If You Had To Do A Timeline Of Your Shaving Journey

[mgoldmann]

I was thinking about this while replying to a recent thread. If you had to do a timeline of all your experiences while shaving (methods you've tried, etc) what would it look like?

This is what I came up with:

1985-1990 Disposables (started with Bic then went to Gillette Good News- used canned foam); somewhere in there I also tried my dad's old electric (Phillips Norelco) and didn't care for it

1990-2000 Gillette Sensor (started with canned foam and then switched to soap/brush/mug about 1994 or so); tried a Remington Microscreen electric about 1994- died after three months

2000-2011 Bounced between different models of electric (Braun/Remington (three months only again)/Phillips Norelco) while also occasionally using a DE on weekends (2005-2011); I also tried the Mach 3 about 2004- lasted only one month

2011- After a really bad morning with an electric, went all DE. Other than using the occasional disposable while out of town, use a DE every day.

So, what's your story?

 

[cigator]

1978-85 : Hight School / College years - cheapest disposal & canned foam I could find
85- 90: Early working years- Went to a Braun electric shaver
90-2005: Mix between cartridge and electric shaver (I think a Panasonic I could use in the shower)
2005 - 2010 - Decided to relive the past and bought several classic straights, honing stone, strop. The straights were my everyday shave, save using electric in a pinch
2010 - 2012 Just got tired of blade maintenance and went back to cartridges (Schick Quattro)
Now - trying out DE/SE and Shavette/Feather. This phase will probably last a good while.

 

[PugslyCat]

December 22, 1976 - I got a very nice Sunbeam electric razor as a birthday gift from my parents.

1981 - Sunbeam razor beaten to death in a fit of teenage rage due to the lousy job it did on my throat. I replaced it with a two headed Norelco as that was the cheapest electric razor at the drug store.

December 20, 1983 - Came home from college on Christmas break and bought Barbasol and orange handled Bic disposable razors because the Norelco still did a lousy job it did on my throat.

December 22, 1976 - I got a very nice Remington electric razor as a birthday gift from my parents. They laugh at my Barbasol and orange handled Bic disposable razors. Mom commandeers my wet shaving gear for her legs.

1992 - I switch back to Barbasol and disposable razors due to the lousy shaves from the Remington, especially the same trouble spot in the hollows of my throat.

1993 - My wife laughs at my Barbasol and orange handled Bic disposable razors. She thinks they look cheap in the bathroom and gets me an Atra handle and carts.

May 15, 2004 10:37 AM - While doing the weekly shopping with my second wife she asks how I got started with Atra razor. I explain it wasn't a particular choice, but rather something the ex-wife had brought home.

May 15, 2004 10:38 AM - Now shaving with Gillette Mach 3.

Early February, 2011 - A deacon at my church stops a couple of us after a theology class and shares the story of his cartridge razor sticker shock and how DE razors can save us money. I go home and browse B&B. I discover shaving soap at the local grocery store. It's Williams. I also find a Marvy synthetic brush at Sally Beauty. Real lather is good.

February 24, 2011 - I order a Lord L6 online. This is my first DE razor.

Spring 2011 - The RAD is a flash in the pan. It ends after a month because all that I'm getting are vintage Gillette Super Speeds from online auctions that all shave the same. I get a better brush and pucks of soap at the grocery or drug store as needed.

December 9, 2011 - Shaving Soap AD bites. Naturally this is accompanied by Shaving Mug AD.

December 27.2011 - I discover The Groom Room, a local brick and mortar store with shaving supplies. That costs me $75.

February 18, 2012 - I join B&B. One of the first threads I find is the "Are you REALLY saving money" thread of the day. I do the math and apply some really contorted logic to calculate that I can claim to be ahead if I spend less than $160 between now and February 2013.

February 21, 2012 - I find the 2012 Shaving Sabbatical thread and join up.

