If you read my previous post, you know I went to Mustafa’s with the intent to spend as little as possible to get into wet shaving.

Reason being that you might be on a tight budget, your reason going into wet shaving is to save money compared to using cartridge razors.
Preferring to spend $9-$40 for a year’s supply of blades and around $2 – $25 for soaps (not counting Artisan soaps, those are a like the Ferraris of the shaving soaps compared to “regular” Hondas of wet shaving soaps and can cost anywhere from $25 to $50++ per tub) that last anywhere between 2 months to 3 months or even longer depending on your frequency of shaves.

Compared that to Gillette’s foam that cost from $6 to $12, comes in a can and last less than a month most times, usually 2 – 3 weeks.
And for 8 Mach 3 cartridge blades that are supposed to last about a month costing around $25+/-
Most people I know use Mach 3s blades way past their life span, as far as even when the blades are clogged and rusty because they don’t want to spend that much replacing the blades after every 3 -4 days of use.

So what lets go over what I got for $22.40 initial investment that should last at least a month of use.

THE BRUSH
Holy crap.
This brush.
Pre-treatment is a MUST before using.

First off, they coated the fibers of the brush with some silicon coating.
It will transfer to your hands / skin making it non slip or sticky. If you use this out of the package without treating it first, you are going to have this layer of substance on your face when a very sharp piece of metal is supposed to slide across. Your blade is going to resist and you’ll have a sliced up face.

How to treat it?
Soaking won’t help as the substance seems to be water resistant, so you need to use detergent or a strong hand soap and lather up and let it preferably a few hours to let the soap loosen up whatever is coating all the fibers.

I had to do this 3 times before whatever was on the fibers was removed and when I brush my hand, it didn’t feel “non slip”.
Now this part of what I usually do to prep a brush, use hair conditioner, is usually for animal hair brushes like the boar’s hair, horse hair or badger hair brushes.

Animal hair is just like ours, it’ll absorb water and using a conditioner usually soften them and of course condition them to be less brittle and stronger while being supple and soft.
I normally don’t do this for synthetics, but in this case I am going to do so. The conditioner will at the very least get in between all the nylon fibers and make them slick.
This brush by the way is one I will never normally use.
Its crap.
Especially if you just pay a little more and for around $6.00 – $12.00 you get the imitation badger synthetics.

I’ll get to where to get really good brushes at very reasonable prices another day.
But for today, I’ll be using that cheap, crappy $2 synthetic. Don’t like it, but it’ll do the job.
The key is to treat it before you use it and get the bristles to be able to spread your lather evenly and smoothly.

THE SHAVER
Saying that the shaver looks cheap and feels cheap, is to be expected from a $2.60 razor. Heh!

Both top cap and bottom plate feels like its made thin pieces of tin. It’s probably zinc alloy with a chrome coating (not well done either) that you can spot blemishes around the edges (look the the top plate top left corner) which means that in time the chrome will flake off or rust will form.
Going to use the Super-Max yellow blade.

Looking at the blade angle and aggressiveness, this is going to be interesting to use.
Its quite aggressive and the curvature of the blade is not in line with curvature of the top cap and the safety bar.
So you need to exercise care using this.
Now, I know its not fair to compare this to a razor that cost $40++ to $120++ but….

This is the Rockwell on R4 setting you can see that the aggressiveness (gap of the razor and safety bar) of the cheap razor is more like R5 or R6. More importantly, look at the blade curvature.
Its the same blade, I took it out of the cheap razor to use it in the Rockwell. Notice it is designed to curve along and in-line with the angle of the top cap and bottom plate.

Meaning that with the cheap razor you will need to exercise more care. At least this cheap razor still have the blade in a curve and not sticking out like that China made DE89 clone.
Still, anyone using this need to be very gentle with it.

UPDATE:
The razor surprised me.
It gave a much smoother shave then I expected, probably due to the blade not being too sharp and smooth. Also the soap.
Soap is definitely the MVP in this shave.
This blade is in line with a Derby, it feels like a Derby. Not too sharp, but sharp enough to catch loose thin whiskers.

The aggressiveness is also the other factor, I don’t think you can hear it on the video, but you can feel and hear a loud audible feedback when the blade glides and cuts hair off. That *krraccckkk krrraccckk* sound most aggressive razors make. So you do have to take a little more care using it. But considering this razor cost $2.60, it performed far beyond what I expected and took quite a bit of hair and whiskers off in the first pass.

