Ok. I've been at this for about two weeks now. I acquired a merkur DE from AOS with their product. As is wont for my personality, I quickly wondered if there was more and here I am. I have been obsessively pouring through material and acquiring product. I am awaiting some proraso and Queen Charlotte as well as some different DE blades to try. My shaves have been getting better. I have always had enormous problems with ingrown hairs on my neck, and the DE and AOS products, along with some Thayer's Aloe Witch Hazel have improved things immensely. I used the 2 merkur blades that came with my DE initially, but have used a Wilkinson blade for my last 2-3, and I think the Wilkinson is much better for me. Sharper and smoother. My lathering technique is vastly improved. Very cool to see it lather up correctly. So after two weeks I feel I'm on the cusp of really feeling and having the best shave's of my life and what do I do? RAD!!
On the way I have a razor from the classifieds and a strop from ruprazor. I must confess, I also purchased the monthly special from Straight Razor Designs and a beautiful Boker with Olivewood scale is on its way. The razors are so cool. It reminds me of fine guitars (another hobby which my wife will attest to being far more expensive than razors so far). The razors are beautiful, sometimes stunningly so, but are intended to be used. I've always felt my guitars want and are meant to be played. I plan on using the used razor initially to develop my technique of both shaving and honing with comparison to the Boker as needed. When I feel like I can maintain and produce an edge consistently and shave consistently, I'm hoping to ease the Boker in the rotation more. The only other thing I currently think I really want to try is some Mitchell's Wool Fat Soap. With my sensitive skin and propensity for ingrown hairs, that might just be the ticket. My wife thinks I'm insane, but then again, she just dyed her hair punk white with black accents, so there you go.
I've learned a lot already, and I'll post some picks of the new setup once acquired.
Cheers,
Veto
