Taff - Member
Always sworn by a Gillette Fusion and Boots no. 7 anti friction shave gel [brush applied] comba as it's given the closest and least irritative shave. I have just had my closest shave ever, even on my neck around my voice box [known as Everest by the mrs] and not got any razor burn at all despite having to do some patches a couple of times ie chin. Prep'ed as usual and was really surprised at how easy and smooth the razor is on my skin. Only issue I 'had' was a small spot on my neck... problem solved now.
I use Semogue 620 boar brush (£13 including postage) and a 49p Palmolive shave stick. (I do have an expensive Kent BK8 £50 pure badger) The fun is in whipping up the lather to the right consistency which needs a bit of practising but very easy to learn. So cheap and cheerful for me there. I do face lathering but now I just grind the shave stick into a cheap bowl to make a shave soap out it just for fun. Yes, pre-shave preparation is very important and only takes me 3 mins normally and then I am ready to go.
Really cuffed, only spent £15 on the EJ from Amazon and it came with 5 Derby Extra blades. Will still try that sample selection from eBay in any case to see what else works or doens't work.
£15 for EJ is a very good price considering their normal retail price is around £18 to £24. I have Derby blade on one of my favourite aggressive Red Tip SuperSpeed too and so far they work out rather well. Derby is a miss or hit for some but so far I have no problem.
I used to use Nivea afterhsave balm but founjd it a bit greasy and used to have spots. Can't remember what I used previously but I know use Boots No. 7 After Shave recovery balm. Slightly more expensive but definately worth it if you ahve really sensitive skin like me.
No need to use a lot of it. Just a tiny bit will be sufficient and after that if you want you can apply another layer of aftershave etc. For some reasons my skin is a bit oily but then normal soap will dry it up badly and I found my solution in my "home made" pre-shave oil ... mixing Jojoba oil with other essential oil etc. Solve the problem.
PS was it you who outbid me on some of those vintage superspeeds then?! I lost out on two decent looking ones.
I won a Superspeeds (not flare tip) for £10.16 + £1.75 delivery recently. The condition is so so with a bit of lazy silo doors but the gap is even and usable. Used it this morning and all I can say is I like SuperSpeed. It is my 5th Superspeeds (I have 2 reds, 1 black handle, 1 English flare tip and this pre-60s superspeed).
Yes, I missed out on few of the US made flare tip SuperSpeeds. English SuperSpeeds are more aggressive by comparison to the US made ones by the way. The reason for this I guess is that there were plenty of blue beards in the olde UK ... 
I also won a gold Aristocrat for approximately £23 but the seller is messing about at the moment with no email reply etc so I shall sit and wait for another few days before I take actions.
Thanks for all the advise just wish I had known about these razors sooner
Before I started using safety razor I really hated all things related to shaving because 1) they are bloody expensive 2) they are bloody in effective 3) the company keeps advertising their 5 blades etc garbage with all those so called alpha males sport men shite. At one point I refused to buy any more of their cartridge blades that led me to prolong the use of the same blades which eventually resulted in a bloodied face. i.e bad cut. Pissed me off big time. Had to call my father for rescue so he sent me his black handle superspeed. Now, I can't wait to have a shave. 
