Safety Razors

Gran Hermano

waraf wrote: »

Ya gotta love the yanks with their job titles :D

I noticed that yesterday - had the office here wondering what I was laughing at!


I'm really loving the Semogue silvertip brush I picked up last week.

The 39c slant is an interesting beast, can't saw I find it any more
difficult to shave with. I've used both Red Personna and Gillette 7o'clock
yellows in it and it gives a close shave. It reminds me of the Futur both
weight/size wise and shave wise. I can't see it replacing my Fatboys as the current favourites but I think I'll still give the slant a spin once a
week, especially if I've more than 1 day of stubble to shave. Whilst
not an issue for me (being a face and head shaver) I could see the
slant being tricky around the sideburns/hair line. I do find I need extra
care around the neck area.

I'm also using the 444 balm and can recommend for anyone who
likes a menthol blast. Just mix a tiny dab in with your usual aftershave
splash or balm.

GD

Hi there and thanks to everyone, spent the last few days going through this thread and it is addictive.

Taking the plunge and going to invest in some of the gear recommended.

Just a quick query for you more experienced shavers - I like the idea of a Merkur for the German Engineering (sucker for marketing) but not sure which model would be best to start with - any opinions?

Fajitas!

I'm very happy with my Progress, it being adustable is great, when I want an aggressive shave, I have one, when I want a softer one, I have one!

It's a bit small, but you get used to it quite fast.

Amalgam

Heh, I'm very happy with.. the Merkur 34C. Everyone's different. Avoid the Futur and Vision, they're a bit difficult to start with.. (putting it mildly..) they do look nice though.

MediaTank

GD wrote: »

Just a quick query for you more experienced shavers - I like the idea of a Merkur for the German Engineering (sucker for marketing) but not sure which model would be best to start with - any opinions?

Hard to beat the Progress - a gret introduction to DE razors.

Gran Hermano

Another vote here for the Progress or 34c HD. If you fancy vintage
American as opposed to modern German look at the Fatboy or Slim
adjustables are worth a proper consideration and the Superspeeds
are pretty non-aggressive.

Musashi

Only found this thread the other day and can't believe I missed it!

I started DE shaving last year with a Futur! It's all ok now though, hardly ever cut myself anymore, except for this one!



I was shaving away with a Feather on it's last shave. I thought I'd dial up the Futur to make the razor cut a bit better. I mean who's got seconds to drop in a spare blade mid shave, or to dry their hands for that matter?

Anyways, I can tell you that Hydrolasts' olive oil soap is slippery stuff, even after rinsing it off! I use the soap and shave cream a good bit but only fully Method Shave every couple of weeks. It's a good way to spend a half hour but a bit much for every day.



I have "velocity paste" and "activator" which only get used occassionaly. I usually use the soap block and some Proraso or Eton College cream to make my lather. Generally only shave the three passes, down twice and across once, ATG only for special occassions! I sometimes use the "cutting balm" on its own with the residual slickness of the soap to do a tidy up. Some ATG under the jawline and a little blade buffing around the chin bum!

The other Hydrolast product I do like is the moisturiser and after shave tonic, both in "lime and green tea" scent. The brush I felt was too expensive and he even sells a cloth now to use instead of a brush anyway.

I guess to try and make some point with this endless post, I would buy the Soap cube again, though Lidl do a Greek Olive Oil Soap that is very similar if a little smellier. Very slippy stuff!

I have one of the scented rounds from Hydrolast but any hard milled soap would be very similar.

The velocity paste and shave cream are good but no better than a good quality shave cream like the Proraso.

The cutting balm is like a thicker version of shaving oil, does a good job but I'd imagine any base oils for aromatherapy like grape seed should do the same?

The moisturiser is very good, but I've never tried Coral Skin Food so only comparing it to Nivea offerings.

The after shave tonic spritz does a good job of calming any redness, smells nice but doesn't last long so no clashing with your favourite cologne.

Finally, I had a very nice shave Sunday night with an IP blue, only very short stubble now Monday evening.

Don't really need to shave again but I may just try out my little Gillette the guy I bought the Futur from threw in with a few blades.



I also have an old straight razor, had a go at honing it last night. I'm no honemeister but I do have waterstones and strops for my knives. Took it up to 6000 grit on the stones then stropped with green, blue and white compounds on dedicated strops. It will snag and cut a free hanging hair now, but I'm almost afraid to shave my arm hair with it now so face is out of the question for now!



