Post count can be a bit deceiving sometimes, as I don't have 130 posts yet. And, I was just curious as to the "newness" not of forum members, but to folks that wet shave. I just turned 58 and have been wet shaving since 1968. I've shaved with new Gillette adjustables, and even had a Schick single blade injector razor for a while. Recently, back in Feb of 2011 I started shaving with a straight razor and within the past week have dabbled "back" into using a Double Edge razor. Interesting!! I am a former plastic throw-a-way multi blade user and now I shave with either DE or Straight. I have cans of shaving "foam" but prefer to lather up using my mug, scuttle and badger hair brush. Not knocking canned shaving cream or others, and I have tried some of the menthol recently, but like the feel of the brush invigorating my face. My name is Vern, and I am a Wet Shaver
My pop showed me how to use a brush and Williams about 25 yrs ago, but I abandoned it for disposables then a mach 3 and shower shaving. Got back to a brush, soap, and started using a DE about 16 months ago.
I am 38 and have been wet-shaving for 3 years (or is it 4?). Dad taught me on a cartridge razor. Cartridge razors always gave me ingrowns so after years of fighting them I went through a series of electric razors.
Just turned 49 back in May. I always used a cartridge and canned goo since I started shaving some 35 years ago. Tried an electric once or twice but just was not satisfied with the lack of closeness. I started with the brush, soap and DE about 3-1/2 years ago; first because I thought it was a neat idea, then because I thought it could save me money. :happy102
I am 26 for the next couple months. Started when I was 25. This is kind of ironic, I was wanting to ask the same question. You beat me to it. Brian
It would save me money if my wife and ESPECIALLY my 17 year old daughter could be convinced that it was "safe" right now, Samantha uses a 5 blade razor and compains of razor bumps and razor burn. You can't save money on buying 180.00 straight razors or vintage DE Gillettes, Fat or otherwise, but... sure it fun, and, maybe someday they will be something to pass on to the next generation... to sell on ebay..LOL
Brian, It dawned on me reading about help with getting a better shave, nicks here and there, face feels like fire.. etc.. that a lot of these people, are not "re-discovering" DE shaving, but rather bringing to bear the early lessons and stages of shaving all together. It's been so long ago that I forgot what it was like to try to vigilantly get a clean and close shave, other than just for the sake of getting off the whiskers. Like other duties, "please pass the TP", some find that shaving is much more than a daily, bi-daily or otherwise chore of getting your face to look like it used to look like at 12, and look presentable to those around you. It is almost an adventure in and of itself, made creative by the many ways one can accomplish the same goal.... a shaved face, or legs or underarms for the ladies. It's not all about men.
Will be turning 42 in a couple of months, October 5th to be exact, send presents. Anyway I bought my first DE razor in the late eighties and tried using colgate soap and a Burma shave brush but had suds instead of lather, because I didn't have a clue of what I was doing. Went back and forth with the latest and greatest carts until May of 2010 when I decided to get in with this game full time. I still didn't know what I was doing and had to relearn how to shave, but perserverance pays off in the end.
47 Well I'm 47 and have been wet shaving this time for about 6 months. I started shaving when I was 14 with that good news thing. Once out of high school I grew that beard and was cooooll, yeah right! Well after college and a bit after that I got close to my dad before he passed. After he passed I can remember being a kid and watching him shave with his Gillette Super Speed Flair and his tech. He liked his tech best because he was so upset when the handle stripped out. I kept his razors but decided to clean up and take the beard away. I used that stupid electric for awhile but wanted to play with something better. Cartridge which was ok but $$. Straight but I didn't have the talent to keep them sharp. So I got dad's ol trusty tech, but some thread tape on the handle and well you know, the light came on. Now I've had some RAD and had to have a Fatboy and a Red Tip. I love it and can be I won't turn back now! My name is Mike and I'm a DE shave lover!
I'm 33. I've been shaving since I was 15. Used electrics when I had to shave but wore a beard most of the time. Returned to shaving close to five years ago. Started shaving with a DE about four years ago. Brush + soap/cream + razor/DE blade = comfortable shave, for me, anyway.
Way to go Mike(s) ! Great story both!! The adventure is just beginning So many blades, so little hair growth, it's not right!
Third Mike's the charm.... I'm 31 as of last week, and started out with Gillette Sensor in HS, and "upgraded" to the M3 in college. Had a roommate that gave me a fusion but that one never clicked for me, price of the carts aside. Anyway, I had started using KOS gel in college, so I guess I was already trying to find a path to a better shave. Stumbled across a link to Mantic's videos about a year and a half ago, and picked up a brush and puck of soap. Tried that and liked it, bought my first DE about 6 weeks later (Parker 96). Bought my first vintage Gillette about 7 months latter and its been all downhill since then. It's been a fun road to wander down!
