Thread: Hello from a global Catalan living in the Netherlands

Hello everybody,

First of all, looking forward to learning from all of you.

A "brief" introduction... 5 years ago I got a shaving kit by Merkur (picture attached) as a present. I then started to enjoy the zen of lathering. However I started getting annoyed by the non-glamorous, expensive and non-green disposable cartridges feature of my shaving kit. My sustainability mind started to kick in... I started to search the web, and learn a bit more about wet shaving, the passes, straight razors...

This July, I went to my barber shop in Barcelona, got a good enough but extremely relaxing straight razor shave and finally decided to take a calculated budget conscious decision. I bought right away an inexpensive (circa 7€) spanish "shavette" by 3 Claveles (attached) with Merkur DE disposable blades.

Despite of the nicks and much more than that... I immediately got hooked. To the extent that last week I went to Germany and bought a DOVO (in my avatar) chosen by my wife. She is quite afraid of what I do every morning so the least I could do is let her choose the style... Funny thing though is that she had chosen the stainless steel round tip model and we found out in the hotel that the vendor had put in the bag the carbon steel, spanish tip version.... I was quite overwhelmed! How am I supposed to take care of this expensive, golden plated, aggressive tip bad-ass razor? There was no way out, I guess the straight razor had picked me and not the other way around...

Three shaves after with my straight razor, I am struggling like hell... the transition from a "shavette" to a straight razor it is way harder than I expected. In fact, it is an entire new experience. My WTG passes are just awful, my XTG are contradictorily much better (possibly related to the angle I was using with my "shavette"), and I do not even dare trying ATG (which is ok and probably not necessary for my shave standards). Nevertheless, without despair, I have decided to embrace the new learning curve and keep trying. I can relate to my experience in Judo. I am an active black belt and have practiced for more than 25 years hence... repeat and repeat and everything will (perhaps) come. Just by trying, the reward is enormous: the 30 minutes I invest every morning while my family is asleep are simply priceless!!!!

And BTW, I would not dare to disappoint a blade that has simply picked me...


Again, looking forward to learning from all of you.

Marc

Welcome to SRP. Where do you live in the Netherlands?

Welkom have a nice stay overhere

Hi Kees,

Nice meeting you. I currently live in Eindhoven, planning to move to Amsterdam.

BTW, I have learned there is some Barber shop in Rotterdam that shaves... any experience there?

Thanks!!!

Originally Posted by Kees

Welcome to SRP. Where do you live in the Netherlands?

Don't know that shop.

Hi Marc, welcome to the SRP enjoy the journey.

Hi Marc, did you ask the vendor if it was hand-honed? To me, it sounds like you're shaving with the factory edge, which is generally not considered shave-ready!

I would be willing to hone it for you, free of charge, but I'm hardly an expert Otherwise, send it out to be honed professionally, your face will thank you.

Besides, welcome to SRP and our cute little country!

Originally Posted by Laurens

Hi Marc, did you ask the vendor if it was hand-honed? To me, it sounds like you're shaving with the factory edge, which is generally not considered shave-ready!

I would be willing to hone it for you, free of charge, but I'm hardly an expert Otherwise, send it out to be honed professionally, your face will thank you.


Besides, welcome to SRP and our cute little country!

Hi Laurens,

I did ask if the razor was shave ready. They assured me it was. I mostly think it is my lack of skill and de fact that I had started with a much, much sharper razor ("shavette").

I have now started to shave with cold water as it also fits in my morning ritual and the shave has certainly improved.

I will keep a close eye to my shaving experience and I will consider honing it if the situation does not improve over time. Thanks for the offering. I think though I am in the right track.

I also think I may also need to try with other soaps as I still get irritated as my pressure is decreasing. I will keep you posted.

Thanks for the warm welcome!!!

"BTW, I have learned there is some Barber shop in Rotterdam that shaves... any experience there?"

That's the great "Schorem Barbier en Haarsnijder" shop... men travel from all over the country to have a shave there!

http://www.schorembarbier.nl/

Schorem bij TV Rijnmond's WEG - YouTube