How were you introduced to wet shaving?

Discussion in 'Shave School' started by castrobabble, Jan 29, 2013.

  1. castrobabble

    castrobabble Member

    This past December, I read this blog post and never looked back. What got me hooked originally in the post was the amount of money I would be saving (theoretically anyway!) and the funny comment about the sole purpose of the badger :)
     
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  2. PLANofMAN

    PLANofMAN Eccentric Razor Collector Staff Member

    Moderator Article Team
    "The time, after you figure it out, is more or less the same. The reward is greater. So it is really this: 4 minutes with a can and face destruction, plus no enjoyment, and the attitude that "well these 4 min don't glorify God, so I better get through them so I can get onto something that does," and those four minutes (and that attitude) played out every day...
    Or
    six minutes that are enjoyable, calming, involving sharp (manly!) objects, better for your skin, and cause you be thankful that God not only made you like this, but that God made the world in such a way that he can be glorified in the mundane things, and that there is nothing you just need to push through to get onto things that actually do glorify him, and that attitude played out every day
    When I think about it like that, I don't really begrudge the 90 seconds difference."

    :happy036: I love this comment.
     
  3. Slipperyjoe

    Slipperyjoe Rusty Metal Tetanus

    I'm not sure really..it just happened..a long time ago..in this galaxy...
     
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  4. michael54

    michael54 Well-Known Member

    Haha my pastor introduced his new hobby at a bible study. Let us feel the brushes and lather and I was hooked. Throw in the money I'll save and I'll fillet my face before I give Gillette $30 a month but as I learned on my first try practice will be needed
     
  5. swarden43

    swarden43 "It's your shave. Enjoy it your way."©

    A little study of Genesis 41:14? ;)
     
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  6. 178-bplatoon

    178-bplatoon Well-Known Member

    I'd shaved with a Trac2 basically all my life(30+ years). Then around 2 years ago a friend of mine and I were talkng about the "EXTREMELY" high cost and "POOR" preformance for modern cartrige razors. One thing led to another and I started to research the internet for more information. I bought my first razor a "Feather Popular" TTO, some (Wilkies and Personna's) locally and a Van der Hagan shave kit(brush,soap and bowl) and have never looked back or shaved with a multibladed contraption again!!! :)
     
  7. ewaynedodson

    ewaynedodson Well-Known Member

    A few friends had discussed it, which got me curious, then a blog post on thecripplegate.com convinced me.
     
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  8. JRod22

    JRod22 Well-Known Member

    Watching movies and TV shows seeing straight razor shaves always intrigued me. Some particular scenes that come to mind are from the office when Will Farrell is applying to be manager and intermittently throughout boardwalk empire episodes. My friends and I started discussing going to get straight razor shave from a barber. After some research I realized a good straight razor shave from a barber was not necessarily an easy thing to come by due to health codes and lost art aspect. Found GeoFatBoy videos on YouTube and found out about safety razors. By this time I was intimidated by straights but enthralled by traditional shaving. Within a day of ordering gear I came across this place. What a great find, both traditional shaving and TSD.
     
  9. JRod22

    JRod22 Well-Known Member

    Edit: o yeah I also am very prone to irritation and ingrown hairs, so the better for your skin aspect really hit home.
     
  10. Lexicon Devil

    Lexicon Devil the Liberace of shaving

    I was on another forum (a literature one) and for whatever reason the question was asked, "What razor do you use?" Amongst the usual fusion, quattro etc, a couple of guys on there started talking about Merkurs, Edwin Jaggers and Feather blades. I was fascinated as I had no idea anyone younger than 300 was still using such things. I began investigating the subject, then I started using a brush and cream with my cart. Then I bought a Gillette SS on the bay and a sampler from Bullgoose. 10 razors, and numerous blades, brushes, creams, soaps, AS and so on later, and the rest is history. If various AD's can be called history. I seriously wonder if my condition is going to be covered in the upcoming DSM V.
     
  11. Matt F

    Matt F Active Member

    I believe the first shaving video I watched was his first video where he used the Merkur HD, which led to me getting one myself! His vids are top notch.
     
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  12. Sara-s

    Sara-s This Pun for Hire

    My husband & I have been using soap & brushes for a number of years. ( I bought him his first brush, because he kept admiring them in stores, while insisting he didn't want one. I know him too well to believe that.) We both switched to DE a little more than a year ago, when he got fed up with the ever-increasing cost of cartridges. Since I am the geek who does the research, I got interested too.
     
