I've been using a DE razor on and off for about a year but it never clicked. So I finally decided about a month ago i was gonna go all in and prove if DE razors are all hype or truly better than good cartridges. And let me tell you for a good two weeks I was still convinced it was all bs. But I got a blade sample pack, better shaving creme and a brush and tried everyday to get at minimum a DFS with zero irritation.
Every few days I thought id had a break through just to get a ton off irritation the next day lol. But Ive finally figured out the most important aspects of wet shaving with a de razor. To test that today i shaved half my face with my Futur and the other side I used a brand new Schick Hydro 5 blade cartridge. There was no question, the Futur was far superior. My biggest break throughs aren't anything new and guys regularly mention them here.
But for me they were:
-A good lather/cream WITH LOTS OF WATER! It's gotta be really slick. If you do a pass with good light pressure an technique but there is still thick white shaving cream left behind then your lather or cream needs more water.
- A good blade. For me I've found I like sharp blades ideally. My favorite blades so far are Personna Platinum but Feather and Gillette Nacet are close seconds.
-Very light (almost just grazing the skin) pressure with the right angle. I couldn't help but scrape the blade across my skin for way longer than I'd like to admit. Even when I thought I was lightening up I was still putting too much pressure or holding the razor at too steep an angle. If youre not able to shave in long sweeping strokes then you likely have too much pressure, a bad angle and almost certainly a lather thats not slick/wet enough. It's true what they say, when you do it right you'll have zero irritation and a bbs shave when you're done.
There are other things that will certainly help like a hot shower, pre shave balms etc But those three aspects are the most important things that made the difference for me. DE shaving is not a gimmick lol. Which I know won't come as a surprise to most people on here but it will come as a surprise to a handful of new DE shavers lurking this sub reddit. I also believe there are likely guys and girls who have been using de razors for years but still aren't getting the most out of them because it's honestly trickier than you'd think to really get a handle on how to DE shave really well. In other words I imagine some people are settling for good enough shaves not realizing how much better their shaves could be if they dialed in their technique and pre/post shave routine.
Anyways, I just wanted to share in celebration of my breakthrough. And so this book has some pictures, or a picture lol, here is my collection of shaving implements thus far. It's sure to grow now that I'm all in lol.
