Wet shaving thread.

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razors.jpg


On the right is the DE Gillette straight razor made in my birth year that I purchased on ebay. Tried it out with a Shark blade last night and it was great. Not difficult at all, the technique was easy, no cuts, not even particularly slow. The Shark blade was fine, I don't see any need to try others.

Nice. I have too many blades to try Shark, Gillete, Feather, Derby, etc...

My fear is that I find myself most comfortable with that one obscure blade made in the depths of Bangladesh by Midget Hindu Monks that worship an Obese Platypus.
 
The Sharks are manufactured (I read) in Egypt, out of steel made in Sweden. Welcome to the one-world economy!

In the sampler I got, the majority of the blades are either Russian or Egyptian.

Funny how there is only one brand of blade in there from a country that actually produces steel from raw material, Feather.

I hear they are manufacturered from reclaimed amercian soda Kegs. ;)

Nice. Cuts in more ways than one.
 
So I have been trying the EVOO in my shave bowl for several days now.

My face feels like it is better hydrated, but not oily, I am getting a much closer shave on my neck, and no breakout like a teen.

So far so good!!
 
So I have been trying the EVOO in my shave bowl for several days now.

My face feels like it is better hydrated, but not oily, I am getting a much closer shave on my neck, and no breakout like a teen.

So far so good!!

Yup. Same here. Odd huh. So simple and organic (in a way). I find the EVOO is better than Glycerin. Even went out and purpose bought a small bottle of EVOO to keep with my shave kit.
 
So I have been trying the EVOO in my shave bowl for several days now.

My face feels like it is better hydrated, but not oily, I am getting a much closer shave on my neck, and no breakout like a teen.

So far so good!!

I keep forgetting to try this. I can't see any reason though why just the cheap cold pressed wouldn't work.
 
I keep forgetting to try this. I can't see any reason though why just the cheap cold pressed wouldn't work.

I don't see why it even matters that it's Olive Oil. Prolly doesn't. But then, OO is high in Linoleic Acid and they like to put that **** in cosmetics too as a skin conditioner.

"Research points to linoleic acid's anti-inflammatory, acne reductive, and moisture retentive properties when applied topically on the skin."

But if that is a key consideration I think Safflower Oil would be better. OO has ~10% LA. Just about anything else has more LA than OO. Safflower has the highest content at ~78%.
 
You guys are confirming what my dad tried teaching me 15 year ago... I quit shaving because my neck breaks out so bad. Face is fine, neck is dead!

Gonna have to read more into this and try it.
 
You guys are confirming what my dad tried teaching me 15 year ago... I quit shaving because my neck breaks out so bad. Face is fine, neck is dead!

Gonna have to read more into this and try it.

Since switching to DE my shaves have been mostly irritation free after the shave. There is more collateral damage during the shave, but a splash of cold water followed by witch hazel and all is well.

I have yet to get a true BBS shave on my neck but, I'd rather be irritation free, and look clean shaved than have a close shave on the neck and then the next day be covered in bump.
 
This morning my usual premium brand, prestigious, esoteric shave emollient, Barbasol, was out of reach in the shower, so I used Zest. Smooth, quick and close. Back before I went DE I'd use it for every shave.
 
Last night I tried using a few drops of EVOO as a preshave oil, then lathered using CO Bigelow creme without EVOO, I got very similar results, if anything my face feels just as smoothe, but the razor moved like there was no blade, almost no resistance.

I think I will try this for a couple days and see which method I prefer.
 
I was reading about using olive oil in shaving and in skin care in general, and found one (instructable I think) that suggested 3 parts olive oil and one part baby oil, mix together and apply as a preshave oil, I had no baby oil so I just rolled with the olive oil.
 
I've used American Crew's shaving oil and really liked it. Here's their description:

Non-greasy solution cushions skin for a close, effortless shave. Eucalyptus and clove are just some of the 12 beneficial oils that counter nicks, razor bumps, and ingrown hairs. May be used as a prep under shave cream or gel. Excellent for detail work on sideburns, goatees, etc. Application: Wet face with warm water. Massage oil into beard and shave as usual. - Twelve Natural Oils soften the beard more quickly than cream and allow for a closer shave - Rosemary & Clove Extracts refresh and cool skin while clearing away excess oil, impurities and dead skin cells

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=62nJTauGJon50gHnkNHpCA&ved=0CG4Q8wIwAw#
 
Damn man, I have 2 or 3 unopened packs of sharks. I could have stuck one in an envelope for you. Would have probably been a hell of a lot cheaper.
 
