shaving: the results show

The day things started coming in the mail was so exciting!  Also, I was incredibly nervous. TERRIFIED. that I was going to mangle my legs.  So the first shave took forever.  I was suuuuper careful.  Now it goes much faster.

Fast forward three months, and I couldn't be happier!  I absolutely LOVE Tabac.  I will never buy another shaving soap.  It doesn't irritate or dry my skin out at all, which is great.  I am also 100% happy with my boar bristle brush.  Some people complain about the smell of Tabac mixed with the Omega brush, but I find the smell of old man cologne + barber shops comforting.  And anyway, the smell of the brush gets less and less strong the more you use it.  

I know this is a weird picture, but it's to show you how short my hairs are after a WHOLE WEEK of not shaving.

My Lady Gillette is great; I love its long handle, plus it's pretty and easy to keep clean.  My favorite blade to date is the Israeli Crystal blade, although I haven't tried the Japanese Feather yet and am expecting great things from it.  

My shaving setup. I do better with my glasses on, so I shave outside of the shower.

Now for the part you're probably most curious about (as I was) - the shave.  

People, I have never had a closer shave in my entire life.  Ever.  Baby legs aren't as smooth as mine are now.  My legs are the kind of smooth that literally makes them shiny.  Two days after shaving, I have the tiny stubble I used to get the night or morning after shaving with my Venus razor.  I used to cut myself every once in a while, and there was this part of my left calf that I had to shave like, fifteen times to get close.  With my double-edged, I've nicked myself maybe.... five times ever, and I only have to shave the difficult part of my left leg once or twice.  ONCE OR TWICE!  That never used to happen.  

I put on a thin layer of Tabac first...

Also, I haven't had razor burn in a single place a single time.  In the past, after I shaved and put on lotion, my legs would often erupt in red bumps.  Now, nothing.

I change my blade every 2-3 weeks (that's 2-3 leg shaves and however many armpit shaves were in between those).  That's not when the blade gets dull; it's just, after 2-3 weeks, I start to notice that the blade doesn't feel brand new anymore.  So I always have a fresh blade.  You know how great it is using a new razor?  Imagine if you had that every single time you shaved.  For cheap.  My total setup cost about $55.  The replacement cartridges alone for a Venus razor can be $8-$16 for three or four heads, and if you replaced one of those every time you started to notice it didn't feel brand new anymore, you'd be spending a BOATLOAD. 

A can of shaving cream can be anywhere from $3ish to $20, depending on what you get (please don't spend $20 on your shaving cream, readers).  It doesn't last very long when you're shaving legs, which are quite a bit bigger than faces.  I've been using my puck of Tabac for the last three months and it's like.... a millimeter shorter than it was when I bought it.  A refill will be $15 when I finally need one.  

Then put on another layer and froth it up!

I will most likely never need to replace my razor handle.  Are you kidding me?  I bought it used from the 70's - 40 years ago - and it's in almost perfect condition.  As for the blades, the sample pack I bought has 40 blades in it.  If I change my blade every two weeks, they will last me 80 weeks, or a year and a half.  I can buy a package of 120 of my favorite blades for $18.88 on Amazon.   That's about 6¢/blade, and I will have the feeling of a brand new razor every time I shave for 240 weeks, or FOUR AND A HALF YEARS.  

And the craziest thing about it all?  I look forward to shaving.

Are you kidding me?!  No.  I'm not.  I get excited to shave.  Every single time.  Sometimes I wish I shaved more often; sometimes I shave more often than I need to.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is unheard of. 

Plus, you just feel so classy putting on shaving soap with a bristle brush and then using your double-edged.

This is also a weird picture, but I tried to take it at an angle so you could see how shiny
my skin is after shaving now! Without lotion.

The moral of the story is this: I would recommend a DE razor every single time.  If you want to try it out and have any questions about what else I learned while researching (there's so much more than I shared!) or how to shave with a DE (the technique is a little different), please ask.  :)  Especially if you're a girl.  While I'm hardly an expert, there are very few women out there talking about double-edge razors, so finding what you're looking for can sometimes be tricky.

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"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been - imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"  - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone