The journey of Trial & Error, or "how to justify RAD"

FrenchBlade

FrenchBlade

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South of France
Just a quick recap on the past 4 months for me, maybe helpful for newbies :D

My DE stash has gone from (way to) many, to a handful, I've gone through probably around 30+ DE's in 4 months of DE shaving.
There are still a few I'd like to try, but nothing desperate, I've settled on one DE for the moment: my Aristocrat.
(which ironically is the only one I didn't actually buy, but was a gift!)
I've tried various adjustable, fatboys, super slims, slim, black slim, futur etc... just can't find the right setting for me on any of those.
I've tried many "new" ones, and many "vintage", vintage definitely does it for me, I need something with soul & character.
This is not to say, I won't be trying more DE's in the future, but I think I've found my "sweet spot".

What have I kept? The Aristocrat, and the Milord, and a few others that may or may not get shifted at one point.

The journeys are fun, I recommend newbies to go on the trial and error trip, try everything you can, if you're smart, lucky and patient, you should be able to try a lot of stuff without it costing a lot.
(i've bought and sold most of the stuff for the price I paid)

I've more or les settled on blades in the DE's too, I now use sharks/Gillette Super Thins/Super Max.

I've now acquired a few straights, and I embark on the next journey.. I now have more shave ready straights than DE's. (if I count the ones that I'm expecting soon)

I'm now concentration on finding the "ideal" straight, probably another 6-9 months before I settle on anything, probably involving some buying/selling/trading :D
I've got some 4/8, 5/8, 6/8 all round points, but with all the different points available, this will take me a while!

Soap wise I still have too much, some will be piffed in the near future. (some of it was piffed to me), some I'll keep for variety :D My main go-to soap is the Nanny's (I have 3 flavors)

Brushes, I've had a few cheap ones, I've settled on a Simpson Beaufort B1 for travel, and a NF2211 for home. Might try one or 2 more at some point.
(will get the Fido that's coming out in january)

Anyone else a tales of their travels?

Max
 
Good post, Max.

I am at a stage now where I feel that I have found the best DE razor for me, and should really sell/PIF most of my others. Unfortunately, when I go through my razors and try to decide which ones to keep or sell, I seem to find reasons NOT to sell them. It's almost like I have some kind of emotional attachment to them, which is silly.

I'm going to have to get tough and have a proper clear out, sooner rather than later.

Ian
 
What's the rush?

I started in January and had intended to go for a straight immediately but was advised to try DE 1st (good advice).

This years acquisitions, listing the keepers are:-

Double Edge Safety razors
  • Feather Popular
    Edwin Jagger DE89
    Merkur Futur
    Gillette Slim Twist
    Wilkinson Sword Classic
    Merkur 15c
    Gillette British Superspeed
    Gillette Slim Adjustable
    [/list:u]

    Straight Razors
    • USA Special 4/8
      Bassler 5/8 Stainless
      Kropp 6/8
      Allen & son 5/8
      Joseph Elliott Wedge 6/8? (not yet shave ready)[/list:u]

      Others
      • Bic Sensitives
        Imperial Shavette[/list:u]

        Blades of choice
        • Gillette Super Thin
          Supermax
          Wilkinson Sword
          Personnas
          Gillette Yellow 7 o'clocks
          Treet Carbon Black Beauty
          And plenty of others I'm not fully decided about[/list:u]

          Brushes
          • Wilkinson Sword Boar
            Vulfix 404 boar
            Vulfix 2235 Super Badger (my wife wants to know if super badger is friends with danger mouse?)
            Omega 81052 Boar[/list:u]

            Creams
            • Palmolive
              Wars
              Ingram
              Boots Cool Cologne
              Taylors of Old Bond Street "Mr Taylor"
              Real Shaving Co "Menthol"
              Various samples - Trumpers, Art Of Shaving, Edwin Jagger [/list:u]

              Soaps
              • Crabtree & Evelyn "Nomad"
                Palmolive stick (in ramekin)
                Erasmic Glycerine Shave bowl
                Boots Shave Bowl
                [/list:u]

                Post shave stuff
                • Alum
                  Boots Freshwood Balm
                  Gillette Sensitive Balm
                  Aquatonic AS
                  Blue Stratos AS
                  Old Spice Whitewater AS
                  Tabac ASL
                  [/list:u]

                  Not as much as many but still plenty to keep me going through the whole of next year even if I didn't buy anything else! (Fat chance!)
 
Each to their own!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my shaving journey. I'm only sorry that I'm running out of things to try. I'm settling on a few of everything and reviewing the scope for passing on things I have no further use for.

I suspect I'll never need to buy any more shaving items before I'm gone. But like everyone else, I allow my wants to take precedence so will no doubt still be occasionally posting in the acquisitions thread for some time yet.
 
Nice thread, Max.

Same time a year ago I was shaving with Gillette canned gel and Fusion cartridges. I had a Futur which was getting seldom use (once every two weeks, set at 6 :shock: ), along with some Merkur and Personna blades.

The AD got really over me in 2010 though, so now I have a fairly large den, which I should be starting to thin out anytime soon.

Conclusion is that I now shave much much better, I have learned a lot in these 12 months (especially with respect to technique), I am enjoying shaving way much more and looking forward to more enjoyable shaves in the future. For these reasons, I feel the journey so far justifies itself. ;)
 
Thanks for this thread guys ............... you truly do make me feel almost virtuous ! I've now accumulated around 7 razors (DE & SE) & my faithful two straights. I do however have 7 MB soaps & 3 more on order, plus a tub of Coates cream, 4 Palmolive sticks (I buy them to hand in to our Army Recruiting office along with paintbrushes & other goodies to be sent out to Afghanistan) but find I seem to get an extra for myself now & then. Not to mention 100 packs of Astra Keramiks & 400 SE GEM blades.