THE SOAP
Goorej or Cotrej is as cheap as they come.
But it surprised me. It lathered very well, had a really nice smell, like lime and mint, reminds me of some of the more expansive $30++ soaps. And more importantly, it was nice and slick with good lather to cushion your face against the blade.
$2.20.
A $2 soap that performed as good as some of my more expansive soaps.
If I wasn’t addicted to some of my Artisan soaps, I won’t mind using this more often. 🙂 You really can’t diss on that $2 price and performance.

Gotta apologize for the position of the camera, wasn’t able to place it where I want since I don’t have a proper tripod and mount and the phone went out of focus for a bit with the hand blocking some of the more difficult shave areas.

So to finish up, go with your aftershave of choice, get dressed and get to work.
Was a good, easy and fast shave. Easier then I expected considering the shaver, but it did admirably well.

FINAL THOUGHTS
My guess is that with an inexperienced double edged safety razor user, he’d probably cut or nick himself a little because the tendency to press the razor into the face is a common mistake. Especially if he went in blind and don’t understand or at least have an idea how to shave with a DE razor.
Lots of YouTube vids are out there, much better than mine, actually teaching you the hows and whys.
But from my run with this razor and how it performed, if the user keep in mind that you just want a light touch, and not give in to putting more force and pressure then you need to to keep the blade just kissing your skin, you’d do fine.

“Steve! I want to start wet shaving but you are using too much “atas” stuff, all so expansive! Can be cheap cheap or not?! Supposed to save money wanann hoorrr!”

Sure. A trip to Mustafa’s and buying only what’s in the store and getting as cheap as possible stuff.
I’ll even test these cheap stuff out first to see whether they can or not as we in Singapore say.

Lets start with Brush (and blades)
The Super Max Kwik shaving brush with 5 Yellow Box blades cost $2.90
I have never used these blades before and I have seen these being sold in more than a few mama stores around Tekka Market area. Shouldn’t cost too much. If you want the Derbys that’s sold per 5 in a box, they are $0.80 each. Better to just buy the 100s box for $9.00 But since I am working to be as cheap as possible, we’ll go with 1x box of 5s for the moment.
That along with the Super Max box of 5s will give you 10 blades and if you shave only once a day and use each blade 3 times, that’s about 30 days (a month’s worth) for now.

Shaving Cream
Goorej or Cotrej depending on how you read that, is $2.20. Personally I would have gone for the Palmolive Shaving cream that only goes for $2.90 but we are going cheap and this is cheaper.

Razor

Picked up this razor for $2.60, to be honest, I am not too keen to use this but ..hey, gotta try it at least once and besides its either this or a $2.50 shavette … you know the type that the “pro barbers” use.
I really won’t recommend someone new to shaving to use that.

Alum

One of the more expansive items on the list at $5.90.
You are going to need this whether you think you are going to cut yourself. It’ll settle razor burn, nicks, cuts, give your fingers the ability to grip wet skin to stretch and of course stop bleeding.
Using it also gives you feedback on your technique. If your face stings, its because you have either shaved too much, shaved one spot way too many times and caused razor burn or have nicked yourself.

Post Shaving : The Finishing Touch.

While I could have bought the cheap Denim, I choose this instead, Old Spice After Shave Lotion for $8.00
My philosophy to shaving is that you can skimp on many things, soap, blades, even the razors as long as they get the job done, but that “last touch”, the post shave is the most important at least to the man who wants a “happy ending”. So I chose Old Spice. Its scent is old fashioned but one that is timeless. And besides, its god damned Old Spice.

Total Spent :
$22.40
Supplies that should last you a month. You might want to buy additional 10x blades for $1.60 to ensure that even if you use a blade for only 2 shaves each, you’ll still be sitting happy for a month and a half.

Tomorrow’s an off day so I can test these during the morning shave. We’ll see how things go and bump up prices / recommendations as I see fit.

So, my 6S arrived today.
And after removing the padding in the box, this is what you get.

Brush, shaving cream and the box containing your Rockwell all stainless steel 6S.

The Brush
Rockwell’s brush is a synthetic bristles brush and its a good one.

Its bristles are soft, it is meant to imitate badger hair brushes and does a good job of this minus the water retention that natural hair brushes have.

But, given that they are cheap, easy to whip up your lather, as well as do a great job of being able to evenly apply that lather in an even coating to your face, imitation badger synthetics are a favorite to many shavers on a budget.

