Hi everyone, I'm new to traditional DE shaving, I heard about it from a friend and checked it out online. I was able to find mantic59's videos (I doubt I'd even have tried a DE without those videos, he made it look easy, the videos are VERY useful) and the forums.
Before the switch to my Merkur HD, I was using the Gilette Fusion - I thought it was stellar, I was able to get a bbs shave with a little irration from the jawline and below and the mustache area - overall not too bad I thought. The only time I ran into trouble was when I wanted to reshave within 3 days, I'd have major redness and itchiness, those times I hated shaving, so I resolved to shave every 3rd day. (Mon-Wed-Fri, skip weekends usually). Before the Fusion, I used the Mach3 and Sensor Excel which was my first razor back in high school. The Mach3 was good, I believe it gave me the same quality shave as the fusion especially for the mustache, the fusion if anything was simply faster - I used the "PowerStroke" like the commercial. I still have the senor excel! it's collecting dust, I can't remember now how good it was, but I'm certain my technique at the time wasnt very good.
As far as shaving creams go, I started out with the goo in the can lol, I didnt know about the other stuff. Atleast I used a brush from the begining, even though it is the $5 one at Wal-mart. About 1.5 years ago, I finally noticed Florena Shaving cream in a cardboard box on a store shelf. I decided to try it and I fell in love with it, the smell is intoxicating, it dried out my skin less than the Gilette goo and only irrated the mustache and chin areas, a huge improvement. About 6 months ago, same thing happened with Proraso, I just tried it and WOW, it lathered very well, had a cooling effect and afterwards it didnt dry out my face, just perfect!
Still I wasn't satisfied, even though I got that perfect shave, it only lasted about 3 hrs max before the shadow showed up and I couldn't do it daily, unless I wanted to feel like I was scraping a rock against my face. Usually I shave at 8 am because most of my classes start at 9 am, by lunch time, it looks like I need to do my ATG pass again. One day, a group of classmates was talking about straight razors and barber shaves and how much better it is. When I got home I literally googled "shaving tips" and "how to shave better", fortunately I stumbled onto a forum like this one with links to Mantic59's videos. I just had to try it, so I searched the forums for a place I could buy a de razor in Toronto - I prefer to buy things in the store instead of ordering online, mostly because I hate to wait for packages to arrive.
So now, I have my Merkur HD, I was enthusiastic to try it. On Monday morning, I pop in the sample blade and have a go. Yikes I nicked myself 5 times!, 2x on the mustache and 2x along the jawline and 3 parallel nicks on the chin ( I counted that as 1). Couldn't get the right angle, so I did many repeat strokes, I lost count and all I had to show for it was stubble!
I reviewed the videos and tried again on Wednesday. That time I slowwwed down and took only 1 inch strokes while letting the weight of the razor do the work and applying minimal force, I still had the stinging from last time and some stubble in areas, I was ready to give up because it still wasn't as good my fusion. I couldn't return the razor so what the hell, I tried again, this time I did only 2 passes vs. 3 and surprisingly got a better, closer, more comfortable shave with no stinging. I discovered the right angle to hold the razor, especially for upward strokes and with my next 2-3 shaves I improved alot, I had to unlearn all my bad habits like pressing hard and pivoting razor head. I'm now getting that perfect shave (closer than the fusion) and my face can survive daily shaving. The jawline (hairs change direction) and mustache (dense and hard hairs) are areas I can still improve my technique on. The neck and everything below the jawline is most enjoyable to shave now because the hairs come off effortlessly and I can sort of hear (I think) each hair coming off.
Now I feel like a expert almost, even after just 3 weeks. I even have a tip that might help others, for my last 2 shaves I used Proraso liquid cream as a pre shave massaging it into my face atg and lathering my cream on top, it's like the razor blade is shaving the ice on a rink for the 1st pass. I encourage all newbies to take it slow and ask questions in the forums. Now I'm off to the shaving brushes section of the site, gotta get a better one.
Before the switch to my Merkur HD, I was using the Gilette Fusion - I thought it was stellar, I was able to get a bbs shave with a little irration from the jawline and below and the mustache area - overall not too bad I thought. The only time I ran into trouble was when I wanted to reshave within 3 days, I'd have major redness and itchiness, those times I hated shaving, so I resolved to shave every 3rd day. (Mon-Wed-Fri, skip weekends usually). Before the Fusion, I used the Mach3 and Sensor Excel which was my first razor back in high school. The Mach3 was good, I believe it gave me the same quality shave as the fusion especially for the mustache, the fusion if anything was simply faster - I used the "PowerStroke" like the commercial. I still have the senor excel! it's collecting dust, I can't remember now how good it was, but I'm certain my technique at the time wasnt very good.
As far as shaving creams go, I started out with the goo in the can lol, I didnt know about the other stuff. Atleast I used a brush from the begining, even though it is the $5 one at Wal-mart. About 1.5 years ago, I finally noticed Florena Shaving cream in a cardboard box on a store shelf. I decided to try it and I fell in love with it, the smell is intoxicating, it dried out my skin less than the Gilette goo and only irrated the mustache and chin areas, a huge improvement. About 6 months ago, same thing happened with Proraso, I just tried it and WOW, it lathered very well, had a cooling effect and afterwards it didnt dry out my face, just perfect!
Still I wasn't satisfied, even though I got that perfect shave, it only lasted about 3 hrs max before the shadow showed up and I couldn't do it daily, unless I wanted to feel like I was scraping a rock against my face. Usually I shave at 8 am because most of my classes start at 9 am, by lunch time, it looks like I need to do my ATG pass again. One day, a group of classmates was talking about straight razors and barber shaves and how much better it is. When I got home I literally googled "shaving tips" and "how to shave better", fortunately I stumbled onto a forum like this one with links to Mantic59's videos. I just had to try it, so I searched the forums for a place I could buy a de razor in Toronto - I prefer to buy things in the store instead of ordering online, mostly because I hate to wait for packages to arrive.
So now, I have my Merkur HD, I was enthusiastic to try it. On Monday morning, I pop in the sample blade and have a go. Yikes I nicked myself 5 times!, 2x on the mustache and 2x along the jawline and 3 parallel nicks on the chin ( I counted that as 1). Couldn't get the right angle, so I did many repeat strokes, I lost count and all I had to show for it was stubble!
I reviewed the videos and tried again on Wednesday. That time I slowwwed down and took only 1 inch strokes while letting the weight of the razor do the work and applying minimal force, I still had the stinging from last time and some stubble in areas, I was ready to give up because it still wasn't as good my fusion. I couldn't return the razor so what the hell, I tried again, this time I did only 2 passes vs. 3 and surprisingly got a better, closer, more comfortable shave with no stinging. I discovered the right angle to hold the razor, especially for upward strokes and with my next 2-3 shaves I improved alot, I had to unlearn all my bad habits like pressing hard and pivoting razor head. I'm now getting that perfect shave (closer than the fusion) and my face can survive daily shaving. The jawline (hairs change direction) and mustache (dense and hard hairs) are areas I can still improve my technique on. The neck and everything below the jawline is most enjoyable to shave now because the hairs come off effortlessly and I can sort of hear (I think) each hair coming off.
Now I feel like a expert almost, even after just 3 weeks. I even have a tip that might help others, for my last 2 shaves I used Proraso liquid cream as a pre shave massaging it into my face atg and lathering my cream on top, it's like the razor blade is shaving the ice on a rink for the 1st pass. I encourage all newbies to take it slow and ask questions in the forums. Now I'm off to the shaving brushes section of the site, gotta get a better one.
