I initially got into it in my early 20s (I'm 48 now) because I thought it seemed cool and old-fashioned, and figured I might save some money. Maybe I haven't found the right tool yet, but I don't feel like I've ever gotten a significantly better shave from a DE razor. I get fine shaves with cartridges, and still include them in my rotation. But I love shaving with a brush and soap or cream...I'll never go back to canned foam.
A Divide in Wetshaving: Past vs Present
- Thread starter Wgg2017
- Start date
Is that John Goodman with shaving cream on his jaws?
I started out looking for a better/cheaper shave (one out of two is not bad?) and have stayed for the connection to the past as well as the olfactory pleasure of a nice modern artisan soap.
Does that make me all 3?
Does that make me all 3?
I put a shaving scene in a book, so I started using a DE razor to refresh my memory on DE shaving.
I stayed because of Williams Mug Soap.
I stayed because of Williams Mug Soap.
I also started out looking for a cheaper better shave. That led me to buy a 1970 SuperSpeed and I still use 1960s and 1970s adjustables for almost all of my shaving simply because I can not find a new razor of the same or better quality for a lower price. I buy drugstore soaps and creams and aftershaves for the same reason. It’s nice that it’s a connection to the past but I don’t think about that. I just want good stuff cheap.
Neither. I lost my job due to these recent world events and decided that it was time to learn something new. My father always had used an electric razor and I had only ever seen commercials for 3/5 blade cartage razors and thought that was the best there was; so that was what I used. Two decades of ingrown hairs, rashes, and razor burn later and I came across a couple videos on youtube with a guy using DE razors. I became interested and then started to read as much as I could. One month in and I am falling down the rabbit hole...
That sums me up too. I returned to DE in search of improved skin health (successfully), but have also been enjoying the history.
Carts were not yet on the market in the late 60s. I got a brush and Williams Mug because I was (and am) anti-aerosol anything. Wet shaving was just shaving. My dad used canned foam and a Gillette adjustable. Electric razors were the alternative.
I had to vote for 'connection to the past' because my first DE was a family heirloom Old Type. Worked fine, blades and Williams were and are cheap. I never changed. But B&B, my sons starting shaving, and retirement combined to send me down the rabbit hole.
I had to vote for 'connection to the past' because my first DE was a family heirloom Old Type. Worked fine, blades and Williams were and are cheap. I never changed. But B&B, my sons starting shaving, and retirement combined to send me down the rabbit hole.
I switched to DE to save money and get a better shave, to avoid upgrading to the new cartridge system. But then I enjoyed the connection to the past and all the variety. Ended up spending a lot more money to shave.
I could justify it in all kinds of ways: history, saving money (what a joke that was), getting a better shave, helping the environment. But in the end, I just always thought it was a cool thing to do.
Me personally I started wet shaving 12 years ago because money was tight and everything was on the table. For less Than a hundred bucks I got a cheap brush, a puck of soap, Parker razor, and 100 derby blades. I shaved for years on that purchase as I dried the blades religiously And would shave a dozen times per blade. I probably shaved 10 years for what 1 years worth of Mach 3 carts would have cost.
I got a decent shave from carts, but a good DE razor gives a better shave. Its more about less waste, being old school, and tradition for me now. Over 12 years I’ve saved money but I’ve started spending more on collectibles and straights here lately. Sigh lurking here for too long lit the fire.
I got a decent shave from carts, but a good DE razor gives a better shave. Its more about less waste, being old school, and tradition for me now. Over 12 years I’ve saved money but I’ve started spending more on collectibles and straights here lately. Sigh lurking here for too long lit the fire.
Interesting thread! For many years I was quite happy with cart shaving, but ended up here when even
the supermarkets pushed me towards the more expensive 5-blade options. Having made the switch I'm hooked on the better shave, the incredible variety and the skill development aspect.
Currently I'm using the modern take on DE shaving - a synthetic brush, a modern razor design and so on - but I can definitely see the appeal in owning and using vintage razors, and my go down that route in time.
the supermarkets pushed me towards the more expensive 5-blade options. Having made the switch I'm hooked on the better shave, the incredible variety and the skill development aspect.
Currently I'm using the modern take on DE shaving - a synthetic brush, a modern razor design and so on - but I can definitely see the appeal in owning and using vintage razors, and my go down that route in time.
When the pandemic started I shaved my beard of 47 years for a better mask fit. I hadn't shaved since high school and my Dad is long dead. I turned to this community for guidance and found I loved to shave and appreciate the vintage razors for their history and reasonable price. The whole process of lathering with a brush and being mindful while I shave has opened a new world of meditation and connection for me.
Hi,
No vote from me. I still do it all the way my Dad taught me back in 1976. This stuff was still commonly available in the grocery stores then. Now, the razor he gave me was the past to me. A Pre-War Tech. Also the NDC Super Speed Mom gave him for Christmas in 1948.
