Tell us your shaving story

PaulH

PaulH

Messages
391
Location
Bangor, Co. Down
Here's mine...
I started wet shaving as soon as I was old enough to shave. My father was an electric razor user, and still is as far as I know, though I remember my grandfather having a number of DE razors & straights in an old chest of drawers (unfortunately I think they went to the local charity shop when he passed away). For Christmas one year my aunt gave me one of those DE razor travel kits and though I never tried it, because I thought it looked dangerous, it inspired the notion that there was an alternative to electric. I still remember it - black plastic outside, red plastic inside with a little mirror built in, probably a Gillette of some kind, they still pop up on eBay. In those days I started using a BIC single blade disposable then moved on to the Gillette Blue 2 when they came out. I tried others as they came out but didn't like the swivel heads and I absolutely detest the ones with the lubra-strip (too much gooey/pearl necklace effect for me). So, I've pretty much stuck with the Blue 2 all along and had some decent shaves from them. About two years ago I was online looking for something (not shave related, I think it was dental) and on one of the online chemists I spotted a plastic Wilkinson Sword DE razor with blades for about four quid. At that price I couldn't resist, so I bought one and that was me hooked. It was when I started looking for more blades for that I discovered there were metal alternatives to the Wilkinson, did a bit of research and ended up buying a Gold Merkur HD from Paul at Connaught (still has pride of place in my bathroom). I then found B&B which was a great source of shaving info. When CONUK started I joined up, the rest, as they say, is history. Since then I have built up a little collection of razors and blades which will do me for a while. My current spending is on smellies (aftershaves, colognes, creams etc.) and I now treat shaving as a hobby to be enjoyed, rather than a daily chore.
So, tell us your story!
 
In about 1985 I started shaving, at the time using a double blade Wilkinson Sword and some sort of canned foam. Pretty soon I was suffering irritation and major breakouts. I went to the doctor and he advised electric which was even worse. Follows 22 years of to & fro to the doctors, and trying pretty much every product on sale. Ended up that I managed it by using a Mach3 as infrequently as possible (but at least twice a week because of the %^$^ing itching).

Then one afternoon about a year ago, whilst working from home, with the radio on the presenter (one Tom Morton of Shetland) happened to mention that he'd bought "one of those old fashioned razors from eBay" and it was doing him very well indeed. So I did some research, obviously not very good research because I started with a Parker 90R :lol: but it worked the magic to such an extent that when I bumped into the doctor about a week later he was dumbstruck at the lack of irritation.
 
My father gave up on wet shaving early on due to razor burn and irritation and I can't remember him ever using anything other than an electric of one sort or another. Not being one to ever throw anything away, he passed his old razor and brush on to me (along with a tendency towards hoarding, by the by), and that was my shaving set up sorted for thirty years: Aristocrat Jr., Culmak Spartan, Erasmic stick, Wilkinson blades. Somewhere along the line I also acquired an aluminium Tech which only ever got used for travel purposes.
I upgraded to Palmolive soap fairly quickly, and later discovered Taylors sandalwood cream, both of which remain favourites, later followed by that TOC Aromatherapy soap. Last year I felt flush and bought a Fatboy, which was something of a revelation as I found that it simply does not go up to the Aristocrat's level of "aggressiveness" - clearly I've been shaving with a beast of a razor since I started. Since then, a few new soaps have arrived, and an Omega 49 Pro brush, which looks comically huge next to the Culmak.
The latest development (last week) is that I've become what I never intended to be - a razor collector - with the addition of a Flairtip Rocket and a Slim (also a Twist/Knack). Right now, I'm still trying to settle on a blade which really suits me as I can't rely on the dwindling supply of decent Wilkinsons, Feathers and Red IPs being the frontrunners so far (the former are too much for me to use continuously), and I've commissioned a best badger brush from Chris, which I hope will outperform the rather floppy Omega on soaps. I have a feeling that Santa might bring a BK4 (my wife has similar hopes for a bottle of Chanel No. 5) just for the sheer indulgence of it.
 
Arrowhead said:
Last year I felt flush and bought a Fatboy, which was something of a revelation as I found that it simply does not go up to the Aristocrat's level of "aggressiveness" - clearly I've been shaving with a beast of a razor since I started.
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That's a revelation to me Andy, I'm surprised a cranked up Fatboy isn't as aggressive as your'e AJ. I must admit I like my AJ very much but I find it fairly similar to aggression to the FB set on about 7 or so. It could be that either one of our FB's are badly adjusted? You can depress the red ratchet and adjust the dial accordingly.

My shaving story is still just too painful to tell.
 
Arrowhead said:
I have a feeling that Santa might bring a BK4 just for the sheer indulgence of it.
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I think you'll like the BK4 - not too big that you burn through stuff to load the brush, not too small that it doesn't hold enough lather for 3/4 passes.

Mine remains the best brush I possess (Men-U Boar, Omega 49, Edwin Jagger Best Badger Brush (medium), Rooney Style 2 Size 1 Super, few restores using Penworks/Golden Nib knots and the BK4) and having fondled some other more expensive ones, I think it has a pretty damned good performance per pound ratio, it's possibly quite close to the sweet spot before diminishing returns set in.
 
antdad said:
That's a revelation to me Andy, I'm surprised a cranked up Fatboy isn't as aggressive as your'e AJ. I must admit I like my AJ very much but I find it fairly similar to aggression to the FB set on about 7 or so. It could be that either one of our FB's are badly adjusted? You can depress the red ratchet and adjust the dial accordingly.
Click to expand...
Well, I thought there might be something funny going on, now you come to mention it, but I'm not complaining about either razor. Funnily enough, the Fatboy is generally set on 7 which gives effective results, but is easygoing enough for me to use a new Feather - not something I do with the AJ. It occurs to me that since I haven't tried the Slim yet, that will give an indication of whether the FB is out of kilter, or the AJ is a rogue. The Rocket is considerably milder than the latter, by the way.

