At least for the first few times til you get the hang of it, make sure you shower before you shave. It'll help soften your beard.

Check at what angle to hold the DE, its really important - that stands between shaving, not shaving, and slicing you up. Basically without a blade in the DE, balance it on the the safety guard and the head on a table. That is the proper angle of the DE.

Practice making a nice lather with the shave soap, a good lather will cover up a little bit of bad technique.

Dont shave too often in a day... I went two a days while trying to "learn" how to shave and I angered the skin gods.

Dont put ANY pressure at all on the razor. Hold it to your face, slowly move it in short strokes.

Try with the grain, across, across til you're comfortable with shaving. Trying to go against the grain instantly will hurt you.

Don't give up after a couple bad experiences. I think I had a week or so for my learning curve before I stopped hurting myself lol

 

Btw, its really fun shaving now

 

the shave feels and smells great. i managed to get my self smooth in 2 passes and without any blood shed. takes a little longer than a can of cream and a fusion razor, but there is no irritation like im used to getting.

the razor is much smaller than i thought it would be, but it feels good to hold and seems to have a good weight.

 

haha, nice! sounds like you're more adept at this shaving than I was

Today, I'm going to pick up a crapload of soaps to "try out" as well as a good sampler pack of DE blades from WCS.

 

The feather razors you have are supposed to be very good, but dangerous for beginners because they are so sharp.

People have been recommending the "Taylor of old bond street" avocado shave cream, it has really good amazon reviews too. I'm glad I spent the extra money for high quality products.

 

Here are a couple of custom turned handles on Gillette NEW Long Comb heads. There are a few wet shaving forums that will help you ease into this new hobby. Don't know if we can link to those forums, so if you can't find them shoot me a PM. I've been wet shaving for a few years now, and would not go back to a multiblade razor. Just remember that every blade and razor is different, so it may take some time to find the perfect match for your face. After much trial and error, I found that my face prefers Feather blades. There are a few other blades I can use, but none give me a shave anywhere near as smooth as the Feather. After getting your shaving process down, start researching scuttles. I have the Dirty Bird 1.5 and it is excellent. It makes shaving a real pleasure with warm shaving cream. Enjoy

 

^Beautiful razor!

I'm still searching for a properly priced gillette fatboy. I have a slim, flairtip, 40s, travel tech(terrible razor) so far.

I just picked up a wee scot best badger brush and a couple DR Harris soaps as well as Cella, a blade sampler pack and a soap stick. This should last me around a year before I need more blades..haha

 

I dont use shaving cream or anything other than water now. With these, do you have to use products?

 

Its recommended but I do hear people say on the forums that they just shave in the shower. I think its a little harder to shave without some sort of soap or cream with DEs, they tend to drag more since its metal on skin instead of those lubricating strips on cartridge/disposables.
Some people just use hand soap too. They have the widest range of prices from <$2.00 a "puck" of shave soap from walmart (pretty good, actually) to $30 for "shave soap in hardwood bowl" The higher end stuff normally costs 15-20 bucks for a refill cake of soap.

 

its been just under 1 week using the DESR and I love it. the 3rd and 4th day i had my angle wrong and i got a little irritation, but it wasnt bad and the aftershave balm took care of the irritation. I changed my blade last night before shaving and could tell the difference between a blade that had been used 5 times and a brand new one. I didnt have skin problems, but since shaving with the DESR ive noticed that my skin has been more smooth and clear. Dunno if its the razor, the better products, or a combination, but its been great. I enjoy shaving now where as before I would avoid it as much as possible, mostly on weekend i wouldnt shave since my job requires it. Its crazy to think that $16 is enough razors to last 30 weeks. cant really beat $30 a year on razors. gillete fusion blades are about $160 a year to change them once per week. i wonder how long the shaving cream, after shave, and pre shave oil will last.