Reply With Quote
Rather nice find there G&T! I too recently took up grown-up shaving after years of 15 blade sonic ultra extreme (or whatever they are called now)and the difference is phenomenal! I now would not be parted from my Merkur.
B&B is a great site.
I would suggest you go ahead and start with the soap and brush. Even using a typical disposable razor you should notice an improved shave. Before I began purchasing quality shavesoap I used Pears facial soap and had good success with that.
Rather nice find there G&T! I too recently took up grown-up shaving after years of 15 blade sonic ultra extreme (or whatever they are called now)
It is a good razor, sir. Some European thinks, I do too, it is a 'soft' razor. But nevertheless a great razor. B&B is a good site. In Germany, Gut rasiert forum, there are a lot of people who like the Mach3 or so.
Vintage means for me: at that age they found the optimum for shaving for instance. I shave myself with a straight razor, but started with a DE razor, that I still use and admire. This plastic stuff is not suiteble for my skin. I like a hat, because it is very practical against the sun and the rain and it looks good as well. Shavingsoap and shavingcream is the optimum, like in the old days.
Enjoy your shaving (I like it a lot and it wakes me up in the morning) and find out, what is the best for you. Oh well, and this really different kind of smells of soap and after-shave. It is really a wide erea to explore.
Had my first vintage shave today; overall, it was a success.
I was surprised to find that the blade didn't stick out as far as I imagined it would. I can see why they called it the "safety razor" in comparison to an old straight razor. I used the Wilkinson Sword blade first. I found that the overall experience was very enjoyable, and it really didn't take a huge amount of time despite my inexperience.
I began with a hot towel application to the face, followed by a vigorous rubbing with 7 drops of pre-shaving oil. I lathered up the Williams soap in my mug and found the lather wasn't quite as billowy as I expected. It may be my cheapy boar brush, or maybe bad technique, or maybe my mug is too small, I donno. It was good enough though, so I swirled it on with the brush and went to work.
I started by shaving with the grain as advised by Art of Shaving and got a couple of little minor nicks. I chalk this up to my inexperience with the razor and my slightly jittery fingers due to excitement and the two cups of coffee I had this morning. I'm glad I bought that styptic pencil! After finishing with the grain, I wanted a closer shave so I re-lathered and shaved against the grain. The razor made a satisfying sound as it chopped all those little stubby hairs, and I don't think I added any new nicks to my total. I finished off by washed the excess lather off and applying styptic to the little nicks, then a splash of cold water to finish the shave.
All in all it seemed to do a fine job and gave a much closer shave than my crappy electric. Plus it was a real treat to shave with my grandfather's old razor after bringing it back from the dead so to speak. We'll see what the missus thinks of it when she wakes up!
http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9912/gtsig.jpg
“Nowhere in the world will such a brotherly feeling of confidence be experienced as amongst those who sit together smoking their pipes.”
When you're proficient with that, you can graduate to this:
...Where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile? Isn't it a nobby one and just the proper style! I should like to have one just the same as that. Whereever I go they'd shout "hello, where did you get that hat?..."
"Not Yet Published" - My Writing and History Blog
Don't expect great lather with William's soap. Congrats on starting out so well. Walmart here in the US carries some soap called Van der Hagen that has given me much better lather. Also, if you can find some Proraso shave cream in the tube, it is excellent stuff. Also, a boar brush can really give a very nice face lather as well. My first decent brush was an Omega boar brush and still is in use as my travel brush.
I second the Van der Hagen. I get a real close shave with that.
Your lack of lather could be from any of the reasons you noted. Some experimenting will yield different lather results.Originally Posted by Gin&Tonics
I recently started lathering the brush in the palm of my hand with great results.
I second the Proraso. It is a quality cream that I enjoy using during the warm months.
Workwear is the new Black.
Proraso is a good soap & cream. I'd suggest using that. It smells a bit weird, and not very 'soap-like', but it does a great job.
...Where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile? Isn't it a nobby one and just the proper style! I should like to have one just the same as that. Whereever I go they'd shout "hello, where did you get that hat?..."
"Not Yet Published" - My Writing and History Blog
Yes, it has a particular scent. I think it is eucalyptus oil?
Workwear is the new Black.
Posting Permissions