Hunnymonster: I've noticed that you are very faithful to the BK4, which is a recommendation in itself. What you describe is just what I'm looking for.
 
My story is more of a slow crawl over the last four years, about that time, my gran gave my dad a shaving brush with the cream in its handle so you would wet the brush push a bit off. cream up and then make a lather.

This then follwed with the purchase of a wilkinson sword brush and blue bowl. I continued with my Fusion (i actually got one imported from America before they were released here!) and severl bowls of wilkinson blue, not realising that i was gettign a crap lather but it worked better than my canned goo stuff.

Then six months ago i got bored of only getting one good and i must admit it was a very good shave per fusion blade. My hair is stronger than steel and the fusion was blunt after one shave always meaning i would be walking around with a shadow on my face coz i couldnt shave properly. So I went to my local boots and purchased a Wilkinson (see a pattern?) classic razor with its blades.. really liked the shave and started researching shaving techniques that then got me into the forums and my first blade sampler. Ive know grown my razor collection to include:

Early Gillette New - Not getting on with it
Knockout bakerlite and metal - This thing is feirce not for the faint harted
Feathers Travel Razor - love this beast just a smal handle
Ever REady single Blade 1912 - Had for months got some DIY blades today :)

Hope you havent all fallen asleep...
 
One lunch time a long long time ago (Feb 09), my barber was busy and could not fit me in so I went to another up the street. :arrow:
A young lad cut my hair, we chatted and he mentioned wanting to go to barber school, I mentioned how I hated shaving and only ever used electric :oops: . He had not been to a dentist for years out of fear so i tried to reassure him that he should at least have a checkup if nothing else.

Inspired by this to get over a fear/issue, I queried The Great Intergalactic Compedium (T'internet) in true man on a mission style...found Mantic, B&B and a few UK suppliers. Bought a Futur (had to have a gadety razor), blade sampler and some Trumpers rose cream.

The rest is obvious :shave :shave :shave :shave :shave :shave :shave :shave :shave :mrgreen:

C
 
Great use of the :shave Zubar!!

Well I probably wrote this on B&B at some point, but here's my thing. I don't exactly remember all the details but about 18 months ago I was bored at work reading some sort of chain-email sent to me about badgers being abused. I must have done a search to see if this was true or not and Google came up with B&B. I started reading with some interest as I couldn't believe there were people out there enthusiastic about an utter chore. It all sounded rather cool, with the added bonus of saving me money (which turned out to be untrue once things got going). Plus I regularly suffered in-grown hairs and hoped to banish them. Ordered my first kit from Shaving Shack and chucked the Mach 3 and gel in the bin. The razor was a Futur, so it was a bit of a baptism of fire. I hadn't done enough research. (It's a great razor but not for a beginner due to its aggressiveness and its adjustability which adds more variables to the mix when starting out). Got used to the Futur after some time but recently swapped with Rev-O (Ollie) for a Gillette Flairtip Superspeed which is lovely. :D

Even after 18 months I still look forward to a shave every day! No more in-grown hairs either!! :shave
 
I occasionaly find my self faceturbating, and thinking about a second shave of the day....it creeps me out some times. It is really odd to be so into something like shaving that I once hated.

C
 
Zubar said:
I occasionaly find my self faceturbating, and thinking about a second shave of the day....it creeps me out some times. It is really odd to be so into something like shaving that I once hated.

C
Click to expand...

I do personally believe there are never enough shaves in the day..
 
Zubar said:
I occasionaly find my self faceturbating, and thinking about a second shave of the day....it creeps me out some times. It is really odd to be so into something like shaving that I once hated.

C
Click to expand...

I just love this!

I remember when I became hooked on golf I came across a book "Confessions of a Golf Addict" by George Houghton. It began something like this:

I am a golf fiend. Incurable. Fifteen years have now passed since I realized there was no hope.It was 8.30 on a February morning. Eleven times I had crashed down the phone after friends had blankly refused. "You must be mad" They all said that. Beneath my window was a swirling river. Overhead the sky was a sodden grey sponge. "Looks a little brighter, think I'll be off" "You must be mad" said my wife.
I hurried off to the golf club. The place was deserted. Then suddenly as I splashed over to the practice tee, I realized how completely I was enslaved to my vice. I was about to get a drenching, perhaps pneumonia, but I had neither the strengh or the willpower to resist. My will power was jelly. The craving must be satisfied. And I intended to enjoy every minute.
Now, although fifteen years has nearly passed since I first realized the futility of fighting my weakness, it does not mean I have been an addict for only that time. It started to work with my first game. Since then I have played thousands of golf miles. Allowing for zigzags I play sixteen miles each weekend, making 832 a year.

And so it goes on.

The book caprured the essence of a golfers addiction. He went on to write another 34 books in the same vein, some fiction, some about his golf travels. George Houghton was a true addict. But he loved every minute of it and didn't apologise.

So go on Zubar - have an extra shave whenever you feel like it. Don't let anyone tell you your mad. You know you are. And you just love it.



And I love early morning.
 
Yay another golf addict :D I know the feeling he describes (especially the grey sky part!!) Must have a look for that book.
 
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