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My DE Adventures

Hello all!!

I found my way into DE wonderland, when I began looking for alternatives to the super high priced Fusion cartridges. I am fairly budget conscious, and after working my way through 8 Fusion cartridges, I decided enough was enough, and refused to pay their high prices.

After the fusion, I tried out a house brand Razor from Family Dollar. I found it to be surprisingly good, and the carts for it were only $3.50 for 4. My father still uses it to this day, and loves it!

After the Family Dollar triple blade razor, I found a Mach 3 Turbo handle for $2.50 at an Amish discount food store. It performed quite well, and I found I could take the Mach 3 disposables, and pull the cart off, and use them on the Turbo handle: this was great as I had a coupon for Mach 3 disposables.

While good, the Mach 3 was also too costly, so I started looking into Gillette's two blade offerings. I picked up a Sensor, Atra, and Trac II, and started experimenting on which was the best.

My experimenting lend me to Badger and Blade. I wanted to give DE shaving a try, but didn't wish to invest a lot of money in case I decided it wasn't for me. A very kind member PIFed me a Gillette Tech, and some blades. At about the same time, I bought the VDH shaving kit.

I quickly found that wet shaving using actual shaving soap/ cream was far superior to the various canned goos I had been using.

From that point on (about a month ago) I started to acquire more products to try out: various Aftershaves,various shaving creams/ soaps: C.O. Bigelow, The Real Shaving Company, Williams, a sample of TOBS St. James, Kiss My Face, VDH Deluxe, VDH Select.

I have also acquired a Merkur 38R Barber Pole razor, along with a Omega Badger Brush.

Here is a photo of this wonderful beauty:

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I have found that shaving with a DE is a very enjoyable process, and something I look forward to each, and every day. I also like having the quiet "me" time in the mornings.

My next purchase will be more blades, and either TOBS Rose, or Lavender.

I am also putting together a complete wet-shaving kit to PIF to a newbie, as a thank you for all of the wonderful knowledge I have learned on the boards. It's still in need of a razor, and blades, which I will be buying next pay day. :biggrin:

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Please allow me to introduce myself:

Username:

Michiganlover


What is your real name?

John


Where do you live?

Thumb area of Michigan

What is your age (or) generation?

32

What are you in the real world?

A computer technician/ network administrator.

What is your favorite shave setup?

Merkur 38R with Derby blade. Omega Badger Brush, and VDH Deluxe, or C.O. Bigelow Shave Cream.

What are your hobbies and favorite activities?

Biking, Hiking, Watching Movies, Surfing Youtube, Camping, Working out at the gym. Gourmet coffee.

What else should the members of B&B know about you?

I am presently single (grrr...), and fairly budget conscious. I have no pets, and live in a small apartment by myself.
 
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Quick Update:

I used my Merkur 38R for the first time this morning (came in the mail yesterday) and had a simply amazing shave!!

The person I purchased it from includes 21 blades, in a wide variety of choices. I put a 7am green blade in it (primarily to rate how it performed, as they are generally not rated very highly), and I was very pleased. I used "The Real Shaving Company Moisturizing Shave Cream", and my Omega Badger Brush. Followed up with the "Gillette Series Aftershave Balm: Sensitive".

As an added plus, I was able to avoid the intense irritation I have consistently gotten on my lower left neck. Yay!! :biggrin::tongue_sm
 
Welcome michiganlover,

I am looking into DE shaving and loved your story. I also reside in the thumb of MI so i thought id say hello. Hopefully my transition in DE shaving goes as smoothly as yours seems to be thus far.
 
Welcome michiganlover,

I am looking into DE shaving and loved your story. I also reside in the thumb of MI so i thought id say hello. Hopefully my transition in DE shaving goes as smoothly as yours seems to be thus far.

The key is to take it slow. DE shaving is not a speed race; your goal is a great quality shave, not to be done in 5 minutes as Gillette Fusion commercials suggest.

There will be much bad technique you will need to unlearn: use short strokes, not those full sweeping long strokes you see in Gillette commercials!! :eek::lol:

You can start learning now: simply treat your current bladed razor as if it were a DE, Mactic has great videos on YouTube demonstrating technique using a Mach 3.
 
The shave for today:

Since I have a huge stock of Twin Bladed Carts to use up, I decided to use my Atra today.

The Atra is a vintage handle, that I got off of E-Bay. It's clearly an early 70's model, and the box even said not for resale on it, so it may have been an early demo unit. Anyway, it was sealed NOS, and came with an original Atra cartridge sans lube strip.

So today I used Edge Infused Brushless Shaving Cream from a tube as pre-shave prep. Horrid stuff, feels like I was smoothing hand lotion on my face!! :eek::eek: And it doesn't lather............AT ALL!! YUCK!!

I worked up a lather of TOBS St. James using my Badger Brush. I proceeded to shave but my Gillette Vector Cartridge didn't feel quite right. Switched it for the last remaining Atra cart: the original Atra without the lube strip.

The feeling of that cartridge was totally unlike the Vector. With the Vector, I can always feel the blades on my face, the vintage cart felt like it wasn't even there!! It also provided a superior far closer shave over the Vector cart!

Why has Gillette insisted upon a continuous downward cycle of crappier products?

Finished the shave with "Gillette Series Sensitive Aftershave Balm".

Overall, a great quality shave from a cartridge razor.
 
