A DE beginner's tale

As a recent and now religious convert to DE shaving I thought I'd share the story of my experiences so far. Over the last months I have thoroughly enjoyed and gotten inspiration from other folk's stories of their shaving experiences, so here is my journey so far.

I have wet shaved for 30 years, brush and all, using good shaving creams (of course never cans) and high-quality afstershaves. And not least, of course, using Gillette cartridges. Always kept buying the newest lines until Fusion came out. This I have used for the last five years or so, not feeling a need for further upgrades (and more cost!). And yes, I admit that I have loved it deeply, Fusions work very well, giving me smooth shaves with no fuss, nothing to complain about.


And honestly, I didn't even know that the DE world existed, despite my wet shaving joy!


BUT THEN, one happy day I decided to get a bespoke handle for my Fusion razor and started looking at shaving sites and online stores. And as I hadn't really ever gone online to look for shaving stuff, I wasn't aware of the shaving afficionado world that then opened up to me.


I immediately got fascinated not least with the DE stuff. To be honest my initial interest was not born out of a desire for better shaves but because of the old-school mechanics, beautiful engineering simplicity and story telling of bygone eras where everything was better.


So, long story short, I leaped at it and got myself a Mercur 34C, beautiful 2-piece with cool old-school engraving, and I immediately fell in love with the look and feel of it.


And then I started. And MAN did I struggle, more blood than joy and much less quality shaves. After a week I thought 'No, this is never going to work'. All the easy joy and stress-release of shaving was gone.


But luckily, rather than just quit I did the manly thing - I upgraded. Seriously upgraded. After intensive study of websites, online fora and shops I carefully decided to splash for the - as far as I could see - most coveted and uniformly praised razor outthere: The Feather all stainless AS-D2.


Oh the bliss! - Immediately, after only a few days of practice I got it right. That thing is just marvellous, I love it, love it, love it. Every time I get at least a DFS from 3 simple passes with almost no touch-ups. And almost never any nicks or anything. And the most important thing: Every day I get 25 minutes of yoga-type worry-free alone time just focusing on this one simple thing. And afterwards a full day of wellshavenness. I am seriously never going to buy another razor.


But of course, since then I have gone crazy with all the other dimensions (= products) available with this new hobby. And i use all my spare time reading online and reflecting on what could be even better soaps, aftershaves, preshaves etc etc.


Latest happy addition to my 'collection' is an EJ best badger brush. Honestly, having happily (me unknowing fool) used a synthetic brush for my whole life, imagine the difference! - And further, I now use Proraso Green (absolutely great stuff - and cheap!!) Plus I got an unoriginal stand for my beloved Feather. I bought my razor without the stand, as I did not know then that you cannot buy the original Feather stand on the side (how cool is that fact by the way...) - But Fendrihan sells a great substitute - or should I say: knock-off, which works excellent.


And other new stuff keeps coming in on a continuous basis. Currently on its way to me is a tin of Klar Klassik soap. I really look forward to trying that out.


And let me finish my story by completing the circle. As I dove deeper into this fascinating yesterday's world, I suddenly remembered my father's old aftershave: Ice Blue Aqua Velva (of course, what else?). And I managed to find a bottle on Ebay (this product is actually not sold anymore in Denmark where I live). What a reunion. It is just super, the scent immediately made me remember my happy childhood days and my occational opening of my dad's bottle, whenever I passed by the shelf, just to smell that wonderful cool scent... And btw - my wife's loves it too.


The great DE wet shaving journey continues. Happy days.

Excellent tale, and welcome! Your journey has led you to find your perfect razor, you're getting great shaves and enjoying the nostalgia. That's why we do it. Come back and let us know how you enjoy the Klar soap, once you've tried it.

Cheers.

Congrats and welcome.

Shaving with carts involves "slap and drag" and when a transition to DE is made using that methodology, the results are unpleasant. Once the proper technique using DE is used, the results are dramatically better.

I received a Fusion courtesy of a free Gillette promo about a year (roughly) ago and found it was hit and miss. On my neck it did not perform as well as DE and clogged quickly unless my lather was very thin. Its monstrous head made maneuvering in tight areas difficult.

I don't know why Gillette decided "bigger is better" but I suspect that theory isn't working out as well in their market base as they would have liked, as I'm seeing more ads for the Mach 3 lately. I'm sure they'd rather see it quietly go away.

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

Great razors and soaps. Welcome to the forums.

Sent via mobile - Chris

Welcome to the club. Glad to have you aboard.

Thanks so much for appreciating my story. I'll post a review of the Klar once its tested.

Enjoy your journey.

Welcome to B&B. Great post.

It's always empowering to hear of another reaching shaving nirvana.

marty

Welcome and great story. Not the same story for me but I had a similar "Wow" experience when I got the Feather AS-D2.

Welcome to B&B. Liked ready your story. It's great when it all comes together.

What a great story, thanks for sharing. I'm also a brand new DE shaver after 40+ years (unless you count my attempts to use my father's Gillette butterfly razor when I was 16) and brand new member / first-time poster here. I've also started with a Merkur 34C, only I guess I've had better luck than you. I've clumsily banged the razor against my face and gashed myself twice, but have not yet cut myself when actually shaving. After 10 days each shave is a bit smother and closer than the last. But all those years with Gillette cartridges, most recently the Fusion ProGlide, were terrible for my technique, since it's nearly impossible to cut yourself with them no matter how rushed or careless you are. I'll see if I want to follow your upgrade path, but not for at least a couple more months.

Excellent story! Thanks for sharing.

Welcome to B&B. Thank you for sharing your story.

thanks for the story, glad things worked out with the Feather. I love the blades, but don't think i can afford the razor, expecially with the 6 i already have.

there's always a plan B.

Welcome aboard!! Great personal story, thanks for sharing!!

Welcome to the forum you made a great choice. Thanks for sharing the story it was a great read.

Welcome aboard! Thanks for the story.

Dear all, thanks again for all your appreciation of my story. I look forward to being active in the forum, share my onwards experiences and not least learn from all you guys. Amazing the info and knowledge I have already gained and learned from that will help me in my journey. I further love all your great personal quotes. For now my favourite quote is one I stole from someone in here, which goes like this (based on memory): "I truly can't wait until tomorrow when I get to shave again!".