Going Back to Wet Shave/Safety Razor

[matchstickman]

I had an amazing shave last night with a Merkur 1904 razor, Astra SP blade, Klar Kabinette shave soap, and Omega boar brush. Topped it off with an alum block and a little Clubman. I was in heaven. Good stuff!

 

[sparroa]

Pinaud Clubman was not for me. Old Spice is as powdery as I will go... The cheap bottle was also terrible, the neck cracked off when I was removing the cap somehow and I had to dump out almost a full bottle. Oh well, it would've taken me 3000 years to consume at the rate I was going.
I'm all about cloves, though, so I probably would've been better off with the Virgin Island Bay Rum for occasional cologne use.
(To me, they are all too strong smelling and harsh for aftershave)
This is treason to some, but so be it.

 

[slimpiknz]

Once you go DE, you will never go back. I also highly recommend a pre shave lotion before the soap to make the blade run even smoother. Porasso or Art of Shaving have some of the best I've used. Like pipes, the old gillette safety razors are the best to find, I inherited a nice collection of them if anyone is interested. I love wilkinson sword blades myself, just get something better than the bic ones. In this case bic is bad!

 

[dervis]

I use bic one time use things. Then again alot of 15 year olds need to shave more often than I.

 

[hawk60ce]

PM sent SD. I'm in the club too

 

[sparroa]

dervis, that would destroy my face if I ever did it once...
In your case I highly recommend a Mach 3 or just a trimmer to keep things in check. lol

 

[igloo]

Merkur Futur opened all the way up ,with a feather blade . Art of Shaving lemon oil and shaving cream whipped up in a hot pewter cup with a badger brush . And a splash of Aramis after shave . Guaranteed kisses from the misses. The pucks of soap do last forever and I promise you will find that shaving is something to look forward to and not a chore .

 

[checotah]

Tried electric shaver back in the late '70's. Just didn't "cut it".. went back to wet shaves like I had been doing since the early '60's. My grandfather had been a barber at one time and taught me to shave: wash with soap, rinse, hot, wet towel soak for a minute, then lather and shave. Started shaving with Gillette Blue Blades (got about 3 shaves out of each blade), tried a straight razor but found it too much work, even tho' a great shave, switched to Sheffield Sword blades for a while, eventually came back to Gillette, which by that time had become double bladed. Now use Gillette 3 blade system (forget the name of it), and a blade lasts many months (OK, I have a light beard). Used a brush and soap puck in an Old Spice cup for a long time, Barbasol for a while, now use EDGE in a can, and am very satisfied.
For those of us old enough to remember:

Gillette Commercial from the 1950's

 

[sjfine]

Merkur 34C and Derby blades for me.
And, as to the advice about mapping the face - holy crap, truer words were never spoken. Some as true, but none true-er.

 

[drwatson]

I love this post! About a year ago I switched to an old time safety razor, because the 20 blade models they make now were just tearing up my skin. So i was like "I'm going old school" and bought one at a local barber store. I can say took a couple of shaves to get the hang of, but i will never switch back now. shaves great, no garbage (except a thin razor blade that will just rust away). And the best thing, i spend two bucks a years on razors now!