Looks like I first joined in maybe 2007. I must have started in the wet-shaving hobby around 2002 or thereabouts.
I tend toward paradigm shifts, a few months to a year of sudden obsessive research and acquiring, then settle down. I will say happily that I finally did get through the soaps I bought nearly twenty years ago. Maybe I still have a puck of Mitchell's somewhere in my bathroom but all else did get used. My last new blade was four years of Dorco with my Gillette Tech after switching from 4-8 years of exclusively using Feathers before that. I do still have a box of lately untouched straights from my early days which I should re-explore. I can't seem to find that Gillette Old Type from around 1918 which I used to have.
I ran out of Arko recently. Looking for a new supply of el cheapo, I was amazed with all the new brands of shaving gear. Even some of the then-new brands have filled out and developed into much more interesting offerings. For instance, I bought a RazoRock Gillette clone probably in the first few years RR was around. Now look at them. And all these new, ridiculously-priced artisan options? Wow.
Suffice to say that my $2 Arko stick has become a rather expensive purchase.
I now have gotten around to experimenting with those slants I considered years ago. A Razorock German 37, followed by the Wunderbar, ATT S1/S2, Fatip open and closed crowns, Ikon X3, PAA glow-in-the-dark Bakelite replica, etc. And a few additional traditional heads such as a Fendrihan Mk, RR Gamechanger Jaws 84 and Mamba 70. I have enough blades to get me through the next quarter century, at least 1200. Don't forget the several obligate brushes including dipping into boar, horse, and synthetics. Not to mention the additional creams and soaps and aftershaves.
Maybe just a few more items before I batten the hatches for the next decade or two?
Happy the Arko is still priced right.
I tend toward paradigm shifts, a few months to a year of sudden obsessive research and acquiring, then settle down. I will say happily that I finally did get through the soaps I bought nearly twenty years ago. Maybe I still have a puck of Mitchell's somewhere in my bathroom but all else did get used. My last new blade was four years of Dorco with my Gillette Tech after switching from 4-8 years of exclusively using Feathers before that. I do still have a box of lately untouched straights from my early days which I should re-explore. I can't seem to find that Gillette Old Type from around 1918 which I used to have.
I ran out of Arko recently. Looking for a new supply of el cheapo, I was amazed with all the new brands of shaving gear. Even some of the then-new brands have filled out and developed into much more interesting offerings. For instance, I bought a RazoRock Gillette clone probably in the first few years RR was around. Now look at them. And all these new, ridiculously-priced artisan options? Wow.
Suffice to say that my $2 Arko stick has become a rather expensive purchase.
I now have gotten around to experimenting with those slants I considered years ago. A Razorock German 37, followed by the Wunderbar, ATT S1/S2, Fatip open and closed crowns, Ikon X3, PAA glow-in-the-dark Bakelite replica, etc. And a few additional traditional heads such as a Fendrihan Mk, RR Gamechanger Jaws 84 and Mamba 70. I have enough blades to get me through the next quarter century, at least 1200. Don't forget the several obligate brushes including dipping into boar, horse, and synthetics. Not to mention the additional creams and soaps and aftershaves.
Maybe just a few more items before I batten the hatches for the next decade or two?
Happy the Arko is still priced right.
