I hope this finds you all dealing well with the heat. Personally, I prefer 60 +/- 5 degrees. Anyway... Time for another Theme Week. This one is intended to take you back. How far back is up to you - it's Remember When...? Week. Do you remember those days as a kid watching Dad shave? How 'bout the first time you lathered up and had a real blade sliding across your face? Do you have any of those items from Dad or Grandad that you still use today? How about when you started traditional wet shaving? Still have that first razor? Still using the same brand of blade or soap? What about that first brush you used? Do you still have that? If you have those things, bring them out and relive the "good ol' days." And even if you don't have any of those items, share with us stories you do remember about shaving with your dad or that first time you had a real shave. I know we all would love to hear!
I remember those days like they were yesterday. I learned to shave watching both my Dad and Grandad. I remember the first time trying to make lather. It was Williams I didn't think I'd ever get it right. The first time with a blade was a disaster. I can remember my Dad saying, "No pressure! No pressure!" It didn't matter, cut my face to pieces anyway. Back then I only had 1 razor (Gillette Slim), 1 brand of blade (Gillette), 1 soap (Williams), 1 brush (Ever-ready), and a Old Spice mug. I still have my first razor, brush and mug. I'm still using the razor and mug but the brush needs to be re-knoted. Sorry for the picture quality, I only had a cell phone camera.
My grandfather's shave mug and brush are around here somewhere; I've no idea if the brush is usable at this point, though, as he passed away before I was 1. EDIT: My father's tools before he moved out were a Schick Chroma, Noxema goop-in-a-can, and Old Spice, as I recall.
I remember when you could walk into any pharmacy any where and pick up a de or injector..with of course, their respective blades. And they were n.o.s!...
So I still have my first brush. It's a drugstore Wilkinson Sword. I think it is better than the ones they sell now - I have a new one that I bought when I first got back into shaving. Comparing the two, the old one has a larger diameter knot, is denser, and feels heavier in the hand. I'm curious to see how it will perform. I used to leave in bristles down in my soap dish, I'm not sure its even ever been rinsed, let alone cleaned. In those days I used Wilkinson Sword soap as well, so I bought some. Back then, the dish was black. I have no idea if this is the same soap in a blue dish or what. Does anyone know? My Sensor Excel with the twin blades is long gone, so I'll be using my trusty Merkur slant with a Feather. If I could find a sensor, I'd probably use it, just to see. I don't think they make them, or the cartridges anymore. I didn't use aftershave in those days, but I figure if I had it probably would have been either Gillette Cool Wave or Aqua Velva. So I spent five bucks on a great big bottle of blue. I've never tried blue before, so looking forward to that too.
My dad shaves with a DE now, but used to use carts and goo. He told me that when he started shaving, my grandpa gave him a Trac II and told him good luck. There's a picture of me when I was a baby when my dad put shaving cream on my face and we were both in front of the mirror. Well we both wet shave now, so we have that in common.
I remember as a young boy watching the 'prep' work my dad did each morning: running the water in the sink until warm; filling the sink, heating a wash-cloth and then applying it to his face for what seemed to me, as a child, an eternity. Next, his brushing up lather in a mug and then painting his face with it. I remember clearly his facial contortions as he applied the mysterious white lather. Quite a morning ritual of which I'm proud to say I follow pretty closely some 40 years later.
I only wish I had a better memory. I don't recall ever learning to shave with my Dad. He was in the Air Force and had to be in to work early, so he was usually out the door by the time I got out of bed. I do remember my first shave, though. It was right around my 14th birthday. I remember using Dad's Schick injector and some canned something-or-other. Just a nick or two, but all the peach fuzz was gone
SBrush: Simpson Chubby 3 Soap: MWF Shave Bowl: Merkur (from four piece set) Razor: Toggle Rhodium replate Blade: Voskhod Russian Teflon coated A/S: Uplands by Bonny Doon Farms Shaving was more about my grandfather who shaved with a straight and then DE's. He left all of his gear with me including the straights and badger brushes still in the box. My dad was an electric Remington type of guy.
I had to learn to shave on my own. I enlisted in the Air Force and during basic training I used a Remington Microscreen electric shaver. That was not a good way to start. I would only shave every 3 days because of the shaving bumps on my face. I moved to the carts with 2 blades and goo for a long time, still having problems with the shaving bumps. As of January, I have been traditional wet shaving with DEs, shavettes and now I am soloing with straights. Now I can't wait to be able to shave in the mornings.
"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'VE NEVER SHAVED A DAY IN YOUR LIFE!! YOU WILL SHAVE EVERY DAY!!!" So said my TI on day one of my AF Basic Training (July 29, 1980). I used a cartridge razor and actually had two - one to use and one to display. How on earth did you get away with shaving only once every three days AND keeping an electric razor inspection ready???
OMG! I remember the my TI telling us the exact same thing. I was there January 23, 1980. (3708, flt O86)
Loaded up my '53 Ball End Tech for today's shave. A Ball End Tech was the first DE razor I picked up in the wild. After I had PIF'd it, I started to miss it. Sooooo, I found another; this one gold. And a few weeks ago I found a nickle one dated 1954. Although a mild razor, when paired with the right blade I get excellent results.
I was 18 and had little more than peach fuzz on my face and it grew very slowly. I did get sent back to the dorm before an inspection one time, but it was not for facial hair.
I used to watch my dad shave every morning. We had a Dutch barge at the time and I din't have a room of my own. Just a corner in the hold. Next to the hot water tap where he shaved. Trac II, Old spice & brush (boar? badger? Dunno and can't ask anymore since he passed away six years ago). Load the brush on the puck & face lather. One pass, if I remember correctly. Mom never complained. I started out with cartridges. Can't remember when. I used a brush and palmolive stick. Later I switched to Tabac and still later to DVH. I confess I even used shave gel. Until 2 years ago. First DE razor: Wilkinson Sword Classic, Wilkinson Sword blades, Wilkinson Sword badger/boar mix brush, DVH soap. For half a year. Then I found TSD. And my world opened up.
Thursday I journeyed back about 5-1/2 years, back to when I started with traditional wet shaving. For 32 years prior to that it was cartridges and canned goo. I popped a blade into my first DE, a Merkur 34C, grabbed my first "real" brush, a Vulfix 406 Burlington (I don't count the VDH boar as a real brush, but that's me ), and pulled out the first shaving soap I ever used, VDH Deluxe. I even lathered up in my first "real" shaving mug, a large white one from Classic Shaving with my initials on it. Yeah, I broke rotation with my brush and soap, but for the sake of Remember When...? Week, it was worth it. Darn near BBS!
I passed on my usual Saturday Str8 shave in honor of Remember When...? Week. It was a little over 37 years ago; I had just turned 14. I decided it was time to shave. I lathered up with some canned foam that I can't remember the name of, and grabbed Dad's injector. Just one pass and only a nick or two, but the peach-fuzz was gone.
