NEW DE SHAVERS - What to buy to get started...

I think it would be worthwhile mentioning the difference between two and three piece razors so that beginners don't make my rookie mistake.

I decided to buy a good razor right from the start and my search led me to the Muhle R89 Twist, which was given good reviews and described as a great, forgiving razor. However, within a few weeks I was desperate for a more aggressive shave as some of the blades in my sample pack were on the diappointing side in the Muhle Twist.

I had a look round and found a replacement head called the "Braveheart" head that looked like an exact match for my Muhle. It even said it fitted the Muhle R89 in the blurb, so I bought it for £15. It was only after it arrived that I understood the 'Twist' variation of the Muhle is a two piece razor meaning that half of the head is fixed permanently to the handle. You are stuck with the razor and head as sold. It's like paying over the odds for a Dell Computer and then when it comes time to upgrade you find out the motherboard is the wrong way round and none of the lovely after-market parts you had your eye on will fit. So you need a whole new PC.

I'd spent £38 on a razor that will sit in the spare room from now on in the hope I can persuade guests to try DE shaving.

So, my advice is to make sure you set out right from the start and buy a three piece "Merkur compatible" razor. You can then customise or upgrade it.

It's not all bad news for me, though. I reviewed the Muhle Twist on the well-known website I bought it from and they thanked me by sending me a free Muhle handle as a cheerer upper.

Even without that, I'd gone ahead and bought a £7 three piece razor from eBay because it was cheaper than buying a handle. I threw the head away, but it was love at first use with the handle. It's all stainless steel and black metal. It feels like it has been weighted with lead and when paired with the Braveheart head it just feels like I've managed to build the perfect razor. I call it Mjolnir.

The difference between having the R89 and a more aggressive razor is that I can experiment with blades and pick a brand based on feel and number of shaves instead of saying, for example "I always buy Feathers because my razor needs a good, aggressive blade."
 
Hmmm, I don't think the pop is a good choice to start with, you can chuck it around your mug with absolutely no chance of nicks or irritation, but you have a slim chance of actually removing any bristles.

The tendency then is to press hard, a bad habit to get into. Pop a feather blade in, go at a steep angle and you'll get a smooth shave

Totally agree with everything else you recommend, good shout :)

I use a Feather Popular as my travel razor. I agree it wouldn't be my first choice for a beginner razor; too easy to learn bad habits.

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I'm new to DE shaving and this is a great thread; although I'm obviously not as experienced as most on here, I hope you won't mind me posting up what I found worked for me straight from the off:
I inherited my grandfather's 1940's Gillette Tech Thin Handle razor (which can be picked up cheaply and easily), along with some Wilkinson Sword blades - these seem to work very well for me.
Add to that some Bulldog Shave Oil, Boots "For Men" shaving soap, Men-ü pure bristle brush and Nivea after shave balm (cost about £20 all in).
I'm really happy with my shave and I also get reminded of Pop every time I shave as well :)

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I'm new to DE shaving and this is a great thread; although I'm obviously not as experienced as most on here, I hope you won't mind me posting up what I found worked for me straight from the off:
I inherited my grandfather's 1940's Gillette Tech Thin Handle razor (which can be picked up cheaply and easily), along with some Wilkinson Sword blades - these seem to work very well for me.
Add to that some Bulldog Shave Oil, Boots "For Men" shaving soap, Men-ü pure bristle brush and Nivea after shave balm (cost about £20 all in).
I'm really happy with my shave and I also get reminded of Pop every time I shave as well :)

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Excellent post..your a man who uses his own judgement,..like myself and haven't been sucked in by so called artisan shaving products, don't get me wrong the more higher priced brand names shaving products will be superb, but most of my soaps & creams have been bought from local supermarkets & high street stores.. i only started in april 2016 with a Jagen David,wilkinson sword brush , a palmolive shaving stick/a tube of palmolive, and 10 gillette 7o'clock sharp edge blades which i got free with the J.D.razor and some The Real shaving co post shave balm+ a bottle of old spice...I don't have a the 1940's Gillette tech, but i do have a 1969 Gillette slim twist kindly giving to me by a friend of my father's & a 1972 Aluminium handled Gillette tech, bought from ebay both arn't really aggressive razors, but with the right blade combo are both very efficient superb razors that give me sublime shaves..since then i've add a few more razors, soaps, creams brushes aftershaves to my shaving den.

Check out The palmolive shaving creams & sticks, that's if you haven't already..they are one of best buget products that i use, don't get me wrong i'm not frugal,in the slightest, but why buy something just for the name, when a cheaper version gives the same results neally all the shaving products that you've mentioned i have and used..great minds, and all that.. Regards.:)
 
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@Palmolive fox Until now I'd been sucked in by the marketing of cartridge razors and foam-in-a-can solutions to shaving! What I've found is that changing over to DE shaving is not just financially sensible but offers other advantages, which at first seem a little ridiculous if I'm honest, but do count for something.

Chief amongst these is getting 'me-time' - it's just 15 minutes out of the day when I can take my time to sort myself out. Then there's the feeling of practicing and improving some form of craft, the sound of the razor when cutting, the ritual of it; I could go on, but it has turned shaving from a daily chore to something that I look forward to.

I also think I got very lucky in that my grandfather's razor was a Gillette Tech, known to be mild razor, and I've just had great results from it straight-away (although I did have to do some Googling on how to shave... that says something to... I'm 47 and I'm having to learn how to shave!).
 
@Palmolive fox Until now I'd been sucked in by the marketing of cartridge razors and foam-in-a-can solutions to shaving! What I've found is that changing over to DE shaving is not just financially sensible but offers other advantages, which at first seem a little ridiculous if I'm honest, but do count for something.

