How did you get into DE/Straight shaving

hunnymonster

hunnymonster

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For me it was 22 years of dreading shaving (major league irritation with 'system shaving' and impatience with electric) followed by a chance remark by Tom Morton on the BBC Radio Scotland that he'd scored one on eBay and was loving the experience - then I looked into it a bit more and jumped in with a baconslicer myself (Parker 90R).

Didn't realise how lucky I was to have a 90R that was symmetrical :lol: lasted about a week with the Parker before I found my first vintage Gillette tucked away in a house clearance shop and haven't looked back since.
 
My mum bought me a NOS BNIB vintage Simspson brush for a fiver at Oxfam.

Then I got soap, then I looked up about what / how etc. about lathering found B&B and then got a DE, and then . . . . well, more of everything.
 
After nearly 2 decades of shaving with a hair clipper (No. 0) and cartridges. I thought it was really about time I learnt to shave properly or at least be able to do it without a bad reaction. Someone bought me some DR Harris product for Xmas, I really liked using it although I still couldn't shave a damn, stocked up on this Dr Harris fellow, found a blog and then found B&B. First D.E Razor was a Super Adjustable with Birth year date code bought from a US vendor which I still happily use today. I have plenty of adjustables although I'm still searching for my ideal non adjustable.
 
I always wet shaved wilki de, as I'm a tight arse! But when the kids
were born started using catridges and disposables, I wanted to keep
Sharps away from them. They are now 13 and 14 so I bought myself a
Fatboy for my bithday this year, and loved it. I then bought a super adjustable
From a yank and it fell apart, but it was I excellant razor. Then I got a nib pomoco
Slant, nice razor. I always fancied a straight afer I payed for a shave on my wedding
Day and another on a tukish holiday .
So I then I brought my wapi straight got a dam good deal from another yank, and haven't
Looked back.
 
I hated shaving due to the irritation it brought,worse when I had more growth which turned into a vicious cycle of avoiding shaving then regretting it when I couldn't get away with it any longer.Like antdad I used hair clippers to make it look presentable then found out that loccitane soap helped reduce the irritation a bit,got a brush as a gift then started researching :shave 3 bank loans later I'm getting no irritation ad loving it :lol:
 
I was researching male grooming last spring for a business idea, but had no intention of shaving myself. Prior to that, I'd not shaved for about 20 years, due to horrible experiences as a teenager (I trimmed it down with a hair clipper). After reading through the boards (in particular the SOTD forums) to find out what equipment guys were using, I decided to try this thing out for myself, and bought a cheap superspeed from the BST on B&B.

The rest is history...
 
I switched to soap and a brush about 4 or 5 years ago, mainly because I don't like the smell or feel of most canned shaving cream and I started to feel guilty about all the waste of throwing cans away. The DE came after, again down to the waste generated by cartridges, and also because multiblades had always given me ingrowing hairs. Since single-blade disposables also involve a lot of waste (a Bic lasts me one shave), I started looking at Merkurs and that was that.
 
My first shaves were with a really crappy electric razor I'd been bought for my 13th birthday. Just clearing away bum-fluff to start with. Moved to wet-shaving at around 18. Had no real advice so used Bics then cartridges right up until last Spring. As far as I remember I found B&B because someone had sent me one of those circulating emails you get, this one being about cruelty to badgers. Started looking in to this and found little real evidence but did stumble upon that shaving forum.

I decided to give it a try as I'd always suffered from in-grown hairs that gave me spots. Also there was the financial incentive, but of course I haven't saved money with my new hobby, but of course that is what it's become - a hobby. Plus met some great guys and had some laughs along the way!
 
It was coming up to Christmas and my wife had been hinting at what she could get me for a gift. I had always been a wet shaver and when trawling though the web one day (on a motoring site of all places) I found a discussion on DE shaving and links to "The Gentlemans Shop", I liked the idea a lot and picked out an HD, TOBS Rose and a EJ BBB brush.

My first DE shave was on Boxing day and the feeling was pretty much the same as the feeling I had on my first straight shave. You can watch as many videos and read as mush as you want but actually doing it is another matter entirely. Apart from ordering a blade sampler pack of blades I bought nothing else, I saved money.....the first year anyway.

Then cane the Futur and my first vintage and the AD's kicked in.
 
I happened across LeisureGuy's blog on t'internet about 2 years ago. I'd been wet shaving for 20 odd years with periods of electric shaving and growing a beard.
 
I chanced upon the black plastic wilkinson DE in Boots so gave it a try. I liked it so much I went to find some more info.
I had a look on the web and found Mantic's videos and it went from there.

Pete
 
Funny, I tried a DE razor like 12-13 years ago whilst visiting a friend in New York. He had just come back from India with some kind of TTO and a bunch of Wilkinson Sword blades raving about how cheap it was. I tried his and cut/burned my face up.

I've always hated shaving with cartridges and electrics (stopped using them 15 years ago) but I was also always on the lookout for a solution. The past couple of years or so I was often growing a short beard and either trimming it or periodically shaving it off with a Mach III, which was the best solution I'd found, but still gave me ingrowns and razor rash. I'd come across B&B and TSD while googling about shaving your head with a razor and read up on DEs a bit, maybe a year ago. After moving to London and being even more shocked with the prices of Mach III cartridges I found the DE shaving sites again and said what the hell, these razors look cool. Then I bought a Flying Eagle on the bay for like ₤3. Didn't like it much, but decided to persevere. Now I shave with a Gillette NEW and a LUX and I love it. Amazing to love something I hated for so many years :shave
 
Crap shaves with m3, fusion etc... googled for shaving tips and ended up on b&b. Got a merkur hd as my first de last august, then found srp and got a dovo special at the begining of this year.

Since then ad's kicked in and well you now how it turns out.... :D
 
Was happily using Mach3 and Noxzema aerosol foamy.

On a pleasure trip to London stumbled into the shave dept of Fortnum & Mason, thought 'this stuff looks pretty cool'.

Did not buy right then , but when I got home the only name I could remember was Trumper, so I googled, got the Gentlemans Shop and brought my Jagger best badger and a tube of Trumper rose. Used M3 and it was a great improvement.

After another few months discovered B&B. That made it seem OK to buy multiple items!

Then eventually curiousity made me try a DE.
 
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