 

[Taborcarn]

1995-1999: Started out using drug store disposables, since that's what my stepfather used

1999-2006: Got a Norelco electric razor when I went off to college. Continued to use it after graduation and getting my own apartment, up until it died.

2006-2012: After the electric died I decided to switch back to carts instead of replacing it, since as it was dying the norelco gave some really pulling and painful shaves. The Fusion was newest and biggest thing, so I went with those.

October 2012 onward: I saw the Dollar Shave Club video and decided that yes, I would like to pay less and get a better shave. After some research I saw that the DSC razors were rebranded Dorcos and I could save even more money by buying those in bulk, which I did. After more research I came across Mantic59's videos, and then here. So even though I just made a big cart order, my wife gave me the ok to get a DE and try wetshaving (it got rolled into a birthday present). And I couldn't be happier about shaving now.

 

[celestino]

1984-1985 bic disposables
1986-2011 Phillips electric
October 2011 - present DEs 95%, straights 5%

 

[Niles]

~1990- a few months of electric shavers since that's what dad has always used.
~1991- 2006- Gillette cartridge period- Sensor, Sensor Excel, and Sensor 3.
2006- present- DE

 

[Alejandro1969]

What a great and novel idea!

1985 : Late December, first shave with a Gillette GII. I removed a bum-fluff moustache, as that's all the facial hair I had.

I986 : Used Gillette GII the odd time on the 'tache'.

1987 : Dabbled with a Philishave electric razor getting poor results! Used a Wilkinson Sword double blade and it gave me serious razor burn. Used Mandate after shave to get the girls!

1988 - 1990: Regular Gillette GII user along with canned goo. Splashed on Rapport, Jazz, Aramis, Burberry and Tuscany.

1990 - 1993 : Regular Gillette Sensor user along with canned goo. Splashed on Tuscany, Obsession, Egoiste and Benetton.

1993 - 1998 : Regular Gillette Mach 3 user along with canned goo gel. Splashed on Tuscany.

1998 - 2001 : Regular Gillette Mach 3 Turbo user along with Total Shaving Solution. (gave up canned goo for ever).

2001 - 2006 : Regular Gillette Fusion user along with Total Shaving Solution. Splashed on Boss, Armani, Jean Paul Gaultier, Bvlgari.

2008 : Frustrated and annoyed with the high priced Gillette Fusion I tried King of Shaves Azor. Terrible razor!

2011 : A chance meeting at the gym, a guy showed me his Merkur 34HD. My curiosity got the better of me. I bought an Edwin Jagger DE89L in mid December. Splashed on Old Spice.

2012 : Now fully committed to DE shaving I bought a Muhle R41, Fatip Grande, a few vintage Gillette razors and have most of the top creams, soaps and blades as well as some great brushes.

I will say now, that I would never return to multi-blade carts for all the money in the world. They made me dread shaving and I used have to work myself up to shave and did it to get it out of the way.
Now with DE it is a pleasure and I look forward to every shave. The high priced Gillette multi-blade carts are something I'm glad I've escaped from, they can stick 'em!

 

[AjaxLepinski]

1975 - 1980's: Gillette Track 2 non-movable
1998: Bought a Williams brush and soap puck.
2001-2010: Used Burt's Bees bay rum shaving soap & balm until they discontinued them. Each puck lasted about 2 years - no planned obsolescence - probably why they stopped making it.
1980's - April 2012: Gillette Sensor two and three blades. Use a Braun electric in the 90's until the screen broke.
May 2012: Switched to DE
July 2012: Became a B&B member - wooooo hooooo!!!!
September 2012: Began experimenting with straights

 

[ChiefBroom]

1966/67 - 1981 (8th grade through law school) -- Must have used disposables a few times, and also my dad's Remington electric, but mostly remember shaving with Norelcos.

