Thread: hello from canada

welcome to SRP!

I am not very experienced but I would like to share my experience: (Maxi I would appreciate to get your comments about it too)

1- washing your face with warm (or hot) water is great. I usually shave after a hot shower it helps a lot. wet towels are great but they are not convenient.

2- Pears soap is great (if you are using the light brown translucent one that I am using) I don't use it every day it dries my skin. I use it every few days and I also have a small face scrubber I bought from the body shop which helps me exfoliate the skin even on the places I don't shave (like nose and forehead). it depends on your skin type but too much pears soap washing dries out my skin I prefer not to do it pre-shave.

3-I have never used pre shave oil but if it helps you keep doing it

4-I prefer boar brushes also. I also have pure badger, best badger and silvertip brushes but I prefer the boar hair for its stiffness. I have used williams soap before, I think it is great for the price but I moved to C O Bigelow, maca root from body shop, and now I have 2 GFT creams. all of which outperform williams by a good margin IMHO. If you don't mind eucalyptus and slightly unrefined smell of C.O Bigelow, I would recommend you get one of those if you wanted to move from the williams soap. (GFT is better but price is also higher)

5- shavette is a great idea. I started with shavettes and I still use them if I am in a hurry and I don't have time to strop and dry my blade after use.

Dan

thank you for your reply. I use the williams because I got it for free from my grandmoms late husband. as well as my boar hair brush. I can only find c o bigelow in city at a body shop in one mall and its a cream tube(12$). also avaiable to me is the real shaving co creams from shoppers drug mart. the selection sucks so Ive turned to online sources. I didnt realize pears dries the face, i think ill switch pre face wash. the oil seems to be completely essential, but it may be making up for my lack of skill. the first time I was lathered up and razor in hand I had no idea how to get all the angles i needed but as I shave more theyre commign to me. most soaps I see such as art of shaving soap bowls are 30$+ so I assume theyre quality is considerably better, i will build my shave cave with time. also what are GFT creams?

Originally Posted by TyGuy1111

thank you for your reply. I use the williams because I got it for free from my grandmoms late husband. as well as my boar hair brush. I can only find c o bigelow in city at a body shop in one mall and its a cream tube(12$). also avaiable to me is the real shaving co creams from shoppers drug mart. the selection sucks so Ive turned to online sources. I didnt realize pears dries the face, i think ill switch pre face wash. the oil seems to be completely essential, but it may be making up for my lack of skill. the first time I was lathered up and razor in hand I had no idea how to get all the angles i needed but as I shave more theyre commign to me. most soaps I see such as art of shaving soap bowls are 30$+ so I assume theyre quality is considerably better, i will build my shave cave with time. also what are GFT creams?

no problem any time

GFT is short for Geo F Trumper. it is an English brand of men's toiletries. I find that the creams are great because they are very high quality and a little goes a long way. there are other great creams too. I have never tried D R Harris, or Eshave or TOBS (Taylor of Bond Street). IMHO (in my humble opinion) CO Bigelow is nothing to sneeze at, as long as you like the smell.

please please please don't assume that higher price always means better quality (or you like it better). as I said I prefer an $10 boar brush to a $260 large kent silvertip badger brush.

if you want I can send you samples of GFT coconut and GFT violet as well as maca root shave cream from body shop free of charge. if you are interested send me a pm.

now that you speak so highly of this oil I must give it a try. I did not say that pears soap dries THE skin, I said it dries MY skin. YMMV (your mileage may vary: you may have different results)

williams is ok soap but you might want to try adding a little glycerin, look in your pharmacy, to it and add more water to your lather. the shavettes are known for razor burn but that could also be angle and pressure.
other top brands that offer samples for a good low price are truefiit&hill and floris. a cake of triple milled soap should last a while so while it my seem price upfront it lasts long enough to be almost economical. high quality shave creams are great but personally i prefer the soaps.

is pears soap a canadian state secret? seems popular there but i have never seen it here... hmmmmm

Welcome from another Canadian.

1st Listen to Maxi, his advice is great and he gets allot of newcomers from 0-60 pretty quick.

2nd head to your Local Shoppers Drug Mart and grab a tub of Proroasso Shave Soap. It is 7.00 or so and you will find that it is far easier to work with than the Williams.

For fun on a day that you have a little extra time, try taking a wet towel and putting it in a bowl and tossing in the Microwave for a minute (at least that is time on my Microwave). After you Lather apply the hot microwaved towel to your face for 2-3 minutes. When Towel feels like it has cooled off below skin temp remove lather again and shave.

Welcome to SRP.

I had to read your first post a couple of times because I have a Nephew with the same name, Tyler and he started using a DE a few years ago. I thought maybe he was starting with Straights. LOL

I think Maxi is correct, Williams needs lots of water from what I hear. I only tried it once and ended up giving it to my Father in law as that's one of his favorites.

Originally Posted by TyGuy1111

well i guess ill start with how long have you been wet shaving? do you collect equiptment?

DO WE COLLECT EQUIPMENT ????

WELCOME TO SRP!!!
MIKE

thankyou everyone for you advice, i will put much of this to use.

Originally Posted by Mcbladescar

DO WE COLLECT EQUIPMENT ????

WELCOME TO SRP!!!
MIKE

Yes, Mike is correct. We're all a bunch of enablers and addicts here with a number of addictions. Some are RAD (Razor Acquisition Disorder), BAD (Brush Acquisition Disorder), HAD (Hone Acquisition Disorder) and the list goes on.

I currently have 8 straight razors, two DE's, and 4 hones. Oh and two brushes.

Hones: Norton 4K/8K, Coti/BBW combo stone, Chinese Natural stone and a double sided barber hone that doesn't work well.

I won't get into the razors at this point.

Enjoy your time here and don't say we didn't warn you. LOL