Shaving/Razors

[jibjob79]

Dam you Dave, I'm officially in the Fat boy club now, well as soon as postie gets his finger out. ?23 from fleabay, couldn't resist.


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[davidruddell]

Good man! ?25 for a fat boy (a sentence you can also use in Morocco) is exceptional. It will give you years of service.

You'll also get interested in blade/technique combos for the best results. Only this morning I discovered a blade/technique/setting combo that works far better than anything I've tried before.

Enjoy, the missus will like the results too !

Now go and buy some Pinaud Bay Rum!

It's bloody brilliant!

[Corto Maltese]

What a great thread, thanks Dave and all the others that piqued my curiosity and gave loads of informative advice.
I am now the proud owner of a 1960 f4 Fatboy via fleabay ( ?25, is that good ?) which arrived saturday. I spent a lovely couple of hours completely absorbed in cleaning, disinfecting and polishing then ordered the blades from Connaught supplies, Badger brush and alumn block , not to mention the sampler pack you all recommended from Truefitt and Hill.
Unfortunately I have had to hand it all over to the missus so she can send it off to Santa to put under the tree !, but at least I get what I want this year and not more socks !
Roll on Crimbo.
Cheers to all of you for the information and any more would be gratefully recieved.

[MarkSDMF]

Im just looking on that Connaught site there !

Great recommendation there David, big bump there fella !
Will speak nicely to the missus for a good Christmas pressie lol.
Meanwhile, ill need to stick to the old mach 3 or whatever it is im using at the moment, i cant remember lol.

[daverave999]

I try to use Feather but I need to get round to ordering some more. Currently using the Tesco ones which I believe are the same as the Israeli Personna blades.

[Watkins]

Tough question!

There is no one blade that everyone recommends.

Virtually all my pals who DE shave have the same razor (Fat Boy) but they all without exception use different blades.

I've come to settle on 'Feather' they're Japanese, lethal sharp (As the chunk out of my index finger proves, after dropping a wrapped razor blade on the floor and picking it up!) but don't have the longevity of some less 'Ninja' blades.

I would heartily recommend buying a sampler, because a) they're bloody good value. b) you get to find out what the best Razor/Blade/Your Beard/Your Technique combination is.

Try Connaught Shaving, very nice chaps with rapido deliveries, and the only company I know that does this!

Their first offering in their list is the best, especially at a tenner for 55 blades!!

Remember if you drop a blade on the floor, pick it up with a magnet!
Don't be a tool like I was.

Let me know how you get on fella, good luck.

Cheers for the quick reply, the person I've bought some stuff off over on a forum has been great enough to include some blades as a little starter pack I was really just looking to see what you guys like as a means of a very small mini survey, feather seems to be very popular but I'll be starting with something a little more forgiving I think.

[davidruddell]

Tough question!

There is no one blade that everyone recommends.

Virtually all my pals who DE shave have the same razor (Fat Boy) but they all without exception use different blades.

I've come to settle on 'Feather' they're Japanese, lethal sharp (As the chunk out of my index finger proves, after dropping a wrapped razor blade on the floor and picking it up!) but don't have the longevity of some less 'Ninja' blades.

I would heartily recommend buying a sampler, because a) they're bloody good value. b) you get to find out what the best Razor/Blade/Your Beard/Your Technique combination is.

Try Connaught Shaving, very nice chaps with rapido deliveries, and the only company I know that does this!

Their first offering in their list is the best, especially at a tenner for 55 blades!!

Remember if you drop a blade on the floor, pick it up with a magnet!
Don't be a tool like I was.

Let me know how you get on fella, good luck.

[Watkins]

What blades is everyone using? sorry if it's been said but I can't remember and can't read the whole thread again.

[davidruddell]

Don't bid, buy!

http://safetyrazors.co.uk/shop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=7

This guy is an absolute shaving god.

Took my rather grotty Fat Boy, and turned it into the shiny wonderment that it is today.

I sent it to him on Friday, got it back yesterday. Cleaned, serviced, re plated.
He also sent it back by recorded, without even asking for payment prior to returning it!! (I did of course pay him)

All for the princely sum of ?18.00 inc P&P!!!!!

You'll have a hell of a time finding an adjustable Gillette (Slim or Fat Boy) at the prices/condition he sells them for.

Go on snap one up!

[jibjob79]

It will take more than a post to disturb my composer lol. I was looking at fatboy's but always ended up getting outbid on ebay and thought what the heck go for something new with a warranty. I know of a fellow UKCF herfing friend that has a fatboy in the post so after we meet up and discuss cigars and shaving i might be tempted to start biding on fatboy's again lol.

Why is changing the razor in the Merkur scary? Just push with the thumb on the recessed side to lift it a little then pop the other side off and the blade is just sitting there to take off?

