Ahhhh, my story.... I refused to join TSD for the longest time. Not for any other reason than I wanted Jeff to have his "own" thing. I suppose, thinking back, that is the one thing that sets us apart ... neither one of has our "own" thing. We prefer to share our experiences .. It truly does bring us closer together. For the longest time Jeff hated shaving. So did I. To the extent that I bought him a very expensive electric razor for his birthday, it was touted to shave as close as a razor but really didn't. It DID clean itself in it's own cleaning solution. Not long after his birthday, packages started to arrive at the house. A razor, a blade sampler pack, soaps, and a brush. I sat on the bed and nervously watched the first shave with my cell phone in hand, surely I would need to call 911 when the CUT happened. Nothing ... just a smiling husband super excited about the shave he just received. Soon after, more packages. Soaps, brushes, razors and blades .. everyday something was arriving. Still, a smiling husband that was actually enjoying shaving. Every evening while enjoying our "relaxing" time .. I was informed of this "post" and that "post" from names I had never heard .. Crackstar Jeff, Bill, JoAnna, Erik, and too many for me to remember now. I was intrigued, my husband is getting shaves he ENJOYS and these people (among others) are helping him. Awesome! Then one day he says, You should join. I was reluctant at first. This was "his" thing. He continued to post stuff, send stuff off to various parts of the world and the US, and the packages kept rolling in. Me, I hated shaving. It wasn't comfortable, I had razor burn every time I shaved, and the canned goo ... it was getting old. Paying $20+ each time I wanted a new pack of 5 blade cartridges, outrageous. Fast forward to vacation. We rent the same condo we were married in, every May. Our little patch of sand where we committed to each other on the beach ... He says, try this and let me know what you think. I had been eye-balling him for months. One razor then another .. this blade versus that blade. I was intrigued. My first DE shave was a Weishi gunmetal and Dorco-301ST, at the beach. Awesome shave, no irritation even though I was still using the canned goo. Since then, May 2010, I have not used a cartridge razor (except for my underarms, but that is a different thread .. ). I joined TSD several months later. I have since went totally cartridge free, as I have learned how to shave the pits and no blood was shed. I have my own Den and own acquisition disorder. Jeff says that he should use more of my stuff but he has quite a bit of his own. I like it here. While there isn't a lot regarding women's shaving, does there need to be?? Possibly, but a razor is a razor and a blade is a blade. They cut hair the same, IMO. And I have given my opinion several times. But that is what we are about. Would I like to see more girls ... absolutely. But that is another iteration of TSD that will come ... I am sure. Until then, it's Jo and me, keeping ya'll in line! Happy Shaving and Enjoy your stay Here!
Splendid post, Shawna! You are as great an asset to this forum, as your husband is! :happy096 I would like to see that thread. It may be of help to other ladies. I had no difficulty starting out really, other than finding a blade. And back then there was less than a dozen brands of blades talked about on the forums or available through vendors. :sihns011 There are a few areas more specific to women, such as legs requiring more moisturizing than a face does. But for the most part everything else is unisex. :happy088 I think it takes a certain kind of lady to hang out on a mostly male forum. All the shave forums have a few ladies, and more coming on board everyday. Just like blade brands and shaving forums themselves, the number will grow. edit; almost forgot. Thank you for the compliment, Erik!
You know its funny, but a little over 1 1/2 years ago, I was under the impression that they didn't make injectors or DE razors and blades...I just didn't know. Then one day I was surfing the web to see if there was a cheaper on-line place to order cartridges, and I found a wet shaving blog. Bam!! And Then I Googled DE razor, cause although I grew up around Double-Edge Razors, we never used the term DE's... Thats when I first saw the razors on E-Bay, and it was like a time-machine and I promptly ordered a Schick Injector (which never came, but thats another story). And the second hit, was TSD and someone said something funny about Ming-Shi razors and Bill said they better watchout because Crackstar/Jeff would be around, and then Jeff made the scene and was so funny, I was just sitting there laughing out loud...I had never thought about shaving and having fun in the same breath...After that I was a regular lurker, and big fan, and some of the posters here became my favorite "corner-writers", and TSD became like my daily shave rag. and a favorite source of entertainment. I bought a Ming Shi and a pack of Perma-Sharp Supers within a couple days, at a Barber Depot down the street, and it was like the whole Cartridge thing never happened...And a year ago this month I joined the Den and it took things to another whole level. First interacting with people I already felt like I knew,was a trip. But then something else happened...I started making real very close friends and sharing real experiances... Skip to now...This has been an important life style change, that has enriched my life in ways I never expected. And in edition to feeling like part of the Shave Den fraternity, and family, I'm also getting the best shaves of my life and having the best time doing it. I echo Danny and Jeff, when I say, Long Live The Shave Den, the Best Wet-Shaving Board On the Planet!!
As I say before, and I will say again, it is so difficult for me to express myself in English. I found this great Group through a good friend of mine, who lives in Holland, and who is not so much anymore active here. I knew a little bit JoAnna and Bobby from B&B, but is only here that I got to know them better, and to love and respect and appreciate them. Jeff, Shawna, Bill, and so many others here are now to me like part from own family. It was Bill, who provided me with the most wonderful razor I ever owned, and that for so long I was searching, it was JoAnna, who introduced me to her wonderful soaps, it was Jeff who introduced me to the Voskhod blades. Now, it is my duty to be a PIF guy!
