How did you discover DE shaving?

[venton]

Were you once a multiblade shaver or electric shaver?
I'm wondering how you discovered DE shaving?

Personally this is how it happened:

I was getting really annoyed with stubble getting trapped between the blades of various multiblades. I would rigourously rinse the razor in the sink and the hair was still jammed in there. It felt kind of dirty using a razor like that the next day, even if it was still sharp.
I remembered once I had a multiblade which had a plastic button I pressed and it cleared out the hair between the blades. So I googled something like 'razor cleaning stubble' or something, and came across this forum, where someone was discussing DE shaving. All they did, they said, was unscrew the head a little and rinse it out.

This got me curious, and pretty soon I was reading all about it and watching videos and really fancied giving this a go. Glad I did because I really look forward to shaving each day, with a nice clean razor with no gunk jammed in it.

What's your story?

 

[k2clones29]

I got really sick of shaving and still seeing stubble. I thought it was something I was doing. So I googled a lot of shaving terms and found out about brushes and soaps. I used a saville row w/ prorasso for a while, and also threw in trumpers soap a little later. I still wasn't satisfied and was only using a fusion a few times a week, so I recently googled more terms and came across mantic's videos. That's where I learned about DE shaving and many other neat shaving techniques. The great thing was I was halfway there with my brush and soaps. One merkur HD and a sampler pack, I was off and running. Now I enjoy shaving and do it every day.

 

[T-Dog]

Well, I may be giving away too much here, but when I was a young man, DE razors were how most people shaved.

 

[Quintar]

I had gotten into making my own soaps and shampoo bars and one day I came across a recipe for shaving soap. I had always shaved with a cartridge in the shower using just soap so I figured this would be something cool to try. I made the soap and picked up a VDH boar brush at CVS and started using it to shave. Well, the recipe was a horrible shaving soap, based on olive oil, basically just a regular body soap with bentonite clay added. I was expecting a thick creamy lather like you see in all the old movies so I was rather disappointed. I started researching shaving soap on the internet and came across B&B. I read a bunch on here and learned I was way off. So to get a good feel for what the soap should be like I ordered a badger brush and a puck of tabac, I also threw in a Merkur HD and a blade sampler....
My dad shaved with a super adjustable when I was a kid and I had no idea these products were still around, and work better and cost less than the modern equivalents. Before I even got my items and used them, the whole idea really appealed to me. But after that first smooth shave I was hooked. Now i'm all out of storage space in the bathroom!

 

[spoonsacola]

I was finally fed up with shaving and still seeing stubble. Due to disliking the act of shaving I also used to rush the job and not really pay that much attention. As a result, I also suffered from quite a bit of irritation on my neck. I stumbled across DE while looking into straight razors. I'll probably give the straight a go at some point. But i'm enjoying DE for now. The cheaper blades and quality of the equipment also makes the process a lot more enjoyable.

 

[PiXmo]

I was using a Schick Extreme 3 razor since the last 10 years. One year ago I found it was more and more difficult to find Schick cartridges locally. It was like they were about to be discontinued or something like that. As I didn't want to go with a 5, 6 or 13 blades cartridge razor at a premium price I began to think and search for another solution.
In no time Google led me to B&B forum where I discovered my new way of life...
It was one year ago. Now I have replaced a daily boring 5 minute routine in 30 minutes of pleasure, my bathroom is full of bottles, tubes and shaving gear, and I am happy with that!

 

[spoonsacola]

Hey PiXmo, have you had any luck finding blade cases to buy? I'm looking into them as well and I haven't located a good source yet...

 

[Luc]

I didn't know about DE or Straight razor shaving specifically until I got on B&B... I was mainly looking at replacing the canned stuff...

 

[benito]

I stumbled upon this site four years ago. Liked the thought of shaving with an actual tool rather than a cheap piece of plastic. AND I was under the impression that I'd actually save money...but you know how that goes...

 

[venton]

errrr yeah... the money ..ahem

 

[Oscroft]

Well, like T-Dog, I started out with DE shaving because that's what people did then - just like my father and my grandfather did. Over the years I've gone through phases of using cartridge razors for convenience (back when I had to get up early and head to the office every morning, I just couldn't manage any more than a quick swipe with one of those - I've never been a morning person). I've been through beard-growing phases too - letting it grow for a month or two, then shaving it off when it starts to annoy either me or my wife. And a multi-blade thing is no use for those beardy phases, so I've occasionally used one of granddaddy's old straights - but now I use an open comb safety for that. Currently in a clean-shaven phase (and I work from home, so I can shave whenever I feel like it - I find it makes a nice relaxation break partway through the day), so I'm using standard comb razors - currently a 58 Super Speed that I just acquired.

 

[Niles]

I found B&B when a reader on basenotes referred to this website. I wasn't really looking to change from my cartidge razor, but very soon I did and haven't looked back.

 

[KM-instructor]

Well, I may be giving away too much here, but when I was a young man, DE razors were how most people shaved.

+1

 

[bc9]

Well, I may be giving away too much here, but when I was a young man, DE razors were how most people shaved.

+1. I started out on DE & injector razors, but grew a beard that I had for about 27 years. As DE's & injectors got scarce I was using disposables, but only to trim the edges, so I didn't know how bad they were. As the beard started turning white most of it came off. I had true sticker shock at the prices of cartridges & the shaves were lousy. About 2 yrs ago my wife was dragging me thru Walmart & I discovered they still sold DE blades. Later, it was off to a few antique stores to track down a razor. At the 3rd store I found an old style Gillette open comb & have never looked back...

 

[Old Man Army]

I felt that each time I bought cartriges for my Mach 3 the razor mafia was taking me for a ride. 16-18 dollars for 5, are you kidding me? I remembered an earlier fling with DE razors and how inexpesive the blades were. So I started out with the goal of saving money. At least I don't spend a lot of money on blades. Razors on the other hand...

 

[klm099]

Back in 1960 I didn't know of other options, every male I knew shaved with a Gillette DE
ken

 

[Pharoah]

Strangely enough I discovered DE shaving from a automotive forum. People were talking about shaving and someone mentioned B&B. I lurked for a bit and decided to give it a try. I really wish I had tried it sooner. I never got a good shave from the multi blade systems and they would only last me 2 shaves before they tugged too much. I actually went with the stubble look for over a year because it hurt so much to shave. Now I can't wait to shave everyday with my DE.

 

[jcwit]

Its what they had when I was young, heck I remember when a ball point pen was really something to see.

 

[Marco]

I was born with a DE razor already in my right hand...

 

[ackvil]

For me it was a "rediscovery" of DE shaving.

When I first started shaving (around 1958 ) all we had was DE or SE shaving. I started with a Gillette Tech and graduated to a slim and FB. However, I fell victim to advertising and tried every new and "improved" razor Gillette came up with. However, I always stuck with wet shaving usually using creams. A number of years ago I was moving and while packing up some boxes found my old FB and slim. I thought I would give them a try and did my usual, at that time, WTG and ATG passes. The results were better than the Mach whatever I was using but I had irritation. Too much pressure and blade angle were subjects I knew nothing about.

Hence, I searched the Internet and learned to shave correctly for the first time. Over time I developed my own technique which now consists of a four pass shave. And then I found B&B over a year ago and not only did my technique improve - so did the number of razors, creams, soaps, brushes etc.