Hi Folks. 
Dave's the name, new to the old skool shaving scene having used a Mach3 in the shower for as long as I can remember. Recently found a greater level of irritation growing with daily use which has forced me to shave less regularly. Now that I'm thinking about it, it probably started with the acne I had as a teen resulting in lots of scaring... never really recovered me thinks.
Anyway, I acquired a West Indiam Lime soap from Crabtree, a tub of GTF Coconut shave cream, a TOBS Lavender, a synthetic brush, a '72 English Gillette Tech, a Feather AS-D2 and a Merkur Futur clone from Wahl which I've retired because it was rubbish. Now at least I can shave daily again, though I feel I have a long way to go before I can acheive a great shave completely free from irritation or nicks.
I'm still assembling and testing a range of blades as well as building techniques, but in the last month I found the AS-D2 with a Feather blade and one 0.1mm shim has been working really well. Today's shave was with a GSB +0.1 which was pretty good aside from a host of very small weepers. Blades I've tried include Merkur, Wilkinson Sword, Astra Platinum, Gillette Silver Blue and Feather. Blades I have (or have coming) but am yet to try include Astra stainless, BIC, Shark, Kai, Gillette Wilkinson Sword (India), Voskhod, Gillette Rubie Platinum and Polsilver.
I wonder if you folks have any sort of blade exchange system? B&B have a Pay It Forward (PIF) thing which seems like a good idea. With easy access to some of the exotic gear being limited and much of the good stuff coming from O/S, being able to exchange gear with locals would be considerably simpler, not to mention cheaper, I think.
G'day!
Dave.
Dave's the name, new to the old skool shaving scene having used a Mach3 in the shower for as long as I can remember. Recently found a greater level of irritation growing with daily use which has forced me to shave less regularly. Now that I'm thinking about it, it probably started with the acne I had as a teen resulting in lots of scaring... never really recovered me thinks.
Anyway, I acquired a West Indiam Lime soap from Crabtree, a tub of GTF Coconut shave cream, a TOBS Lavender, a synthetic brush, a '72 English Gillette Tech, a Feather AS-D2 and a Merkur Futur clone from Wahl which I've retired because it was rubbish. Now at least I can shave daily again, though I feel I have a long way to go before I can acheive a great shave completely free from irritation or nicks.
I'm still assembling and testing a range of blades as well as building techniques, but in the last month I found the AS-D2 with a Feather blade and one 0.1mm shim has been working really well. Today's shave was with a GSB +0.1 which was pretty good aside from a host of very small weepers. Blades I've tried include Merkur, Wilkinson Sword, Astra Platinum, Gillette Silver Blue and Feather. Blades I have (or have coming) but am yet to try include Astra stainless, BIC, Shark, Kai, Gillette Wilkinson Sword (India), Voskhod, Gillette Rubie Platinum and Polsilver.
I wonder if you folks have any sort of blade exchange system? B&B have a Pay It Forward (PIF) thing which seems like a good idea. With easy access to some of the exotic gear being limited and much of the good stuff coming from O/S, being able to exchange gear with locals would be considerably simpler, not to mention cheaper, I think.
G'day!
Dave.
