The Manly Shaving Thread

spaceman · 10 May 2013 at 09:30

I got my razors back from Dave @ Restoredrazors the other day.

I had them all replated in Rhodium, pictures dont do them justice!

1930's English Gillette Aristocrat #15 & Gillette Open Comb heads (Old type, New improved, NEW short comb, NEW long comb).

Name · 10 May 2013 at 09:36

Whats the deal with giving cutthroat shaves in barber stores?

My local barber is going to start offering them and i was wondering, do barbers have to use interchangeable blades now? new one for each customer etc, due to spreading of possible disease through cuts/blood on the blade.

Or is it common practice to use 1 blade only and leave it in boiling water after each customer. Just wondering what general practice is.

haz_pro · 10 May 2013 at 09:40

Name said:
Whats the deal with giving cutthroat shaves in barber stores?

My local barber is going to start offering them and i was wondering, do barbers have to use interchangeable blades now? new one for each customer etc, due to spreading of possible disease through cuts/blood on the blade.

Or is it common practice to use 1 blade only and leave it in boiling water after each customer. Just wondering what general practice is.

I believe most barbers use shavettes due to concerns of spreading disease. I am unsure however if it is regulated, i.e. I don't think they are forced either way, and could use a normal straight razor if they wanted to.

katana6434 · 10 May 2013 at 11:37

I received my order yesterday and had my first shave with it last night. All went pretty well. Took my time and I ended up with no rash or irritation. The side of my face was really easy. I found my neck a lot trickier to shave but got here in the end.

Need to practice getting a good lather with my brush.... I don't think I was thick enough when I was shaing my neck, what probably didn't help.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the shave, now just need to keep practising at it.

cu3ed · 10 May 2013 at 12:11

Thats all it is, and trying new blades and working on getting a good lather, I think preparation is about half of it really.

TheCenturion · 10 May 2013 at 12:29

I used some pre shave oil today to see if it would reduce irritation and rash. It has done, but only slightly.

Maybe I'm allergic to something in the Taylor of Old Bond Street cream? Should I try a different cream, or should I try some aftershave oil?

Thanks

hummingman · 10 May 2013 at 13:01

After reading the last dozen or so pages of this thread, and being fed up with the extortionate price of regular blades, I thought I'd try a DE razor.

I bought this here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Weishi-safety-razor-set-with-Proraso-shaving-cream-/121089845620?

I realise that it's not the best razor but I read a few reviews on various forums and the general consensus was that it was a good razor for beginners and that it was virtually impossible to nick yourself.

I have had four shaves with this now, each time after a hot shower, having applied the shaving cream to the face and neck using the brush. The first three times I have had a not-at-all-close shave with cuts and nicks all over my face and neck. I thought I'd try changing the blade from the Dorco, so tried the Wilkinson Sword blade. The result with the same, with various red bloody spots over my neck, like I've had a run-in with a pair of scissors.

Can't really see what I'm doing wrong. I'm applying light pressure going in the direction of the hair growth and then against it after. The razor doesn't feel like it's cutting at all, there seems to be a lot of 'drag' rather than 'slice'. Where there's the most drag I get the blood.

Help...? Before I throw this thing away and go back to my Gillete ProFusion, which got me a good shave but the bloody cartidges are £20 for 8.

Doonhamer · 10 May 2013 at 13:08

You really need to hit youtube and do some research on technique. Plenty of advice on there. Perhaps start with

Mantic59

Jano · 10 May 2013 at 14:45

Would also say that anyone who says that razor is good for beginners and virtually impossible to nick yourself is a twonk. Simple fact is you will nick yourself when you start out due to poor technique, I would imagine getting a cheaper razor will just make things worse. If your getting a lot of dragging on the hairs rather than slice I would also put that down to a poor blade, can't say I have any experience of Dorco's but some Wilkinson Swords are good, depends which ones your using.

On a side note, had my first shave with the new silvertip badger hair brush today and I am absolutely flabbergasted by the difference in lather between it and the generic Edwin Jagger I bought when I started out. Vastly improved the quantity of lather generated and the feel of the thing when lathering up on the face is like being stroked by silk, rather than being stung by a thousand wasps like I was used to.

scorchisio · 10 May 2013 at 15:12

those wieshi razors are rubbish, you buy cheap and you buy twice, get a merkur futur or a merkur 34c and the difference will be astounding.

I gave my wieshi to my mum to shave her legs with thats all the cheap piece of junk is good for.

Swarfega · 10 May 2013 at 15:40

How much was your brush Jano?

spaceman · 10 May 2013 at 15:43

TheCenturion said:
I used some pre shave oil today to see if it would reduce irritation and rash. It has done, but only slightly.

Maybe I'm allergic to something in the Taylor of Old Bond Street cream? Should I try a different cream, or should I try some aftershave oil?

Thanks

I'm allergic to something in TOBS creams (Jermyn Street, Eton College, Coconut), they burn and i get loads of red blotches.

The only other creams i've used are Proraso Blue and Palmolive from the super market, neither burn.

