Did your 'grail' live up to your expectations?

[GaryTha]

I don't think a lot of folks know what "grail" even means or implies. In the non historical context it is

"a thing that is being earnestly pursued or sought after."

It's not something you just got and are happy with. The impulse drug store purchased Van der Hagen or 34c you got by clicking once on Amazon is not your grail razor.

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I do know what the grail is in the historical context. It was the chalice Jesus drank out of at the last supper. It was supposedly what many of the crusaders were going after.

Well, Jesus' cup wasn't at Target when I went, but I was searching for a razor. It wasn't an impulse buy as I purposefully went to Target to buy one. I even prayed I'd buy the best one. I do that all the time.

Luckily, I'm the one who gets to decide if what I have is my grail razor or not. It is. And you'll never guess what I found among the cups.

 

[jmudrick]

I do know what the grail is in the historical context. It was the chalice Jesus drank out of at the last supper. It was supposedly what many of the crusaders were going after.

Well, Jesus' cup wasn't at Target when I went, but I was searching for a razor. It wasn't an impulse buy as I purposefully went to Target to buy one. I even prayed I'd buy the best one. I do that all the time.

Luckily, I'm the one who gets to decide if what I have is my grail razor or not. It is. And you'll never guess what I found among the cups.

Like I said, in the non-Jesus context it has a meaning different than that you are assigning to it. But more power to you, glad you like it.

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[GaryTha]

Like I said, in the non-Jesus context it has a meaning different than that you are assigning to it. But more power to you, glad you like it.

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Cambridge dictionary
something that a person or a particular group of people want very much to have or achieve:

People must very much want to have a Van der Hagen razor as they very much have them. If mine ever breaks, I'll buy another.

The urban dictionary says it's awesome with an adjective. I'll go with that.

The razor is almost as good as Williams Mug Soap which is my grail soap. I only have 26 pucks left.

 

[kingfisher]

I think that, because of the history of people searching and searching hard for the lost grail, the term "holy grail" implies, in this case, a razor that you had wanted, looked for, coveted, and thought would be "the one" for a period of time before it was acquired.

In that context, the OPs question is, essentially, if you had such a hoped-for razor and then you finally acquired it, did it live up to your expectations?

In the first volume of "In Search of Lost Time," which I am currently reading, the narrator has admired a particular actress for a long time and finally, unexpectedly, gets an opportunity to see her live on stage. He is beside himself with anticipation at how awesome this experience is going to be, and how god-like this actress will be on the stage.

When he actually gets there, though, and watches the performance, he finds her to be pedestrian and the entire show to be disappointing.

Later, some important and learned people are discussing with him that he was so lucky to get to see the show, and they go on and on about "wasn't she amazing?" and "She's the best actress....she puts so much more into the character than do other actresses," and so forth. Even though he thought she was mediocre, he begins to question his judgment and to believe that perhaps he saw it in the wrong attitude or that there was something else about his brain that caused it to see it other than how it was.


There are a couple of interesting lessons in the story. First, that it is very easy to be disappointed with something when we have built it up in our minds for a long time, as it is likely that our imagination of how great something is going to be is way beyond what the thing itself can actually deliver. (I've been wanting a Toggle for as long as I have been wetshaving; I have no doubt that, if I found one and actually shaved with it, I would realize it's just another razor designed to hold a blade for shaving, and that the shave itself isn't that different from the Fatboy, which I already own.)

The second lesson is that we are easily dissuaded, even from our own thoughts about something, when others, especially those thought to be more intelligent or more experienced, give us information that contradicts what we had thought. In shaving terms, if I bought a Karve, for example, and thought it was just a so-so shaver, I might begin to convince myself that it was better than I thought it was if a lot of people on the forum continued to tell me what an awesome razor it is.

The other thing that is basic human nature is that we tend to try to convince ourselves that something that either costs more, was harder to find, or is in low supply is better than it actually is, if for no other reason than to justify the amount of money we spent on it, or the amount of time and hassle it took to find it, or just based on its rarity alone. I find myself falling prey to this particular problem, as well.

 

[fightingillini22]

My only true grail was a boxed Fat Boy. Picked it up towards the beginning of my wet shaving journey, had it cleaned up by Cap, and have loved it ever since.

My grandfather had one back in the day, and although we never found his, when my father saw the one I procured on eBay he said "yup that's exactly what I watched him use for over 30 years."

Every time I use it, I think of my grandfather. And my father. And for that I am extremely pleased to say that my particular Fat Boy lived up to the hype.

 

[KeenDogg]

Oh, yes! My PAT.AP.FOR Double Ring did not disappoint! The 5 year wait was well worth it.

 

[Ridpath]

I had three grails. All lived up to expectations, and then some!

Don’t think there’s anything else I want, so I’m all set for the foreseeable future...

 

[Hannah's Dad]

As a newbie a few years ago, I posted that my Grail was a birth year Fatboy. It was gently pointed out to me that a 1966 Fatboy would be EVERYBODY’s Grail, inasmuch as Fatboys were not made in 1966. But the kind and generous gentleman who corrected me offered to send me (for free!) his mint condition Gillette Slim instead (Fourth Quarter 1965, what I call my ‘in utero Slim‘.). That random, completely gratuitous act from @loot is why I say that my Grail far exceeded my expectations —not due to the razor, but rather due to the generosity of a total stranger.

 

[romsitsa]

For me it’s more about the hunt than actually owning a razor. I had and still have several grails but none of them was the “one”. They are simply extremely hard to find (for a steal) and this is thrilling

Adam

 

[SliceOfLife]

Grail for me was a hone, and it was a Thuringian... and yeah, at the time it blew everything else I'd tried away for ease and comfort. A number of thuringians still have a place on my shelf many years later. They don't stand alone any more, but after shaving off Swaty's and Cnats and random slates for months, a Thuri edge was a thing of beauty.