Thread: Excited

Whoa... What just happened? Where am I?

Originally Posted by jbcohen

The words you are getting from peopple around you is a product of 100 years worth of marketing. The first job of marketing is to sell you a product regardless of its the right product for you or if its in your best interests to buy that product - their three most important rules are: SELL, SELL, SELL. If its not in your best interests to buy or if its really not the right product for you thats not really relevant.

When the safety razor first made its appearance on the market in approximatly 1900, King Cap Gilette (the man who started the comapny called Gillette) and Col Jacob Shick (now owned by Enigizer) couldn't sell their product and with good reason. Men had an excellent product and were getting great shaves from it and the razor was often passed from generation to generation along with the necessary schooling to do the job. Costs were minimal and the return was very high. Men had no need for the product called a safety razor and the two were quickly going out of business. They had to do something and what they did was called marketing (today we call it spin (outright lieing and the twisting of reality to the point that it does not resemble reality any more)). They framed their competitiors products as dangerous, which in truth they were no more dangerous then Gillette or Shick's products were at the time. They had to get people to believe it since their products cost a lot more in the long run then the straight did. So they conned people into believing it.

The problem with their sucess was in the details, which is where the devil typically is. They were able to conn the public into buying a product that cost significantly more and gave less in return for the dollars but there was a problem. Competition was the problem. A lot of other comapnies saw an oportunity to make a bundle by making the blades and thus there were hundreds of companies making the blades and costs dropped for the blades.

What were Gillette and Shick to do they had a product that that could make millions but the compeition was eating into their business. They had to eliminate the competition. The answer came in the form of exploiting copyright laws. The cartridge razor offered a way to eliminate competition, by producing a razor that required repeated buying of blades that were available from only one source they could control the market and charge anything at all.

Today this is best seen when you look at the costs of cartridges as oposed to double edge blades. Currently CVS is selling Proctor and Gamble Gilette Fusion Pro Glide cartridges for $4.50 each and double edge blades for $.50 (they are Personna blades).

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The people you are talking to are listening to the marketing. Don't, think for yourself. The straight is no more dangerous then the ProGlide. I saw The Silence of the Lambs and saw Hanibal Lecter hack victims with a straight. Look closer, the devil is where he typically is, in the details. Look at the way Lecter is holding that straight, look at the sawing motion he makes when the blade comes into contact with the skin. Of course he cut up his victims with a straight. These are two things a straight shaver never does.

I used everything under sun at this point and like you I used electrics and cartridge razor for a while. Like you I never got satisfactory results from wither one. The electric was always leaving unshaved patches as you are describing. The cartridges were not much better, however they did not leave unshaved patches AND THEY COST TOO DARN MUCH. I found that the older the save method the better the shave was. And don't listen to those people you are describing they are simply listining to the advertising hype and as I said above the three jobs of a sales personel is SELL, SELL and oh did I mention SELL. If its the right product for you that's a secondary concern and of ocurse handibal lechter cut people up with a straight look at his technique, I saw the movie a few times, and he held the razor at a ninety degrees to the skin and in a slicing motion. Of course he got the results he did these are two things a straight shaver never ever does.

I also used to combine electric with either cartidge or DE shaver. I would not shave for about a week, and then everyone would complain about the "pokies", so I would hit first with the electric which would usually pull some of the hairs out by the roots because I would not buy a new head every month for 50 bucks. I had to use the electric first or the DE or Cartridge would pull like crazy and cause a lot of pain.

I can remember my Mother saying something about straight razors, how dangerous they are. Well, it is true I suppose, you need to respect the blade. Mostly I worry about keeping them up and away from kids. I didn't listen to her about motorcycles either, but I did gain a lot of respect for the dangers.

I now shave every, or every other day. But if I feel like going a couple days, then it is an easy chore to shave what has grown without pain. I am getting nicks less and less as I learn the musle memory involved in shaving with a straight. Only shaving wtg for now, tried atg, but it pulls too much, and xtg is just awkward. Perhaps someday...

.

So I just spent the last hour and a half in the bathroom trying out my new razor (I can't remember the last time I spent that much time in a bath room). My wife was starting to wonder!

I received my kit today, saw it arrived in the post, and picked it up at the post office after work. The only thing missing from the kit was a brush stand, so I had to MacGyver something.

The manual that came with the kit said the razor was shave ready. But I found that stropping it did improve the shave, maybe the edge got messed up a bit in shipping.


I started with just the side burns, but they were over way too quick! So I pressed on and did my cheeks and neck. At first I was pretty nervous about putting pressure on the blade, cause i didn't really know what was too much. So I started really light, and slowly added more pressure until it started to feel right, it's like working the clutch on a manual car, I guess you just have to get used to it.

