Hi all!

R

Rider_159

Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Location
Victoria
Hi there, I've been lurking for some time but decided to finally take the plunge and join. I'm a twenty-year-old originally from SA and I've been wet-shaving since about Jan/Feb now. It was slow going at first but I'm making steady progress now - more comfortable using a DE razor, getting better lathers, learning how to map my beard etc etc. This is an absolutely intoxicating hobby I must admit, a bit hard to explain to other people my age though!

Look forward to seeing you all throughout the forum and learning more, and no doubt I've a lot to learn yet!
 
Hi @Rider_159. Welcome to P&C.

Yeah. DE shaving is something that's really hard for people (muggles?) to understand if they're not already into it.
But, don't worry. You're not doing it for them. You're doing it for you! :D

Keep at it! The learning doesn't seem to stop. I'm roughly 2 years in and still learning new things.

And, as for acquisitions, I'm yet to meet anyone who has discovered how deep that rabbit hole goes.

Welcome!
 
Welcome mate!

Don't worry what others think @Rider_159 - you are clearly a man of sophistication and class using a DE - oh, and has anybody told you about the money you will save?

I believe that using a DE you can have all the smashed avo you want and STILL afford a home in Sydney or Melbourne.

[OK, maybe that last bit is not actually true...]
 
Thanks everyone for the welcome wishes!

I've been using the Rockwell 6S mainly so far, started with the milder razors like the 34C and DE89 but they just weren't really cutting it, if you'll forgive the pun. The Rockwell on one of the mid-to-high plates seems to be efficient enough for daily or every second day shaves while also being smooth, but who knows, I'm sure there are even better razors out there. Blades, I'm still sampling through trying to find my favourite one, all the ones from the St. Petersburg plant seem to be well-made though. I've got one B&M soap that you might see in the SOTD thread, otherwise I've been using the 'classics' as they were - MWF, Cella, Proraso, TOBS. I'm still having difficulty determining what exactly 'post-shave feel' does, or how slickness and cushion interact and differ and etc etc. Mostly, they all seem to perform more or less the same so far for me. But I guess all that will come with time. :)

I must say it's really cool to have found such a big Australian wet-shaving community though, the American and British forums are nice but it's good to know there are other wet shaving enthusiasts much closer to home as well.
 
Mark1966 said:
Welcome mate!

Don't worry what others think @Rider_159 - you are clearly a man of sophistication and class using a DE - oh, and has anybody told you about the money you will save?

I believe that using a DE you can have all the smashed avo you want and STILL afford a home in Sydney or Melbourne.

[OK, maybe that last bit is not actually true...]
Click to expand...

Haha, is the 'saving money' bit true either? From what I can tell that's the line that's still trotted out to get people into this hobby, and the next thing they know they've got this soap and that brush and that aftershave, and from that point I reckon it's too late to go back!
 
Rider_159 said:
Haha, is the 'saving money' bit true either? From what I can tell that's the line that's still trotted out to get people into this hobby, and the next thing they know they've got this soap and that brush and that aftershave, and from that point I reckon it's too late to go back!
Click to expand...


SHHHHHH!!!!!

It is an investment :)

BTW - there is a regular meet up in Adelaide. You just missed one - The Bi-weekly Adelaide get together but I'm sure that @alfredus will tag you for the next one
 
Rider_159 said:
I'm still having difficulty determining what exactly 'post-shave feel' does, or how slickness and cushion interact and differ and etc etc.
Click to expand...
Me too.
Post-shave I determine based on how dry/moisturised my face feels afterwards. I originally put a lot of weight in this category but over time I find it less important as I will likely still use an aftershave for those benefits.
Cushion and slickness I haven't found a good way of determining and I think they're more a straight razor metric, so I just judge the lather overall.

My understanding of cushion and slickness is the following (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) :
Think of cushion like if you have lather in your hands and try to squish it, more resistance = more cushion.
Slickness is residual after a pass, if a soap is extremely slick you can do another pass without applying more lather.

Rider_159 said:
Haha, is the 'saving money' bit true either?
Click to expand...
It depends, if that's your goal you surely could.
$50 for a kilo of soap, $15 for 100 blades, $100-300 for hardware, then soap and then just more blades and soap every few years...
But if it's a hobby very unlikely.
Edit: If it's a hobby, at least you'll also enjoy it and it won't be a chore
 
Rider_159 said:
Ah nice, I didn't mention but I'm living in Victoria now. I'm sure there are regular meet-ups here too?
Click to expand...

OOPS - my bad.

Not so regular in Vic unfortunately.
 
Kaeckerut said:
Me too.


My understanding of cushion and slickness is the following (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) :
Think of cushion like if you have lather in your hands and try to squish it, more resistance = more cushion.
Slickness is residual after a pass, if a soap is extremely slick you can do another pass without applying more lather.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'd probably agree with this. Especially when rinsing your face after a pass, I guess that 'slippery' feel is basically residual slickness. I can't say any of this makes an appreciable difference to my shaves so far, generally WTG and XTG will be fairly comfortable, with ATG being the least comfortable, no matter how slick the lather seems (or indeed what razor/blade I'm using). But maybe there is something there that I'm missing.
 
Welcome to the fray @Rider_159. Great to have found wetshaving with a DE so early on. Met people in my travels, including myself, that wish we’d tried it sooner. As for the money saving lol. It does depend what you’re after. For lots of us, turning a chore into something enjoyable was the start, from there it becomes the search for something better or just different (different razors, blades, brushes, soaps etc.). You can certainly save money and go minimalist, but if you enjoy it, why not splurge time to time.
 
Welcome on board @Rider_159. Good bunch of blokes here with helpful advice.
 
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