Customer Reviews

Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving - Fifth Edition: Shaving Made Enjoyable

5 star:		(95)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent and well written guide to traditional wet shaving with a double edge safety razor. The author is clearly knowledgeable and well informed. His love of and enjoyment of the shaving ritual really comes through. All of the necessary shaving equipment is listed and reviewed in good detail. Time tested recommendations are made for the new wet shaver as well as more experienced shavers. The process of traditional wet shaving is explained in good detail and in a logical order. The books one drawback is also one of its strengths. In an effort to give as much information as possible the author provides links to many, many shaving resources scattered around the net. This is good for completeness but really requires you to read the book in front of a computer to get all the information. This also tends to lead to shorter less detailed explanations in the book itself with a reminder that you can go read the details on the net.

All in all this is an indispensable guide to shaving. Every man who hates his shave and walks around with three days growth MUST read this book. It will change your shave from a painful chore to something you really look forward to each day.

Right now, this is the essential primer on wetshaving.

While this is a short book, it covers the new hobby of wetshaving pretty well. Wetshaving includes the search for the perfect old-time shave using double edge or straight razors and a fresh-made lather whipped up by a shaving brush.

Somehow there are many, many products in this niche market and this book will guide you in choosing and using these products to get a great shave. In fact,the goal of this manual and reference is get you to look forward to your morning shave, rather than merely tolerating it.

As far as I know, this is the only unbiased book on wetshaving, as some others are associated with particular companies selling shaving products.

Minor typos aside, this is an outstanding reference for traditional safety razor shaving techniques and know-how. Complete with web-links that are updated independent of the book - the information presented stays current. There is a growing online community of men (and women) who are finding the pleasure of traditional safety razor shaving and Michael's book and web-site are a focal point in this community. If you have to shave, you may as well try to enjoy it. Michael's book will help you do so.

Absolutely the best book of its type. Required reading for anyone ready to ditch their cartridges and take up a safety razor. Ham's writing is insightful and incisive. A pleasure to read.

I bought this after deciding to try safety razor shaving on my own. It helped me immeasureably. The book is very well written and has an immense ammount of refference material available outside the book for those wishing to know more. extra reference material is hyperlink format at the end of the book. Notations in the book correspond the the reference URL.
Products I didn't know existed we're recommended and explained out and indeed some of them are worth they're weight in gold.
Bottom line, if your learning to wet shave, you need this book!

If you have a lot of knowledge about wet shaving, then this book is NOT for you. You may find it somewhat entertaining but you will probably already know most of the subject matter. If you are fairly knew to wet shaving or want to learn more, then this is a great book.

Lots of useful information and some great tips.

After months of reading ABOUT this book, I finally ordered a copy for myself. My opinion? Well, I read it, then re-read it, then re-read different chapters, and am sure I will re-read it all again! I still learn something new every time I pick it up.

I picked up a safety razor about a year ago and knew very little about good technique and good equipment. I got a cheap-quality razor, rushed through things, cut myself like crazy, and gave up, thinking the DE razor "isn't all it's cracked up to be."

A few months back I got tired of the irritation on my face from using my cartridge razor and thought I'd take another whack at DE razor shaving. I got an Edwin Jagger DE89L, an EJ best badger brush, TOBS Avocado, and a copy of this book. I took my time, determined to get it right if it took me a year. Well, it didn't take me a year, lol--it took less than a month. This book did more to open my eyes to proper technique and tools than anything else I've checked out online. (And I've checked out a lot!) My wife recently commented on how she's never felt my face so smooth. She questions the fact that I now have several new razors and brushes in my collection (her argument is that I "only have one face"), but she loves the results. And yes, I constantly feel my face throughout the day at work, lol.

What more can I say? GET THE BOOK. If you're a DE novice or a seasoned veteran, you owe it to yourself to get a copy. I'll never go back to my old razor and system; I'm having too much fun using an "outdated" method my father used for years. Get a copy for yourself, and learn to enjoy shaving all over again!

I found this to be a very good book. It's written in a very simple and uncomplicated way.

If you are new to wet shaving with a safety razor, as I am, you probably will have a lot of questions, as I did before reading this book.

If that is the case for you then this book will answer most of your questions and probably some that you hadn't thought of.

Michael Ham certainly covers what for me was the most fundamental question of shaving with a safety razor, razor burnt. He explains why it happens and how to prevent it. This point alone will improve your shaving experience and fully justified your buying his book. This in my opinion is the hart of the book, and of safety razor shaving, and Micheal does an excellent job on this point managing to turn a daunting task into a simple and even enjoyable task.

You will find that the concept of sensitive skin is more to do with lack of fundamental basic technic than genetics.

Micheal also gives an array of useful advice on most things about shaving like, brushes, creams, blades, razors, and while the list goes on he objectively reminds you that when it comes to these specifics what works for him will not necessarily work for you, but this information will help you to start your own quest for the right tools for you.

The book also has at the end an appendix with a list of forums, reference, vendors and internet links to videos and all sorts of useful information.

All in all, by the time you finish reading this book and going throw all, or at least some of the links, you will no longer be a beginner on wet shaving

I retired at 53 and yes lucky me! As you get older people say you get more eccentric and maybe in some ways they are right. I used to get up in the morning scrape a multi blade cartridge over my face in about 3 minutes call this a shave and then hit the day. Don't ask me why but given more time to think I decided that as "The shave" starts my day there must be a way to improve both this experience and my outlook. I thought why is it that people rave about a proper barbers shave done with a single blade? I thought that this step might be one too far so started to look at DE razors on the internet. Living close to Sheffield the home of stainless steel in the UK, I found a supplier and purchased a beautifully crafted crome DE Razor some blades soap and a brush. then thinking "cart and horse" I better find out how to use these things before someone gets hurt...me!!
Well here's the point I bought Leisure Guy's 5th edition of Gourmet Shaving and WOW!! I read it from cover to cover it must be one of the best reference books I've read. Even now 7 months on I still pick it up from the bedside table to find there are still things I'm learning. The morning shave is now something I really look forward to and I firmly believe that it makes me have a happier outlook on my day. The way the book is written is brilliant and putting all the reference material at the back is a great idea as it then doesn't detract from the flow of the book. The only problem I've encountered is how much, after reading the book and looking up some of the reference points, you seem to accumulate additional shaving parphenalia. Not because someone forces you too but as a way of trying products you've never encountered before. In some ways it makes you feel like a kid again!!
Michael Ham thank you for all the lessons and no doubt the experiences and experiments will continue as the draws fill up with razor blades creams soaps razors etc.
I can't say this has totally changed my life as it was, and is, pretty good anyway, but what used to be a chore is now a joy and something I look foward to and yes I'm worth it!

The book covers pretty much all the bases, giving logical advice on wetshaving-related matters. The author often mentions various internet resources, including sellers; while some may view this as advertising, I think it is useful given that wetshaving is fairly uncommon and big chains do not carry all needed products.