60 feather blades!!! that will be over a years supply then lol.

P.S. My word for today is specious meaning plausible yet wrong. Might have to try and work it onto the board soon lol. As in "yes darling your decision was specious".

[davidruddell]

My tuppence worth.

The stubble grows back quicker due to the way a multi blade (Mach 3 et al) pulls the hair out (ouch) with one blade and then another cuts closer.
This leads to a longer lasting but less smooth shave, with the added bonus of more irritation!

DE cuts closer on one pass and only cuts the hair (no pull)

As mentioned before there's a wealth of this kind of stuff, friendly people, and good deals (just been sent 60 x Feather for ?10.00) at both theshavingroom (UK biased) and Badger and Blade (US biased).

JibJob, you're really gonna hate me but.....

I bought a Gillette Fat Boy 1961 Vintage (Before the Futur) but have been waiting for it to come back from a service and re chroming.

It's smaller than the Futur, only slightly lighter, but is able to get into nooks and crannies far easier than the Futur.

The jumps between settings are more delicate too, 1 on the GFB is equivalent to 2 or 3 or the Merkur!

Getting blades in and out of the GFB is not as scary as the Futur either.

I'll keep going with the Futur, but got a funny feeling that a Razor that is older than me, using nearly 50 year old U.S engineering, is better than my 21st Century German precision engineered razor of the Futur.

I've included a couple of photo's for size comparisons.

The line up is

1) 1961 Gillette Fat Boy
2) Parker DE (Cheap and cheerful, purchased to try DE shaving)
3) Merkur Futur

P.S Jibjob, Hope this post riles you enough, so that you stop beating the crap outta me at Scrabble!

[jibjob79]

Jibjob - the razor Im using does not seem to be adjustable in any way.. The blades are the standard Wilkinson Sword blades that came with the razor..

I am stretching my top lip when shaving in order to gain better access to those hairs directly under my nose.

The razor you have isn't adjustable so that the gap between the blade and the razor is a fixed distance, however if you alter the angle you shave with you might be able to alter the size of the gap that is presented to your face so holding the razor at a slightly sharper angle than normal but not more than 45 degrees might be able to help.

I've only tried a few Merkur and Feather blades so far but you might find better results with a higher quality and sharper blade although half the joy is finding what combination of razors, blades, brushes and soaps works for your face.

[Alton_Bee]

Jibjob - the razor Im using does not seem to be adjustable in any way.. The blades are the standard Wilkinson Sword blades that came with the razor..

I am stretching my top lip when shaving in order to gain better access to those hairs directly under my nose.

[jibjob79]

My face after shaving is incredibly smooth, but I found I "took off" the top of a pimple like spot on my top lip which I have not done with a disposable since I started shaving. This I take as showing the DE razor actually cuts closer to My skin...

I have an adjustable Merkur Futur and depending on the adjustment of how much blade is exposed it can either glide over or cut high points on my face. Try altering the angle of your fixed razor and see if that helps. Also go slower and tense your top lip to stretch the skin.

The other (surprising) thing I have noticed is that I feel like the stubble actually grows back quicker. Now I wonder if this is actually because the blade is cutting the stubble at a different angle than a disposable ??

I've noticed that i could probably get away without shaving everyday although when the stubble does grow back it seems to grow back more uniformly, probably because of the better shave i am giving myself in the first place. You can try altering your cutting angle, i think 30 to 45 degrees is recommended.

Also what blades are you using, the reason i ask if I'm on my first week trying the feather DE blades as they are reviewed as being one of the sharpest blade available and my shave is only getting better and better. Not sure if my face is getting used to DE shaving or my technique is getting better but I'm liking the results.

[Alton_Bee]

Having read through this thread for the past few days I decided I wanted to try using a DE razor. In the past I have mainly used disposables over the years with I think 2 electric razors in that time.

I had a good look at the Shave Shack site and have put some bits on a wish list, BUT then on saturday while shopping with the family in Basingstoke I popped into a high street chemists of long standing. (I wont say the name but most of you probably can work out who). In there I got a Wilkinson's Classic, some shaving soap and a brush for about ?16.50 in total as an introduction to DE shaving.

Having had my 2nd DE shave last night I thought I would add my 2p to this..

My face after shaving is incredibly smooth, but I found I "took off" the top of a pimple like spot on my top lip which I have not done with a disposable since I started shaving. This I take as showing the DE razor actually cuts closer to My skin...

The other (surprising) thing I have noticed is that I feel like the stubble actually grows back quicker. Now I wonder if this is actually because the blade is cutting the stubble at a different angle than a disposable ??

Could my findings above be partly due to the DE razor I am using ??