safety razors

I've got a Futur, and think it's great - 6 settings for closeness (but it's a smooth transition) and I had only been using Mach3s before I got it. It took a couple of shaves to get used to it, but it's fantastic.

I use Lab Series Max Comfort shave cream - on my 3rd tube of it now - originally got it because it came well recommended but bought again because it's great stuff. I haven't tried anything else apart from nivea/gillette stuff I used with my mach 3.

I use REN Aftershave balm stuff and it's pretty good too but again I've not tried much else. Still on the first tube of it I got.

haven't got a brush so can't advise about that (should get one sometime soon)

buy all my shaving stuff from mankind.

anything else you should know? be careful the first few times - and if you go for the futur - be careful if you're adjusting the setting with wet hands - I sliced my thumb open one time, will never make that mistake again.


edit: I seem to have missed the boat :o
 
Psycho Sonny said:
my order should be arriving tomorrow and if it does ill have a shave tomorrow evening, otherwise i wont be using it until monday, got a hot date on sunday and 3-4 day stubble looks god dam sexy on me, so i hope mine arrives tomorrow or i will have to wait til monday because ill be using my m3 turbo instead 2moro
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please post a photo - TTIUWP

- before & after shots would be good!
 
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well my Futur Safety Razor arrived today along with all my other goodies,

i must say it feels very well made but is a bit on the heavy side and its rather chunky, that was my first impressions and i didnt like it, anyway thats all aesthetics next to preperation

well the blades were very easy to put in,first i got my GS Silver Tip Shaving Brush wet then gave it a quick flick to take off any excess water, i then rubbed the GFT Rose Shaving Soap on my face against my stubble, after a good rubbing i noticed that it wasnt doing much,the soap had a cover on it (doh). i had to peel this thin cover off it isnt noticeable and im sure many people have made this mistake, how many times have you bough soap that has been cling filmed, anyway i rubbed it on my face then got the brush and created a nice thick lather, it felt amazing, it went everywhere and the whole experience was better than being at a turkish barbers, next to shaving

well the razor had a setting adjustment 1 to 6 and it can be set anywhere in between like 1 and 3/4 or 2 and a 1/2. i set it at 1 and started to shave going with the grain, i wasnt getting a smooth shave so i decided to wack it up to 4 and the same thing so i wacked it up to 6, now when i did this i got a million small nicks all over my face, although the shave was very smooth it wasnt worth the pain, so i put it back down to 1, now i decided to go against the grain and whoala it worked perfectly, i dont care how many shaving experts say go with the grain throughout my whole life no matter what razor ive used going with the grain has never given a good shave. so go against the grain always, all in all for my first shave it was very good and smooth, but i missed bits, but i was in tooo much pain from all the cuts, now i know how to use this razor, ill let my stubble grow for about 5 days now and ill shave again and i know now how to use this razor and i now know not to use the higher settings, ill stick to 1 for the first month, then progress to 2 then upwards until i start cutting myself again, next after shave treatment

well after shaving i washed my face and it was now time to spash on some Proraso Aftershave Splash, i spashed 2 or 3 drops on my hands rubbed them together, braced myself, then slapped my face, yowzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it was the most painful thing ever, i think it was because of all the cuts, and it was burning, it kept burning for ages and then it started to feel refreshing in a funny burning sort of way, its still burning now but i think its just my cuts that are sore.

conclusion

that razor cannot be used to give a precise design for my sideys so i tried using my smaller merkur the one for moustaches and beards but i couldnt judge it, need more practice but theres no way in hell you could use the merkur to style your sideys properly, its far too big and chunky, i like my sideys shaped nice and thin and small and pointy so i think ill need to use my mach 3 for my sideys, the shave was very good for my first time using it and it does feel a lot better than a mach 3 but only i would really know the difference, ill need to give a proper opinion on it when ive got 6 months experience using it properly, the shaving soap was a complete nightmare, and ill be using the cream next week and i think it will wield much better results, the soap is fun but is very hard to use, all in all im very pleased but dissapointed about not being able to do my sideys, i give it a 4 out of 10 for control but a 9 out of 10 for closeness of shave, mach 3 gets 8 out of 10 for control and 7 out of 10 for closeness of shave.

my mach 3 is the m3 version that vibrates
 
Thanks for the update Psycho. Does not sound too bad for your first time. Will let you know how I get on when I receive mine. :eek:
 
I dont understand how people can shave against the grain - any time I try it just rips my face up. I can use my futur on 6 (most aggressive) without a scratch but against the grain, even on 1 I'll ruin my face for a week!
 
