How did you get into DE/Straight shaving

Hi

I learnt to cut throat shave about a year ago, at the time I didn't think that many men would like a woman shaving them, but by combining my skills as a therapist with the new barbering techniques I discovered that I was in popular demand at the barbers I work at.

We use a combination of Mignon and Edwin Jagger products to get a really close shave without the redness that can often result when doing it yourself.

Is there anything more decadent that having someone else give you a cut throat shave, it's wonderfully relaxing and can be followed in the gentlemanly fashion by a nice brandy.

The secret is definately in the shaving oil, followed by shaving soap/cream.

If you are interested there are some photo's on <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.harringtonsofbawtry.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">www.harringtonsofbawtry.co.uk</a><!-- w -->
 
I had been treating myself to grooming products on mankind.co.uk for a while when I stumbled upon the Merkur Futur.

I bought it, tried it with canned goo mach 3 stylee, cut myself, dismissed it as rubbish, put it away and went back to the mach 3 .

I think that it was after watching the mantic videos on you tube that persuaded me to pick it up again.

A few false starts later, here I am.
 
I always used a DE from the outset: Aristocrat Junior, Wilkinson blades, Erasmic or Palmolive and a Culmak Spartan for twenty-odd years. Things went up a gear recently when I went searching the web for a spare razor and stumbled upon the shaving enthusiasts here and elsewhere - it had never occurred to me that there was a whole shaving subculture out there.

As regards the open razors, that was pretty much inevitable once I'd found sources of information and supplies because shiny sharp things have always fascinated me, and where other people have a healthy and sensible respect for sharp edges, I've got a big blind spot. Funny thing is, it's done my skin a world of good (the odd nick notwithstanding), which is why the DEs don't get an outing very often nowadays.
 
Upto last year hated shaving and probably shaved 2 times a week at most looking a scruffy bastard most of the time.Mentioned to father-in-law id love to try old fashioned shaving so he gave me his old slim adjustable.Searched for advice and ended up here and the rest is history.With thanks to members on here for pifs and advice learnt quite quickly what was good and what wasnt and now shave every day if possible. :D

And yes still a scruffy bastard but a clean shaven one :)
 
I never had any problems with the stuff I was using - was just annoyed by the cost.

Anyway, 3 years ago I was looking for reviews of Blenheim Bouquet and went from Basenotes to Badger and Blade to see the reviews. Read a few posts, thought it sounded interesting. Went to youtube, saw Mark (Mantic) and decided to give it a try.

I could (and sometimes do) shave with the old stuff I was using - Noxzema and Sensor - and for me, this shaving lark has never been anything but a neccessary step in my morning ablutions.

Not a hobby.

Not 'me' time.

Not zen.

Shaving.

In fact I often wonder what I'm still doing hanging round the forums as I'm not really that 'into' it.
 
Stumbled upon a Mantic video on YouTube, first thought was “what you doing fella :shock: ” then proceeded to watch all of his video clips into the early hours.
 
There was a shaving thread on a cycling forum I use and some people said they use a DE and a couple said the use a straight, it also mentioned B&B. A while later when I ran out of WS Quatro cartridges, I had bought a Fusion on offer a while before and tried it. It was crap so I went about finding a good razor and signed up to B&B I soon made contact with a TSR member and joined here.
 
Always wet shaved, must be knocking on nearly 30 years now, but made a step up when i was bought L'Occitane bowl and a Wilkinson brush for a birthday a couple of years ago.

This led to a halfway house affair for a while, but was finally nudged over the edge when Mrs M sent me a link to B&B from a save money shaving thread on MSE (Money Saving Expert - so now you know, Martin Lewis talks bollocks!)
 
I used to have the occasional wet shave using a cartridge, but was never that impressed with the canned gloop. A watch forum that I frequent had a very long shaving thread a while back, which tempted me to buy a brush (Men-u synthetic) and I found some Pecksniffs soap and ASB plus cologne in a gift set from TK Maxx. Then I began to lurk around this place and did the maths comparing cartridge costs to DE. Comfort was another consideration, as my neck was always sore after a cartridge shave, even when using Truefitt and Hill Ultimate Comfort cream.

So there we are. Thus far, I'm enjoying the DE experience, and it feels more comfortable than cartridges, particularly on the neck. I have a selection of blades to try from Connaught, and I'm the proud owner of a Fido brush (the "stealth" version, without the logo). The next step will be to experiment with different creams. So much for the economy aspect of DE vs cartridge!

Today is a day off, and I'm sporting the "vagrant" look which seems to be popular these days. New blade for tomorrow!

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I look forward to spending some more time on here, and learning more about the art of shaving.


Regards

Ian
 
Seems many people came to DE shaving by chance.

I was an electric shaver for many years and started to wet shave after leaving my electric at a gig (I'm a musician) somewhere. I have it back now. I was using a fusion and gel. Shaving was still a chore and I only did it when I had to. In fact my area boss at an old job insisted all male employees were clean shaven everyday. That didn't go down well with many, including me. I didn't like the gel/lather getting stuck in the blades and shaving consistently for two days was just not good

Anyway, we had a new bathroom and the sink seemed to get blocked up. Once I'd unblocked it I noticed it seemed to be the shaving gel that had caused the blockage. So I started to shave with normal soap. And that was much better. I than looked on you tube and found a clip of some bloke that looked like hannibal lecture shaving with a DE and T&H cream (I've not been able to locate that clip since) and that got me on the path to DE shaving. I thought it would also work out much cheaper. Now I shave everyday, with rare exceptions.
 
Since I'm new here, I'll tell you my shaving history..

Started shaving quite late. (I don't have a lot of facial hair), at first I was quite barbaric, using disposable cartridge razors (anything that was on special offer, Gillette, WS etc..), and NO lather. (I said I was barbaric)

Just last year I started using canned shaving foam, which was a hell of an improvement. (don't laugh!), after a while I went on to using canned gel, which was even better :D
I was still using disposable cartridge razors, but damn they are expensive! I looked on ebay for some stuff, and came across a few vintage DE razors, and thought, why not?
Did some research and ended up on B&B, where they recommended a Merkur 34C HD for starters, went into town on saturday, and the only shop (a knife shop) that had DE razors, had two models, the 34C and another one (also Merkur), bought one + blades, got home, read the howto's, and shaved. (using canned gel) I was more than impressed!
Someone of on B&B told me since I live in France, I should check out the BST here instead, so I did ;)

Yesterday I bought a Gillette Rocket of the bay, today a Gillette New.
Also went to the supermarket and bought shaving cream and a cheap brush, but my lather was not up to spec.. :(

One day when I master DE shaving, I'll give the straight a try...

FB.
 
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