Just thought I'd mention these as the Hydrolast products don't seem to have been mentioned before? Hope it helps someone out there lads.

MediaTank

Hydolast have been mentioned (very) indirectly via Mantics video series on Method Shaving. Nice post.

That straight razor looks like it's game over to me - I'd send it to invisibleedge for honing.

MT

StealthRolex

MediaTank wrote: »

Hydolast have been mentioned (very) indirectly via Mantics video series on Method Shaving. Nice post.

That straight razor looks like it's game over to me - I'd send it to invisibleedge for honing.

MT

Better yet - keep it and use it for practicing your honing and stropping techniques and buy a new one from invisibleedge.

I've got a shave ready Wapi on the way from them - give me a week or so to report on it.

I have an old Dovo which is in a not dissimilar condition. Once I have a baseline to compare it with I plan on using it for hone practice. I'm fairly new to straight shaving and there's a lot to learn.

Musashi

The straight razor is helping me learn to hone straights

I have reset the bevels and sorted out some chips using a King 1000grit waterstone, polished on a 6000 and stropped on leather with green and white honing compounds. It's sharp, but still makes a "Ping" noise when severing a free hanging hair. Apparently it should be possible to polish it so that it cuts silently?

I have some diamond compounds and a 12000grit waterstone on order so need to try those. I may take it back to the 6000 grit edge to set up a scratch pattern and then progress up the grits so I can check that each step has removed the scratch pattern of the previous grit.

I would imagine I could shave with it as is, I was just too chicken to put it near my precious face! :rolleyes:

I'll try to get a decent macro pic. of the razor's edge, tough to get a decent pic of mirror like surfaces.

Amalgam

Musashi, where did you source those 'silver' Feathers?

I've seen them reviewed, intrigued.

Everyone gets their one 'thumb injury', I got mine snapping the handle off a ceramic mug and pressing my finger down on the shark-tooth-like, very sharp stump, sticking out from the mug.. it bled a lot.

Gran Hermano

Amalgam, one of the regulars on B&B, dridiot, has a store on ebay and
sells a good selection of blades. He ships from Singapore and stocks the
black Feather blades.
http://stores.ebay.com/Double-Edge-Shaving-Place_Double-Edge-Blades_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ21499160QQftidZ2QQtZkm

StealthRolex

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Amalgam, one of the regulars on B&B, dridiot, has a store on ebay and
sells a good selection of blades. He ships from Singapore and stocks the
black Feather blades.
http://stores.ebay.com/Double-Edge-Shaving-Place_Double-Edge-Blades_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ21499160QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Cheers Gran - how do these compare with the yellow ones?

Gran Hermano

StealthRolex wrote: »

Cheers Gran - how do these compare with the yellow ones?

I'm not a fan of Feather blades (prefer Gillette 7 o'clocks) so haven't tried these but this thread indicates they are no different apart from packaging.

Musashi

I haven't noticed any difference between the yellow and silver Feather blades, other than the packaging. I think I got the silver ones in a large sampler from Connaught Shaving?

il gatto

I finally used the Wilkonson Sword soap I found in Tesco a few weeks back. Works o.k. It's quite slick, but hard to get a good lather. Not bad for €1.99.
I also picked up a Palmolive shave stick. I already had the Palmolive cream. The stick is brilliant. Great lather, slick and protective. And it smells gorgeous. More like the canned foam than the cream. Best of all, it only cost 59c:eek:. It's up there with my Valobra stick and pretty much any other quality soap I have. Buy it if you spot it. Can't go wrong at the price.

I've now got totally used of my Slim Adjustable. It's great. Very easy to reach the places the Futur couldn't, and the grippy handle is a joy compared to the Futur, which although satin finished, could be a bit slippy.

GD

So after much consideration I have taken the plunge.

Based mostly on Amalgams passion for the subject, re-inforced with great feedback on B+B and other sites, I’ve ordered –

men-u Barbiere Shaving Brush and Stand from www.4men.ie

And this lot from Connaught Shaving -

Merkur 34C Safety Razor
Proraso Shaving Cream 150ml
Proraso Liquid After Shave Cream 100ml
Popular Blade Sample Pack (Small - 35 Blades)

Looking forward to the real shave experience!

Gran Hermano

Good selection to get you started. I think I read Omega make those brushes and I started with one years back.I'm still liking the Omega boar brush I picked up last month and the Proraso menthol is nice and cooling now the summer has started, it's also nice and easy to lather.

