Hello everyone!
I am not sure if this is the right place to post, since I am not exactly a newbie, but here I am anyway.
Let me first say that it is somewhat ironic that I have registered on this site; the online forums I have been most active in pertain to growing facial hair. Although I have benefited from information on this site on numerous occasions, I only actually registered to see some images that I couldn’t see unless I logged in.
A little about my shaving background…
I grew up with a father who always had a moustache – then suddenly a beard for about 8 years. He eventually shaved his moustache after 25 years, with apparently no regrets. What this has meant for me is that I have a very natural and relaxed relationship with my facial hair. I am 40 now and I have grown sideburns of various shapes and sizes since I was 14, I have had beards on and off since it was physically possible in my 20s, and I have been cultivating a handlebar moustache for the past 4 years. I have always just grown when I felt like it and shaved when I felt like it (although my moustache is starting to feel permanent).
I have never had a job that required me to be clean shaven, so that was never an issue. Still, probably like everyone else around here, I learned about shaving as a young teenager and embarked upon the adventure. I was given an electric razor for Christmas when I was about 15 or 16 an pretty much all I got was razor burn.
It didn’t take long before I turned to gel and a DE razor, since that was what my father was using to keep his cheeks and neckline clean in the beard period. Looking back, I think I managed remarkably well despite not receiving any instruction (I thought I was being sneaky because I wanted to hide the fact that I hated my Christmas present, but later I found out that my dad could tell I was using his razor and decided not to confront me about it since I obviously wanted to keep it a secret).
Soon, I bought a Gillette Sensor and a girlfriend gave me a shaving brush and soap for my birthday and I was pretty happy, eschewing all the multi-blade updates and dreaming of one day owning a straight razor. Still, I often ended up with ingrown hairs on my neck and generally only shaved once or twice a week in my non-bearded periods.
Nevertheless, I have always thought there was something cool about shaving, especially straight razors – there is something so cool about the fine line between well-groomed and dead.
Anyway, when my wife gave me a straight razor and my brothers gave me a strop when I turned 30, my shaving adventure started in earnest. Eventually, I learned about the direction of hair growth and my neck irritation problem pretty much dissipated.
I used the straight for a few years, but then it got nicked and I didn’t have the equipment to hone it properly or the money to get someone else to fix it (I am Canadian, but live in Norway, and everything costs a million dollars here – damned oil).
Fortunately, I was visiting my parents at the time and my father gave me my great-grandfather’s old Gillette, which seems to be a 1948–1950 Aristocrat based on my online research.
With a couple of extended beard breaks, I have been DE shaving for about 3 years now and I love it (usually a 2 pass shave every day). Like always, I love the process, but after I got my great-grandfather’s old razor, I also love the history.
I feel like I have been running on a bit now and I hope I will have something to contribute at some time, but now you all know I am lurking around here (some of you may recognise me from the Handlebar Club Forum).
Happy shaving everyone!
I am not sure if this is the right place to post, since I am not exactly a newbie, but here I am anyway.
Let me first say that it is somewhat ironic that I have registered on this site; the online forums I have been most active in pertain to growing facial hair. Although I have benefited from information on this site on numerous occasions, I only actually registered to see some images that I couldn’t see unless I logged in.
A little about my shaving background…
I grew up with a father who always had a moustache – then suddenly a beard for about 8 years. He eventually shaved his moustache after 25 years, with apparently no regrets. What this has meant for me is that I have a very natural and relaxed relationship with my facial hair. I am 40 now and I have grown sideburns of various shapes and sizes since I was 14, I have had beards on and off since it was physically possible in my 20s, and I have been cultivating a handlebar moustache for the past 4 years. I have always just grown when I felt like it and shaved when I felt like it (although my moustache is starting to feel permanent).
I have never had a job that required me to be clean shaven, so that was never an issue. Still, probably like everyone else around here, I learned about shaving as a young teenager and embarked upon the adventure. I was given an electric razor for Christmas when I was about 15 or 16 an pretty much all I got was razor burn.
It didn’t take long before I turned to gel and a DE razor, since that was what my father was using to keep his cheeks and neckline clean in the beard period. Looking back, I think I managed remarkably well despite not receiving any instruction (I thought I was being sneaky because I wanted to hide the fact that I hated my Christmas present, but later I found out that my dad could tell I was using his razor and decided not to confront me about it since I obviously wanted to keep it a secret).
Soon, I bought a Gillette Sensor and a girlfriend gave me a shaving brush and soap for my birthday and I was pretty happy, eschewing all the multi-blade updates and dreaming of one day owning a straight razor. Still, I often ended up with ingrown hairs on my neck and generally only shaved once or twice a week in my non-bearded periods.
Nevertheless, I have always thought there was something cool about shaving, especially straight razors – there is something so cool about the fine line between well-groomed and dead.
Anyway, when my wife gave me a straight razor and my brothers gave me a strop when I turned 30, my shaving adventure started in earnest. Eventually, I learned about the direction of hair growth and my neck irritation problem pretty much dissipated.
I used the straight for a few years, but then it got nicked and I didn’t have the equipment to hone it properly or the money to get someone else to fix it (I am Canadian, but live in Norway, and everything costs a million dollars here – damned oil).
Fortunately, I was visiting my parents at the time and my father gave me my great-grandfather’s old Gillette, which seems to be a 1948–1950 Aristocrat based on my online research.
With a couple of extended beard breaks, I have been DE shaving for about 3 years now and I love it (usually a 2 pass shave every day). Like always, I love the process, but after I got my great-grandfather’s old razor, I also love the history.
I feel like I have been running on a bit now and I hope I will have something to contribute at some time, but now you all know I am lurking around here (some of you may recognise me from the Handlebar Club Forum).
Happy shaving everyone!
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