Why Have More Than One ?

Again because I'm looking for the holy grail razor, now I've found the Karve razor I think I could easily get away with selling the 4 razors I have from before that including my RR GC .84, Merkur progress 500 etc :)
Does this mean I have to try a Karve now? Bloody hell, I thought I'd found what I wanted and here you've got me thinking I'm all wrong!
Don't tell the wife though, she'd think she could then start spending even more on shoes and make-up!
 
I've never been a collector. I've also never really got the whole "retail therapy" thing. I normally research, then buy what I need within budget, which may expand a bit for quality. Once I've got something I generally never sell it but use it for years and years.

At first with shaving it was curiosity: what might I be missing out on? Also, work and lockdown have been doing me in. I wanted an interest that would be calming and involve taking pride in my appearance even if I wasn't leaving the house, a bit of "me time" if you will.

Now I have more than enough shaving gear to not really need to buy anything ever again, but being on here and seeing what people get up to does tend to make you want to join in!

I now have a boar, badger and a handful of cool synthetic brushes, a modern DE, a '60s ball end Tech, 2 vintage straights and a modern Koraat. I do like the whole "vintage" thing and am pleased as punch with the old Tech. The straights also give me something to maintain, thereby learning how to keep them super sharp.

It's just fun really, and although I only need one razor, brush, soap etc it's a relatively inexpensive hobby and it's just nice to have the choice, or a rotation, rather than same old same old. For me it's not about the perfect shave: that's usually down to mastery of technique than acquisition of the ultimate kit.
 
I have been away for a few days. For a change, I took a Mach 3 and a travel can of shaving gel. Not keen on the messiness of applying the gel but had great shaves with the Mach 3. Back home I have used my brush and shaving soap and have continued with the Mach 3. I have the odd tiny mole which I occasionally nick with my Tech. No problems with the Mach. It’s made me think.
 
I have been away for a few days. For a change, I took a Mach 3 and a travel can of shaving gel. Not keen on the messiness of applying the gel but had great shaves with the Mach 3. Back home I have used my brush and shaving soap and have continued with the Mach 3. I have the odd tiny mole which I occasionally nick with my Tech. No problems with the Mach. It’s made me think.


I'm the opposite regarding moles. I have one on my top lip and I used to take the top of it off with amazing regularity.
Since using a DE I have not done it once.
 
In the beginning when God was but a lad, I always wanted to love the vintage Gillettes but struggled to get the same results as with my DE89 and Merkur 34c although I persevered as I have a love for old things and vintage stuff in general. Alas, no dice.

Ultimately, none of the four modern stainless steel razors I bought during an ill-fated, retail therapy experiment delivered the shave that the aforementioned two dependables gave. Holy grail theme? You betcha! Again, I tried and tried with them and for a while the 3one6 seemed to answer but I soon as I returned to Mr Merkur, I realised the stainless EJ was just not for me, lovely though it surely is.

I had settled on the Merkur 34c at this point and nearly sold off the lot except the backup DE89. Sometimes, during my darker days, shaving became a real chore which I came to loathe. I’d miss too many days in succession and that ain’t the real me. Yes I was down in a rut but looking back as far as shaving was concerned, variety was sorely lacking. Health wise, things did pick up as is the cyclical nature of life.

Furthermore, I also badly wanted to grow a beard and eventually managed this to my great satisfaction. I was bearded when I met my soon to be fiancée and she loved said hirsuteness. Indeed, she deemed it part of the attraction. In fact, it was only a bad trimming accident which went from bad to worse as I tried in vain to correct my errors when eventually, I had to admit defeat and Merkur it off to lose the unkempt Latin American movie villain look. As seems to be my way, I slumped once more into a depressive daze.

Thankfully, that didn’t last long at all as life is just too good nowadays so I thought I’d dig out my vintage Tech and lo and behold, the results were stellar! Especially after I weighted the hollow handle with tungsten putty. My fiancée loved the smooth look and the new me even more and we were both surprised at her immensely favourable reaction. Now I’m having the time of my life revisiting all my TTOs as well my NEW and Tech plus I’m teaching her indoors to use the Flair Tip Rocket that she’s taken a great liking to.

I've started carving shaving brush handles again and a Yew-handled 28mm Silk Smoke brush is in my love’s immediate future. My interest in all things vintage pogonotomy related has skyrocketed and given me a real, tangible boost.

Why have more than one? Ain’t you been reading? ;)
 
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This very morning, apropos of something else, my wife gave me her customary "You can only use one at a time...." black-look comment. In her line of sight was my office, with somewhat more than one pen on my desk and razor in the rack. Perhaps she'd also been rooting around my brushes and soaps in the bathroom.

Of course, I had to explain again that "one at a time" doesn't necessarily mean "just one for ever, every day", "variety is the spice of life" and so forth. I also felt obliged to remind her that it's always important to have plenty of spares and backups, particularly if there's any danger of supplies drying up.

Self-preservation made me "button it" about certain ladies with enough footwear to be shod differently every day of the year, or enough artist's paintbrushes for a National Gallery full of work.
 
This very morning, apropos of something else, my wife gave me her customary "You can only use one at a time...." black-look comment. In her line of sight was my office, with somewhat more than one pen on my desk and razor in the rack. Perhaps she'd also been rooting around my brushes and soaps in the bathroom...

That is when you saunter over to her closet and merely point at what is most likely her hoard of shoes & handbags.

Case dismissed!! ;)
 
This very morning, apropos of something else, my wife gave me her customary "You can only use one at a time...." black-look comment. In her line of sight was my office, with somewhat more than one pen on my desk and razor in the rack. Perhaps she'd also been rooting around my brushes and soaps in the bathroom.

Of course, I had to explain again that "one at a time" doesn't necessarily mean "just one for ever, every day", "variety is the spice of life" and so forth. I also felt obliged to remind her that it's always important to have plenty of spares and backups, particularly if there's any danger of supplies drying up.

Self-preservation made me "button it" about certain ladies with enough footwear to be shod differently every day of the year, or enough artist's paintbrushes for a National Gallery full of work.
Kick her to the curb.

My wife encourages my purchases.
 
I started DE shaving in 1991 with a Wilkinson Sword. I then discovered the Schick Krona from the internet and eBay.
I have collected Wilkinson Sword and few Gillette DE razors. I haven't been into the Stainless steel DE fad from Good Fella, Weber, Ikon, ATT, Pils etc. As I had already been into DE shaving I hadn't needed to go the EJ/Mühle and Merkur starter route.

However, I bought an EJ Kelvin in 2015, the King C Gillette in 2018/19, at some point the Yaqi clone, and recently the Fatip Testina Gentile and the Mühle replacement head.

They are low cost and great shavers, being OCD I wanted to compare the difference. But there is really no need to get dragged into the Stainless steel waiting list rabbit hole. Inexpensive razors are available and are great to use and you only really need one.
 
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