How do you rotate your gear?

thisISjoel

Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2015
Location
Australia
I've been wet shaving for a few months now and I've started to accumulate a bit of gear (something like 6 razors, 4 brushes and 8 or so soaps/creams, with a couple of pre and after shaves mixed in, few tucks of different blades too).

As far as soaps and creams and the like (aka software) goes mixing it up on a shave-to-shave basis is pretty much a no brainer. Different smells and stuff, easy.

For the hardware though (brushes, razors and blades) I have tended to get things that I like better than what I already have and then use them fairly exclusively. In fairness, my first safety razor was a cheap, garbage ebay job with 20 dorco blades so once I had my first real razor, the parker 97R, it hasn't had a start. Next, I got a few old gillettes, a long comb new, an old and a couple of techs. I loved the new so much it took me a good week or so to even try one of the techs and then I like that tech so much it was another week or so before I tried the other one. I still haven't shaved with the old.

Then, last week I decided to try shaving with the parker again, and to my surprise I had a wonderful shave. Comparable to what I experienced with the new (and the first shave I had with the new was revelatory).

So then I shaved with the parker for a week or so and now I just got a fatip grande from @Adam and I gave it a whirl today and it was a really nice shave.

So now I've got at least 4 razors that I like to shave with that I'll have to rotate.

My first brush was a body shop synth, in fact I bought it before I even bought a safety razor. It was like dipping my toes in the wet shaving water. At first I really liked it, but pretty quickly I decided I didn't and I needed something new.

I wasn't particularly keen on badger or boar so I bought what was supposed to be a horse hair brush (Turkish no. 6, bestshave.net) but further research determined it's likely a boar. It's better than the body shop synth, but still wasn't what I wanted.

Next I got an omega s 10065, a great little brush for the money. It put my older two brushes straight out to pasture, but eventually it too couldn't satiate me.

Enter the whipped dog synthetic. 26 mm. This thing is the business. I haven't even thought to use the omega since I got it.

So, that's a pretty long account of my brief experience wet shaving, all of which to ask, how do you manage your rotation? Do you use gear that isn't your best stuff? Any other thoughts?
 
With great difficulty ...
 
Well I guess pretty much all of us started like this. Once you get a couple of decent shaves, you start to accumulate and try out different hard- and software.

I know I did it, I know I read I shouldn't and of course I now know why...

I remember your post about artisan soaps and how you said, you don't see any reason to spend more money on a soap, then you got some samples today and love them...

Now another piece of advise I know you are not going to listen to - but in a year or so you can thank me for it ;)

Don't use too many new things! Get to know the gear you are using, understand it and understand what you like and what you don't like. I personally think you need at least 5-10 uses with every razor/blade/brush/soap to understand it and know it - at least in the first years of your journey.

Razors/blade: I would use 1 razor/blade combination until you get CONSISTENT (not just one or two) but CONSISTENT GREAT shaves out of them. Know your face, know your razor/blade and get a DFS+ shave 10 times in a row. Once you have that - go through your blade sampler you have accumulated but stay with the same razor. Use each blade twice and 2 of the same blades in a row. If they are better than your previous benchmark - they become your new benchmark. If not, use 1 of your benchmark blades for 2 shaves before going to a new blade. After a while you should have 2-3 favourite blades - get a couple 100 of each if you see them for a good price and now you can try out a different razor - try those blades, see if you like the razor more/less. Ask yourself why? Try to deduce the next razor you want to try...

Brush/soap: a WD synthetic is a great choice! Keep it. Use it with each new soap. Don't underestimate your lather! Without the perfect lather, there will be no BBS!!! The scent of a soap is subjective, the face feel of a brush is also subjective - but great lather ain't. Get rid of the garbage - life is too short to waste on poor shaves/lather. Get some good products - I personally love: Mike's, Stirling, B&M, CRSW, Otoko, Haslinger - there is a lot of love for Shaverheaven soaps around here, Occam's does a good soap, there are many out there - but again: try them, know them, get great lather out of them. Overload your brush and then add slowly water - until the lather collapses. Now you know, how far/wet you can take your lather. Always try to go there. If the lather is not great - wash it down the sink and start again. A decent tub of soap lasts 1/2 - 1 year if used alone. Get 3 and you can waste as much as you want - get 10 and you need large badger brushes :D

Read carefully, what people say. There is often a lot of fanboyism - especially for new products. But read the negatives as well. If there is one person, who doesn't like a product, chances are you could be that as well. Don't try too hard loving something you don't like. I know it is hard, when you do a lot of research, spend your hard earned cash on something and then it doesn't work out. Trust me, the more you know, the less it will happen. If you don't like something, either PIF/sell/trade it - or put it away for 6 months and come back. Maybe your taste has changed? But again life is too short, to waste on poor shaves!

Now I know, you don't want to listen to all that - you want to try 10 new razor during the next 5 shaves ;) It's OK, we have all been there...but once in a while think of these lines, try to restrain yourself and try to improve your technique and knowledge - only that will bring you great shaves.

But most importantly: ENJOY THE JOURNEY!
 
^^^^ - really good advice there!!!
 
I have quite a few razors, brushes, soaps and aftershaves in my den and I'm pretty happy with most of them so I pretty much pick out what I want for my shave and if I find that something isn't really getting used I will generally sell it or give it away to family member to make room for another item as I don't really want my den getting any bigger than it already is.
 
... I don't really want my den getting any bigger than it already is.

Why??

I really don't understand this thinking ;)
 
Why??

I really don't understand this thinking ;)

There is only so much shelf space available before I start knocking things over to get to what I want and I probably have enough product to last another 50 years! I just swap things in and out now but to stay in my den it must be pretty good to knock something else out :)
 
Everyday use, regular use storage, long term storage.
Things find a natural balance.
 
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