Amalgam

GD wrote: »

So after much consideration I have taken the plunge.

Based mostly on Amalgams passion for the subject, re-inforced with great feedback on B+B and other sites, I’ve ordered –

men-u Barbiere Shaving Brush and Stand from www.4men.ie

And this lot from Connaught Shaving -

Merkur 34C Safety Razor
Proraso Shaving Cream 150ml
Proraso Liquid After Shave Cream 100ml
Popular Blade Sample Pack (Small - 35 Blades)

Looking forward to the real shave experience!

Heh, where's the blush smiley?

I haven't used the Men-Ü for a while because.. well, two weeks back I got my hands on my dead Grandfather's shaving brushes. Passed away 13 years ago, but only got the brushes this month.. one of the brushes is a boar (blonde hair) brush and it is pure heaven, it really soaks up the water. Softer than it looks.

Obviously it's the middle brush. It had a tiny sticker with the logo for the french newspaper, 'Le Figaro'.

My rather odd brush collection, with what I started out with on the left, the Men-Ü brush. The Wilkinson brush is from the 70's, it looks synthetic, quite soft, not used it yet, not likely to..



Sorry GD for misleading you on that brush, I didn't know any better!

I'll try and source an Omega boar brush, which seems to be the same hair, I was looking at this:

vox

GD wrote: »

So after much consideration I have taken the plunge.

Based mostly on Amalgams passion for the subject, re-inforced with great feedback on B+B and other sites, I’ve ordered –

men-u Barbiere Shaving Brush and Stand from www.4men.ie

And this lot from Connaught Shaving -

Merkur 34C Safety Razor
Proraso Shaving Cream 150ml
Proraso Liquid After Shave Cream 100ml
Popular Blade Sample Pack (Small - 35 Blades)

Looking forward to the real shave experience!

I find the Men U brushes to be of poor quality and 4men have messed up my orders on more than one occasion. Omega brushes are far better as are their shaving creams.

Fajitas!

I started off on an Omega brush, and was very wary, everyone was saying cheaper brushes don't do any good... It's actually a top class brush. It was only a tenner, but there's not a thing wrong with it, I use it as my travelling brush these days.

Waraf - Have some blades nearly ready for you - Was holding off on another arrival

Should keep you shave happy for a while

Gran Hermano

I'm rather fond of my Omega boar, good value and works well with soaps. Having seen a Semogue boar brush recently that I ordered for someone else I think I'll be ordering one for myself from Vintage Scent to go with my Semogue best badger.

Amalgam

Gran Hermano wrote: »

I'm rather fond of my Omega boar, good value and works well with soaps. Having seen a Semogue boar brush recently that I ordered for someone else I think I'll be ordering one for myself from Vintage Scent to go with my Semogue best badger.

Gran Hermano, is it this one?

http://vintagescent.com/shaving-brushes-c-5/semogue-2000-shaving-brush-p-24



Rather nice.

Gran Hermano

Amalgam wrote: »

Gran Hermano, is it this one?

http://vintagescent.com/shaving-brushes-c-5/semogue-2000-shaving-brush-p-24



Rather nice.

That's the one. I have the 2015HD which is the denser version of the 2015 badger.

Jip

vox wrote: »

4men have messed up my orders on more than one occasion.

Just to comment on this, I've ordered so many items that's it's not healthy from them and never had any issues with them.

il gatto

Jip wrote: »

Just to comment on this, I've ordered so many items that's it's not healthy from them and never had any issues with them.

Used them a few times as well. All good so far.

Jip

Just to throw a question out there for you all, I'm pretty sure I've seen it been mentioned before but how often would you lot get a duff blade in a pack ?

Replaced my blade with a brand new one on Saturday and it felt like I was shaving with broken glass, awful shave. Assumed it was due to poor preparation but got the same affect next time around. In fact I took my razor apart thinking it was broken somehow and was all set to return it. As it turned out it was just a dodgy blade as I was getting a cleaner shave with the old blade the previous day.

waraf

I use yellow feathers and I haven't come across a dodgy one yet. What kind of blades are you using Jip and where did you buy them?

MediaTank

Depends on the blade, I've never had a dud Feather, but have had an occasional bad Merkur or Personna for example. About 1 in 50 I'd guess.

Jip

Merkur Platinum. First time I came across what I'd call a dodgy one anyway.