Shaving Soap

I bought this set at the end of August as a birthday treat for myself, but I left leaving a review until I'd got enough use out of it to make a fair review. Just to be clear I got:
- a Merkur 34c HD
- Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera soap
- the standard badger hair brush
- a sample pack of blades

I ordered this just before the August bank holiday but the delivery came really soon, so I was happy with that. As for the package itself, it came all nicely bubble wrapped and had some sweets in it too (toffee or fudge I think...I gave them to my kid anyway). So, that part of the order was all great - purchasing, delivery and the packaging was all great.

As for the razor, I like it a lot. It looks good and it feels nice in hand. I should add here that I am completely new to this type of shaving, so the whole feel was something I wasn't used to. The blade it comes with however is pants - my advice is to throw that away after one shave or straight away.
The soap is nice. I'm not sure just how aloe vera-ly it smells but it feels nice and it should last for months.
The brush seems to lose hair quite easily, it was already dropping hair during the first use. I'm not sure if this is common or not but in any case it seems to be holding itself together and it does the job.
I've only used a few blades from the sample pack and thus far I recommend the Gillette blades and Wilkinson Sword. I probably wouldn't buy this again if I were transported back in time with the knowledge I have now, I'd save money and buy some of the aforementioned blades and maybe some Feathers (I hear they are super sharp).

On shaving like this in general; the reason I left this review so late was because I wanted to give a review when I had a decent amount of shaving experience with it. I had probably my first irritation free shave just yesterday with this set up (using a Gillette blade) and it feels good. I actually have really sensitive skin and with disposables and the 'Gillette Mach whatever ultra turbo stealth' or whatever they're called now, I would always get irritation on my neck. Hence one of my reasons for trying this form of shaving was because of the irritation of using a multi-blade razor, as well as the economic reasons and because I wanted a closer shave.
If you are reading this and considering doing the change I'd say go for it. It's working for me. I would recommend watching videos on Youtube about finding the correct angle, lathering up, preparing your face and so on. I found these were the things that at first I struggled with and managed to slice my face a few times as a result. I'd also recommend that if you have sensitive skin like me that you opt for the blades that people say are less forgiving - I'd guess that the reason I get less irritated is because of that. I'd also recommend only doing 2 passes on your first few shaves as well, and learning in which direction your hair grows - e.g., the hair on my neck around my Adam's apple grows upwards, whilst the rest grows downwards. So you need to change your attack in that case.

So, pros and cons?
Pros:
- Closer shave
- Less irritation (with sharper blades)
- More economic
- You get to shave like your grandad, which is cool

Cons:
- It takes a little time to learn the correct technique and the lather consistency
- You are going to cut yourself
- Higher initial cost than multi-blade options (but better in the long run)


5 stars.