Hobby? Come on guy's

[vaplanman]

One razor, one brand of blade, one soap, one brush, one aftershave is a change in your lifestyle. More than one soap or several hundred blades is making sure you don't run out. More than one razor or brush or mug or scuttle or AS or cologne, you've crossed the line into hobby. I am FIRMLY in the hobby category!

 

[El-a-Menthol]

What kind of bothers me is people shaving with a straight or with a DE continue to call it a hobby. I thought collecting coins,stamps etc was a hobby? What we do is a lifestyle change.

Yeah that's way different then collection soaps, scuttles, razors, etc.
For some it's a curiosity. For others a hobby. For other a experience. For others a obsession.

 

[01HDFXD]

Whether you call it a hobby, an avocation, a passion, or something else, it is what it is: an activity that all of us here (and plenty of other folks elsewhere) have a deep and abiding interest in and devote a significant amount of their attention to. Wet shaving is an activity of which we are all, literally, aficionados (from the Spanish word "aficion," meaning "fondness, penchant, liking; hobby; addiction; love). It is an activity that I believe we all love, not only doing, but also studying, learning and discussing. If that ain't a hobby, I don't know what is.

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

It is a hobby if one collects razors, brushes, soaps, etc. Which, I personally do not.

It is a lifestyle change if one used to rarely shave, and now does so on a daily basis. But, I have always shaved at least once a day.

It is a change of tooling if one went from carts and canned goo to something else. But that is not me, either. I still have the same razor, brush and mug I started with at age 15 in 1976.

I do have some other razors, brushes and mugs which have been handed down to me over the years. I did buy a new brush first of the year, a Vie Long horsehair. It replaced a 20 year old boar, which I had purchased new, since the boar started to shed pretty good. I guess I wore it out. I also did change to using a Fasan Double Slant, that being something I had never heard of until about a year ago.

I originally became a member of this site because I had bought a couple extra razors and wanted to find out more about them. I had a time where I was working away from home and wanted a couple extra razors for the apartment and did not want to have to cart (pun intended!) my home razors back and forth. I have since passed on the apartment razors, and even a few I had from family that I never used much. I keep one from each grandfather and three from my dad. One straight, and four DE. Plus the Fasan make six total.

So, for me, no. Not a hobby. Not a lifestyle change. Not a money saving opportunity, as I was already into using 13 cent blades and 6 buck a puck soap (which lasts at least two full years). There was a tooling change, though. I would never have known about Slant razors had I not found this site.

Why I keep on looking is: what other things are out there I know nothing about, but might like to try?

Stan

 

[The Kiwi]

My two cents. I would say that for a lot of folks it becomes akin to a hobby as much as it could be. For everyone else I would call it a mindset change, not a lifestyle change. I ventured a bit into the hobby aspect, but am slowly coming round to a minimalist approach.

Having always had a tendency toward "hoarding" that I have to periodically clean up after when the magazines and newspapers accumulate, or any number of extra copies of something show up again after having reappeared while in the process of removing clutter, I had almost all the shave hardware I'd bought since 1962, a matter of 7-8 DEs, 4-5 Atras, a couple of Trac IIs, Sensors, a Quattro, a Hydro3, and an Xtreme3, when I chose to reduce my reliance on aerosol shave products and high cost cartridges.

I did replace two of the Injectors I once had, and however many SEs I'd once had, and I did buy a Fatboy I'd never owned, and replaced a couple of Super Speeds that had disappeared, but I always had kept several kinds of soap, and several kinds of shave creams, and several kinds of aftershaves (at least, that became true after about 1968 or so when I discovered how pleasant some of those really were.

What I've gotten from B&B is an interest in things beyond what I could always get at local storefront locations. So, instead of a tube of Gillette shave cream I've got Godrej, La Toja, Proraso, and Tabac, and instead of a paltry 3-4 kinds of soap, at least twice that. Instead of skipping both weekend shaves, I'm back at six shaves weekly. I feel more clean and fresh because it takes longer for "the shadow" to reappear.

So: "lifestyle"? maybe. "hobby", I don't know about that. I'm somewhere in between, I think!

 

[01HDFXD]

Thinking further about this question, for me, shaving is a zen experience. So maybe it's really a religion...

 

[Shawn1]

DE is definitely a lifestyle change for me and my grooming habits. My life changed when I started to use DE, a brush, a quality soap/cream, and a nice aftershave. My skin is the best it has ever looked. No more razor burn on the neck. Yes, my shave takes a bit longer, but the outcome is so worth the effort. I qualify that as a lifestyle change, do you?

