For Him: The Personal Barber – DE Shaving Experience

The Personal Barber – DE Shaving Experience – For many men shaving is a chore. It is something that we have to do, not something that we want to do, or that gives us any pleasure whatsoever. When I was younger I initially found that an electric razor absolutely destroyed my skin and left me with uncomfortable painful areas all over my face. I moved over onto the traditional cartridge razors like the Gillette mach 3. These offered for a long time my salvation – they were relatively cost effective, offered a decent shave and although they did irritate somewhat, they were nowhere near as bad as the electric shaver I initiated my shaving experiences with. Fast forward more years than I would care to admit and I think I have found the answer to all my shaving woes – The DE safety razor.

DE or double edge razors are actually a classic invention which more than likely your grandad or his dad would have used to shave with, but now they are making a comeback. Instead of using your typical four or more blade system in a cartridge like a Mach 3, they instead hold one super sharp blade that really can give you the shave of your life with little to no irritation (once you get your technique down). The cost of these individual blades is so small that you can literally buy around a hundred blades for the cost of one multipack of fusion blades and the razors themselves are a real thing of beauty, usually coming in chrome but with a whole host of alternatives to buy and customise.

The Personal Barber are a shaving subscription service who were kind enough to get me started on the whole DE shaving experience. When you sign up you get your first starter box, this includes everything you need to get you started:

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A DE razor
A shaving brush
2 sets of 5x blades (I received Astras and BIC)
A pack of alum matchsticks (These are an important part of your shave and provide first aid should you nick yourself)
2 x soaps – Red leaf oatmeal milk and Red Leaf black tea.

If you are already into classic DE shaving you can specify that you want to skip the initial box and you can receive some additional goodies instead.

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The packaging is really good and all my items arrived safe and undamaged. When you first see the DE razor it is a thing of beauty compared to todays cartridge razors and is also etched with the Personal Barber logo. One of the things that impressed me most was the attention to detail – inside the box were two cards, one explaining the contents and the other explaining how to look after and maintain your products and also how to get a safe and effective DE shave. For a new starter this is an invaluable resource.

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As you may imagine, this was the first time shaving with a real blade and I was nervous (I didn’t need to be) so I set up a nice lather and proceeded to shave the top of my thigh. After my first successful foray into shaving I moved swiftly onto my face. The soaps the Personal Barber supplied are all high in glycerin which really help with preparing your face for the shave and also keeping your skin protected. Gladly for a complete novice I was super impressed firstly not to have cut my throat but also at the amazing quality of the shave, I can honestly say it was super close and I didn’t have any irritation on my skin whatsoever. Since then I have really been trying to improve my technique and get faster as my initial attempt took me around 35 minutes, but as I said, I no longer see shaving as a chore, its more like a pampering session.

How to shave using a DE safety razor:

The Personal Barber subscription has given me a fantastic way to get into this once forgotten art, it provides an affordable way to get into DE shaving giving you all the necessary tools to get up and running and as the subscription continues they send you new and exciting products in every box, replacing the razor and the brush with pre shave products and aftershaves.

Since I have taken up DE safety razor shaving my man shelf is starting to fill up with new and exciting products all the time and is really giving my wifes makeup collection a run for its money, there really is something for everyone and the products are wide and varied.

If you are interested in DE shaving head over to thepersonalbarber.com and have a look at their subscription packages – Prices start at £24.95 per box if you chose on buying month to month or if you want to subscribe for a year the price plummets to a meagre £17.95 per box, which is a saving of over 28% and with fathers day just around the corner what more could the man in your life need than the gift of a perfect shave?

 

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