After spending the money for a Merkur Futur razor I have been doing a little reading up on shaving tips and techniques. I also joined a shaving forum. Yes, believe it or not there really is such a thing.
I am almost 45 years old and I am learning that I have been shaving wrong all of these years. I've always just wet my face with hot water, slathered on some shave cream, and scraped off the whiskers with the razor. It seems that there is a lot more to it than that, at least according to the wet shaving advocates and purists out there.
Canned shave cream is definately a no-no it seems. The preference seems to be either shaving soaps in a huge variety of scents with a wide range of lubricity additives, or tubed creams also in a range of scents and additives. Of course neither one is applied with the fingers but rather are lathered with a boar bristle brush. Oh yeah, and the brushes come with different grades of boar bristles and range in price from $30 - several hundred dollars. I guess my $10 brush just doesn't cut it.
There seems to be a wide variety of techniques for prepping the face and beard, lathering the soap or cream, actually accomplishing the beard removal itself, and the post shave skin treatment.
I like a good smooth shave as much as the next guy and intend to actually use some of the information I have been reading, but I just can't imagine going through the full regimen that some of these guys seem to do every day. Who has time for all of that?
I did discover a product called a shave stick which is made by QED. It's basically a shave cream in stick form which is ideal for travel. That, combined with a nice travel style brush should make for a nice way to get a good lather. And it comes in a lot of different scents including sandalwood which is the one I am considering ordering.
Ya learn something new every day I suppose.