Greetings, kind and gentle shaving enthusiasts!
My name is Todd, and if you don't mind, I'd like to tell you about my shaving habits and how I'm considering a change. I welcome your thoughts and comments on my story. I shall make my first B&B post my own narrative.
I'm 45, and aside from a few experiments in high school with a disposable razor and goop in a can, I've always been an electric shaver. Rotary Norelco early on, but a Braun foil since college.
My current Braun is several years old. It's probably due for a new cutter block again. The foil has been replaced at least once (after it tore a little bit without me noticing right away and cut the heck out of me one day). The pop-up trimmer thing broke off a couple years ago. In fact, it's probably due to be replaced altogether...
except I've developed this notion that I should explore the world of DE wetshaving. I've been reading and enjoying lots of information online on the matter. Within two minutes of Googling the whole concept, I found myself watching Mantic59 videos. Intriguing.
To use the forum vernacular, I certainly get an SAS (socially acceptable shave). Why change? Is my process broken? Well, not really. Probably not. But I keep finding myself in the mood for something a little different. Right now, I do nothing special to my face. It gets washed like the rest of me in the shower with a typical body wash. For 20 years before that, I used plain old unscented Dove bar soap. My shaving involves literally zero prep time. I also don't use any talcs or aftershaves. I usually shave after showering, but sometimes before, and sometimes not related to a shower at all.
It seems to take so many passes to shave with the Braun. Pick any postage stamp-sized spot on my face, and I know I pass the Braun over it 15-20 times in the course of my zig-zagging and swirling around. Sure, it only take about 3.5 minutes for the whole exercise, but it ultimately leaves me dissatisfied lately. Especially on my neck. The neck never fully passes my smoothness test, but I call it "good enough" and move on for the day.
Updating the Braun would probably put me into one of the models with the alcohol cleaning solution base station charger thing. That seems a bit much. I don't really want a Cuisinart on my bathroom counter. And though I haven't researched it much, given the interest in DE stuff instead, that cleaning solution sounds expensive, too.
I generally shave daily, and I rarely go 48 hours without shaving. It's just too much work with the Braun if I let it go even that long. In fact, I've only gone beyond three days just one time in my adult life that I can think of, when I managed to get to ten days' growth before it drove me nuts with the prickliness and sensation of extra skin oils. This was 15 years ago.
These days, I'm sure it would be pretty much salt & pepper. I suppose I have a medium growth rate, and light/medium density and hair "toughness." I guess I don't know for sure, given how I've never really grown it out much, and I'm not exactly touching other guys' beards for comparison.
I have very little problem with razor burn or ingrowns. About the only time I might irritate my neck is if I've just changed the cutter bar, but I barely do that once a year.
I think it would be a big adjustment for me to take the additional time in the morning to implement a full wetshave routine. However, so many of you make it sound worthwhile. My stepdad used a mug/brush/DE when I was a kid, but it wasn't something we really discussed or "passed down" to me. He never seemed to complain about shaving, though.
I'm willing to buy some gear and give it a go (in fact, I think I have a proper collection of items picked out at West Coast Shaving), but I don't want to break what isn't broken just to get a little more performance and satisfaction. I dread my wife pulling the "I told you so" card if it doesn't work out. I don't want to start having problems with nicks, burn, or ingrowns. It would be a big change to put things on my face before, during, and after shaving, suddenly using all these products just to get ready in the morning when I used none before. I don't like greasy sensations like hand lotions produce, and wouldn't want my face to feel like that when I'm done with a new method. Those things are surely good for my skin, but to date I've just never bothered. The idea of working up a rich lather and gentle, deliberate shaving sounds pretty cool. The hardware just looks cool.
I have a young son and daughter...I even find myself considering the sentimental value of having them associate a particular scent or fragrance with "Dad's face" when I give them a hug or something. I can still conjure the smell of that mug soap my stepdad used, or even the Edge menthol gel my dad used back in the day.
But is it to be? Sorry to ramble on so much, but I felt like giving a full account of my perspective. Thanks for reading.
