Thread: Two weeks shaving; update

This is just an update on how I am doing and what i've bought.
After three weeks of shaving with a straight I still haven't cut myself. Not too bad.

I started out with a red imp, I believe I rolled the edge on it. @engine46 was nice enough to offer to hone it for me. I will take him up on that after the holiday. He's a great guy.

Against everyones advice I bought a gold dollar 100 off of eBay, from a guy who claims he hones them and makes them shave ready, and I messaged him and he offered to rehone it once I received it if I was unhappy. It was cheap, and I wasn't expecting much, but boy, do I get good shaves out of it. It seems like a pretty nice razor (coming from a beginner) and it stays very sharp. Having read Gold Dollars are hit and miss, I think I hit a home run with this one.

I also have bought a Parker Shavette off amazon. It came with 5 shark blades, and after 3 shaves with it on the first blade it is still plenty sharp. I really like it as well. Maybe more than the straights, I don't know yet. It's easy to use, I don't have to worry about stropping. It is made of all metal, and has the weight of a straight, and shaves very smoothly.

Tonights shave has been my best so far. I have a full beard, so I only shave my neck and my cheeks. My cheeks cannot get any smoother. Tonight is the first time where I have had no razor burn on my neck. It is not as smooth as I want it to be, but no razor burn is a step in the right direction.

A few questions I have;

What are some soaps I should try? I bought a kit that came with a brush, bowl and soap, but the soap is low quality. I REALLY want to try yeti snot off of Shaving Yeti but they are always sold out.

What are the best shavette blades?

Your questions are kind of like Ford or Chevy, Pipe or Cigar, Ginger or Mary Ann? As you might expect soap and blades are generally very much a question of taste and a very subjective "I like..." sort of thing. However, if I was two weeks in, I now wish someone had recommended the following soaps to me: Mitchell's Wool Fat, Tabac, La Toja Shave Stick. Regarding shavette blades, I wouldn't bother with the pre-broken ones. I just buy regular DE blades and break them myself. While I lean towards cheaper (locally available) Dorco and Personna blades, I've never heard a bad word about Feather blades and I've had very good luck with Wilkinson and even Lord blades myself. Merkur blades didn't agree with me though. I know there are some guys that like them a lot but for me they were alot like trying to shave with a broken beer bottle.

I have no personal experience with Parker shavettes but if it turns out you're a shavette guy, the Sanguine R5 and CJB Kamisori are absolutely not to be missed.

PS: Ford, Pipe, Mary Ann (in case you were wondering)

Blades are rather subjective, most people recommend a starter pack that has a selection of different blades so you can figure out your favorites.
For soaps depending on budget I would look at palmolive (the cream is pretty good too), omega, musgo real, body shop Maca root.

The 2 soaps I've been enjoying: Mama Bear's Aged Spice (Smell's akin to the original Old spice) and Col. Conk's Bay Rum. I need to find a suitable bay rum aftershave to follow that up with, because the scent is glorious!

For saops and creams i can second the Mitchells Wool Fat, Musgo Real and palmolive and would add any Taylor's of old Bond Street products are also good. Have only used the Col Conk Almond but ghat was good too.

MDC is also a nice soap but in my opinion somewhat expensive for what it is.

Valobra menthol comes to mind for soap. Often overlooked but performance is top notch. I personally like Tabac, though the scent is polarizing.
Blade samplers are good. I prefer Feather and Personna med preps for DE / shavettes.

Congrats on the progress so far! I too have a beard, and actually have found that getting the neck right and getting the beard line straight can actually be more challenging at times than shaving everything! I shave my beard to the jaw line, but keep it about .5in long, so I actually end up shaving underneath it about half-way around the curve of my jaw. The cheeks are of course the easy part, and these straights make it VERY easy to get a nicely trimmed beard line. I am about 3 months in now...keep with it. You may hit a rough patch or two when things aren't progressing how you like. It gets better!

As for soaps...I usr Art of Shaving Ocean Kelp pre-shave and cream (it lathers very well) and use their sandalwood aftershave balm. I love the way it smells. I have been wet shaving with their products for a few years now, and though I just made the transition to straights, I am so familiar with their stuff that it works fantastically for me. It is a little overpriced, but I can basically grab it anywhere, any time, which makes it convenient.

I too use a shavette, as I started this adventure with one. I don't use it as often now, but still like it none the less. I use a Dovo and the Dovo/Merkur long blades. I think they are great. I have also used the Merkur DE blades, but while they worked fine for me, they seem a little harsh.

Best of luck on your journey...if you really like the beard, once you are comfortable with shaving a bit more, you might want to try a French or Square Point....you'll have to be VERY careful with the tip around your ear lobes, but you can trim one hair at a time to get that perfect shape you want!

1OldGi is right on . Ford, pipe, Maryann.

Thank you all for the awesome suggestions. You rock.