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Evening all

eggbert

is full of Vision Collision
2018 Sabbatical
2017 Sabbatical
Da Menth Heads
Some of you may have noticed me belming outside the Vision Collision (4.0) window over the last few days. Thankfully, Razormonsta heard my knocking and opened the door this afternoon.

I found the site through a random search trying to work out what soaps or creams to buy as a first purchase. I had been lurking the Whirlpool shaving thread for a while, but had somehow missed Drubbing's subtle hints about this place until I had already tried to join up.

I am new to DE shaving (other than borrowing dads razor once about 20+ years ago), having got fed up of the cost and other bull surrounding carts and disposables.

About this time last year I considered going the straight razor route. I got as far as buying a vintage straight, and an old strop, but never got around to getting the blade properly sharpened for one reason or another. I have since had a straight razor shave at a barbers here in Darwin, and have decided if someone that is paid to shave you can do it so badly, then I probably shouldn't be trusted to shave with one either.

So, now DE shaving. I have done a fair bit of research as far as razors go, and have a EJ 89 something or other incoming as there seemed to be few bad words to say about the razor anywhere that I could find, and at about $35 delivered from the UK I thought it was a pretty good deal. I also have a sampler pack of blades on their way.

As for brush and soap, this is where I was looking for a little guidance. When I was considering the straight razor route I picked up a cheapie *cough* Coles *ahem* brush along with some palmolive cream, and I apologise to any that may offend. If I am going to take this seriously I realise I should probably pick up some better kit.

I have used the brush and palmolive over the last few days to get my face/beard used to using it. I seem to be able to build up a decent bit of lather after a while, and have been trying to practice using my last set of disposables in a similar manner to how I believe DEs should be used. I think I am going to run into a few problems though as I find myself doing much longer strokes than I think should be the norm with a DE.

I have enough things that I already spend money on, so I am hoping that this doesn't turn into another AD type thing. I basically just want to spend a little money getting the right kit, and then learning how to use it. That's not to say I won't be asking stupid questions about items I see on ebay, but hopefully it means I will ask them before I place bids.

Anyway, enough rambling on for now, thanks for all the advice I have gleaned from you all so far.
 
Welcome Eggbert. Good to see that RM managed to get that door open and let you in given the difficulty in signing up these days!
 
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Welcome Eggbert. Good to see that RM managed to get that door open and let you in!

Well thats you done Gareth - you can expect Razor to comment shortly on how nice it will be not having to talk to you all the time! :)
 
Hello and welcome eggbert. Sounds like you're on the right track already. Nothing wrong with a Coles brush and Palmolive cream. It's loads better than canned goo. There are more DE blade barons on ths site than you can poke a stick at so you'll be covered on that front. Plenty of people (including myself) with more razors than we know what to do with so you'll be OK on that front too. In fact if history is anything to go by you'll have that much shaving gear posted to you that you'll wish you'd never joined.
 
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I read about that

Thanks for the welcomes one and all.

1st question I have for you all. Cream or soap, and why?

I imagine the cream is easier to get a lather from, but soaps are longer lasting? As said I only have the Aus palmolive cream to speak of here, but I presumed the fragrance would last longer post shave. I guess with palmolive that isn't such a bad thing, but a little surprising for me nevertheless.

Also, with a change in routine, does anyone else get little, spotty bubbles? Not sure whether the soap, or the crappy disposable mach 3's i bought to tide me over until the DE arrives have aggravated my skin just under my chin, and in the neck area.
 
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Thanks for the welcomes one and all.

1st question I have for you all. Cream or soap, and why?

A belated welcome from me although I don't understand that word between cream and soap - see and fits in there much better than the word you used. :D

I imagine the cream is easier to get a lather from, but soaps are longer lasting?

That can be the case but the difference is not necessarily huge and either is a massive improvement over canned goo. It really is more of a personal preference thing. Alternatively you can get the best of both worlds and get a soft Italian soap that is almost a cream!
 
.........Also, with a change in routine, does anyone else get little, spotty bubbles? Not sure whether the soap, or the crappy disposable mach 3's i bought to tide me over until the DE arrives have aggravated my skin just under my chin, and in the neck area.

