Collecting v Shaving

Does an electric that works while wet count?

 

Yes

 

Does it require water to perform adequately? If so, yes.

 

I guess I am in the fourth category as I started using a DE razor and have an obsessive compulsive streak. When I get into something I don't wade in gradually, I jump in with both feet and tend to lose interest quickly. This hasn't happened with shaving gear. Its not so much that I like to collect the best of every type of blade or razor, but if I see a type that I don't have or a color variation that isn't normal I can't relax until I own it. It isn't even a want, it's more of a need. It happened with Schick injectors first and Weishi 9306' after that. I had to own every color of the originals and then they made long handled ones which are slowly arriving from China. Heck, I have so many that I will probably never get around to using them all. Gillette flare tips because this one has three rings instead of two, oh look, I haven't seen that knurling pattern before. OMG they made that in a fat handle too... bought. It has been a slow progression... razors, blades, creams, soaps and nor mugs/scuttles. My closet is overflowing and I have to come up with a way to display them all. Maybe I can hire an intern to create labels and mark them all appropriately.

 

there seems like a bunch of subsets, but shaving is the main theme
collectors
minimalist
variety junkies
focus based one at a timer
se
de
straights
carts
brush guys
soaps
cremes
scent matchers
skin issue folks
leather necks
buyers
sellers
Zen shavers
speed shavers
bbs chasers
dfs maintainers
historians
cutting edge walkers
innovators
old fashioned lovers

bunch of subsets, base line is we all gotta shave. have to, or get to, we all shave. so that is in common.

 

I can relate. Especially the hot then cold part. /shudder

 

I am a collector and a BBS shave chaser. I don't see why you can't be both.

I look for the collectors razors (there's a Toggle sitting at a local shop waiting for me...)

I strive after the perfect shave...

That's the art of shaving in my opinion.

 

Don't you have a pizza to order?

 

Where's the shop please?

 

Learnin' about Cuba

 

I have yet to hear a convincing rationale that cartridge shaving isn't wet shaving, especially (although not necessarily) when the cartridge is used on a high-quality aftermarket handle, in tandem with high quality soap or cream and a good brush. As has been pointed out, if you're using the blade with water, it's wet, and it's shaving, so it's wet shaving. Admittedly, we get a little murkier when we're talking about wet electric shaving, but I'll leave that discussion for another time.

Some single-blade enthusiasts have defaulted to the argument, "OK, cartridge shaving may be wet shaving, but it isn't traditional shaving." I still have yet to hear solid evidence in favor of that argument, either. First of all, what is so "traditional" about a DE? When it was introduced in 1903, it was revolutionarily modern in contrast to what came before it. Is it just the time aspect that makes it traditional, and the fact that men have been using DEs for generations? At what point did it go from being modern to traditional? Was 40 years long enough? The Trac II was introduced in 1972. My father shaved with, and I shave with it occasionally. Although I don't have children, I am old enough to have a son of (barely) shaving age. If he were to shave with a Trac II, that would be three generations of men in the same family who use the design. How is that not "traditional" based on any dictionary definition of the term?

 

You're skirting the issue. Obviously we must all return to sharpened rocks. I'll skip the generation of rusty razors that lead to lock jaw, thank you.

 

I don't follow. What issue am I skirting, and how am I skirting it?

 

Ha-ha ha ha ha ha nope

 

All I meant is that I completely agree with you. If we discount cartridge shaving as "non-traditional," then we had all best go back to shaving with sharpened rocks. I was just following the logic to it's conclusion. We view safety razors as nostalgic. Personally, I view straight edge as older than that. But for the next generation, just like you are saying, the Trac II becomes their nostalgia. All this stuff is moving targets. I remember when anything made in Japan was "Japanese crap." Now my kids think of Japanese cars as premium. But I hear "Chinese crap" invoked in much the same way that "Japanese crap" was when I was a kid.

 

I love both - collecting and shaving. Sooner or later I use even my collectables!

 

I see. Sorry I missed your point.

Was there a time when Japanese goods were "crap"? These days, Japanese workmanship is top notch, and their goods are priced accordingly. But was it always that way? The epithet of "Chinese crap" is not without merit, since Chinese factories provide cheap labor, which is reflected in the workmanship. That may change with the increasing industrialization of that country, but for now, their goods are largely cut-rate, compared to Japan. I don't know if the "Japanese crap" epithet came out of a similar situation, and Japan has since evolved, or if Japanese goods were always good, and the term was unfairly applied.

 

This disparity is quite evident in the luxury watch world. Grand Seiko watches, from Japan, are among the best made in the world, rivaling high-end Swiss watch brands, and the company has a heritage that commands respect. This not only bolsters the company name, but also the Japanese "brand," since the company is associated with the country. In the watch world, China is mainly known for its cheap knock-offs of luxury brands, harbored by a government that apparently has no interest in cracking down on a booming knock-off industry. Not only are the products of poor quality, but the Chinese "brand" is tarnished in the process. Until China takes itself seriously enough to want to be held in the same esteem as Japan, this perception probably won't change.