  13. RHood

    RHood Well-Known Member

    I was looking for a way to improve the awful and irritating shave I was getting from carts and a quick google search had me watching a Mantic youtube video about using a brush and soap to create lather. This quickly led me to the DE razor and to the realization that shaving was a wonderful thing that could be enjoyed instead of despised. It is four years later and despite the razors, cremes,soaps,brushes,blades,etc. that I have purchased, I am certain I have still saved money by ditching the carts and canned cream. Even more fun is that very soon I will be teaching my son the joy of a proper shave!
     
  14. FacialCarnage

    FacialCarnage Well-Known Member

    Sounds exactly like what happened to me. Another place, another time, same story! Cheers mate!
     
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  15. srpavko

    srpavko Fastrak Super Duty Hustler

    I like most men never thought about shaving as anything but a PITA. Luckily I was able to grow facial hair at 18, so have had a goatee ever since, that cut down on real estate that I needed to clear daily. For the last year or so I had a full beard, loved not shaving, looked good (I thought), and kept my face warm.

    This winter I took a part time job as a drivers helper with UPS. No mustaches below the corners of your mouth was their appearance code. I though what the heck, I'd shave the whole kit and kaboodle off just to freak out the wife who has only seen me once with out facial hair. I realized though that I had no cream or blades in the house. In my search I came across my sons kit (brush, mug, soap, and 65 Slim). Went to Googleland and read up a bit first then had at it! I was hooked from thew first second the brush touched my face. Bad lather and all. Then once I saw that there were other maniac out there that loved it too, well...the rest is in the future.
     
  16. B-3

    B-3 Active Member

    My Ole Man died when I was 15, My Mother said I needed to shave, and stop looking like a darn Hippie.
    So she handed me my Dad's gear, and told me to g in and learn how to use it.
    I left her house on my 17th birthday to go to Vietnam. (dumb kid in a hurry to die)
    She would not let me take the stuff with me, because I would loose it.
    So I got into injector blades until they became hard to get, then I fell into disposable hell.
    Last year We were in a discount store, and I saw some shaving soap on sale for a stupidly low price. So I bought some.
    After the first shave, Brain cell number 5 flickered for a minute, and I remembered how much better the TTO was than the disposable.
    This started the adventure, that has landed me here.
     
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  17. 178-bplatoon

    178-bplatoon Well-Known Member

    We're glad you found your way to the Den and back to "traditional" shaving....:)
     
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  18. tuxxdk

    tuxxdk International Penguin of Mystery

    I was searching for a bargain on the Mach3 cartridge, when I stumpled uppon a shop that sold DE/SR equipment. I thought "hrm.. why would anyone use that".. and here I am, 1 month later with a DE razor, 2 difference soaps as well as 2 brushes (one horse and one badger), as well as an assorted range of lotions and blades to try out :D A lot of new accesories are underway from Amazon and eBay as we speak. What I save in blades (that was what got me convinced to try DE instead of cartridge) I surely spend on new gear.. haha.

    I can't see myself going back to rotary and/or cartridge. I really enjoy my daily shaves now, whereas before I dreaded them.

    I never thought wetshaving was such a big deal but I can see here on this forum and all over the world that it's really a subject that matter to men. Great!
     
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  19. HoosierTrooper

    HoosierTrooper Steve-less in Indiana

    My dad gave me his Schick injector in 1971 when I was 15.
     
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  20. Kevin K

    Kevin K Well-Known Member

    I was going through a major life crisis. You know, changing absolutely EVERYTHING in my life kinda stuff. Once I could look at myself in the mirror, I quit shaving blind in the shower. I soon realized that my face was constantly tore up from shaving with a cartridge. I'd had major ingrown hairs and skin irritation for 30 years. I had changed on the inside, but still had the old me looking back from that mirror. One day, while reading the Art of Manliness website, I found an article on wet-shaving and figured, "Why not give it a try?" Then I started investigating various wet-shaving sites and stumbled into TSD. I lurked around here for several months and kinda got an idea of what would be a good yet cheap entry into wet-shaving. I purchased my "kit" and started practicing the things I'd learned. After a week, I started asking questions and now I have all of the AD's that are talked about in these parts!
     
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