Could be either the cream or the razor. Generally if you change too much of your routine something goes wrong in my experience. Don't know why. Could be that you lose concentration or that you concentrate too much on all the different gear. Who knows. On the whole, particularly if you haven't used traditional gear a lot, just change one thing at a time.

I generally prefer soaps and am an unapologetic tallow snob. The only cream I occasionally use is Tabac. It's stocked by the odd decent chemist. So is Proraso. That's not bad either.
 
Hey Eggbert :)

Soap vs Cream...

Not really much difference IMO. When you are starting out it is easier to see you have used enough product. Soap is much harder to tell if you have loaded enough.
 
Also, with a change in routine, does anyone else get little, spotty bubbles? Not sure whether the soap, or the crappy disposable mach 3's i bought to tide me over until the DE arrives have aggravated my skin just under my chin, and in the neck area.

Welcome eggbert and have you ever considere you may just have littlle spotty bubbly skin? :)
 
Thanks for the welcomes one and all.

1st question I have for you all. Cream or soap, and why?

Preference really. But creams will teach you lathering a bit easier, as you can control how much product you get on the brush. Proraso is an excellent cream and you can get it in some barbers shops.
 
I think

Preference really. But creams will teach you lathering a bit easier, as you can control how much product you get on the brush. Proraso is an excellent cream and you can get it in some barbers shops.

I have some of that coming.
Suffering from unfulfilled anticipation tonight. I hoped to see an Aus Post slip in the post box when I got home, but alas the only thing there was a credit card bill.
 
Still no parcel, so in the meantime I have been looking through ebay, etsy, and other places even though I have sworn that this should not become my latest obsession.

So far I have managed to hold off, although it can be difficult at times when things like
$(KGrHqF,!jcE8Fu02ND(BPJT5tK03Q~~60_12.JPG
,

$%28KGrHqZHJCgE7zC,OsU7BPFdlIJjNw~~60_12.JPG


or

$(KGrHqZHJCIE8mU5sorBBPJuLbf1jw~~60_12.JPG


are going for very reasonable prices. I guess it is a good job the sellers won't send to Aus, or I might be tempted.
 
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It was only really an interest as they were (at the time) at $2, $20, and $35 respectively, and obviously old.
I think I will have enough on my plate with learning how to use the EJ (when it arrives) without complicating matters buying vintage razors too.
 
Plus if you want to shave with them, don't bother about the OLDs (everything you were looking at was an OLD). They were designed for a different blade, not really great with a modern blade. NEWs work the best out of the vintage open comb gillette 3 piece razors (1930s), but the new improved from the 1920s isn't too bad either.

All the razors you linked look nice, and are some of the best made/looking versions of DE razors, but they are better for the shelf more than the bathroom IMHO as they aren't a great razor to shave with using modern blades.
I have a pocket case ball end OLD like you posted a pic of, and single ring OLD too. No way would I use them over a NEW or new improved though, and since you're just starting out, I assume you are looking for shaving equipment, not shelf cinderellas
 
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Hey Eggbert.

Ex Darwin lad myself, I was up there at Christmas catching up with the family.

Welcome to the suck.
 
Plus if you want to shave with them, don't bother about the OLDs (everything you were looking at was an OLD). They were designed for a different blade, not really great with a modern blade. NEWs work the best out of the vintage open comb gillette 3 piece razors (1930s), but the new improved from the 1920s isn't too bad either.

All the razors you linked look nice, and are some of the best made/looking versions of DE razors, but they are better for the shelf more than the bathroom IMHO as they aren't a great razor to shave with using modern blades.
I have a pocket case ball end OLD like you posted a pic of, and single ring OLD too. No way would I use them over a NEW or new improved though, and since you're just starting out, I assume you are looking for shaving equipment, not shelf cinderellas

Haven't tried a NEW or NEW Improved, but I can say that my OLD ABC shaves beautifully.
 
Welcome to the suck.
Paste and cut or Darwin? I'd watch out, someone might misread that and give you a new avatar.

I was definitely thinking that some of the people of Darwin sucked today. Punctured a bike tyre on my way home tonight, and not one other cyclist even slowed down to ask if I needed any help while I pushed my bike 5km home along DWD in 31 degree heat.
 
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