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The Shave for today:

Merkur 38C w/ Sharp blade. VDH deluxe soap, Omega Badger Brush, Aqua Velva Aftershave. Edge Infused Gel as pre-prep (just trying to use the last of the canned goo up).

I tried a second shave with the 7am blade from two days ago, and it just didn't feel right to me. Shave didn't seem as smooth as the first go with that blade, so I switched it for the Sharp.

The shave feels fairly close, and no weepers, or blood, and best of all no irritation on my lower neck.

This makes about my 10th DE shave, and I currently do two passes N-S, followed by a pass that is E-W on one side of my face, and W-E on the other. This is what feels best, and most natural for me.

I am getting really good shaves (probably not BBS), but surely an acceptable shave, and best yet, very little irritation.
 
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The Daily Shave

Second shave with the 1970's vintage Atra, with the Vintage blade.

-Edge "Infused" as pre-prep.
-Decided to try out the Williams Soap
-Omega Pure Badger Brush
-Atra razor with Atra cartridge (no lube strip)
-Aqua Velva Ice Blue Aftershave.

This was a very nice shave, the vintage Atra blade is still holding a nice edge. I really have to wonder what the point of Lube Strips is, since with good prep, and real shaving cream/ shaving soap, there seems to be zero need for this. As such the cartridge without the strip seems far superior compared to those with the strip (which in my case are overseas Gillette Vector blades).

As for the Williams, count me as not a fan. I am not huge on the lemony citronella smell. The resulting lather while plenty of it, also doesn't seem as lubricating as VDH Deluxe. I have not tried any other soaps, with which to compare it too.

I think maybe I will try a "superlather" for the first time tomorrow, and combine the Williams with some Unscented Kiss My Face.

That's the report for today, everybody have a great weekend!
 
The Daily Shave

So I ordered a Feather Portable from "pauldog". This is a very slick little razor, and in my opinion shaves nearly identical to my Gillette Ball End Tech.

Here was the setup for today:

-Feather Portable w/ 7am Blade
-Omega Badger Brush
-Williams super lathered with unscented Kiss My Face
-Edge "Infused" as pre-prep.
-Gillette Fusion After Shave Balm.

I had a very good shave, but I have determined that the 7am blades are only good for one shave, and then they start to pull, and result in an uncomfortable shave.

I found the same to be true for the "Sharp" blades.

Thus far, my favorite blade is the Derby.

I also have Red IP's, Feathers, Merkur and the Family Dollar store brand to try out.
 
Here was the shave for today:

-Gillette Ball End Tech, with 7am blade
-Omega Pure Badger Brush
-TOBS St. James
-Gillette Series Sensitive ASB

A wonderful close shave today. I had a small sample of 7am blades that came with my Merkur 38R, and have determined they are one shave blades. This is the last of them. Yay!

I decided to try out my VDH Boar brush for old times sake (if old times can be considered one month ago), it's performance is very lackluster compared to my Omega Badger, so I tossed it to the side, and used my Omega instead!!

I am considering adding this boar brush to my order from Bullgoose Shaving, that I am placing tomorrow, what do you think?

http://www.bullgooseshaving.net/vuvspubrshbr.html

In addition to that brush possibly, I am ordering TOBS St. James, TOBS Lavender, 4 packs of Derby blades (my favorite so far) 2 packs of Astra, 2 packs of Lord Super, and a single razor/single brush stand.
 
Today was my first shave with my just received Red Tip SuperSpeed.

The Setup:

-Dove Conditioner as pre-prep.
-Omega Badger Brush/ Vulfix Boar
-VDH Select
-Merkur/ Derby Blade
-Gillette Red Tip SuperSpeed
-Gillette Series Sensitive ASB

My red tip SuperSpeed showed up yesterday, and I was anxious to give it a whirl. I have two Merkur blades I received as part of a sampler with a different razor I acquired. I decided to give them a try to see, if they are as bad as everyone says.

I suffered through the first pass with the Merkur, and then switched it for my current favorite: a derby blade. The Merkur blade pulled, and tugged on the first pass, as if it were a blade at the end of it's life!! ACK!!

Both of the Merkur blades went promptly into the trash!

I didn't notice any difference between the VDH select, and the VDH Deluxe that I have been using. Performance seems very similar.

Overall, the shave was very nice, but I did get a pretty nice gash on my upper lip, from beimg a little too sloppy, and shaving at too much of an angle across my lip. Not nearly as bad, as the similar gash I got yesterday when I tired out a Schick Injector for the first time, but hey, I am still learning!

As for the Vulfix boar, I initially got almost no lather out of it, so I switched to the Omega badger brush, which has never failed me.

The Vulfix was brand new in a shipment yesterday from Bullgoose. I went back to try it some more, and noticed that it performs far better if I use my fingers to push the bristles into a fan shape. Hummm....::w00t:
 
Just a quick question, but is S-N usually considered ATG for a normal pattern of beard growth?

My current shave is the following:

1st pass: N-S on entire face.
2nd pass: N-S on entire face.
3rd pass: W-E on the left side of my face, and E-W on the right side of my face. (or put simply nose to ear). lol. :tongue_sm

After the third pass, I check for any missed spots, and do just minor touch ups on those areas.

Thus far this has been giving me very good results.

Any suggestions for improvement? Would the S-N pass add anything to my shave?
 
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