Rebelius said:
I dont understand how people can shave against the grain - any time I try it just rips my face up. I can use my futur on 6 (most aggressive) without a scratch but against the grain, even on 1 I'll ruin my face for a week!
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at 6 going with the grain i get ripped to shreads, with 1-2 going against the grain gives me my best shave ever, until i try 3 lol
 
elroberto said:
The weird thing is I'm actually looking forward to the next shave these days, I'll be on the cutthroats before I know it!
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you bought the same shaving soap as me, how do you use it, i know there must be many methods and im using the wrong one for me, the soap was terrible, hopefully the cream will be a lot better


the ths limes stuff i bought smells so nice you wanna eat it, im definetely gonna get a lime cream when all of this stuff runs out, probably be next year by then
 
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I'm considering upgrading my M3 Power to either a Fusion or a Merkur. Now reading around there doesn't seem to be a general consensus as to which is the better. Some prefer fusion, some prefer safety razors.

Is there anywhere on the highstreet that sells Merkurs or is it online only?
 
Shamrock said:
I'm considering upgrading my M3 Power to either a Fusion or a Merkur. Now reading around there doesn't seem to be a general consensus as to which is the better. Some prefer fusion, some prefer safety razors.

Is there anywhere on the highstreet that sells Merkurs or is it online only?
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i used to hate shaving now after buying a proper shaving set, i look forward to it, i used to use the m3, which is the mach 3 that vibrates. the fusion is basically another gilette gimmick i wouldnt upgrade from an m3 to that, now as for merkur the only bad thing i can say about my futur razor is that the head is too big and i cant use it to style my sideys, i also bought a small moustacher merkur but i couldnt judge it properly with that either, so im going to use my m3 to do my sideys and the futur for my face and the small merkur for the hard to reach areas like directly under the nose. depends on how much your willing to spend, but as i have said before fusion blades cost £2 each and you can get 10 merkur blades for £3.50, each merkur blade should last you 3-5 shaves is the general consensus, so for £3.50 you should get 30-50 shaves, whereas with the fusion 2 blades at £4 should get you maybe 10 shaves, i did spend £160 though on my kit just because i could, but you could get a kit for quite cheap,

merkur - £20-£40 depending on what model you choose
brush - £20-£30 for a cheap one
proraso shaving cream - £6
cheap stand for brush - £3
10 pack of blades - £3.50

total cost of kit - roughly £65 but this kit should give you 30-50 shaves dont know if the cream will last that long though as i havent used mine yet but im sure that the shaving soap for £16.50 or £8.50 if you just buy a refill should last for 30-50 shaves, £65 isnt a lot of money with all the savings your going to make on the blades, also its worth it for the whole shaving experience, using a proper badger hair brush and shaving soap, etc, etc, it beats a gillete by far

that kit would do anyone nicely, the only thing missing is a shaving bowl or mug but you could use a normal coffee mug or cereal bowl for free

as to where to get it from, i would reccomend the gentlemans store, i found that mankinds store wasnt that easy to use and they dont have a great choice, there is only 1 shop in glasgow that i know of which sells some stuff but not the actual razors, just brushes and shaving creams and cut throats, your better off buying online because its cheaper
 
oof... If I had £160 to waste and didn't already have a futur then I'd buy that.

seriously though, it sounds strange to say you should try out a razor which will cost you £30 but you really should try the futur - I recon on 6 you're going to get about as close as you (not a barber) would with a cut-throat and it takes a lot less maintainance (just put in a new blade once a week as opposed to stropping every time you want to shave. You're also a lot less likely to cut your head off.

I haven't tried shaving with soap - I've only tried cream but you definitely don't need both. If I'm in a hurry I'll just shave in the shower with neither.
 
