Last summer, at an age of almost half a century, I got completely fed up with shaving. The problem with that was that I also cant stand facial hair on my face. Ive tried just about every cartridge razor and at the time I think my wife and I both had Gillette Proglide Power Razors; this was after the last in a long series of electric razors. After purchasing yet another quality electric razor and giving my face six months to adapt, it too would yield razor burn and always left my entire neck hellfire red for hours. The cartridge razors give me egregious razor burn and make just about every hair on my face look like a wound, and they cost a lot of money to achieve that result. I think my beard is probably just normal and not all that dense, but apparently, I have sensitive skin.
On another sleepless night, after having set my face on fire with one or the other of the aforementioned implements of torture, Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars fame appears on the TV and like a good televangelist preaches about my facial salvation that can be had with the Micro Touch One safety razor. I got to googling and the next day I went to Walmart and found the As Seen On TV section and picked up that razor. And, I began doing research and found this website / treasure trove of information. Even with what I had available, after my first shave I thought to myself, I like this. I think I can do this. So, I read some more, asked a couple of friends about wet shaving via email, watched some videos and started adding a few items to the budding shave den: Shave Secret Oil, Cremo Shave Cream, Nivea After Shave Balm, etc.
One of my friends asked me if I would mind if he sent me a brush. Of course! With the beautiful badger hair brush came a bunch of different blades for me to try as well, which was a good thing because I just wasnt liking the Dorco blades.
He also recommended I look into purchasing a real razor, either new or vintage from eBay. So, I then bought a Gillette Slim, a Merkur 23c and a bunch of other blades from a website that sells individual blades. I had a bit of a difficult time finding a good setting on the Slim, so I decided to shave with only the Merkur and work on my technique.
Trying different blades, i have found that my face really likes the Gillette 7 Oclock Permasharp blades (Ive gotten up to 25 shaves with one blade), the Wilkinson Sword blades from India, and my face loves the Voskhods, but for only one shave. My technique improved and I could even use my razor to get a decent quick shave with no irritation.
Today is the fourth time in the past week that I have gotten a BBS shave with virtually no irritation. The first three times was with the Merkur 23c. Since I hadnt shaved in about 4 days, a bit earlier today I decided to see if I could achieve the same, but with my Gillette Fatboy.
Rabbit hole: A while back a wonderful lady that I know through my sister, both of whom live half way across the country, sent me some old razors that she found in her basement. After cleaning them all up, I now had four vintage razors in beautiful condition:
1. 1977 Gillette Super-109 Adjustable
2. 1961 Gillette 195 Adjustable "Fat Boy"
3. 1920s Gillette Old Type Ball End Handle
4. 1956 Gillette Flare Tip Super Speed
Back to the shave
With my gifted, patriotic, bicentennial, badger-hair brush, I whipped up an uber lather with a dab of Cremo Cooling, brush loaded with Taylor of Old Bond Street (TOBS) Jermyn Street, and a few drops of glycerine. This was layered over my freshly washed face on which I had already applied a layer of the Shave Secret Oil. A brand new Wilkinson Sword (India) blade was loaded into the Gillette Fat Boy and the first of three passes was set to 5 and commenced with the grain.
I was amazed how the razor just glided over my face and after the first pass, I was stunned by the amount of beard reduction. The next two passes and a bit of buffing were across the grain in opposite directions with the razor set on three. The alum block yielded not wincing. After cleanup with some Witch Hazel, a bit of Nivea Sensitive Post Shave Balm and TOBS Jermyn Street After Shave. Again, BBS shave and my face feels great.
I now look forward to treating my face to a great shave. I cannot believe no one taught me about shaving when I was a kid, but you can be sure that I have already begun teaching my teenage son and he hasnt started shaving yet.
This took a long time to type not just because it was long, but because I kept stopping to faceturbate. Many thanks to all you for sharing so that others of us can learn and enjoy!


Respectfully, 


Eddie
On another sleepless night, after having set my face on fire with one or the other of the aforementioned implements of torture, Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars fame appears on the TV and like a good televangelist preaches about my facial salvation that can be had with the Micro Touch One safety razor. I got to googling and the next day I went to Walmart and found the As Seen On TV section and picked up that razor. And, I began doing research and found this website / treasure trove of information. Even with what I had available, after my first shave I thought to myself, I like this. I think I can do this. So, I read some more, asked a couple of friends about wet shaving via email, watched some videos and started adding a few items to the budding shave den: Shave Secret Oil, Cremo Shave Cream, Nivea After Shave Balm, etc.
One of my friends asked me if I would mind if he sent me a brush. Of course! With the beautiful badger hair brush came a bunch of different blades for me to try as well, which was a good thing because I just wasnt liking the Dorco blades.
He also recommended I look into purchasing a real razor, either new or vintage from eBay. So, I then bought a Gillette Slim, a Merkur 23c and a bunch of other blades from a website that sells individual blades. I had a bit of a difficult time finding a good setting on the Slim, so I decided to shave with only the Merkur and work on my technique.
Trying different blades, i have found that my face really likes the Gillette 7 Oclock Permasharp blades (Ive gotten up to 25 shaves with one blade), the Wilkinson Sword blades from India, and my face loves the Voskhods, but for only one shave. My technique improved and I could even use my razor to get a decent quick shave with no irritation.
Today is the fourth time in the past week that I have gotten a BBS shave with virtually no irritation. The first three times was with the Merkur 23c. Since I hadnt shaved in about 4 days, a bit earlier today I decided to see if I could achieve the same, but with my Gillette Fatboy.
Rabbit hole: A while back a wonderful lady that I know through my sister, both of whom live half way across the country, sent me some old razors that she found in her basement. After cleaning them all up, I now had four vintage razors in beautiful condition:
1. 1977 Gillette Super-109 Adjustable
2. 1961 Gillette 195 Adjustable "Fat Boy"
3. 1920s Gillette Old Type Ball End Handle
4. 1956 Gillette Flare Tip Super Speed
Back to the shave
With my gifted, patriotic, bicentennial, badger-hair brush, I whipped up an uber lather with a dab of Cremo Cooling, brush loaded with Taylor of Old Bond Street (TOBS) Jermyn Street, and a few drops of glycerine. This was layered over my freshly washed face on which I had already applied a layer of the Shave Secret Oil. A brand new Wilkinson Sword (India) blade was loaded into the Gillette Fat Boy and the first of three passes was set to 5 and commenced with the grain.
I was amazed how the razor just glided over my face and after the first pass, I was stunned by the amount of beard reduction. The next two passes and a bit of buffing were across the grain in opposite directions with the razor set on three. The alum block yielded not wincing. After cleanup with some Witch Hazel, a bit of Nivea Sensitive Post Shave Balm and TOBS Jermyn Street After Shave. Again, BBS shave and my face feels great.
I now look forward to treating my face to a great shave. I cannot believe no one taught me about shaving when I was a kid, but you can be sure that I have already begun teaching my teenage son and he hasnt started shaving yet.
This took a long time to type not just because it was long, but because I kept stopping to faceturbate. Many thanks to all you for sharing so that others of us can learn and enjoy!


Respectfully, 


Eddie
