What did your grandfather shave with?

Today I was thinking of grandpa, Clarence Wahlberg (1909-1990), and made his image my avatar to honor him.

Just before he died, because of failing health, he used an electric razor. I remember him shaving on the couch and I went to sit next to him. He said he was shaving the "poor man's way." That's all I ever heard him say about shaving.

After his death, I was looking through his stuff and found three straight razors. I wish I would've kept those, but at that age, 19 years or so, I didn't know what I was looking at. I asked my mom recently and she said he used a DE in the '60s, she used it often when she was a teen. She didn't know what brand or kind of razor.

What did your Grandpa shave with? Do you shave with it?

 

Someone who is remembered is never dead...
I don't know what my grandpa shaved with or my dad either for that matter(he died when I was 4)...I do hope to teach my young son to shave "traditionally" with a DE/SE/Injector/Straight when he's ready...

 

Well, during the time that they and I were all here on earth... one grandpa shaved with a disposable (I think it was Gillette Good News or something similar) and canned gel and the other grandpa shaved with an electric. My father (also now deceased) always shaved with an electric.

 

I remember seeing Gillette TTO's. I don't remember what my father shaved with but I do remember my grandfather's because his was in contrast to my uncle's electric shaver.

 

My grandfather shaves with a Gillette Super Speed. He said he would will it to me one day, I hope not for many more years. I wish I got to see him more often, they live about a 13hr drive away.

 

I can remember what mine used like it was yesterday. He first started with a straight then used a gillette TTO Tech and later used a Knack. His soaps were Colgate and Williams. His aftershaves were Old Spice, English Leather and Aqua Velva and used Vitalis in his hair. He and my father taught me how to shave and I thank them both. Thanks for the thread. It really brought back some fond memories.

 

I asked my dad and he said that my grandpa used either a Tech or Super Speed. I remember him saying he learned how to shave from his grandpa which would be my great-great grandpa. I assumed he learned on a straight first as times were tough and there wasn't much money to go around to buy a DE and blades. I am almost certain he learned how to shave during WWII as a teen.

 

Gramps always used an electric. He probably adopted it as a modern convenience. He would splash on the green Williams 'Lectric pre-shave, let it dry, shave with the electric razor, rinse his face, then splash on the green Skin Bracer.

 

My grandpa shaves with a safety razor, I have no idea what kind because I have jus recently gotten into it and haven't seen it since then.

 

Grandfather shaved with a DE (whatever he could afford) until just before I was born, which was when he grew a (very) short beard. Farmer all his life, he developed a minor sense of skin cancer on his cheeks...wasn't anything too terrible and the doctors were always able to keep it in check without any issues, but I think he was a little self-conscious about it and wanted to cover it up. Father shaved with a DE growing up in Mass, but switched to a disposable before I was ever thought-of. I think my great-grandfather shaved with a straight when he was young and in the Marines, but we don't have any relics to prove it, unfortunately.

 

I wish I remembered. Mom gave me two of Grandpas straight,s and old Sheffield Wedge and a Swedish Frameback, but I never saw him use them. By the time I was old enough to pay attention he was pretty sick and beat up. My other Grandfather I know used Vitalis and Old Spice, Brut and Aqua Velva. He was always dressed to the nines when he went out of the house, car was always shiny and clean. Not sure how he shaved, I wasn't allowed in his stuff!

Anyone who still has a chance to find out how their Gramps shaved do it now before time passes you by. You may even be able to find out how Great Gramps shaved!!

 

Well I know my kids will see my dad shaving with a DE. He uses a Slim and Proraso for every shave.

 

My Grandfather was killed in WWII so I'm guessing his last razor was the Army Tech, and I never knew my GD from my Dad's side as he was an alcoholic and the family threw him out while my Dad was a teen. My step GD that I knew as a child used a Remington Electric with some sort of pre shave powder in a stick.

 

I don't recall what my grandpas shaved with. I recall my dad shaving with a DE when I was a kid. (It's long gone though.) In later years he shaved with some kind of cartridge razor. I use a Super Adjustable.

 

My dad used a super speed and my mom used the Gillette Lady with the blue handle. When the Trac II razors hit the scene they switched to those and switched again when the sensor came online, and have been using that to this day.

 

I have been enjoying these, thanks a lot for sharing

 

One of my grandfathers passed away before I was born, so I don't know what razor he used. My other grandfather used a three piece Gillette for many years. He once remarked that it was a great razor that gave him very smooth shaves. He was using a Remington electric razor by the 1960s, which he used for the rest of his life.

 

I only know one of my grandfathers used a Schick Injector with a black handle. I was not that into wet shaving then, and thought little of this old fashioned junk. Fool I was! He's deceased now and the razor is gone...

I remember my father using a Trac II. We lived on a Dutch barge then and were busy with converting the hold into a home. The boiler was hanging in my corner of the hold and that's where he used to shave. So I could watch him shaving from my bed. He tossed the Track II some years later for a newer Gillette razor, so I haven't got that one either.

Oh well...

 

I cannot remember what my paternal grandfather used, but I definitely remember my maternal grandfather's set-up. In Israel he used a Valet Autostrop and a cheap brush, ordinary bath soap and no aftershave. When we were living in Greece he used Kolynos shaving cream with the same brush and razor and again no aftershave. Eventually, he switched to an electric because of declining health.

 

Low quality picture but here are the razors I have from my Dad's side of the family. I think most of them belonged to my grandfather with exception of the Tech which apparently belonged to my great grandfather.

From left to right, oldest to newest: NDC Gold plated ball-end Tech, 1955 A1 Super Speed, 1969 O1 Super adjustable "Black beauty", and a 1985 F1 Super Speed.