1981 - 1992 (1st decade+ of professional career) -- Primarily used Brauns and a Payer Porsche (can't remember when exactly I got the Payer). I always had a problem with perspiration while shaving with electrics so used pre-shave powders and ran a fan pointed at my face. In-grown whiskers were a chronic issue with electrics, which I suspect was a result of kneading to get whishers to stand up/out.

1993-2005 -- Moved to CO in '93 and had a new house built with high sinks, which I dimly recall was a factor in beginning to use Gillette cartridge razors (Sensors in the beginning, I think) with Edge gel. I must have used canned foam along the way, but don't remember it. For several years I went back and forth between Gillette carts and Brauns. Swapped out Edge gel for Neutrogena (back when it first came out in a white can).

2006/7 - early 2011 -- Stumbled onto The Art of Shaving cream somewhere (probably the store on Union Square in SF) and abandoned canned gels. I think began to have a somewhat more attuned awareness of shaving as an activity/experience after making that switch, but I was still clueless (applied the cream by hand, didn't own a brush, and had no concept of lather).

Early 2011 - mid-November 2011 -- Started to sour on The Art of Shaving based on pricing/packaging and picked up a tub of Cella that I found by chance in a funky store (Hobbs) in Lawrence, KS. The Cella required procurement of a brush. I fell in love with the use of both and shortly thereafter began to experience anxiety over the prospect running out of Cella. Dropped into Hobbs a few months later to pick up another tub and found to my horror that it was no longer stocked.

Mid-November 2011 - late-November 2011 -- Quest to establish reliable source of Cella led to amazon.com, which in turn led to the discovery of other soaps (e.g., Proraso). Soap reviews contained references to DE razors. Having developed deep resentment toward Gillette cartridge pricing, I was highly intrugued, and immediately turned to reading reviews of DE razors, on the basis of which I ordered a Merkur Futur.

Late-November 2011 - present -- Had a bad experience with the Futur, which resulted in a Google search that led to badgerandblade.com, which in turn stirred me to remember and find an old Fat-handled Tech that had belonged to my grandfather and was left to me by my dad. My first shave with it was the Big Turning Point. Between December of '11 and June '12 I bought about 60 vintage Gillettes, roughly 2/3 of them British. My progression of main tools was Fat-handed Tech > '58 TV Special > HD Rocket > Aristrocrat #58 > Aristocrat #21 > #77/88 2-piece British LC New > Ball-end (Regent-style), British LC New. I still love to take out the TTOs, especially the #21s, but I'm so dialed-in with the ball-end LC New I've been using since June that I seldom use anthing else. I haven't shaved with a cartridge razor since the day the Merkur was delivered just before Thanksgiving last year. Since June my RAD has dropped off dramatically. I plan to try out a straight in 2013.

 

[kmain]

I don't know how you guys remember the exact years but I'll give the best to my knowledge....

1995-2001: Schick disposables ST2, Gillette Good News
2001-2007?: Mach III (post high school)
2007-2009: Fusion (Now in military)
2010-2011: Fusion ProGlide
2011-2012: Schick Hydro 5
2012-present: Double Edge razors

 

[ChiefBroom]

I don't know how you guys remember the exact years but I'll give the best to my knowledge....

Several of mine were approximations. I have some entire years that seem to have gone missing.

 

[PugslyCat]

I don't know how you guys remember the exact years but I'll give the best to my knowledge....

As with Chief Broom, some of mine are approximations as well.

Others I have worked out from whatever else was going on in my life. Several of my events occurred on or around my birthday, which makes them easy to remember.

Some of the dates in the past two years I was able to determine by looking at my B&B, eBay, Amazon, and online banking records.

 

[ChiefBroom]

I'm a little surprised this thread hasn't garnered more responses. I think it poses an interesting question -- more so to me, in any case, than the attitude-laden whys and wherefores of someone who has determined to abandon DE shaving for a return to his Proglide.

