You said it a group of enablers!!! I thought this would e a cheap hobby, haha. Wrong, I find myself ordering new soaps, creams, aftershaves to try every month because I read a post about it. Then don't get me started on Razors I collect and brushes, bowls, hones and strops etc..... Hooked like and addict.
You're right about the addicting part. I've spent way more money than I would have spent in a lifetime of using Proglide and the products that go with it. I keep trying to explain it to myself first, before telling friends about it.
Yup, I've got to post more so that I can start selling some of this stuff in the marketplace! No up to 50 messages yet!
Great read and I cannot agree more. I want to tell everyone I meet that I can shave with a DE razor, but thanks to commercial "brainwashing" everyone will just look at me like I'm nuts. The community on this site is awesome!!!
Actually, I have had a different reaction when telling friends that I'm taking up wet shavin. Of course, the first reaction from male friends is, "you don't get to put that next to my face!" (I'm planing to restore my grandfather's straight). But they do show some interrest. But you are still right about one thing, the topic dies pretty fast when talking to "outsiders". I have to admit that seeing someone use a straight or a DE is for me a TV/cinema excperience only... No shave brushes to be seen growing up, except the one I got when I was about 14-15, but no one ever taught me to use it, or tell me about the advatages it had on shaving perfomance... After reading some of the stuff here, I have learned a lot, but I still have miles to go. I guess it is with wet shaving, as with all knowledge: Gaining more knowledge, makes you even more aware of what you DON'T know.....
I bring up the subject of DE shaving sometimes with friends. Most of them ask me "Why do you want to shave like that? What's wrong with gel and march3-style razors ?". I try to explain, but it's hard to compete with "latest-hour shaving technology" brainwashing. Some of them didn't even heard of a double-edge razor or a double-edge blade. We need to develop a "re-take over the world" strategy of our own
What is it about this DE shaving? I don't know yet but I'm trying many different blades in the first few weeks of my "apprenticeship" My wife thinks I should give up because I cut my mole every day with the blade, but there is something addictive about it, maybe even primal! I have a collection of brushes, real and synthetic bristle, they all work, can't tell them apart yet. I have a collection of blades all of which work but each give a different shave, that bit I get, oh yeah soaps, all seem ok except one which leaves me sore and cost me the most, damn you The Body Shop! What I don't get is the razor choice, you know, the bit that holds the blade, I have a cheap one but surely does it matter what I hold the actual blade in? Is it not the blade that does the cutting? anyway, looks like I'm hooked like the rest of you and yes, we do get looked at in a strange manner when mentioned outside this forum .....
Very nice! This article summed up in a way that I could not have put into words, how I found this site. Thank you!
Same here! I found this site because I despised shaving. Could not stand the thought of it! And the older I get the worse my unshaved face looks. I couldn't stand looking in the mirror. I realized that I had never really had any instruction on how to shave, so one night while sitting at home I did a search on youtube. Hmmmm. Watched videos for hours. Found this site and lurked for a while. Bought a razor, brush, shave soap thinking what the hell are you wasting your money on. From the very first shave I was hooked. I used to spend 6-7 minutes shaving every 3 to 7 days (whenever I couldn't stand it anymore) and now spend 25-40 minutes on the whole routine almost everyday! How is that better? It's fun, a much better shave, and much less irritation. I've never been one to spend much time in front of the mirror but there is something deeply satisfying about this time to myself everyday and when I skip a day I miss it. I'm so glad I found you guys! Shave on!