My name is Todd, and if you don't mind, I'd like to tell you about my shaving habits and how I'm considering a change. I welcome your thoughts and comments on my story. I shall make my first B&B post my own narrative.
I'm 45, and aside from a few experiments in high school with a disposable razor and goop in a can, I've always been an electric shaver. Rotary Norelco early on, but a Braun foil since college.
My current Braun is several years old. It's probably due for a new cutter block again. The foil has been replaced at least once (after it tore a little bit without me noticing right away and cut the heck out of me one day). The pop-up trimmer thing broke off a couple years ago. In fact, it's probably due to be replaced altogether...
except I've developed this notion that I should explore the world of DE wetshaving. I've been reading and enjoying lots of information online on the matter. Within two minutes of Googling the whole concept, I found myself watching Mantic59 videos. Intriguing.
To use the forum vernacular, I certainly get an SAS (socially acceptable shave). Why change? Is my process broken? Well, not really. Probably not. But I keep finding myself in the mood for something a little different. Right now, I do nothing special to my face. It gets washed like the rest of me in the shower with a typical body wash. For 20 years before that, I used plain old unscented Dove bar soap. My shaving involves literally zero prep time. I also don't use any talcs or aftershaves. I usually shave after showering, but sometimes before, and sometimes not related to a shower at all.
It seems to take so many passes to shave with the Braun. Pick any postage stamp-sized spot on my face, and I know I pass the Braun over it 15-20 times in the course of my zig-zagging and swirling around. Sure, it only take about 3.5 minutes for the whole exercise, but it ultimately leaves me dissatisfied lately. Especially on my neck. The neck never fully passes my smoothness test, but I call it "good enough" and move on for the day.
Updating the Braun would probably put me into one of the models with the alcohol cleaning solution base station charger thing. That seems a bit much. I don't really want a Cuisinart on my bathroom counter. And though I haven't researched it much, given the interest in DE stuff instead, that cleaning solution sounds expensive, too.
I generally shave daily, and I rarely go 48 hours without shaving. It's just too much work with the Braun if I let it go even that long. In fact, I've only gone beyond three days just one time in my adult life that I can think of, when I managed to get to ten days' growth before it drove me nuts with the prickliness and sensation of extra skin oils. This was 15 years ago.
These days, I'm sure it would be pretty much salt & pepper. I suppose I have a medium growth rate, and light/medium density and hair "toughness." I guess I don't know for sure, given how I've never really grown it out much, and I'm not exactly touching other guys' beards for comparison.
I have very little problem with razor burn or ingrowns. About the only time I might irritate my neck is if I've just changed the cutter bar, but I barely do that once a year.
I think it would be a big adjustment for me to take the additional time in the morning to implement a full wetshave routine. However, so many of you make it sound worthwhile. My stepdad used a mug/brush/DE when I was a kid, but it wasn't something we really discussed or "passed down" to me. He never seemed to complain about shaving, though.
I'm willing to buy some gear and give it a go (in fact, I think I have a proper collection of items picked out at West Coast Shaving), but I don't want to break what isn't broken just to get a little more performance and satisfaction. I dread my wife pulling the "I told you so" card if it doesn't work out. I don't want to start having problems with nicks, burn, or ingrowns. It would be a big change to put things on my face before, during, and after shaving, suddenly using all these products just to get ready in the morning when I used none before. I don't like greasy sensations like hand lotions produce, and wouldn't want my face to feel like that when I'm done with a new method. Those things are surely good for my skin, but to date I've just never bothered. The idea of working up a rich lather and gentle, deliberate shaving sounds pretty cool. The hardware just looks cool.
I have a young son and daughter...I even find myself considering the sentimental value of having them associate a particular scent or fragrance with "Dad's face" when I give them a hug or something. I can still conjure the smell of that mug soap my stepdad used, or even the Edge menthol gel my dad used back in the day.
But is it to be? Sorry to ramble on so much, but I felt like giving a full account of my perspective. Thanks for reading.
