Turning 26 in a month. Have been DE shaving (recently playing with the straights) since the end of January. Reason being the utter disgust with modern Gillettes and shaving gels accessible. I guess my undying love for old school things played a part as well, but not as much as a simple desire to shave comfortably and painlessly. Never looked back after the very first shave (despite of that one being with DE89, derby and Nivea gel).
Prior to that - about 5 years of electric shaving with a very occasional Mach3 (and some years of Fusion....) intervention, limiting the latter to an absolute minimum. And I also had a beard a few times, primarily a goatee but a full one as well - esp. after having worked as a fisherman in Alaska, that was a must
Interesting fact - my first ever shave (some 11-12 years ago) was with a great grand father's DE I had found in a closet, in fact. Double ring 1904, now that I know
But then mom got me a Mach :dodgy:
Another encounter was during one of my trips, also in the early teens - I met a guy on a train and we had a chat about everything. Shaving as well. He told me his brother had just gotten himself a DE, and that it was a great razor if you could handle it. Should've listened back then.. Well, I actually did try looking for one, but there was nothing available except for some aluminum low quality cheapies, amd then I just forgot.