Cheers for the reply - Im sure my dad used to own one in days gone by so hoping he'll find it so I can give it a try. Considering the Futur is only £40 on its own its not a big investment, though I might end up importing this from the USA as its dirt cheap considering:

http://www.classicshaving.com/catalog/item/522942/283752.htm
+ £10 delivery = £95+customs+VAT < £160 by a mile hopefully...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
ps3ud0 said:
Cheers for the reply - Im sure my dad used to own one in days gone by so hoping he'll find it so I can give it a try. Considering the Futur is only £40 on its own its not a big investment, though I might end up importing this from the USA as its dirt cheap considering:

http://www.classicshaving.com/catalog/item/522942/283752.htm
+ £10 delivery = £95+customs+VAT < £160 by a mile hopefully...

ps3ud0 :cool:
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i wouldnt buy a set like that, although if you do get it from america it is much cheaper, you would be better off buying them individually i reckon the only down side being you wouldnt get a stand for everything, but you can get stand for your brush for £3 which is really the only thing that needs a stand, and if you buy individually you get a greater range of brushes and soaps to choose from, but i would say shaving soap is very hard to use and i would reccomend a cream to noobies, and a shaving bowl aint really neccessary you can just use a coffee mug or a bowl

also the person above reccomended using it on 6 which is a definete no-no, you need to start off at 1 and work your way up, i doubt i will ever use my razor ar 6, also i need to shave against the grain to get a decent shave, everyone is different and you need to test it for yourself to find out what is best for you, but most people from the badger and blade forum use the number 3 setting, which gives you a much better idea, 6 is far too aggressive and i got a million cuts going with the grain, with it on 1.5 going against the grain i never got a single cut, trust me my face was bleeding everywhere when i tried 6
 
what I said was that it on 6 is about as close as you can possibly get and I'd imagine it's safer/easier to maintain than a cut-throat.

I use mine on 6, always with the grain and I get an excellent shave and a fair bit of exfoliation which makes my face feel nice and new but no blood.

I certainly would not recommend buying one and setting it to 6 for your first shave, maybe I should have said that before. But I would probably recommend it over going from a mach3 to a cut-throat in one simple step.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
i wouldnt buy a set like that, although if you do get it from america it is much cheaper, you would be better off buying them individually i reckon the only down side being you wouldnt get a stand for everything, but you can get stand for your brush for £3 which is really the only thing that needs a stand, and if you buy individually you get a greater range of brushes and soaps to choose from, but i would say shaving soap is very hard to use and i would reccomend a cream to noobies, and a shaving bowl aint really neccessary you can just use a coffee mug or a bowl
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Seek and ye shall find ;)...
Generic Stands

Its quality Im willing to pay for, so for a very decent razor, silvertipped basil brush and stand say (what do you use the bowl for?) for £120 max - its an investment. Psycho Sonny, tell me how you get on with the bread trimmer as it seems ideal for shaping me sideburns...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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Hmm, I'm still not entirely convinced. :( The only way to be certain would be to test one, but that means buying it. It seems I would still be using my M3 quite a lot as you say its too chunky for sideys and the top lip and I've also read that doing the neck can be difficult - one slip and there goes the jugular!

Wednesday night I shaved against the grain with my M3 to try and get a closer shave by firstly going with then reapplying and going against. Worked quite well and it means I can shave every other day instead of every day.
 
Rebelius said:
I dont understand how people can shave against the grain - any time I try it just rips my face up. I can use my futur on 6 (most aggressive) without a scratch but against the grain, even on 1 I'll ruin my face for a week!
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I use a Mach3Power with shaving soap and a decent Kent brush. Personally I find shaving against the grain with a light touch works better than shaving with the grain either applying lots or little pressure. I go against and have a perfect shave 7 days a week.

With a cartridge like the M3, heavy pressure is supposed to work, but like I say I find the opposite works.

Light pressure also means I can make the M3 blades last and last....I can get a month of shaving every day out of some blades. They can be inconsistent though, some will only last a week or so.

With a DE safety (which I've never tried to be fair) your supposed to be light-touched even going with the grain so I'd imagine going against it must be a nightmare....maybe you need to use even less pressure?
 
I'm sure I've been shaving longer than any of you but its taken until recently to find my perfect shave.

I find that a combination of the mach3 vibrating thingy and the King of Shaves oil+gel gives me the ideal shave, really a trade off between smoothness and safety!
 
footman said:
I'm sure I've been shaving longer than any of you but its taken until recently to find my perfect shave.
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Lol. Depends how old you are I guess. I've been shaving for a long time...I am in my 30's afterall!
 
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