Hi! I’m originally from Texas, now living in Brooklyn, NY. I just wanted to introduce myself and say HI. I’m a newbie to the forums, but not to wetshaving so much.
I’ve been wetshaving for the past decade, but until this past year I’ve only used my Dovo Astral SE, Edwin Jagger DE89 and chrome brush, and sourced soap at Art of Shaving or random stores I wasn’t exposed or interested in other options. Have lost the Astral, no clue where I stored it during a move and haven’t found it since but was too pricey to replace which is why I got the DE89.
I went to undergrad in Boston and one of my favorite stores to go into was Levitt and Peirce Tocaconists in Cambridge’s Harvard Square back when I was also an avid pipe tobacco smoker/collector. L&P is like walking back in time, once you’re at the store front you feel like you could be walking into anywhere from 1880 to 1940 - the vintage gentleman’s store through and through. Anyway, toward the back, behind the collectible chess boards were some shaving supplies and soaps and that’s where I met my Dovo Astrale straight razor, Geo F. Thumper soap in a wooden bowl and Pinaud Clubman. Before then I had a traveling set from Art of Shaving, but it was w/ a cartridge razor.
Anywho, I was never exposed to the community of wetshaving, or a pharmacy like Pasteur’s here in NYC that have everything so just didn’t know what I was missing until a long trip this past year I forgot to pack my DE89, found a local Art of Shaving and bought a Merkur 34C (at $60 it was the cheapest and I just wasn’t going to buy a disposable cartridge) but it was milder than the DE89 for me so while reasearching a new razor I found the forums, and Rockwell, RazoRock, Phoenix Artist and Accoutrements, Italian Barber, Bullgoose, Fine, Ariana and Evans, Elite Razor. And thus began the downward spending spiral that started at $60 but has probably become closer to $600 in new brushes, razors, soaps, stands, splashes, bowls and everything else we love.
So it’s nice to be among like minded individuals who can know or appreciate how to enjoy a shave.
I’ve been wetshaving for the past decade, but until this past year I’ve only used my Dovo Astral SE, Edwin Jagger DE89 and chrome brush, and sourced soap at Art of Shaving or random stores I wasn’t exposed or interested in other options. Have lost the Astral, no clue where I stored it during a move and haven’t found it since but was too pricey to replace which is why I got the DE89.
I went to undergrad in Boston and one of my favorite stores to go into was Levitt and Peirce Tocaconists in Cambridge’s Harvard Square back when I was also an avid pipe tobacco smoker/collector. L&P is like walking back in time, once you’re at the store front you feel like you could be walking into anywhere from 1880 to 1940 - the vintage gentleman’s store through and through. Anyway, toward the back, behind the collectible chess boards were some shaving supplies and soaps and that’s where I met my Dovo Astrale straight razor, Geo F. Thumper soap in a wooden bowl and Pinaud Clubman. Before then I had a traveling set from Art of Shaving, but it was w/ a cartridge razor.
Anywho, I was never exposed to the community of wetshaving, or a pharmacy like Pasteur’s here in NYC that have everything so just didn’t know what I was missing until a long trip this past year I forgot to pack my DE89, found a local Art of Shaving and bought a Merkur 34C (at $60 it was the cheapest and I just wasn’t going to buy a disposable cartridge) but it was milder than the DE89 for me so while reasearching a new razor I found the forums, and Rockwell, RazoRock, Phoenix Artist and Accoutrements, Italian Barber, Bullgoose, Fine, Ariana and Evans, Elite Razor. And thus began the downward spending spiral that started at $60 but has probably become closer to $600 in new brushes, razors, soaps, stands, splashes, bowls and everything else we love.
So it’s nice to be among like minded individuals who can know or appreciate how to enjoy a shave.