Unlike most folks here, I'm an old guy (64), who has been wet-shaving for 40 plus years. One day I was surfing the Internet looking for another source for my favorite aftershave, which was no longer locally available, and I stumbled upon TSD. The rest, as they say, is history.
Ok, here's mine: My Dad (southernscribbler) apparently lost his mind when he went out of work on disability (see his story above) and started getting interested in old razors that were obviously left in the annals of history because the newer razors were obviously heads and tails better than that old crap. So to help keep him sane and so the rest of the family understood him, I decided to start looking into what in the world he was getting into. This was all around his birthday (Nov. 1st two years ago) so I, not knowing ANYTHING about traditional shaving, started to look for a gift for him. I first was looking at one of those barbershop lather machines; knowing how nice and special using a brush and soap is, I'm soooo glad I didn't spend the money on one. So, nearly blind, I went to eBay and got him a razor, the first one I found that was in decent shape, a '51 blue tip. Not understanding anything about aggression, I figured this would do. While I was surfing for his razor, I started to learn a little about them and signed up to TSD to learn more. By this point, and totally unknown by me at the time, I was hooked. Dad got his razor, which is in amazing condition, but being a blue tip is wayyyyy too gentle for Dad's liking (and mine). Shortly after this, I got my Slim Adj and began traditional shaving myself. Now with the slim adjustable, I learned about aggression and soon after, Dad sent me back the blue-tip simply because it is just not what he was looking for, which now that I was shaving this way, I completely understood. So since I needed to replace his birthday present, I got him a Merkur Progress which has more than enough aggression. That is about it! Up to this point, I've gone through about 30 different razors and have enough AS/SC/SS to last me for a good 2 years or so, with no clear plan of stopping. I truly enjoy this hobby of ours and am very grateful to Dad for introducing me to traditional shaving and to all of you here at TSD for communing with me nearly everyday since. Now, I'm still not sure whether Dad is sane, but at least he has a partner in crime :whacky098 That's my story
He ain't bad One of the few friends I have in "real" life. If only I could get him to like menthol.......
You and your Dad sound a lot like me and my son. We are each one another's best friend. For Christmas, I gave him a complete DE shaving outfit: Feather Portable razor, blades, boar brush, soap, and mug, but he really hasn't caught the wet-shaving fever yet. But I'm still hoping.
Perhaps my INsanity was created by TSD and DE shaving, or maybe created by 3 youngins and enhanced by TSD etc. lol In any form, it has been absolutely wonderful sharing the same passion with Bob (battle.munky) and Jason (Tango) my other son. Together, we can always make the ladies in our lives roll their eyes and shake their heads whenever we talk about wet shaving.
So many great stories. Mine came down to the simple fact I hated how much the carts were taking out of my paycheck, and my love of Toys. I got over here by way of the EDC forums, I do not know or remember how the got on the DE discussion but I followed that for a bit, and then say another article on AoM, that pretty much sealed me into Wet Shaving, which I had been doing for practical purposes, just needed to add the soap, DE in place of the goo and the multi head face shredder. My GF did look at me like I had lost my mind, only because I was going to be using this on my head, not so smooth the first time, I was a lil scared to go ATG, thats gotten better lately. Thanks for your wealth of knowledge in this lil corner of the net.
So many great stories!!! Mine is like a few but different in it's own way. I've had a fascination with sharp things from a young age. Back in 1994 I moved into a barracks room in Charleston, SC, and found a puck of soap, mug and brush under the sink. I used it awhile, then went to sea and kinda gave up on it. After the deployment when I moved my wife and daughter up to CT I gave it another shot but got discouraged and just used my Mach 3 and kinda dampened my face a little bit and shaved without any cream or gel, I was not patient enough to care, I just wanted a clean shave to stay in regulations. I then moved onto electrics for the ease and convenience at sea and inport. I drifted back and forth from electrics to cartridges for about ten years after that then got the idea to try my brush again, so I set it up in the bathroom and used it with VDH soap, and a new VDH brush, sometimes...lol... Then I moved on to a better electric when I was away but the brush and cart when I was home. Fast forwrd a couple more years and the idea came and went to try a DE razor for awhile till on a Knife forum I saw the shaving section and I lurked there for awhile then onto another shaving forum to lurk. I traveled from Guam to Pear Harbor to escort one of the junior sailors for a surgery he had to have, while I was there I saw some more posts on the other shaving forum and decided I needed to give it a shot, so I went off in search of a DE Safety razor. I found one at a Beauty supply store, a Shaving Factory(Ming Shi), plus about 20 Derby blades for 15 bucks!!! I was excited and off to a new experience. I have since PIF'd that razor after I purchased a Merkur 23C and have been PIF'd a '64 SS and a '24 Ever Ready. I'm so happy with my new Hobby(addiction), I also have the VDH Luxary set and a couple other soaps and CO Bigelow cream. I am now waiting to retire from the US Navy after 20 years and change and can't wait to get back to antique shops and flea markets!!! My next step I think is to find a shaving stick from someone who'll ship to Guam for me to try, I don't understand why it's so stinking hard for some people to ship to here, it's not any more expensive than shipping to CONUS AFAIK, at least it doesn't seem so as far as SWMBO is concerned, but she is sick of being my "re-shipper"!!! LOL Well there's my story, thanx for taking the time to read. Greg
Jeff, thanks for the great post. I thank you for your genrousity when I was first starting out myself. Yes the Den is a great friendly place. It is people like yourself that make it so great.