I'm 54. Learned with some sort of DE around 1971 or 72. Went to Trac II followed by Atra, and back to DE in early 2009. Then I discovered SE and injector razors, which I now wish I'd known about at the start. It would also have been good to know about lathering with a brush all along. All that time without knowing there was something that didn't come in a can. At least I know now. I've thought about trying a straight, and won't rule it out, but for now I think I won't.
I'm 23 and I first shaved when I was 14 but I didn't start shaving fairly often until about 5 years ago, however I've always wet shaved (with a cart. and shave gel) as that was what my dad has always done, but it wasn't until last month I finally decided to jump in after doing some research and found that it would be cheaper to go this route, and bought myself a shavette (don't have the money for an actual straight yet) and bought a vintage brush and shave soap and I haven't been disappointed yet. I still own a cartrige razor as an emergency back up shaver.
I will be 40 in November. I started shaving at 17 when I joined the Navy using whatever disposables and canned foam available at the exchange and imitating what I saw others doing to shave themselves. I tried Williams and a brush, probably VDH for all I know back in about 1995 after a crude dial-up web search trying to figure out how to shave without bumps or irritation but could not make it work right so went back to carts and goo. A little over a year ago I tried the web search on shaving again and thankfully found TSD! Now every shave is a pleasure!
I'm soon to be 35. It took me most of my adult life to actually need to shave once a day but I have been shaving since about 15ish I suppose, mostly with Gillette Sensor back then. Went in the Marines and used single blade, light as possible Wilkinson Sword disposables. Out of boot camp, picked up my Sensor for a while and then flip flopped back and forth between Sensor, Mach 3, and some sort of electric up until a year or so ago. Then I got my first DE and have been sampling/acquiring/selling off the ones I don't like ever since. Canned goo all the way up until around 2006 when we got really poor while I was in college and grabbed a puck of soap (I believe it was Colgate/VDH/Williams, whatever was at Walmart/DG store) and a Burma Shave brush. Used that brush and soap in blind ignorance and got bubbly suds that resemble nothing that I currently use. Did that up until I heard about traditional shaving from my dad, Southernscribbler. The rest has been chronicled here on The Shave Den.
Very good, Bob! What a great story!! And your dad is on the forums as well?? I have an old vintage Eveready 100 shaving brush, a crock mug from a Great Uncle Herman and about a few years ago, dug them out of the closet and strated with that Van DerHage soap from Walmart. I really like the soap, and for $1.54 it's got Aloe Vera and Shea butter in it and does a nice job of lubricating and sudsing. I recently acquired a 20mm silver tip badger knot and put it into a worthless POS brush handle (Burma Shave - Meijers) after taking out the old brush and it performed very nice. Then I got a 18mm Badger brush for Father's Day that has the handle made of Elephan Ivory. THAT one I use daily and really like the smaller brush. I've started shaving with a straight back in Feb of this year, as you probably know, and only recently started with DE razors, what I was kind of started with years ago. WOW. One thing I thought DE were gone and blades were pretty much limited to those "Good News" and other blades you find occassionaly at Family Fare or other outlets. Wrong!! Fortunately, I found all you, a GREAT bunch of folks, that share info with Newbies, and like I said, even though I've shaved for over 40 years, it's Newbie time to try to get caught up with what has happened with Gillette, Merkur, LORD, Feather, Muhle, Parker, and others. AND, what an assortment of razor blades and how they react to different razors and faces!! It's shaving school 101, and I'm learning, as my pocketbook squirms.. LOL I'm Vern, and I'm a wet shaver!
I started wet shaving in October 2010 at the age of 49. Before that, I had a full beard for almost 20 years. I seem to remember using disposable razors prior to growing out the beard, but it couldn't have been a pleasurable experience because I've repressed so much of it.
I'll be 33 on the 31st of this month. I used an electric shaver that I got for Christmas one year as a teenager. Then on my 18th birthday I got the Gillette Sensor Excel razor in the mail from Gillette, and I used it exclusively for the next 14 years. I can't remember what got me interested in it, but I started looking around the internet for vintage shave sights, came across this one, and started wanting to pick up some wet shaving gear. I remember back in my early 20's I bought a cheap brush and puck of soap, but I had no idea how to use it, was unable to build a lather, and just threw it away and went back to canned gel. It was late last year that I started getting some equipment like a DE blade and things like that and made use of the plethora of great advice on this site. Now I have a big stack of Sensor cartridge blades in my cabinet that aren't being used, because I just like my DE too much. I could still get a BBS shave out of the cartridge blades, but the process of getting there is just as important to me, and I love my Progress.