 

[Haggises]

1982 ish - my first shaves likely done with a Wilkinson II. Continued along for 3 or 4 years
1985 ish - first flirtations with a Remington electric foil.
1987 - start beard. Neck and cheek shaving only because let's face it, shaving sucks.
Late 80s to early 90s mix of electrics and disposables while working on rigs
1995 came to USA and switched to Gillette.
1998 - bought into Mach 3 and used until 2009
2009 - moved to Schick Quattro.
2011 - August. Bbought Boots branded cheap DE with Wilkie blades.
2012- started reading BnB. January bought blue tip SS and 40s SS. Joined BnB March and number of razors grew quickly. Also discovered SE shaving. Chopped beard down to a circle because shaving is fun.

 

[Deuce_AGR]

1993-June 1997: Whatever disposables and canned foam Dad had sitting around.

June 1997-September 1999: Gillette Sensor Excel and Gillette gel. Fanciest razor Walmart has in stock.

September 1999-October 2005: Gillette Mach 3, compliments of Gillette for signing up for the draft board.

October 2005-February 2006: Minimal shaving due to rocking an awesome beard.

February 2006-September 2012: Gillette Fusion because its the latest and greatest new toy. If three blades was better than two, imagine what 5 blades will be like! Ooh! It even vibrates for MORE POWER!

September 2012-Present: It's expensive to feed the cartridge monster. Gillette Tech, Wilkinson Swords, VDH Deluxe and VDH brush, and Arko.

 

[Buxwheat]

I can create my timeline by tying it to school years and other events in my life.
Circa 1968: Schick would give you their version of Gillette's Techmatic if you sent them a quarter for postage. Although I only had a few hairs on my chin, I hoped that by shaving them and my sideburns I would stimulate enough growth to sprout a pair of Mutton Chops that were quite the rage at the time. It didn't help, but then it didn't take more than a minute to shave with the Schick and a bar of soap.
1971: Freshman year at college and still just a handful of whiskers. Dad's old Norelco went with me since he had just replaced his. This was back in the day when you sent your Norelco out for tune-ups every year or so. Blades were sharpened and heads replaced, at a reasonable cost.
1973: Sophomore year and a dormitory suite mate was using a Wilkinson Bonded Blade razor (sort of a cartridge: a single edge blade with a plastic spine loaded into a plastic box. Press the razor down into the box and it loaded the rigid blade). Dropped out of school for a semester and got on board with the Wilkie while trying to "Find Myself". Finally got those Mutton Chops to grow, and at times they became a beard. Mustache still too thin so it got shaved.
1976: First year of marriage after finishing college. Trac II was out and I got a FREEBIE when I bought a Gillette Hot Lather machine. The Trac II remains in the den to this very day, but unused since the last of the genuine Trac II's disappeared from the shelves.
1978: Wife gives me a new Norelco for Christmas. Back and forth between electric/wet shaving.
1982: New career, new job, new town, and new Norelco (Triple header, quad-action, etc!). Still alternating with Trac II, depending on my whim.
1986: Dad got a Panasonic Wet/Dry electric foil. I tried his and had to have one. Some canned foam and the shave was great! Loved that razor and I still believe one of the closest shaves I ever had. Battery died and couldn't recharge it anymore. Still miss it.
Circa 19??: Schick Flex (since your face isn't flat.) Yea, I bought into the ad, but the razor was FREE! A recurring theme, huh?
1990: Reminiscing about college daze and another suite mate that used a Gillette Adjustable (Fat Boy or Slim?) and Barbasol out of a jar (He was Green before the term was coined. Detested anything aerosol: Bad for the ozone layer, you know.), so I sought out a similar razor. Only able to find a black handled Super Adjustable (recently sold on BST to someone wanting birth year razor). Only shave cream in a jar available was Noxema. I had used the Noxema before and loved it, but never learned proper use of the DE so it got relegated to the back of the drawer.
1991: Moved again and moved back to electrics. This time a Braun foil. After spending $ on new foils and blades and the battery dying and leaving me tethered to the outlet by the cord, I abandoned electrics and re-embraced the Trac II and whatever new system that Gillette came out with, as long as the razor was FREE. Who knows what the sequence was: Sensor, Mach 3, Fusion, etc, etc.
199?: Missing my Panasonic, I went through a series of 3 Wet/Dry electrics by Norelco. Still alternating with whatever the Gillette "Flavor of the Month" was.
2011: Fed up with paying $$$ for new heads and blades for the Norelco, or worse, having to buy a new one when replacement parts not available, I decided to go totally retro and pulled out the Super Adjustable. Still using canned foam, I began a search for instructions on how to correctly use this tool. Good blades hard to find, too. I stumbled upon this site and took in as much as possible.
Feb 2012: Jumped in with both feet, started acquiring "stuff". Never looked back.
Oct 16, 2012: My streak of 256 days of daily shaving ended with my shoulder surgery.
Oct 18, 2012: Began another streak, including using another newly acquired razor: an Ever-Ready Shovel Head. I intend to break my previous streak.