 

[KQY61]

Thinking further about this question, for me, shaving is a zen experience. So maybe it's really a religion...

Hi,

Oh, boy. Your thought regarding religion, and your avatar, make me instantly think of several lines revolving around certain movie dialog about 'sad devotion' 'ancient religion' 'clairvoyance', and something about 'stolen razors'.

But, that would quickly lead to this thread spiraling off into the void at warp speed, so I shall restrain myself.

Not that this will likely help. I have now sown the seeds, I fear. But, I just could not quite keep silent as the multitude of lines reverbrate within my skull:

Stan

 

[01HDFXD]

Hi,

Oh, boy. Your thought regarding religion, and your avatar, make me instantly think of several lines revolving certain movie dialog about 'sad devotion' 'ancient religion' 'clairvoyance', and something about 'stolen razors'.

But, that would quickly lead to this thread spiraling off into the void at warp speed, so I shall restrain myself.

Not that this will likely help. I have now sown the seeds, I fear. But, I just could not quite keep silent as the multitude of lines reverbrate within my skull:

Stan

May the Force be with you, Stan.

 

[dfoulk]

Per this definition it's pretty open. I'd consider learning to hone a straight razor a hobby of mine. I get where shaving is an everyday task but I suppose it could be a hobby as well, at least as defined below it could be. Trying or collecting new soaps, blades, or razors could easily be a hobby as well as antique shopping, refinishing razors or brushes, etc.

If bowling and golf are sports and not games this can easily be a hobby.

hobby (noun)

• 1.
  an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.
  "her hobbies are reading and gardening"
  

  synonyms:

  pastime, leisure activity, leisure pursuit;

 

[Pepin]

It can be both a craft/skill and hobby/collecting.

I have 10 razors in regular rotation, and a variety of soaps, aftershaves.

The hobby/collecting part are the articles displaying a history of shaving: razors, soap tins, AS containers etc.

 

[Matty T]

Whether you call it a hobby, an avocation, a passion, or something else, it is what it is: an activity that all of us here (and plenty of other folks elsewhere) have a deep and abiding interest in and devote a significant amount of their attention to. Wet shaving is an activity of which we are all, literally, aficionados (from the Spanish word "aficion," meaning "fondness, penchant, liking; hobby; addiction; love). It is an activity that I believe we all love, not only doing, but also studying, learning and discussing. If that ain't a hobby, I don't know what is.

A huge +1. well said

 

[chuckman]

I guess you could say it is a hobby for me...... Yes, I have to shave, but for me the fun part is I am fortunate enough to use a variety of razors from straights to DE's. How I ever got into this, I don't have a clue. As with MOST hobbies, you have to be willing to make an investment of time and/ or money. As for me, I will NEVER recoup the amount of money or time I have invested. That reason alone makes it a hobby. My wife and kids kind of get it and I often see razors appear "out of nowhere" from my family members. I have met some wonderful people in my adventures for the "perfect razor" for the perfect shave which I know is not really out there. What works one day just doesn't feel the same the next day or even the next week.

But, for me it is an adventure which I enjoy to the utmost. Happy searching and shaving to all!

 

[aihpcfl]

It is what it is. To me it's just shaving, though since getting back into using a DE I'm having fun with the tools, particularly trying different blades, and now trying another razor. I can, however, appreciate collecting, studying history, getting into the technical stuff, etc. so I don't have too hard of a time with someone seeing it as a hobby.

 

[Scaramouche]

I vote religion. It does involve blood sacrifices! Oh, and dead badgers....

 

[RepeatPete]

Whether you call it a hobby, an avocation, a passion, or something else, it is what it is: an activity that all of us here (and plenty of other folks elsewhere) have a deep and abiding interest in and devote a significant amount of their attention to. Wet shaving is an activity of which we are all, literally, aficionados (from the Spanish word "aficion," meaning "fondness, penchant, liking; hobby; addiction; love). It is an activity that I believe we all love, not only doing, but also studying, learning and discussing. If that ain't a hobby, I don't know what is.

+1. Very well said. All I know is the activity of shaving is much different than before I came here. In the best possible way, of course.

 

[August West]

I googled Bed and Breakfast and landed here.

 

[El-a-Menthol]

I googled Bed and Breakfast and landed here.

Wow. Best one so far. By far.

 

[dpmtherrien]

Who cares? As long as you enjoy it you can call it whatever you wish. And that's IMHO.

 

[rbergum95]

Hobby? Lifestyle change? Doesnt matter. I enjoy it and that is all that matters.