Hi! I’ve been extremely tired this week and nearly forgot that I was hosting one so I’m writing this last minute! I couldn’t think of anything so I’m going to write about one of my hamsters who is not Biggs; Meredith
Meredith was another hamster of mine from a few years ago during the early days of COVID, and she was the absolute sweetest little creature I had ever met. Very friendly, very gentle. She loved exploring anywhere I put her into and never bit me okay she did once ever. She was an absolute sweetheart and bundle of love and was with me during some of the rougher parts of my life
She unfortunately died very suddenly out of the blue one day at a terribly young age showing no symptoms of anything wrong with her prior, which breaks my heart to this very day
I never had her as long as any other hamster of mine but I don’t think I had any other hamster touch my heart in quite the same way. I miss you, girl
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Well, if you already know every trick in the book, there’s not much I can tell you.
You could try some different shaving techniques like in this video.
Or you could analyze the geometry of your razor to see how it would work best. For example, I have a Mühle R41 which is really aggressive but doesn’t have the best blade support. So I always ride the cap whenever I use it to make it glide smoother across my skin
Skin prep and lathering techniques are always something that you can always improve on (and make sure that water hardness is not a problem for you)
Don’t scrape your blades across the paper when you take them out. That’s something a lot of people overlook.
If you want a different experience with your razor, you could try Kai blades, which are slightly wider and thus more aggressive
But that’s all I can think of. The rest is pretty much just endlessly trying out new gear and soaps and experiment with different razor/blade combinations to see if you can get tiny improvements. There’s a reason why most people in those shaving communities have absurdly huge collections.
what soaps and skin prep / lathering techniques do you recommend? i don’t really know anything. i have sensitive skin that’s been getting more and more irritated with each shave lately. i’ve just been using bulldog shave gel but it does get a bit dry, i just don’t really know what’s best to switch to cause i tend to get overwhelmed by so many options
I have sensitive skin too and before delving deeper into this topic, I could only shave once a week. Now I can pretty much do it every single day, with a recovery day every once in awhile. So I cannot stress enough how important a good lather is.
big wall of text
If you’re overwhelmed by too many options, then I have some good news: You can ignore almost all of that. Canned foam, gel, conditioner, etc… all have subpar performance. What you want instead is a good shaving soap.
What I do is take a guitar pick to scoop out a little bit of soap, press it down on the bottom of a small bowl and use a wet shaving brush to whip up a nice lather. The amount of water is really important. So start off with less and slowly add more until you have the right consistency, which can be up to your preference. In general you should aim for a yogurt-like consistency, but experimenting is important here. There’s also the possibility to load up the brush directly on the soap instead of scooping it out, and you can also skip the bowl and lather it on your face.
Now to the face prep: It’s always good to soften up your beard hair with warm water before the shave, so shaving after taking a shower is never a bad idea. Using a gentle face cleanser is also advisable, as is gentle exfoliation (might want to skip that depending on your skin).
Now the final step would be gear: There are special shaving bowls and other stuff that you can buy, but a cheap metal bowl does the trick too. Of course you also need a brush. Traditionally, they’re made with badger, boar or horse hair, but nowadays you can get really good synthetic ones that are also a lot cheaper. They come in different knot sizes and handles, and there’s differences in softness and backbone of the fibres. I managed to get a Mühle Silvertip Fibre for pretty cheap, which is very soft, so it’s perfect for my estrogenized face. Other people prefer really stiff ones. Again, it’s up to your preference.
And of course you need a good soap. There’s massproduced classic ones that you can get for pretty cheap, which have great perfomance, like Cella, Arko or Tabac. But if you really want to get the best performance possible, you have to take a look at artisan soaps. I wish I could recommend Southern Witchcrafts to you, which I am using, because their vegan soaps are absolutely amazing and I love them, but they recently closed their business. So instead I’m just going to say that Barrister and Mann is currently regarded as the best-performing soap by a large part of the community, and if you live in Europe, you should take a look at Saponificio Varesino.
This reddit thread might help you a bit: https://old.reddit.com/r/wicked_edge/comments/1ed6okv/honest_2024_shave_soap_tiers/
wow thanks so much for all the advice! i’m definitely looking into getting some good soap cause that all sounds so much nicer. being able to shave almost everyday would be amazing!
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Which blades are you using?
My overall favourites are Perma-Sharps. They’re really sharp but also smooth.
For my R41 I tend to go with Feathers, because I like the danger.
I’ve also had nice shaves with smoother blades, but I still have to experiment some more with them.
And I’m also using random blades from my sampler packs sometimes to mix things up.
Thanks!
I’ve used feathers before, but never perma-sharps; I’ll have to check those out. I ordered a bazillion pack of feathers like 10+ years ago and have only had to buy one single small pack of van der hagens since then lol (because that’s what was available locally).Edit: wait no they were derby, not feather.
Feathers are by far the sharpest blades available. You might want to be a bit careful when you’re used to dull blades like Derbies. My first time using them ended in a bloodbath. Not to frighten you or anything, but just saying.
I would highly recommend you do the same thing as me and just start out with sampler packs, because razor blades are a very individual thing, where one blade might work for me but not for you. So it’s important to just try out a bunch before dedicating yourself to a 100 pack.
Yeah good call lol. Idk why I didn’t start with a sampler in the first place. I’m not the sharpest blade either I guess haha.
I used a pack of Astra blades for 8 years. So we’re both as sharp as a Derby.
I’ve only ever used Astra ever since I bought a pack of 100 years ago, how good are they compared to the other brands that you’ve tried? Also how important is the quality of the shaving soap? I don’t want to spend around $18-$30 on a bar of soap
The vast majority of blades are very mediocre, Astra included. Because I’ve used them for so long, they’re pretty much what I use as a comparison to other blades.
Those are the blades that I felt were better than the Astras in my Mühle Companion:
And now to the soaps:
The quality of the lather really matters. I cannot stress enough how much of a difference it made to me when I switched over to proper soaps. But you don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money on artisan soaps. While yes, they do perform quite a bit better than more commercial ones, you’ll be perfectly fine with a puck of Cella or an Arko stick, which are way more affordable.
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