I don't use either now, preferring a Fasan DoubleSlant. Also the past from my POV, as they are older than I am. But, there isn't a connection to any particular past. No one in the family used a Fasan as far as I know. I found out about them here on B&B.
I do have several razors with a connection to family past. Both Grandfathers and my Dad. I use them once in a while. I also have a cart razor and can do pretty good with that. There have been times over the decades when I had to use a cart because the shave apocalypse was going on and blades were pretty much unobtainable until I found them in the surgical supply store.
But, in these days of shaving plenty, the cart is used for air travel. I carry the little brush and use the 'facial soap' in the hotels.
Stan
No vote from me. I still do it all the way my Dad taught me back in 1976. This stuff was still commonly available in the grocery stores then. Now, the razor he gave me was the past to me. A Pre-War Tech. Also the NDC Super Speed Mom gave him for Christmas in 1948.
I don't use either now, preferring a Fasan DoubleSlant. Also the past from my POV, as they are older than I am. But, there isn't a connection to any particular past. No one in the family used a Fasan as far as I know. I found out about them here on B&B.
I do have several razors with a connection to family past. Both Grandfathers and my Dad. I use them once in a while. I also have a cart razor and can do pretty good with that. There have been times over the decades when I had to use a cart because the shave apocalypse was going on and blades were pretty much unobtainable until I found them in the surgical supply store.
But, in these days of shaving plenty, the cart is used for air travel. I carry the little brush and use the 'facial soap' in the hotels.
Stan
For me it was about value. I hated paying $4 and up for a cartridge that would clog the first time I used it. I was actually looking for a higher quality cart razor with hopefully cheaper cartridges when I found this site. The rest is history.
For me it’s a combination of elements: connecting with the past and ‘better days’, the joy of slowing down, as well as a satisfying shave
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Both for me. I switched from an electric to a Merkur 34c about 5 years ago searching for a better shave. Before electrics I used DE, injector, Trac 2, and Atra razors. Thirty something years of electrics left me wanting something The Merkur was better. I can still in my mind feel and hear my wife’s hand over my cheek and the word “wow”. The ritual became something that I enjoyed and gave me a brief respite during her 18 month terminal illness.
The Merkur is almost never used. It has been largely replaced by a Timeless Titanium as my daily driver (and a new Blackland Tradere is on order). I have also grown a modest collection of vintage razors including a refinished Old Type that I always use on my father’s birthday (soon to be 93) that may have been made in his birth year. I use either a Gillette Goodwill 164 or NEW LC on my mother’s birthday and anniversary of her death (I believe these 2 razors are on either side of her birth year). I use my A4 (her birth quarter) Red Tip Superspeed on my late wife’s birthday, our wedding anniversary and the anniversary of her death. My C4 (my birth quarter) Flare Tip Superspeed is used on my birthday and my E4 (my brother’s birth quarter) Fatboy is used on his birthday.
Other razors are also used on occasion. I came for the shave but truly appreciate the connection to the past.
The Merkur is almost never used. It has been largely replaced by a Timeless Titanium as my daily driver (and a new Blackland Tradere is on order). I have also grown a modest collection of vintage razors including a refinished Old Type that I always use on my father’s birthday (soon to be 93) that may have been made in his birth year. I use either a Gillette Goodwill 164 or NEW LC on my mother’s birthday and anniversary of her death (I believe these 2 razors are on either side of her birth year). I use my A4 (her birth quarter) Red Tip Superspeed on my late wife’s birthday, our wedding anniversary and the anniversary of her death. My C4 (my birth quarter) Flare Tip Superspeed is used on my birthday and my E4 (my brother’s birth quarter) Fatboy is used on his birthday.
Other razors are also used on occasion. I came for the shave but truly appreciate the connection to the past.
100% the same.
Nobody taught me how to shave. From about the age of fourteen in the 60s' I messed around with DE razors then with the advent of BIC disposables tried shaving with them. My shaves were mediocre and invariably accompanied with irritation,cuts and nicks caused by repeated buffing. Consequently I tried to a few electric razors but couldn't get a close enough shave around my jaw so I would try and touch up with a cart. -Without any knowledge of good prep' this often resulted in irritation and redness in those areas of my face. Then in my late 60s thanks largely to B&B I learn about the finer points of wet shaving I returned to a DE razor. I spent a small fortune buying different razors from mild to aggressive, I even tried straights, but even the sharpest and aggressive razors skipped over certain areas of my stubble. Then I learnt the importance of good exfoliation with warm/hot flannels applied to my stubble beforehand and using soap as a pre shave -rubbing it into the stubble first. I discovered by rubbing or massacring the shaving soap/cream too into my stubble and face lathering I could obtain the quality of shave that I had long been searching for in the last sixty years of my life. The exfoliation and pre shave soap rub was the singularly largest step change for me in wet shaving and I found I could even return to using a mild razor to get a BBS shave consistently.
The trouble with education is that it doesn't teach you what you need to know in life and good shaving is one of them! -So thanks again to B&B
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