I go to a place run by some Vietnamese women as they give the kid a good cut and I usually get a cut as well while am there. $12 a cut is nice and they do good work. If it is just me I try to go to Rudyâs and I get it cut by tattooed punk rock ladies for $15.
Which is pretty much the same reason I get it cut that wayâŚ
Free and Clear shampooâyes yes yes. I donât have dandruff but my body is sensitive to everything in the world and this is the only shampoo Iâve found that I can use without getting a skin reaction. I also use their Vanicream lotion.
Man, I wish I stayed clean enough to avoid shampooing. Right now Iâve got rust and soda ash (Na2CO3, sodium cartbonate) in my hair. 
I love shaving.
Not shown, the mellow sounds of Pink Floyd or Chopin.
As for general tips, every guy should buy a nose hair trimmer. I like the self-sharpening mechanical ones, but some people prefer the electric trimmers.
I went through a range of goatee styles when I was in my early 20âs, but I donât feel I wear any sort of beard as well now, and I donât like the feel of facial hair, so itâs limited to my sideburns and eyebrows.
that is a noice setup. iâve had a brush similar to the one on the right, and it was pure decadence.
Yeah, the left brush is badger hair, not super soft, but good for softening up longer hairs if I donât shave for a few days. The one on the right is synthetic fiber, which gets a lot of flack, but I find it incredibly soft while still having enough structure to lather and control.
Really though, for me the most important thing is the blades. I tried a lot of truly shitty to mediocre DE blades before I found the Astra and Feather blades. Now I get a consistently close shave without any noticeable razor burn.
iâll check those out. single blade replaceable with actual razorblades, right?
I put up with so many skin problems before I discovered their product line. My skin has always been sensitive but it became even more so when I started taking lamotrigine. Their shaving cream is the only one that doesnât leave my skin rioting into redness and bumps.
Yup. This is the razor hanging on the left. Iâve personally found it to be by far the most forgiving and friendly of the DE razors. The top unscrews and you place the blade between the two plates then screw the handle back on. Very easy to use. The blades are good for three or four shaves (depending on how stiff your facial hair is), then you toss the old one in a sharps box (I use an old coffee tin) and load a fresh blade. I bought this pack of 100 Astra blades two years ago and I still have more than half of them left. That said, the Edwin Jagger razor comes with five Derby blades. Theyâre crap blades, but they do give you a chance to see if you like DE shaving before you buy a pack of decent blades. You can also get samplers of blades, which is what I first did, and try a bunch of different brands.
Once you buy the razor, which will last forever as long as you rinse and dry it between blade changes, the blades are dirt cheap compared to cartridge razor blades.
Each blade is edged on both sides. You use one side of the razor until its full of shave soap, then turn it over, then rinse and repeat.
If you havenât shaved with a double-edged or even older style straight razor before, it will take some practice. It took me about twenty or so shaves to get to the point where I could shave my whole face quickly without any razor burn, but as I said, that was largely because I hadnât found the right blades. If youâve used a straight razor, a DE is actually a little easier. The most important thing is to hold the edge at about 30 degree angle to the skin and use very little pressure. Coming from a cartridge safety razor, the light touch is the thing that takes the most getting used to, because a cartridge makes you press to get a close shave (along with lots of razor burn), whereas pressing is what you definitely donât want to do with a DE or straight razor. That said, unlike a straight razor (AKA a cut-throat razor like in Sweeney Todd), a DE razor is a lot safer because thereâs a guard on it. Pressing is more likely to give you a little burn than a nick. But I was already getting less razor burn after my first five DE shaves than I still got after years of using cartridge razors. I will never go back to cartridges.
Yes. I went to the store to pick some up and couldnât pick up any because
Another suggestion I have, no matter what kind of razor one shaves with, is to use an alum block. Itâs a natural odorless salt that will seal and disinfect the skin. You wet the block, unless your face is still wet from shaving, and glide the block over the skin. Another bonus is that it gives you feedback on where you have any invisible razor burn or nicks too small to see, since the area will very lightly sting for a couple of seconds and then fade. I apply the alum, let it dry for a minute, and then rinse and put on my aftershave. Alum blocks (or they also comes in stick form) are also great to keep in first aid kits. Once wet, the salt basically acts as a vasoconstrictor. One block will last years.
I shave with Granddadâs Gilette safety razor (although I also have a Thorens Riviera).
And somehow Iâve acquired a small assortment of double edge razor blade sharpeners. I use about ten blades a year.
Multi-bladed razors and Norelcos give me razor bumps.
My grandfather had a safety razor that had a strop on the case, with tracks you snapped the razor in to guide it. (I need to go on a google search some time.)
Iâve got a Gilette from the 1930âs. The nickle plating on it is wearing off, so Iâm probably going to have to hunt for another soon. All the multi-blade cartridges are good for is getting clogged, dull, and tossed in a landfill.
Every time I hear one of these âshampoo is unnecessaryâ stories, my first thought is âyâall work in air-conditioned office jobsâ.
My hair collects enough dirt and plant material every day that I could supply a farm from the contents of my hairbrush.
I donât mean to sound all spend-thrifty, because Iâm actually pretty cheap, but why bother sharpening a DE blade? Even the expensive ones like the Feathers cost less than the a quarter a piece in bulk, and most are around 10 cents a piece. To each their own; Iâm just curious why you bother.
Six years ago I read about the wonders of DE shaving so I bought a Merkur long handle (w/Merkur blades). Spent the next month honing my technique without much progress. Iâd never seen my skin as angry as the day after shaving with that thing, no matter how light my touch. After a month or so, I just gave up.
Recently I decided to give it another go, having read about Featherâs debut DE shaver and how it was, according to Amazon reviewers, much better than other DEs for super-sensitive skin. One reviewer said that it was âaggressive on hair, gentle on skinâ.
That, of course, is assuming the person using it is competent in DE shaving, which I am most definitely not. Shaved with it for the first time today and, as with all novel tasks, I sucked. Hard. Three passes and still I have stubble. One heartening difference from my experience with the Merkur: I didnât knick myself once. I suppose Iâll take that as a good sign.
Because itâs less work to sharpen a blade than to find a pack at the store. Iâm lazy!
(Also, I have these sharpeners laying around.)
Ah. I guess after the time I spend sharpening knives and swords, sharpening more blades is the last thing I want to do 
This is a different razor, but when I began using a DE safety razor, this video helped me figure out the proper technique. Actual shave starts about 4 minutes inâŚ
Another good tutorialâŚ
I think that the most important part is not shaving technique, itâs beard preparation. If you have trouble with the mirror steaming up after hot showers, use hot washclothes to soften things back up before shaving. Also experiment with different shaving foams and gels and stuff. Different people have different beard/skin combinations, so you need to work out whatâs right for you⌠consider shaving in the evening instead of the morning while youâre working on it, so you wonât be going to work bleeding:).
