Thread: Testing the waters

This almost seems like its more then just a way to shave. It seems like a hobby or a lifestyle. Everyone here is awesome and so willing to help. I am glad I stumbled on to this site.

Originally Posted by mj232k2

This almost seems like its more then just a way to shave. It seems like a hobby or a lifestyle. Everyone here is awesome and so willing to help. I am glad I stumbled on to this site.

It can be both a hobby and a lifestyle. It is for me. The gents on this site are awesome and diverse... all brought together by their love of shaving! And now you are one of them .

Note outside of these forums - you'll be the odd man out 99% of the time when you exclaim how excited you are to get home and shave lol! But you'll have one up on many .

I got my Whipped Dog in.

W.H. Sample Albany NY
The Capital Razor.

Can't get a good photo of it at the moment, but I am pleased enough with the transaction.

Get that camera working lol!! Let us know how that first shave goes .

Congrats!

Well I had my first straight shave today.

When I wrote in to arrange the sale I asked Larry to pick something out that could accommodate my "sausage fingers". He laughingly obliged.

First thing - the blade on this is HUGE. I bought a Shumate's Barber to fiddle with honing on while I was learning the techniques. The Sample dwarfs it.

I used Proraso pre/post after the shower as is my habit. I used my SOC boar with some Bigelow, lathered in a bowl (got 3 passes worth out of it).

I have been obsessively reading the how to's, tips and trick, what not to do's, etc on this site and others for at least two weeks. I gave my face two WTG passes with the Sample using both hands.

End result: not a bad shave! Not my best ever, but not bad. I am rather impressed with myself. (Amazing that this impresses me while my great grandfather had this down as a teenager...)
I did clean up base of neck and under nose with a single quick pass of my DE.

Here are a couple of pictures to show the size difference

Hey that's awesome that you got an ok shave!! Woot! I can't really remember, but I don't think mine worked out that way . Awesome.

Cool blades! I have a thing for smaller so... well you guess which one I like most .

The 5/8 Shumate Barber's is not honed. I picked it up for a ten spot in order to have something to practice honing on while I got the technique down.

The shave was not as good as using my Merkur 34c with Polsilver SI blades, but it was my first shave so I am not complaining. Little irritation showed up with Alum and one nick in a surprising tough spot that I have knicked before with a new DE blade.

I was kinda expecting my shave to take triple the amount of time a DE takes, but it was just slightly longer. Great experience though.

That is awesome! I cannot wait for mine to come in. My car broke down, so I did not get to meet up the coachschaller yet, but I am hoping to next weekend. I do not know if you can advise me, but do you know if I can use my regular shaving cream until I can get a special shave soap or cream to use? I am hoping to receive my kit tomorrow. I went on the tracker and it was being proccessed in the city right next to me. I will upload the pics of the one that I get as soon as I can.

Originally Posted by mj232k2

That is awesome! I cannot wait for mine to come in. My car broke down, so I did not get to meet up the coachschaller yet, but I am hoping to next weekend. I do not know if you can advise me, but do you know if I can use my regular shaving cream until I can get a special shave soap or cream to use? I am hoping to receive my kit tomorrow. I went on the tracker and it was being proccessed in the city right next to me. I will upload the pics of the one that I get as soon as I can.

I spent the day fixing a friend's mom's car. Fun wow. Someone with more straight experience may want to chime in on the cream/soap. I would think Barbasol would give a more soap like glide than goop. VDH Luxury is a couple of bucks and not bad if you have a brush - you can find it in walmart I think.

Sure you can shave with any soap or cream you like - as long as it preps your beard and aids in glide. There is a soap maker in KC MI that makes some awesome "regular" soaps that I use in the shower - I had to give it a shot lol... worked like a charm. Actually I was astonished! But it didn't condition like a proper shaving soap or cream would have. Kind of left my face dry.

But anyway sure - canned goop as we call it here, or whatever works fine . After you apply it to your face, take a little time and massage it into your beard/face before that first pass. It makes a difference!