I've been going through a lot of self-improvement lately. Better diet, more exercise, better sleep, and, of course, wet shaving. Now, I'm not saying that wet shaving has given me some great power to suddenly improve myself. What I am saying is that as part of the self-improvement process, I "accidentally" came upon the shaving boards and the knowledge that I had a choice besides scraping my face with a Quattro or Fusion. (The boards are an added bonus, full of friendly and helpful folk with almost no egos or tantrums flaring up.) And wet shaving just feels so much better than the old way. It makes me feel like I matter in the morning. As opposed to feeling like a worker bee that had to shave his face with the crude torture cartridges because he would be late for work. Now I get to work relaxed, with much nicer skin, and smelling lightly of some delightful EDT. The soaking of the face with hot towels, the decisions as to which brush and soap or cream to use, the lathering, the applying the lather, and then the shaving. Total silence except for the blade snipping off whiskers. No other thoughts in my mind except watching out for pressure and angle. Two more passes like this, some touch-up, and then wiping the remnants of the lather off with a warm facecloth. Then, the cold water splash. To be honest, this is my favourite part of the entire shave, when I am splashing ice cold water on a smooth relaxed face. And then the decisions to make as to post-shave face treatment. It's a real satisfying ritual to prepare yourself for the craziness of the day. And I'm happy that I'm with a bunch of fine folks who share the same passion! ::
Brilliant! That is how I feel, so much better to wet shave the right way then to scrape myself everyday. You just feel better.
David, I couldn't agree with you more. It's a pity that so many other men opt for the crude way of shaving. What possible satisfaction can one get from using canned gook, no brush, and cartridge razors which can screw up the skin? All my life, since the age of 14, I've been a wetshaver, a real wetshaver, and I plan to keep it that way.
You know, it's funny...I've been wetshaving for a very long time; Williams, a piece of crap bristle brush and an M3 or some variant. Before that, a can of goo and a DE. Occasionally, even a lapse into the world of Norelco or Remington. YEARS of it! Hated shaving. Absolute drudgery. Then, I read Corey Greenberg's thing in my local newspaper. English creams. Soft, luxurious brushes. The sound of the blade doing it's work. The scents. Ahhh. Sounded interesting, but I still didn't do anything about it. Then, I was at Mom's last Thanksgiving and came across my Dad's 1960 SS. Brought it home with me and instead of the above "tools", I now have 5 brushes, 6 razors, 20+ creams/soaps, 9 aftershaves, 3 witch hazels, 11 EdTs and 300+ DE blades! Since Thanksgiving! Yeah, I spent a bunch on all that stuff. Do I need even half of it? Of course not! None of us do. No, I don't need all that stuff, but you know what? For the first time in my life, and I've been doing this since the early 60's, I find that I really enjoy shaving! OMG, I think I'm going to cry!
Why do we spend so much time on the shaving forums sharing information, jokes, stories, successes, failures, mysteries? What drives us? It is the desire to affirm and express the great value that we place on the invigorating, focusing, centering, balancing, daily ritual of shaving. Performed with precision and care, an act that was previously a mundane task has become a means of self-improvement. We come to these forums to celebrate and affirm the discovery we have made. That is what makes the shaving forums so unique. We truly are gentle men and women. It's great to be here.
Nah, he knew what he was getting himself into. This isn't his first shaving forum experience, you know?