The Shaving cream

Again you’ll notice the smell when you open the box, however, I must say that the cream itself while lathers very well, seems to not be as concentrated in its scent compared to the hard soap puck version.

As is, lathering with it is really good, just like the puck version.
It is very rich, very smooth, as long as you make sure that you have enough water (wet the brush and re-lather your face if you need to) or lather in a bowl first to get the right texture.

The Shaver itself

They made buying the 6S and owning one, something that says “You spent a good deal of money on this”.
Even the box containing the Shaver is something you won’t want to throw it away.
It screams “HIGH QUALITY!!”, looks damn good and you can probably use it as a display. Cover is faux leather with metal sides, and within, you have a foam compartment to hold razor, plates and a box of blades.

When you finally take it out and handle the razor, you’ll immediately notice its heft and feel, it is definitely one of the heavier razors I have handled.
It’s beautiful shaver and feels really good in your hands.

THE SHAVE
This being the 6S, it came with all 3 base plates, the R1 / R3, the R2 / R4 and the R5 / R6 base plates.
This time round I went with the R2 / R4 plate going with the R2 setting and yes, a fresh Feather blade.

Three passes later…

And we got a 99% BBS. The R2 setting is actually still very safe, no nicks, or cuts and while I now can actually feel the blade on the skin, its still a very mild shave. As long as you have the basics, and a fair technique, I’m pretty sure you won’t cut yourself. With a feather you might get a “weeper” (bleeding spot that you didn’t even feel or know you cut yourself) but it’ll be so light that you won’t feel any pain and it’ll go away with an application of Alum.

Running your fingers over shaved areas and at first you’d think its Baby Butt Smooth, but once you stretch the skin a little to make the hairs stand, you’ll probably be able to find around your “trouble areas”, that oh so light touch of stubble.

To be fair, this is by no means a bad shave, you’d be fine to go to work as is, and to be honest, this is what you’d usually get with multiple passes using a multi-blade Gillette shaver.
You can go over the trouble areas a few more times with the R2 setting to clean it up and you should get a BBS.

I’d say that the R2 setting is the “true” newbie setting. Its not very likely that you cut yourself but since I can feel the blade this time, bets are that if you aren’t paying attention or have really bad technique (more then possible as a newbie) you might cut yourself.

The R1 setting however is really good for those with a phobia of cutting themselves, it’ll help you learn how to hold, how to glide the blade, how to find the right angle with an almost 0% chance of injury and gain confidence with practice.

You should be able to pick up those skills in a few days, less than a week even, before going onto R2 or if you bought the 2C, the R3 setting.

But since I wanted to test this out, I switched to the R4 by flipping the base plate to chase that smooth as glass, baby’s butt finish.

I will always say this when you are using the Feather, RESPECT THE BLADE.
Just because you probably won’t get cut due to design or skill, razor blades are still very very sharp thin slices of metal you have in contact with your neck and face.

The 2C and especially the 6S, are heavy, weighty shavers.
So you do not need to put any force, to press down onto your face to get the right pressure to get a good shave.
Just let the weight of the head rest on you skin and let the blade do its job.

R4 Finishing touch
So with the R4, I did one more pass against the grain and a clean up pass and got my BBS.
With this shave I might not need to do anything in the morning and it’ll still be fine.
But, I’ll probably do a 1 pass and clean up though.

Gotta have that glass baby butt smooth face!

Proraso Professional : Cypress and Vetiver pre-shave and cream.
Proraso Blue Post Shave
Parker SR1 shavette

Still missing the Cypress and Vetiver balm (its on the way) but Proraso’s Blue Balm works. 🙂
Made sure I gave myself extra time, I always take my time and not rush myself when using the shavette.

Pre-shave is Proraso Green, love that wake up call.
Cream and Post Shave are Proraso Blue
Rockwell 2C + Feathers

Really loving the Rockwell 2C, getting BBS shaves with it is ridiculous easy especially when you consider that this thing and Feather Blades are made to go together. I got minor weepers here and there but as a whole, no serious nicks or cuts.
Really can’t wait for my 6S to arrive.

Proraso Greens and the Rockwell 2C Gunmetal

Going back into rotation, still waiting for my international test orders to arrive and see who I can rely on for artisan soap purchases.

