someone has way too much time on their hands or face I guess

Goddamitt. Still no reply from traditionalshaving. I might try and cancel my order and see what they say. Pity mankind don't have the merkur 34c.

Saspro, which DE and blade did you go for?

Merkur HD 34c & a Derby Extra blade

That's what I'd hoped to use on my first go. Where did you order from?

Believe it or not, eBay

Dammit. Saspro has ordered after me and managed to receive everything. Meanwhile all I have is some frikkin soap and oil.

Traditionalshaving.co.uk are really starting to piss me off. I've now emailed them and given them three options:

1. send out what they have in stock and I'll wait for the rest (it's only the lotion and stypic pencil).
2. split the order into "in stock" and "out of stock". The "in stock" order comes to over £39 and means I should have free delivery. The "out of stock" items come to £18 or so. I've told them I'm happy to pay the £2.50 delivery charge for the "out of stock" items.
3. cancel the frikking order.

I'm completely fed up of waiting. I've given them what I perceive to be fair options. Option 2 would be the best for them as they don't lose out on any money. I'm now leaning towards option 3.

If you're going to give an email address for people to contact, then for the love of God, reply to the frikkin emails.

Still waiting for stuff. Mankind apparently shipped on Monday but it hasn't arrived yet (Soap & razor pit, I could do with the soap). Still waiting for the straight razor & lather bowl as well.

Well I don't know if it's the email I sent them but traditionalshaving have sent an email stating all items are in stock, packed and ready to despatch. Funnily enough, they still show the lotion as being out of stock.

Well they sent another email explaining the delay - their stock comes in on Fridays and they pack on Saturdays and ship as early as possible the following week. Now why didn't they explain that when I sent the first email on Monday? Doesn't take much and I'd have been happier.

http://www.thehut.com/gillette-fusion-w ... 72735.html

Seems an alright deal

So I got my stuff. I need to practise making lather - I'm crap at it. I need to learn to hold the razor - did fine on the cheeks, but wreaked havoc along the jaw and neck. I need to do some beard mapping.

Alum block stings like f*ck. Styptic pencils are awesome. Nobody has a frikkin clue on how sandalwood smells (I bought sandalwood soap, oil and lotion, none of which smell like sandalwood).

MY third go on the Derby blades was far superior to anything else I'd done. No nicks/cuts whatsoever.

Have migrated to Astra blades today and the nicks/cuts weren't as bad as the first time I had a shave. I was more able to go against the grain on the neck.

I've realised that to shave with a DE, I realistically need to shave at a minimum of every three days and ideally every two days. The stubble is what makes me have to make multiple passes and shaving more frequently reduces the amount of stubble and hence the number of passes.

I use hard soap and brush nearly every day now, I must say I really prefer it to a can of foam, it's a thicker lather, doesn't make much difference to the act of shaving with my Mach 3, but I'm glad I made the transition.

Currently using some Gillette 7 o'clock blades. Not too bad. One more shave with it then on to the next brand.

Currently getting good results with a combination of preshave, then oil then soap. Using the straight for finer details & the DE for the main shave.
One pass is fine for work, 2 passes is a very good shave, 3 passes =bbs (although I'm sticking to 2 passes at the moment as I used my mach 3 the other day as I was tired and in a rush and it irritated my skin)

I'm getting a bit better at using the razor, minimal pressure and hold the razor.

I'm still crap at generating lather. I'm using my old cocopops cup and I don't think it's adequate. Don't want to splash out on a scuttle, so will have a look at getting a latte mug like mantic has. Using a synthetic brush and the awkward nature of GFT soap means it's going to be a while.