switching back to safety razor from Gillette Mach3 Fusion,etc

Having shaved for over 50yrs I'm now prepared to go back to an adjustable safety razor,
Many questions what do I choose i.e razor,brush, blades, lathers, bowls?

From what Ive seen Merkur seems the name to watch out for. If members could give me some guidance here I'd be happy.
I do not have a heavy beard and get by with shaving every 2 days. One of my concerns is cutting ones self. Medically, I take blood thinners but this has never been a problem in the past.
Looking forward to the transition with your advice.

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Welcome to the B&B sir. Hey fellas, he's looking for advice. Do we do that here? Of course we do!!! Since it's been many years you should check the stickys and the You Tube tutorials to refresh your memory. Wetshaving has products coming out the wazoo. You'll need to try a few to see what suits you. That said here a couple suggestions and websites:

Blades: sampler at www.westcoastshaving.com. Run by a member here and a must for all newcomers. Dirt cheap too; even with shipping.

Brush: www.vintagebladesllc.com Very reputable place w/ fantastic customer service. If memory serves Jim will even put together a complete newbie set for you. I'm partial to my Rooney 3/1 but that's me. ($80)

Razor: Go to the B/S/T of this website and take your pick. Merkur and Gillette being the top dawgs.

Soaps/Creams: Go to the reviews section of B&B and read up. There are hundreds of choices. If you want to start immediately you can get a cheap puck of Van Der Hagen at your local drugstore. Gets good reviews even though cheap.

Mug/Bowl: Go to Target, Wal Mart, K Mart etc. and buy either a latte coffee mug or a soup bowl.

Aftershaves: Also go to your local drugstore and take one of each. It'll cost you around 20 or 30 bucks and you can try them all.

Good luck and enjoy. You'll be glad you came back. Keep us posted.

Another spot that seems to have a lot of wet shaving products and great blade sample packs is Razor and Brush.

It was a little weird having call an internet business but once my card and all that were verified, it came quickly and he even through it a mini Gillette sampler pack to boot.

They also seem to have quite a nice selection of brushes and European products as well.

Oh and welcome!

Glad to see you finally make the transition BACK to the right way!

I'd have to agree with Eagle here on most. I have a similar facial hair scructure as you described. I would recommend picking up a "mild" razor, as this will help avoid as many weepers as possible. I would recommend a vintage Gillette Tech. You can find any one of these in B&B's "Buy/Sell/Trade" section for no more than $20. As many others would recommend, check out WestCoastShaving.com and purchases one of their blade sampler packs. This will allow you to find the razor fit for your face. For what it's worth, try to stay away from the Feathers for a little while until you kick those horrible cartridge habits.

The only other thing I might change would be your choice in a brush. Rooney's are fantastic brushes, but you could save more money by purchasing either a C&E Best Badger Brush ($35) or step it up for a little more to a Kent BK4 ($60). I have owned 10+ brushes in my time and the Kent works incredibly well with both soaps AND creams giving you that versitility, and doesn't cost you an arm or a leg.

I would recommend Proraso cream to start out with. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong whoever may be reading this) that Bath & Beyond has a shave cream called "C.O. Bigelow", which is the same as Proraso. This cream is not steep in price, makes fantastic lather, and is very slick. Again, I also believe this cream will help you minimize the cuts and nicks along the way.

Aftershaves? That's a tough one.. Personally, I do not spend much on aftershave. My go-to aftershaves are Pinaud (Clubman) and Old Spice. For me, these aftershaves are cheap and very effective. Another one you can find at most drug stores is Aqua Velva. Any of these will get the job done.

Best of luck!

Welcome to B&B!
I made the switch about two months ago and first bought a Merkur Progress and was very satisfied. Well of course now I own 8 razors! LOL so I then experiment between them and they all have their own personality.

My go to razor is the Black Handled SS......

Welcome to B&B.

Shep... I think that's the most disturbing picture I've ever seen you post. Not even I am that hairy.

burningdarkness said:

Welcome to B&B.

Shep... I think that's the most disturbing picture I've ever seen you post. Not even I am that hairy.

Click to expand...

danfred said:

One of my concerns is cutting ones self. Medically, I take blood thinners but this has never been a problem in the past.

Click to expand...

I take 81mg aspirin daily as a blood thinner, although it's not nearly as dramatic as warfarin. At any rate, I haven't had any bleeding that wasn't stopped immediately by a styptic pencil. Get one if you don't have one already. They are magic and dirt cheap.
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You said you were "prepared to go back to an adjustable safety razor". Does that mean you used to use one, or do you mean in the sense that it's an older technology?

I used to have a Super-109, then switched to electric (Braun) and disposables for 30 years, and only recently have come back to a DE safety razor. I thought about getting a non-adjustable, but I had no clue as to how aggressive I would need it to be. Therefore, I looked for an adjustable.

About the Merkur adjustables:
The Futur seems to require that you grab the head (with the blade in it! ) with one hand and twist the whole handle with the other. That doesn't seem very safe to me, especially since I might be changing settings several times mid-shave.
The Progress . . . just looks dumb to me, with that weird-looking ivory plastic adjustment knob on the end of the handle. The handle looks round and smooth, so maybe you have to grab the head to twist it too.
The Merkur Vision is a TTO adjustable, but it was like 3 or 4 times my budget. Also, mixed reviews.
But the Merkurs mostly look cool, that's for sure.

The vintage Gillette adjustables let you operate the TTO mechanism (at the bottom of the handle) and the settings dial (just under the head) without going having to grab the ouchy end. You do have to loosen the top a bit to change the adjustment dial, then close it up again.

I just like the convenience of a one-piece twist-to-open razor, so my short list of readily available razors ended up being all vintage Gillettes: Fat Boy, Slim Adjustable, Super-84 or Super-109.
I got a Slim Adjustable on eBay and am happy with it. No surprises.

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About "shaving scuttles" - I had never heard of these before now, and am thinking to get one. What confused me for a long time is that there appears to be two superficially similar but different items both called "scuttles".
Both have a lower part for hot water.
One kind has a top with holes (like some tea infusers) and the other kind has no holes in the upper chamber.
The holey kind (eg Ichabod Conk rectangular) seems to be more for pre-soaking and then "charging" the brush, then the lather is generated either in a lather bowl or on your face.

The other kind with no holes in the upper part (eg. Dirty Bird, Moss Scuttle, or Georgetown) is more for keeping the already-lathered brush warm, and maybe also as a lathering bowl, as shown in this video:
http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/g29644bbx3

So, two (or three) different functions for two different tools with the same name.
I just mention that because it would have saved me a lot of time when looking for a mug, lather bowl, or scuttle, and trying to figure out how you're supposed to use them.
I think I've decided to get the cobalt blue large "Moss scuttle" from Sara Bonnyman. Her place is only a one and a half hour's drive from me. I like to buy local whenever I can, and the blue will look nice in our bathroom. It's named after the designer, not the plant.

[edit] How did I end up reading and replying to an ancient thread? Sorry.

Better video source for inline viewing, demoing a Moss scuttle:

Hope your DE shaving worked out.