Chief amongst these is getting 'me-time' - it's just 15 minutes out of the day when I can take my time to sort myself out. Then there's the feeling of practicing and improving some form of craft, the sound of the razor when cutting, the ritual of it; I could go on, but it has turned shaving from a daily chore to something that I look forward to.

I also think I got very lucky in that my grandfather's razor was a Gillette Tech, known to be mild razor, and I've just had great results from it straight-away (although I did have to do some Googling on how to shave... that says something to... I'm 47 and I'm having to learn how to shave!).
I'm now 53 and i had to ,and still, learning to shave again!..shaving use to be a mundane thing for me of which i hated doing with a passion when i was using the cartridge/disposible razors with canned gloop, then this year i decided along with a friend of mine to enter the world of DE shaving,.my friend actually went be to using cartridge/disposible razors again:eek:..it's his choice and i suppose DE shaving is not for everyone..he recently gave me his DE shaving kit!;)..as you've stated the financial savings are brilliant,.well at first once i got the DE shaving bug, i went on impulsive spending sprees!!!..but now i say to myself i've got what i need, not what i want..if that makes sense?..anyway once i got my confidence, & improved on my technique, and watching various you tube videos, and reading articles on TSR.
I now have great pleasure in shaving and look forward to my next shave, my shaving kit of which i've accumulated since April, will last me for a long time, so i don't really need anything else..even though Santa claus will be leaving me a Parker 92R DE razor in my stocking on christmas eve..hopefully:rolleyes:..keep on enjoying the wonderful world of DE shaving.Regards.:)
 
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I'm new to DE shaving and this is a great thread; although I'm obviously not as experienced as most on here, I hope you won't mind me posting up what I found worked for me straight from the off:
I inherited my grandfather's 1940's Gillette Tech Thin Handle razor (which can be picked up cheaply and easily), along with some Wilkinson Sword blades - these seem to work very well for me.
Add to that some Bulldog Shave Oil, Boots "For Men" shaving soap, Men-ü pure bristle brush and Nivea after shave balm (cost about £20 all in).
I'm really happy with my shave and I also get reminded of Pop every time I shave as well :)

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I am relatively new to DE shaving but I used a brush and soap or cream for years. Before I discovered online vendors I made do with what I could find in high street shops and supermarkets, and I also had the Men-U brush. It's a pretty good brush, much better than the Wilkinson Sword ones you see in supermarkets. The Boots shaving soap is also a decent enough soap in my book (the shaving sticks are good too), and I also liked the Palmolive cream.

You don't have to go mental and buy all the things if you don't want. The important thing is to figure out what you are happy with.
 
That's the hardest bit! After saying that the long term financial savings are just one reason to go with DE shaving, the problem is then that you want to go and buy several razors...
I would guess that you will never be able to buy another razor that you will like more than that one, mainly because it used to belong to your Grandfather.

You could always try a variety of soaps or creams (have a look at shavedash.com to get samples), or try some different brushes.
 
Do get a sample pack of blades. Connaught do a good ten variety for a tenner. A real bargain..You will find some brands rough, but one or two will really suit your skin. Everybody is different.
 
Believe it or not I'm still on a 100 pack of Shark Super Chrome blades that I bought in March 2013. That's about a year of clean shaving and using 1 blade per week (3 shaves) and then the rest keeping a beard and shaving only my neck and cheeks, trimming the rest with a stubble trimmer. Depending on what your obsession is (good luck if you're obsessed with ALL of it!), how much growth you have and whether you're clean shaven or not, you can either save an absolute shed load of money or you have to pretend to the other half that you're saving money.

Either way - despite not being (as) obsessed by creams anymore and only needing to whip the kit out once or twice per week, I still love the process and even if it only takes 6 strokes of my razor to achieve my cheek shave I still go through the full ritual. It's all worth it just for that. FYI I'm absolutely in love with Musgo Lime & Basil cream at the moment, so much so that I'm worried the quest for THE cream might be over. I need to impulse buy some more creams! :D
 
The problem between de shaving and normall every day multi blades is the choice of products availible for de shavers is fast. ABout 6 months ago when I first started I had one razor and one brush and one soap know I have three merkur three vintage one vintage straight and about five brushes and as many soaps so once you get the bug what starts of cheap alternative soon turns out to be not so cheap but we wouldn't have it any other way just watch some you tube videos look at the forums and Facebook groups see what others starting off with and if you've got a shop local go in and look differant products pick them up and get a feel of differant ones I'm lucky living near to Dundee I have the opportunity to look and touch and spend what ever you pick I hope brings you as much satisfaction as making the change to de shaving for me
 
This is a really great thread and I must admit that i'd only found it after starting on my DE shaving journey. I've bitten the bullet and bought a Merkur 34c, Palmolive soap (50p a stick from Tesco....bloody bargain), a Wilkinson brush (£3.50 again from Tesco) and am using the Merkur blade that came with the razor. As yet i've had just the one shave with this kit but an enjoyable experience all the same. What would be nice would be to see this post updated as to where to buy supplies from, both nationwide stores and online, and likely cost.
 
Hi Brennain,...You're going to have to do a bit of work yourself, but read through the relevant threads and you'll soon find all the advice that you need:)
Stick with your Merkur and your Palmolive stick (19p from Superdrug).
Check out the Awards Section for our members' top recommendations.
Bin the Merkur blade, Try Astra,...or a blade selection from,.. say ,..Shave Lounge
Get used to those first, and put your name down for one of the Newbie Passaround boxes.
Welcome and good luck,...The Toff
 
Believe it or not I'm still on a 100 pack of Shark Super Chrome blades that I bought in March 2013...


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