I reckon that lot will probs see me through until I need someone else to shave me .............. but will it stop me hankering after a couple of slices of The Sunster's new soap ? Will it chooky !!!

JohnnyO. ;)
 
JohnnyO said:
Thanks for this thread guys ............... you truly do make me feel almost virtuous ! I've now accumulated around 7 razors (DE & SE) & my faithful two straights. I do however have 7 MB soaps & 3 more on order, plus a tub of Coates cream, 4 Palmolive sticks (I buy them to hand in to our Army Recruiting office along with paintbrushes & other goodies to be sent out to Afghanistan) but find I seem to get an extra for myself now & then. Not to mention 100 packs of Astra Keramiks & 400 SE GEM blades.

I reckon that lot will probs see me through until I need someone else to shave me .............. but will it stop me hankering after a couple of slices of The Sunster's new soap ? Will it chooky !!!

JohnnyO. ;)
Click to expand...

I will do you the limited edition "007 heaven scent" to go with the Slim !

I will be doing some pucks of my new soap over the next couple of weeks, have got 60 plastic 110 Gram pots on the way to me as we speak.........will soon be filling them up for the "chosen few"

;) :D
 
I've been through all this and emerged fit and well with just one DE (I had to keep just one didn't I?), one cartridge razor, one brush, two soaps, one cream and a couple of colognes.

No 'ADs' here anymore, no siree.
 
herder 5/8 straight -> Dovo Shavette -> Feather portable DE -> Kropp 7/8 straight
One hone, one strop, one brush, one soap: belgium coticule, neil millers english bridle strop, simpsons duke, L'Occitane cade soap.


Been a funny and enjoyable journey for me since August. Not so many errors apart from taking a little too much metal whilst honing (and then learning about taping the spine!)
I do appreciate that I started with straights though. Putting time aside every other day for shaving with a straight is quite relaxing.

Oh RAD? perhaps later in life :lol:
 
IanM said:
Well, Nic's post has made me feel much more sane.

Thanks Nic.

Ian
Click to expand...
You are most welcome
39214.gif


Mockingbird has reminded me that I forgot strops and hones

  • Neil Miller Basic Buffalo Stropp
    King Combo 6000/1000 hone
    Dragons Tongue Welsh Slate Hone
    Chinese 12K Hone[/list:u]
 
Good topic for a thread Max,

You know, I still remember reading the remarks about different blades and how they performed. I hadn't started using a DE yet, and couldn't figure out what the hell these guys were talking about. I mean sharp is sharp right? It's a damn razor blade sharper than most any knife to cut with.

Once I started the journey, it took me only a little while to understand exactly what they meant. After I tried a second brand of blade I saw a difference. One was actually better than the other! Jeez Louise, that was a kick knowing I could get a better shave, and knowing how many blades there were to sample.

Had I just stayed with that first blade, I woulda gone back to using my injector. Trial and error is what saved this goofy DE 'hobby' from extinction. Of course, finding the right razor is the same deal.

For me, it really comes down to how far you wanna tweak things. Everyone's looking for different things and certainly not everyone's gonna aim for the perfect shave. That takes a fair bit of motivation, and there's nothing wrong with having just a very good shave instead. Depends how far down the bottomless badger burrow you wanna allow yourself to descend.

At this point, I've found my favorite blades, razors, and soaps/creams. I can't imagine trying anything that's better than some of the items I have now, but still like to see what else is out there. I have tried a LOT of those items I mentioned above and all the ones in my rotation are proven favorites. Took a long time to reach that point, but the results are worth the effort. That trial and error thing does pay off. Heh, its all in the motivation.

Martin
 
I notice this difference in approach on many shaving sites, some guys driving goal is to get to THE combination for them while others enjoy tinkering with a seemingly dysfunctional setup and try to make it work for them. I guess everyone's journey is taken at a different pace; 30 DE's in 4 months is four or five shaves from each razor and for me that is like a whistle stop tour. I don’t think I am capable of passing judgment on so many so quickly, but perhaps I am too indecisive. I do like to take the scenic route in almost every aspect of my life and usually take several weeks or even months with a razor before deciding if it is a keeper or not; often I put it away for a while and go back to it later.

I have many blades and soaps and while I do not contemplate trying every combination of soap, blade and razor I do like to try quite a few; additionally there are always the user variables which may cloud my first judgment. For instance if I have been using an EJ for a while and switch to an aggressive OC it can take a few shaves for me to (re)learn the best way to use it before I get into evaluation of the shave. If I have a bad shave my first thought is usually “I usually wonder what I did wrong” and then spend the next few shaves trying to correct it; after a while I either get a good shave or sometimes I give up for a while and put it away for a another day. I have yet to master the Joris razor, it is just evil and wants to peel my face but I know I have just yet to find the ideal combination for it…..hopefully…..ever the optimist.

Admittedly some DE’s I just did not like right from the start so I sold those, this tells me there has to be a combination of desire and willingness to make it work; if that is not there move on right away…..just like relationships.

I think of my DE's as more of a library than a collection, sometimes I go back for a book I didn't "get" the first time and see if I "get it" now, for this reason I still have around 50 DE's some I use regularly while others are for days when I want a challenge.

I have been DE shaving for quite a few years now so I don’t consider my DE collection/library excessive. Here is one picture during a recent sort out, from this I decided to get rid of some of the razors, particularly the ones I have doubles of, so regardless of the speed of our individual journey I think we are always chasing that same goal of a better shave. If not we would surely we would all stop at the first good one.

I do intend to reduce over the next few months but inevitably this will be just an excuse to acquire more different things.

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