Howdy. I'm about 41 (July 7th) and just this past week I took up a DE safety razor for the first time.
Previously I was a sometimes on again/off again electric razor user and mostly a foam in a can with a cartridge razor user. When I was younger (16-18) the electric was fine and got a smooth shave but then those light hairs turned dark and tough and I resorted to disposable cartridges. First the cheap BIC throwaways and it progressed from there. When I was 19 and in the Navy I was frequently told by my CC's (boot camp) to go shave again. All this extra practice helped so that I wasn't bothered on the ship but I never got a BBS from that point on. The burn on my neck would get worse every year so that I would skip a day or two between shaves (after military of course). I lost my job a couple of years ago and have become a stay at home dad to my son who is 3-3/4 years old (and whose butt is about to get spanked if he doesn't go take his nap!). Being unemployed without the extra income I started to look at things differently. I had started to shave my head to stay cooler (I overheat easily due to my disability) and draw attention away from this ridiculous balding pattern I was experiencing. Shaving my head meant going through razors more often. I was down to one razor cartridge on my Mach 3(head) and one on my Hydro(face) [I was using Mach3 for both but found the Hydro caused less neck irritation and lasted longer on my face]. I made a trip to Wal-Mart and damn if the price hadn't gone up a few pennies more from when I last bought refills (the previous year I had some good coupons and scored good deals and had stocked up). I got tired of the irritation and high prices and went online to find a better way. I came across the Mantic59 and Geofatboy videos on Youtube and got inspired. I told my wife and for an early father's Day/Birthday gift she got me a Merkur 180 and a Parker Best badger shaving brush (this means that for my actual birthday I am getting nothing. Oh well). I picked up a German made travel razor from a antique store down the street the other day (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...hat-sells-junk-and-stuff-More-info?highlight=)
and have used that twice with a different lather prep. So far I am liking what I see and since using the travel razor I have noticed a lot less bumps on my neck.
One more thing... After about 23 years I finally got a BBS shave this past week without all the pain and irritation that I normally get and I'm hooked.
Previously I was a sometimes on again/off again electric razor user and mostly a foam in a can with a cartridge razor user. When I was younger (16-18) the electric was fine and got a smooth shave but then those light hairs turned dark and tough and I resorted to disposable cartridges. First the cheap BIC throwaways and it progressed from there. When I was 19 and in the Navy I was frequently told by my CC's (boot camp) to go shave again. All this extra practice helped so that I wasn't bothered on the ship but I never got a BBS from that point on. The burn on my neck would get worse every year so that I would skip a day or two between shaves (after military of course). I lost my job a couple of years ago and have become a stay at home dad to my son who is 3-3/4 years old (and whose butt is about to get spanked if he doesn't go take his nap!). Being unemployed without the extra income I started to look at things differently. I had started to shave my head to stay cooler (I overheat easily due to my disability) and draw attention away from this ridiculous balding pattern I was experiencing. Shaving my head meant going through razors more often. I was down to one razor cartridge on my Mach 3(head) and one on my Hydro(face) [I was using Mach3 for both but found the Hydro caused less neck irritation and lasted longer on my face]. I made a trip to Wal-Mart and damn if the price hadn't gone up a few pennies more from when I last bought refills (the previous year I had some good coupons and scored good deals and had stocked up). I got tired of the irritation and high prices and went online to find a better way. I came across the Mantic59 and Geofatboy videos on Youtube and got inspired. I told my wife and for an early father's Day/Birthday gift she got me a Merkur 180 and a Parker Best badger shaving brush (this means that for my actual birthday I am getting nothing. Oh well). I picked up a German made travel razor from a antique store down the street the other day (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...hat-sells-junk-and-stuff-More-info?highlight=)
and have used that twice with a different lather prep. So far I am liking what I see and since using the travel razor I have noticed a lot less bumps on my neck.
One more thing... After about 23 years I finally got a BBS shave this past week without all the pain and irritation that I normally get and I'm hooked.