I use soaps almost all the time and out of the 15+ i've used, only Boots shave stick had the similar sting, but i didnt get the red blotches.

Jano · 10 May 2013 at 15:45

£47, New Forest Brushes have two silvertip options, the one I went for (2224) and the New Forest Finest Silvertip 2213 which was £37. I went for the 2224 because it's suited to both face and bowl lathering, and although I mainly face lather I do occasionally use a bowl.

As it happens Rod Neep did come back to me, literally the day I'd ordered from New Forest and I am going to go ahead and get an extra silvertip brush and stand custom made - as I travel a fair bit I like to have a brush in my washbag, which will be what I use the new forest one for in the end. It's quite a small brush too which is handy.

spaceman · 10 May 2013 at 15:52

hummingman said:
Help...? Before I throw this thing away and go back to my Gillete ProFusion, which got me a good shave but the bloody cartidges are £20 for 8.

I'd buy a Merkur 34c HD (the other two worth buying are: Muhle R89 and Edwin Jagger DE89).

A middle of the road blade like Astra SP and stick with them for for a couple of months to work on technique.

Swarfega · 10 May 2013 at 15:58

What was you using before?
I only have a cheapy £15 brush, I don't really need to upgrade but interested in seeing how it can make such a big difference.

hummingman
If its tugging hair the blade or razor is your issue. I get tugging from using Derby blades on my 34C HD. Feathers or other good blades will cut hairs with ease. I've never used your razor so maybe the weight of your razor isn't enough so some pressure is required.
The thing is though you've been caught out with what so many people say in this thread. Buy cheap pay twice. If you had decent tools to work with it would be easier to give advise on possible issues. Main thing though, if its tugging just stop as, as your finding out your doing more damage than good.

Jano · 10 May 2013 at 16:06

This was my fourth brush, from worst to best -

Edwin Jagger Black Badger (£21) - absolute rubbish, came as part of a travel kit along with a Merkur 33C that's in my washbag.
Edwin Jagger Best Badger (£27) - My first and previous main brush, wasn't bad but wasn't great, bought alongside the Merkur Futur I use at home.
Art of Shaving Pure Badger travel brush (around $50 on its own I think) - got this in the states as part of a travel kit, comes in a handy case which doubles up as a handle and stand. Also saw their silvertip in action and convinced me that I needed one at home.

The New Forest Silvertip whoops the lot of them though. As for razors, I actually prefer the Merkur 33C travel razor to the futur so have been looking into a second razor for home use, just dont really know what to get. My main issue with the futur is the size of the thing, shaving around the nose especially is a bit of a pain.

TheCenturion · 10 May 2013 at 16:35

spaceman said:
I'm allergic to something in TOBS creams (Jermyn Street, Eton College, Coconut), they burn and i get loads of red blotches.

The only other creams i've used are Proraso Blue and Palmolive from the super market, neither burn.

I use soaps almost all the time and out of the 15+ i've used, only Boots shave stick had the similar sting, but i didnt get the red blotches.

Do you prefer the creams or the soaps when shaving?

EDIT: and did it burn everywhere when you used TOBS? Because mine just burns on my cheeks

haz_pro · 10 May 2013 at 18:13

So, I tried shaving again with the shavette using a Wilkinson blade and seemed to get a (slightly) better result. More of the blade seems to be poking out of the shavette this time; are some blades wider then eachother or is this psychological?

Below are some pictures of the shavette and ej db89 just because... I tried to get a picture of the blade section on the shavette but the camera wouldn't focus.

spaceman · 10 May 2013 at 19:32

TheCenturion said:
Do you prefer the creams or the soaps when shaving?

EDIT: and did it burn everywhere when you used TOBS? Because mine just burns on my cheeks

I pretty much only use soaps, i prefer the lathers i get when i face lather them and it saves prep time as i spend a minute or two building the lather.

MWF, VITOS coconut and Lea Stick are my favourites, but TOBS Jermyn St soap, Proraso green, Valobra stick, Palmolive stick aren't far behind those IMO.

With TOBS Cream the burning i felt was mainly on my cheeks, but i used to get random red blotches all around my face after the shave. i think my neck was fine. I thought it was a fragrance in the cream so tried a couple of varieties as they are really good, but had the same problem.

I've used the sandalwood and jermyn street soaps and those are both fine, so it must be something in the base for their creams that i dont get on with.

EDIT: if you end up trying some soaps, just buy the refills and these from ikea to put them in Grundtal tins everything i've tried fits in them, rip the magnet off the bottom if you want to stack them.

haz_pro · 10 May 2013 at 20:01

haz_pro said:
So, I tried shaving again with the shavette using a Wilkinson blade and seemed to get a (slightly) better result. More of the blade seems to be poking out of the shavette this time; are some blades wider then eachother or is this psychological?

Quick follow up...

I just shaved my head and figured I would try one of the wilkinson blades in my DE razor; sure enough the blade sticks out more than the gillette blades I usually use.

I am unsure if I prefer the longer blade or not, I don't usually cut my head but I have a couple of times today. I may just need to adjust though (if i did continue to use the wilkinson sword blades in my DE razor).