Checking in from the Peach State

Hello everybody!

This is my first adventure into the blogosphere…This should be fun… so here goes!

I’ve been wet shaving for a good while, starting with my grandpa’s 1966 Gillette Slim Adjustable.  After that, various AD’s (acquisition disorders) set in.  Needless to say (almost a year and a dozen or so various razors later), I made a New Years resolution to slow my spending. So, I humbly submit my opinions to the benefit of my wet shaving brethren. I’ll be posting a few reviews on razors, blades, and soaps/creams soon.

May your stubble be gone, and your face nick-free,

Charles

Christmas Shaving Score! My first straight razor !

WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!

As far as shaving related gifts go this year, I scored me some Versace Aftershave Balm (Thanks Josh!), a straight (thanks Paul and Harry!) and a balsa strop kit (Thanks Larry!)

Paul (richmondesi) and Harry (Mr. Scruffy) worked together to PIF me a…

J.R. Torrey 4/8 Shoulderless w/ celluloid scales

I needa take a better picture, but thats just a heads up

Contest #1 – Puck of Prarie Creation’s Tallow Based Almond Soap!

Whoa, looks like we’ve been picking up loads of new visitors lately and what better way to celebrate then to give away something to our lurkers

To win the contest, just make an account and post a comment back in here. To register, there is a link on the bottom right of this site. To post a comment, just click on the title of this post and it’ll take you to a comment box.

I’ll choose a winner Thursday afternoon and will ship it free in CONUS or +shipping almost anywhere else.

The ingredient list is as follows:

* LIQUIDS : Aloe Vera Juice
* OILS : Tallow, Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Safflower Oil, and Soybean Oil
* OTHER INGREDIENTS : Lye, Stearic Acid, Glycerin, and Kaolin Clay
* OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS : Fragrance and Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein

More information on the soap can be found here.

Palmolive Shave Stick

WOW! Here is another amazing product. My friend Pete ( over at http://www.theshavingroom.co.uk ) mentioned how cheap Palmolive was and offered to send me a stick over.

Here are some tips he gave me on how he used them:
1) Soak brush
2) Wash face, lots of hot water, leave wet
3) Wet the stick
4) Paint soap stick on face like a big crayon
5) Shake (some) of the water out of the brush and then face lather.
6) Shave away!

You will have to experiment to find the right amount of soap and water for you.

I followed his directions pretty much verbatim and on my first try, I came out with a very lush lather. The scent is nothing to sneeze at either. People describe it as being classic but very clean scent and I would have to agree.
This stuff is uber cheap at $6 from someone in Britain and I highly recommend you pick one up if you can find a seller for this low of a price!

Thanks again Pete!

New Author, New Experience

Hello, all! This is Vulcanus here, so you readers can get a second experience to the start of wetshaving. I currently use a Merkur 38B, with a Crabtree & Evelyn Super Badger Brush. I’m trying to find the cream and soap perfect for me, and here is the start of that!

Today, I had received my Truefitt & Hill cream sampler, and this is what I received in a nice little bag:

Ultimate Comfort (Pre-Shaving Oil, Cream, & ASB)
Grafton Cream & ASB
Trafalgar Cream & ASB
1805 Cream & ASB
West Indian Limes Cream & ASB
Almond Cream
Lavender Cream

Cremo Cream

What is this stuff???

Supposedly its one of the most underrated tube creams in the whole wet shaving universe.

Since I got one of these as a sample from West Coast Shaving, I decided to try it out. Many people over on Badger and Blade forums recommend using this as a brushless cream, and since I was in a hurry, I followed their advice. I applied it to my face, but it didn’t do anything. I just broke out the brush and started face lathering. WWWWOOOWW!!! This cream is amazing, it broke out in an amazing amount of lather, and boy was it slick!

I wish I had some more pictures for y’all, but I don’t. This is one cream I would recommend to everyone. This cream is pretty cheap at $8 for 6 oz over atWest Coast Shaving, what a steal! The only thing I’m not too fond of is the smell, its not bad, just not for me.

The Best Shave so far

Just wanted to let everyone know that I just had my best shave ever (5th shave with a DE). The reason why I think its the best is because for some reason, I’ve gotten the smoothest shave, even though all my other shaves have been ‘Baby Butt Smooth’ (BBS). For some reason, the addition of Proraso cream made everything better.

It consisted of taking a 10 minute hot water shower.

I used a Merkur 34C Heavy Duty

Red pack personna blade

a Shavemac 21mm Finest Badger and

Proraso Shaving Cream.

I believe the proraso made the biggest impact of my shaves and it is my favorite so far out of all the creams I’ve used. I thought the attention surrounding was overhyped, but proraso preformed well over what everyone else is saying

Honing Day

I spent some time today honing a corn razor. This razor and I have some serious history; okay, minor history. Two days ago it bit me after I finished honing it. It bit me badly – I’m not going to be shaving for a few days!

Not long after the fiasco a few days ago, I took the point on the razor and ground it down on my 600 grit DMT sharpening stick. Of course, after grinding the tip, I had to go back and hone the blade again, just in case I mangled the edge during the tip removal process. Restoring the edge was today’s project.

As you can see, I taped the spine, and I started the journey on the 4k side of my Norton 4k/8k. I didn’t feel like taking pictures of the rest of the process, but just trust me when I say that I took it through 8k, and then I gave it some attention on my Chinese 12k. The finishing touches were a few strokes on my CrOx paddle, and after that it was back to splitting hairs, sans the tip that bit me!

Bullgooseshaving

I’d like to take a moment and talk about one supplier I recently ordered from.   Here is the link to Phil’s website.

http://www.bullgooseshaving.net/

Phil has many great items in his webstore.  You won’t find those high ticket items but what you will find is a variety of great quality items.  He carries quite a few shaving soaps and creams as well as aftershave lotions and balms as well as a couple of splashes.   He also carries brushes and other accessories.

Razors as well as those necessary blades.   If you don’t know what type of blade you want or need then check out his link for his sampler back.  He has a couple to choose from.   But if you already know your blade he carries several brands and you can buy a small quantity or you can do what I did and that’s stock up on a box of 100.

He’s covered the basics and has quite a chose to pick from !!!

Did I forget to mention Phil has great prices as well.   He doesn’t overcharge for shipping which is always appreciated.   And you can look for a great sample or two in your box when it arrives.   He has excellent communication and he’s everything you could ever want in a seller.

He might not be the biggest seller on the net but he certainly has great prices and many great items to choose from.  And you never know when he’s going to add something new to his web store so check it out every so often.

I highly recommend this seller and hope you can do the same to your shaving buddies.

krissy

My First Gear Purchase

Hey everyone!

Between www.ShavingEssentials.net www.WestCoastShaving.com and ssilcox on the Badger and Blade forums, I finally got all my beginning gear.

From Shaving Essentials, I purchased:

a Taylor of Old Bond Street cream sampler! it came with all 11 scents in a .5oz plastic jar for $20
a Merkur HD 34C which is raved as one of the best beginner double edge safety razors. This ran me $27.98.
SE also threw me in a few samples of Speick and Valobra

From West Coast Shaving, I got:

A $5.50 blade sampler pack which included 5 Derbys, 10 Dorcos, 10 Israeli, and 5 Israelis. They also threw me in a pack of Personnas for free.

Shavemac 21mm Finest Badger Brush Model: 25-62-211-2 This was on sale for $63, great value.

WCS also threw me in a sample of some proraso pre/post cream, and creamo cream.

Lastly, from ssilcox, I bought a 2 DE / 2 Brush stand.

Looking forward to doing a review of the stand with some more pictures soon.