I’ll do a budget shave of the day soon. 😁

Will hopefully showcase a full shave experience in the long term for less than S$50.00

11 Mar 2019

Proraso Green Pre-shave
Proraso Blue Cream
Proraso Blue Post Shave
Merkur 34C-HD

Soaps I ordered from the UK and USA hasn’t arrived so I am going back on a longer Rotation till they do. Going to do Blue for a few days and hopefully the new soaps will arrive before the end of the week. Have some old (from the UK, some of the US) and some new stuff (from the US) I want to feature.

Yeah, they are the more “atas” stuff and am testing out shipping / delivery time / reliability of these vendors before I place “big” orders.

Saw this while at Cold Storage while doing groceries shopping getting potatoes and broccoli for dinner, was priced at $17.90 and what caught my eye was when I read the label.

Castile soaps can be used as a multi-purpose soap and reading what it had as ingredients, it had Glycerin and coconut oil, which most good shaving soaps are made with these days, so I took its claims that it can be used as shaving lather with a little more acceptance and I thought I’d give it a try.
Worse case, it’ll be used in the shower.

So After dinner and time for my evening shave, its time to give this a whirl.

Whenever I try a new soap, I always use a generous amount first. My take is that, there’s no such thing as “too much” lather, you can always throw it away, but it would be a bother if you don’t have enough partway through a shave. Since this is a liquid soap, I only applied a damp brush that had water shaken out and didn’t add any more water to the bowl.

The lather that formed was concerning. Remember what I said about lathering, you don’t want bubbles, you want thick whipped cream. Even without adding water, the lather produced was very sudsy, very bubbly foamy. This is NOT good for shaving. To test, I just applied this directly to the my face. The results were horrible.

This is not usable. The photo is actually better then it actually is, since in the minute or so it took for me to check on the photo, the suds dissipated and it was like I didn’t even lather on.

Okies, I thought maybe I should just do a full face lather, applying the soap directly with the brush.

So this time, I had 2 full pumps into the brush and applied immediately to the face. At first it looked good, great lather, started to get that “Santa Look” but I remembered that the suds dissipated fast, so after I got a full lather on, I waited about 30 secs.

As you can see, even though the skin looks slick, the lather is almost completely gone. You can still see some lather but considering I had 2 full pumps of undiluted soap applied directly to the face for a face lather, this is not acceptable.
I thought to still give it a go since the skin did look slick from both the first application and this 2nd one. It could be possible that the soap just didn’t lather well but still was usable if it got the skin slick enough.
Do note, the lather has not dried out, it’s still “wet” so it should still give you a layer for your blades to glide on right?

WRONG.
On the first pass, I nicked myself just under the nose.

Given, I was using the Parker 22R, which is a little more aggressive then my Merkur 34HD, but I have been using the Parker almost daily, switching between it and the Merkur for the several weeks now.
I haven’t nicked myself for weeks until just now.

This is NOT usable as a shaving soap.
Maybe if you used Gillette cartridges which will give you horrible shaves anyways and while probably won’t cut you, it’ll definitely will irritate your skin more.
But, this soap is not useable with a Double Edged Safety Razor

Since I haven’t finished shaving, it’s Proraso time.
Went with Proraso Red since I still have that Tea Tree scent about me, Sandalwood would mix well with it.

Look at the difference in the bowl and on the face, now that’s proper shaving lather.

Finished the shave with a BBS run.
Always feels good when you are smooth as a baby’s butt.

So as far as soaps go, even if they are from a “good” brand, sometimes their claims can be way, way off the mark. Buy this soap for the bath, it smells great, but its definitely not usable as shaving lather.

Nothing Fancy today, just Conk’s Bay Rum
Home made pre-shave
Nivea Post Shave
Merkur 34

Colonel Conk’s bay rum soap was one of the first I’ve used when I started shaving, and still one of my favorites. While there are other better made soaps with bay rum, with stronger and more pronounced scents, Conk’s still hold a special place in my heart.
Its scent still makes it a joy to use. That spiced rum smell makes you feel like doing a pirate, going “Arrrrrrhhhh me hearties!”
Heh!

It’s a pain in the arse to get in Singapore however, with most vendors overcharging for it.
I also don’t recommend buying from any of the online stores or until Amazon Prime Singapore-US starts carrying the individual soap pucks and not the “gift” mugs, which gives you a random soap along with the soap mug or dish.
If you want to get it though, your best bet is to just ship it in from the official online store in bulk if possible to save on shipping and count that extra cost as part of your vice expense.