Getting it straight-- the razor obsessed shaving megathread

Check out some of the lower priced Vulfix and Omega brushes. Get a real brush, it's worth the money and it will last for decades. No point in going cheap for something that most guys use 300 time a year. Buy the big 1kg brick of Cella and save some money there.

I shaved with Proraso this morning for the first time in nearly a year, and I remember why I love Cella the way I do. My face is on fire today.

I lather up my face with bar soap in the shower after I've shaved, find any spots I've missed, and give them the final pass. Bar soap is definitely slicker than most shave soaps and great for that final run, but it doesn't give me enough safety for my first pass.

OK, so now educate me on this stuff.

I was under the impression that I was going to buy a brush and a puck of soap, throw that soap into the mug and whip it up. After watching several Youtube videos, I'm learning that I need a mug and a bowl; the mug holds the soap and the bowl is for lathering.

Is this how you do it?

TIA,
Eric

Well, a puck sometimes comes in its own container, so that is one less thing to have to get.

And I use a coffee mug (it's curved and wide; it doesn't have straight sides with hard corners at the bottom) to work the lather up in... sometimes. Truth be told, some of the shave soaps lather up just fine on the face (Truefitt & Hill, and Proraso when newer - not so much when allowed to dry out if the top is left off), and some require work to lather (Colonel Conk's, cheap Wal-Mart puck).

But, yes, it seems far better to take some soap off of the puck with the brush and lather it elsewhere
than to perpetually keep your soap puck that wet by lathering on top of it.

There's no hard fast rule on how to do it, but I don't think you need a separate bowl and mug. I take my brush, that has been soaking in hot water, and whip it around my tub of Cella, then lather it on my face and whip it up there a bit, and just go back and forth a few times until it is completely lathered and my face covered. Sometimes you have to add a little more water to the brush while doing this. A lot of it depends on the soap and the brush you use. Cella lathers easily with a very soft, big badger brush, but some harder soaps actually work better with cheaper, stiffer, and shorter badger brushes, or even a boars hair brush, which is quite a bit stiffer. I would start with a mid-priced, mid-sized badger brush from Vulfix or Omega, and that should work pretty well with most any soap you're going to be trying.

If you want to make it as easy as possible, you can get Proraso and Tabac shave soaps in a tube, and these are fast and easy to lather up. Just a dollop on the brush and lather on your face. The soaps tend to be more expensive this way, and you'll go through them a lot faster than the pucks. Cella is awesome stuff, like a soft putty.

i've shaving with a straight for 5 years. the key is to shave after you shower and keep the razor sharp. the sharper the better. learning to keep it sharp takes some practice. also learning to shave my chin took a bit.

why do i chose this meathod? there are a few reasons. im into doing things the way they used to done. also, one razon can last a lifetime. i also get fewer ingrown hairs. it takes me about 20 min to shower and shave. i generaly only shave every other day.

you can find a good quality razor at a second hand shop for $40. also, the differance in a quality shaving soap and the stuff you get in a can is night and day.

I must have bought about 10 larger 500ml packs of these years ago from ebay.it - still going very strong and it was a huge saving over local equivalent retail.

Well, day two with my Weishi and Dorco blades that it came with. Using canned foam for now and my shave is nothing to write home about but I haven't cut myself, either. I think a combination of caution and a not-very-aggressive razor is keeping me from getting a really close shave and bleeding out over the sink.

Thanks all for your help; I'll keep working at it. This is fun.
Eric

Victorinox store at the West Farms Mall in Connecticut is closing. All their wet shaving stock is 75% off. I just picked up a Dovo silver tip brush for $50. All Swiss Army knives are also 75% off as well.

I purchased a merkur 34c about 2 months ago. A friend gave me a variety of blades to try. So far, like the Merkur and Dorco blades best. Derby the least.

Now that you have some miles under your belt, go to Amazon and order a variety pack. Mine came with Shark and Feather brands. LOVE the yellow wrapper Feathers.
I lost my blade when I was traveling once (WTF TSA??). I found some at CVS after I landed. Gawd they were awful. I looked like I went 10 rounds with a pack of ferrets armed with dull carrot peelers. I got spoiled with good blades.

What a drag. That's just a bit out of range for me for a ride between the morning fog and afternoon rain.

Have decided on Astra blades. Great shave. I got 100 for $14 shipped. Same number of shaves with mach3 blades would cost $100. The beautiful razor has paid for itself already!

LOL, I use Derby blades six days a week - but the reality is that I'm usually using a single blade for up to 30 shaves. Dark hair, stronger beard. If you start getting over 20 shaves out of most of your Merkur or Dorco blades, post here and let me know.

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I bought a container of Cella shave soap as suggested here. I'm not sure it holds an edge to Prorasso, and surely isn't equivalent to, let alone better than, Truefitt & Hill as some review I read recently posted.

It's good enough. I'm not getting it to lather any better in a mug than I am by just applying it to my face (like I do these days with Prorasso). Am I doing something wrong?

Sometimes a loaded brush doesn't even seem to hold enough lather for a second pass... where-as that hasn't been the case with just about any shave soap I've used in the past.

Personally, I like the Wilkinson Sword blades the best.

I switch back from using Neutrogena Shave lotion and Edge Infused Gel. The Edge Infused I found on clearance at a Walgreens once, and I've never found it on a store shelf since. I ended up ordering three cans from drugstore.com, but I would suspect it's been discontinued. I don't really like the Neutrogena much - it kind of makes my face feel slimy.

I usually shower at night before bed, and shave in the morning.

Didn't know this thread existed!

I love my Merkur safety razor with Feather blades. I bought a lot from Ebay which should last me a few years.

A nice badger brush and some good cream.....no nicer shave to be had unless you are getting a straight razor cut from a pro. I tried a straight razor on myself and it wasn't pretty. I'll stick to a nice safety razor shave with real blades.

I started wet shaving about a month ago because I thought I would save money. However, I've become obsessed with razors. I bought a Weishi for $20 bucks just to get started, but now I have a '62 Gillette Tech, a birth-year ('55) SuperSpeed, a NOS Schick Krona and an beautiful adjustable Slim coming in the mail. 3 different creams and two different aftershaves. I need intervention.

Eric

Try loosening up that canned foam with some hot water, its just really not that slick.

Tried the DE for about a month now - birth year Gillette Super Speed, Wilkinson blades. I do the pre-shave oil, brush on the cream, etc. Although I've come close, I haven't hacked myself up yet, but am getting a lot of razor burn. I feel like one little slip and I'll be bleeding all over. Last week I used a Mach 3 throwaway (with Edge Gel) that my wife had which was probably 4 months old, and I got just as good of a shave as the DE, and no drama.

I'm thinking there's good reason the DE's have pretty much gone by the way. YMMV.

DE is all in the technique. The multi blade razors are pretty idiot proof. Personally, I get a lot more irritation and ingrown hairs from multi blade razors.

Oh and if those are the wilkinsons from Walmart they're complete shit. I barely have any facial hair and only get one shave out of them before they start dragging.