck.
Anyway - fearful of keeping the angles correct while holding the razor sideways, I first did a top-down XTG attempt on my neck. That seemed to go well, so I lathered up again and did a WTG pass. Then went back to my cheeks and since it had gone so well there, I did a couple of XTG passes and even an ATG (as I usually do with a cartridge with no problems).
When finished, I noticed one small weeper on my neck that finished after a cold water splash. My overall shave was - acceptable. With my cartridges with similar prep I can easily get my cheeks BBS (even feeling ATG), and my neck so that it looks fine but feels a little stubbly when I run my hand ATG. Today's first DE shave my cheeks are a little rough ATG. My neck is about how it would be with my cartridge shaving. Perhaps I didn't get the angle quite right on the ATG pass on my cheeks.
Irritation on my neck seemed similar to that of the cartridge shaves.
Conclusion - I'm still very new at this, but I think my first attempt went great. It took forever compared to a cartridge shave, but that is to be expected on my first try. I went in expecting to cut myself a few times, but pleasantly that didn't happen.
Then held the 34C gingerly and went at it. Quickly learned I could tell if the angle was right (or at least close to right) by if I could hear the hairs being cut. Did WTG passes of both cheeks with no issues... then tackled the neck. My beard on my neck grows all in one direction, from my left ear to my right ear. It has always been challenging with a cartridge to get my neck very smooth at all, and I get terrible irritation and ingrown hairs if I ever go ATG on my neck. Usually I do a WTG pass, then one XTG straight-down pass. Occassionally another XTG upward if I want it a bit smoother. In fact, DE shaving appeals to me mainly in the hopes that I can get less irritation on my neck.
Anyway - fearful of keeping the angles correct while holding the razor sideways, I first did a top-down XTG attempt on my neck. That seemed to go well, so I lathered up again and did a WTG pass. Then went back to my cheeks and since it had gone so well there, I did a couple of XTG passes and even an ATG (as I usually do with a cartridge with no problems).
When finished, I noticed one small weeper on my neck that finished after a cold water splash. My overall shave was - acceptable. With my cartridges with similar prep I can easily get my cheeks BBS (even feeling ATG), and my neck so that it looks fine but feels a little stubbly when I run my hand ATG. Today's first DE shave my cheeks are a little rough ATG. My neck is about how it would be with my cartridge shaving. Perhaps I didn't get the angle quite right on the ATG pass on my cheeks.
Irritation on my neck seemed similar to that of the cartridge shaves.
Conclusion - I'm still very new at this, but I think my first attempt went great. It took forever compared to a cartridge shave, but that is to be expected on my first try. I went in expecting to cut myself a few times, but pleasantly that didn't happen.
