Shaving, gents - Page 51

The J-hook isn't difficult but you don't have t even go that far. You can just add a tiny lateral motion to your stroke and it improves things greatly.

For the neck, take some time to figure out which way the whiskers lay on which part of your neck - usually the neck is the most chaotic place for this. Once you establish that, it's easier to attack it correctly. In my experience nicks happen going ATG on neck and chin. You can then also stretch the skin one way or the other to make the hair stand up better. I used to get much smoother/closer shaves with a straight and I think stretching the skin had much to do with it. It's easy to be lazy with DEs.

No I have not...

 

My current line-up is the following:

 

Arko Shave Stick

MWF

All 3 Proraso Creams

Tabac Shave Stick

 

By far, the best of the bunch is MWF. Leaves my face feeling AMAZING. In close second, is the Proraso stuff. If I didn't have MWF, I could be totally content using the Proraso creams.

Ok, the first blade (Feather Hi - SS) has done 6 shaves, and I'm guessing it can do a couple more.

 

Its the longest lasting blade I've used.

So I've been shaving with a vintage Gillette Knack or Lord L6 for the past two years and have been getting decent shaves (a huge step up from disposable Gillette's, but still not as great as things could be). I have been through a variety of soaps and creams (Arko, Irish Moos, Godrej, Bigelow) and have more or least happy with my experiences.

 

After some research and a lot of thought, I decided to take the plunge into SE shaving. I picked up a GEM 1912 on the Bay for around $10 shipped. Add to this about $6 for 10 single edge stainless steel blades from Walgreens, so after a $16 outlay I was pretty happy. After my first SE shave last night, all I can say is WOW. This is what I have been looking for. Less iritation, closer shave with less work. Even my girlfriend commented that my face felt smoother than usual. The whole experience was different than a DE too, it is much more tactile and there is a lot more audible feedback since the blade is much more rigid and vibrates quite heavily.

 

Overall, I am very happy with my decision, but will report back further. The only thing that I could see getting me back to DE razors would be if I could manage to pick up a NOS Bakelite Slant for a reasonable price. However the odds of that happening don't seem to be very good lately. My advice is to give SE a try for something different.

 

I feel single edged razors cut better because they don't have a blade behind to irritate the skin. The feeling of it gliding is completely different in comparison to double/triple edged cartridges.

This is true, but the SE/DE thing both only have one blade to worry about. I think for me the big difference between SE/DE is blade angle. Even with a DE, the angle is fairly severe. The the SE, the head is almost flat (around 10 degrees) to my face. I think this lends to even less "scraping" that I get with my DE's and is a more natural cutting angle.

Yes, love the Gem SE. Maybe the best shavers out there short of straight edged.

 

Hoffritz Slant is right there with it, though it takes a touch more care.

 

KP

 

In the context of the post you were replying, a "double edge" probably means what you think of as "single" - i.e. one blade edge on one side, one on the other. Not a cartridge.

 

Re. the slants that post was about, I use a Merkur Slant (short handle, with Persona Lab prep blades - about as sharp as Feathers but much more consistent and smoother) and wouldn't use anything else now. They're not nearly as difficult as some people like to claim, and if you don't like a Slant it will easily re-sell on ebay.

I guess I'll have to give the SE's a try.

 

I have three Gem SE's that have just been sitting there...all in mint condition. Never once tried them.

Yeah, I might need to look into Slants eventually. I have some Lab Prep blades, but never really saw what all the fuss was about with them. They were more or less on par with the Shark Chromes that I usually use (and have like 85+ of). 

 

Another thing the GEM has really made me take notice of too is how much I like the short handle and heavy weight. Neither of my DEs weight that much (Lord has an aluminum handle and the Knack has a plastic handle) and both have fairly long handles I do really like the control the short handle gives me and the difference in weight is definitely noticeable (whether or not this factor helps could be debatable).

 

There is also the fact that there are many less SE blade choices (realistically 3-4 different ones), which doesn't make me feel like I need to try something different. I found a locally available blade that I can get much cheaper in bulk rates and I feel no need to change any variables there. It leaves me more freedom to play with my other variables (soaps/creams/brushes) of which there are more than enough combinations.

 

I went from Gem SE to Dovo Full Hollow straight to Gillette Superspeed DE (current) and will say that you'll probably be back to DE or straight after awhile.  Blades are much more costly and to me, they are all inferior to mid-range DE blades.  At least the ones I tried were.

 

If my beard gets long I always use straight blade, or if I shower in the evening, usually I shower in the morning after fasted cardio so I stick with DE for speed.

I used the Pella blades in the Gem's, very close shave.

 

KP

You have the razors, the blades are easy to find, you have no excuses not to try. 

 

So I paid $18 or so for 100 Shark Chrome blades. I can get a 40 pack of GEM SS blades from Amazon for $15 (not really shopping around, that's the first bulk deal I saw). Considering that even though I am paying around double for the SE blades (.18 vs .38), the difference is so small in the scheme of things, I don't really care. Plus SE blades are supposed to last much longer. I usually get 4-5 shaves from a Shark, if I can get double that from a GEM, I am balancing the playing field.

 

Now I doubt I will be straight razor shaving anytime soon. I am a chronically shakey person, so that might not be the best thing I can do safety wise.

Indeed!

 

I will order some blades sometime this week. 

Should be no need to even order them. For a trial, I would just venture to the local CVS/Walgreens/whatever you west coast fellas have and pick up a $10 pack for around $5-$6. My preference would run to Walgreens if you have them since they are Stainless Steel and supposedly coated.

Eventually after I get more comfortable, I will have to see if I can procure a few Ted Pella coated blades to see if I can actually determine a difference.