I ran into trouble with my neck. I couldn't find a comfortable way to shave WTG so I tried ATG and it turned into some razor burn and I got to try out my Alum block a little more than I had hoped for. I gave up on my neck cause it was really irritated, and I didn't want to shave off anymore of my skin.

I was still way too pumped to call it quits though, so I did my mustache area and under my lower lip.

Overall I don't think I could have hoped for a better experience. A little bit of blood shed, but nothing that lasted more than a few seconds. I could feel the parts that I was doing right, and they are super smooth. Other parts (neck, chin, basically the whole jaw line) are still pretty rough, but I can't wait to take another crack at them tomorrow morning.

I then spent like 20 minutes practicing stropping my razor. The kit came with a paddle razor. I'm not sure if I like it, less than 2" wide, so I have to do a diagonal strop, I think it might be one of the first things I replace.

Is there any real benefit to the paddle style other than the fact that you can store it in a drawer and just take it out and rest it on the counter instead of having to mount one end?

Since my face had pretty much had enough of shaving, and I wanted to use my razor more, I tried it out on my arm. Moments later I had a 1/2" by 6" strip out of my arm hair. At this point my wife told me to stop, and I obliged.

So now I'm here writing about it. The package also came stuffed with some samples of different balms and pre-shave stuff. Which was cool.

I'll give a shout out to Fendrihan.com, they were super fast and everything was as expected, I will definitely be using them again in the future. I placed my order Monday near midnight and it arrived this morning(Thursday). Luckily because of where they are and I am, regular post only takes 2 days.

I do have a few questions though about mainting your soap, do you just like rinse it off after or do you towel it off or what? Mine's pretty foamy still, is it o.k.to let it sit moist in the bowl with the lid on?

I've got a few more questions on kit maintenance, so I'll have to poke around the forum a bit more.

How do you guys store your razors? I really don't want to make some dumb rookie mistake and torch some of my gear, cause I can't really afford to replace it. I've read something about Mineral Oil, I'm sure there's a sticky somewhere for this....


TL; DR; Got my razor, it's awesome. I'm hooked (probably for life). Can't wait for tomorrow morning.

Congratulations on what sounds like a successful shave!

Originally Posted by Dcollier

Since my face had pretty much had enough of shaving, and I wanted to use my razor more, I tried it out on my arm. Moments later I had a 1/2" by 6" strip out of my arm hair. At this point my wife told me to stop, and I obliged.

Tell her you are just making sure the blade is still shave ready and only to worry when you don't have any hair left on both arms.

Hello, DCollier:

Good for you. Now experiment with what works best by trying different angles. Don't forget to keep the razor pressure light: the weight of the razors itself is ample pressure. Take your time honing your skill. Most of all, that hour or so spent on your daily shave is your time and you have a right to it.

Regards,
Obie

The experience that you talked about is pretty similar to the experience that other new shavers talk about that I have heard over the years. So don't dispair it will get better with time. As for your questions and some other issues to consider - the advantage of a paddle strop (I have one) is that the strop and hone are on the same thing so that if you need one then the other there is no need to run around and find the other. Other than that I can't see any real advantage. As for your pre-shave and post shave stuff did the company include any splashes? I tend to preferr splashes to balms becuase the bees in my neighborhood love the balms on me, and due to the fact that I really do not like getting stung I tend to wear the splashes, they are not found of the splashes. What brands of pre-shave and post shave did they include?

My favorites tend to be the ones that you can find in a local drug store: Brut, Old Spice and Skin Bracer. I typically find no difference between the brand name stuff, generic and the cheap knock offs. I went to a bazar near my home, the bazar itself is another story for a different time (but wil tell if asked), and picked up a bottle of Regetta Spice, which is a knock off of Proctor and Gamble's Old Spice. I did a test, I blind folded myself and snifed both and tried to tell the difference, got them backwards.

My recommendations are: stay the course (it will get better), post some photos of the kit (members here love shave porn), you ca probably tell what shave porn is based on the context.

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I tend to preferr splashes to balms becuase the bees in my neighborhood love the balms on me, and due to the fact that I really do not like getting stung

Are you sure it's not the Burt's Bees shaving soap you're using?

I don't get it.

Originally Posted by jbcohen

the advantage of a paddle strop (I have one) is that the strop and hone are on the same thing so that if you need one then the other there is no need to run around and find the other. Other than that I can't see any real advantage..

Originally Posted by jbcohen

the advantage of a paddle strop (I have one) is that the strop and hone are on the same thing so that if you need one then the other there is no need to run around and find the other. Other than that I can't see any real advantage.

Hello jbcohen:

I join my good friend Slartibartfast in trying to understand what you mean by this comment.

Regards,
Obie