You guys are evil. Loved that first shave!! I'm ready for a night out pub crawling!

I got my face pretty smooth but my jawline and neck need some work...
 
I got the razors from Pennsyltucky yesterday, I gave them a good cleaning, a quick run on the polishing wheel and they all turned out looking great!

I shaved with the open comb Gillette 'NEW' tonight, I had a fresh shark loaded up, the NEW is slightly more agressive than my Tech, I was able to get a BBS shave with only one weeper on my neck that some witch hazel took care of.

I am going to shave with this razor a week before moving on to the next one to get to know the ins and outs of it, but I am liking this model thus far...
 
I figured I would post up a pic of the razors I recieved from Pennsyltucky, after some clean-up they are looking pretty good!

Up top is the ball handle Gillette NEW.
Next down is a Gillette Tech head on a different handle.
Then a clone of a Gillette early.
The black plastic handle one is an early head design Gillette Tech razor issued to our military troops at the onset of WWII.
The bottom razor is my first one, an early-head fat handle Gillette Tech.

razors1.jpg
 
I've been wet shaving for 18 months- at first it was an anachronistic experiment but now I could never go back to canned foam/gel and $4 replacement cartriges again!
 
had my stuff for four days and my wife already claimed my bottle of witch hazel, boar brush, mug and provaso... ohwell time to spend her money at west coast ;)
 
I went back to the Futur (Hehe) for tonights shave. Loaded it with a Indian blade (Astra).

Despite the weight of that thing, it really does provide a wonderfully close shave with little effort.
 
Wow, just finished shaving with the Weishi DE I got in the mail today. Compared with the Sensor Excell I usually use it is sooooooo much different. I can tell the NO pressure will take some getting use to, and the holding and blade angle too. My face is not the best feeling after a shave and I thought I had not got as close as the excell use to but my wife was shocked (and since I reevaluated and compare to what the excell was getting not what I was expecting from the DE I a'm shocked too). Now got to get some pratice and some balls to go ATG! (and soap, brush, bowl, witch hazel... the list goes on and on!)
Thanks all for putting this thread up here!
 
Now got to get some pratice and some balls to go ATG! (and soap, brush, bowl, witch hazel... the list goes on and on!)
Thanks all for putting this thread up here!

Here is what I have been doing the last shave or two;

- 1st pass WTG
- Lather up again, 2nd pass ATG
- Lather up again, final pass Across TG.

Using a combination of light steady strokes and buffing (I hadn't realized I was buffing until I saw a video).

As for the kit, look around at CVS and Walgreens. Both offer a inexpensive starter kit for wet shaving. Includes a simple Boar hair brush, Shae Butter soap puck, and a decent (but small) bowl.

I have 3 bowls now. One came with my Merkur kit, and is total crap (tiny). The other came with the CVS kit (decent but still small, IMO). And the one I use every time.......

A giant Latte/Cappucino mug. Best bowl I have yet. Cheap ceramic job with enough imperfections (dimples and pimples) in the bottom to get a really good lather in no time at all.
 
I bought a little plastic food container for my soap- I used to love using a heavy coffee cup, but I travel a lot for work and got tired of having to bag it up or replacing both it and the soap when the airlines got too rough. Not so classy but very effective!
 
Using a combination of light steady strokes and buffing (I hadn't realized I was buffing until I saw a video).

mattd2 said:
Wow, just finished shaving with the Weishi DE I got in the mail today. Compared with the Sensor Excell I usually use it is sooooooo much different. I can tell the NO pressure will take some getting use to, and the holding and blade angle too. My face is not the best feeling after a shave and I thought I had not got as close as the excell use to but my wife was shocked (and since I reevaluated and compare to what the excell was getting not what I was expecting from the DE I a'm shocked too). Now got to get some pratice and some balls to go ATG! (and soap, brush, bowl, witch hazel... the list goes on and on!)


I've really had no issue in transitioning to the double edged razor. I find that short strokes, repeated, works well for me. None of those long strokes down the entire face, but repeated shorter strokes. Is that what you mean by buffing? And of course, no pressure, let the razor do the work.
 
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