The Beginner's Almanac for Wet Shaving
"The first week in any wet shaving group feels like walking into a conversation halfway through. Somebody posts an SOTD with a three-piece OC and a croap, somebody else asks whether a G5 knot will splay too much for face lathering, and a third person admits their SAD is out of control and announces a 3017. Everyone is being helpful. Almost none of it is in English yet. This almanac is the map. It walks the whole territory in the order you will meet it: the gear, the lather, the shave itself, the routine around it, and the culture that talks about all of it. Each section explains how the pieces relate, defines the words you will see, and points you to the Shave Dad guide that goes deeper."
The excerpt above really says it all about the linked post. It is one of the better guides I have seen. It is not a how-to-do each step, but a good overview to read to get a feel of all the options you may encounter with traditional wet shaving.
Traditional wet shaving is very much like Linux. You have many options to suite many purposes and tastes, and that can be overwhelming for beginners.
I have been totally converted to traditional wet shaving for the last 20+ years and bitterly regret that I knew nothing about it when I learnt to shave. But it was finally the cost of Gillette multi-blade cartridges, and the ingrown airs I was getting, which led me to discovering it. My very first experience was not a great one as I chose a really cheap plastic handled razor that I got in a pharmacy store. Once I progressed (fairly quickly) to a Merkur 34C razor, the real aha moment struck.
Of course today I have a few razors, but I have pretty much settled on using the Edwin Jagger DE89 head with a solid stainless-steel knurled iKon handle. My blade of choice are the Astra Superior Platinum double-edged blades. I use the Tabac hard soap paired with a Bluebeards Revenge boar (synthetic) bristle brush. I use one blade a week, and the soap is good for about 6 months of use.
Of course everyone's skin is different, and there is a three-way relationship between skin type vs razor vs blade. Which is why it is always good to get hold of a blade sample pack, and try them all out, to find what best works for you.
It's also worth noting that traditional wet shaving is a lot better for the environment, as the blades can actually be recycled, and the soaps do not come in aerosol cans.
See
https://shavedad.com/beginners-almanac-wet-shaving
#environment #traditionalwetshaving #shaving