 

[i.am.zed]

My dates will be approximate, but here goes....
1984-1990 - first shave with orange handle disposable Bic and Barbasol foam (because that's what Dad used...he was a lifelong beard grower and only shaved his neck a 3-4 times per week)
1990-2000 - Gillete Sensor, Sensor II and Colgate foam
1995 - Experimented with a Braun foil electric which I hated
2000-2012 - Gillette Mach 3 and Edge gel
Jan 2012 - present - EJ89 and various creams.

Although I enjoy my DE razor, I'm convinced it's the switch to decent creams and a brush that's responsible for the big jump in the quality of my shaves and how my skin handles the experience. I sometimes pull out the old M3 just to give it go and still get just as good of a shave. Of course, I don't get that feeling of satisfaction from using a finely crafted tool that I get from the EJ89. I don't see myself ever going back to gel and carts/disposables.

 

[ChiefBroom]

I can create my timeline by tying it to school years and other events in my life.
Circa 1968: Schick would give you their version of Gillette's Techmatic if you sent them a quarter for postage. Although I only had a few hairs on my chin, I hoped that by shaving them and my sideburns I would stimulate enough growth to sprout a pair of Mutton Chops that were quite the rage at the time. It didn't help, but then it didn't take more than a minute to shave with the Schick and a bar of soap.
1971: Freshman year at college and still just a handful of whiskers.

Great post. It appears we are of the same vintage.

 

[lowjax]

Here is my timeline as best I can remember:

1991: Started shaving with a disposable something and Gillette goo in a can.
1991-1994: Shaved about once a week because my hair didn't grow fast and used a disposable something and goo and hated it. Lots of irritation.
1995-1998: Shaved every 2-3 days because my hair didn't grow fast and used various kinds of carts and goo and hated it. Lots of irritation.
1998-2005: Shaved every 2-3 days with anything I could find. Tried disposables, carts, electrics, and trimmers. Hated it all because of the irritation and ingrown hairs.
2005-2012: Shaved once a week with a beard trimmer as short as it could go because I hated shaving and was shaving my head with the trimmer, so I just took everything down to 1/8" once a week.
2012: Decided it was time to grow up and stop looking like a bum. Started shaving with a DE and am loving it. No irritation or ingrown hairs.

 

[coachschaller]

Middle school - had to shave for wrestling. Cartridge razor and canned gel
High School - Cartridge razor with an occasional electric shave (they were horrible)
a long time later....
Wondered about straight razor shaving, and tried to find a barber that would do it. Ended up researching the internets and read a large PDF (Chris Moss?) about straight shaving in Spring 2011.
Started out with a shavette, brush and williams mug soap (new).
Bought 3 Wade and Butchers
Bought Sweden steel !!!!!
relegated the williams to the shower
Bought American steel
bought a slim adjustable.
90-99% of the time use a straight. Except I use the DE for an extra ATG East to West on the neck.