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Not a hobby?

Realizing that DE shaving for me may not a hobby. I started about a year ago and hot hooked on wet shaving. Bought a GC .68 then upgraded to a Lupo .72 for a more efficient shave. Then bought a .84 open for my GC. Both of these razors shave as good as I need them to and I don't see myself buying any more razors.
Started with Cremo and then a shaving mug and some some different soaps and a boar brush. Enjoyed the experience if learning how to use these tools. Over the last couple of months have started face lathering with a synthetic brush and have found this to be a very consistant way to form lather, and not have to soak a brush. Will buy a few shave sticks or make a few of my own( have already made a couple). I like using them very much.
I believe this is the end of my shaving journey. I will still shave every day and enjoy the experience. but I don't see myself falling into any rabbit holes. I will just enjoy what I have. So I guess this still counts as a hobby. But I am satisfied with where I am at in this process, but I and don't feel the need to try a bunch more products.
 
Realizing that DE shaving for me may not a hobby. I started about a year ago and hot hooked on wet shaving. Bought a GC .68 then upgraded to a Lupo .72 for a more efficient shave. Then bought a .84 open for my GC. Both of these razors shave as good as I need them to and I don't see myself buying any more razors.
Started with Cremo and then a shaving mug and some some different soaps and a boar brush. Enjoyed the experience if learning how to use these tools. Over the last couple of months have started face lathering with a synthetic brush and have found this to be a very consistant way to form lather, and not have to soak a brush. Will buy a few shave sticks or make a few of my own( have already made a couple). I like using them very much.
I believe this is the end of my shaving journey. I will still shave every day and enjoy the experience. but I don't see myself falling into any rabbit holes. I will just enjoy what I have. So I guess this still counts as a hobby. But I am satisfied with where I am at in this process, but I and don't feel the need to try a bunch more products.
Sounds like you are a Gent in the shaving sweet spot @Tillerman, you have found the right place, razors and products and are just enjoying them and becoming master of their use!

I've never really been sure as to assigning the status of 'hobby' to shaving, it's something I enjoy, more like relaxation, therapy.

I feel pretty close to that too, comfortable with the razors I use, the brushes and soaps and creams, and above all the maturity of my shaves. Thanks to the community here at B&B!

Oh, here they come to celebrate with us non-hobby shavers..

Run man, run for your life!

Angry Black Friday GIF by Buyout Footage
 
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Hobbies are like gambling - you need to know when to quit before it's too late. I used to collect watches, knives and many other stuff, but after getting a few good products of each of them, I sold the rest of my collection and just kept 2-3 of them and that's it. I'm trying to do the same with the razor's, but I'm afraid that I'm very deep into the rabbit hole and I can't really do anything about it at the moment.

Having the willpower to sell your razor collection and just keep 2-3 of your favorite razors is probably the best thing anyone can do, but some of us still hope that the next razor is going to be the ''one'' and it's going to make us sell everything we have and move on, but that moment never really comes, does it?
 
If it works for you, why not. It’s totally ok
I literally didn’t buy anything except a few shaving creams/soaps, aftershave balms between 2014 and 2023. And I immensely enjoyed my DE shaving journey these years. I just found what worked for me and used one and only DE razor and brush. I still amazed that my razor and brush served me for more that 1500 shaves and I still use them daily.

All those years I didn’t visit forums, no GAS, just nice shaves.

A few months ago I was looking for new soaps to try and came across B&B (before 2014 I used to visit SRP), so I’ve done a few acquisitions recently (a shaving mug and Mercur progress) but most likely I will stop here again. I just don’t like stocking up things that I don’t really use.
 
Sounds like you are a Gent in the shaving sweet spot @Tillerman, you have found the right place, razors and products and are just enjoying them and becoming master of their use!

I've never really been sure as to assigning the status of 'hobby' to shaving, it's something I enjoy, more like relaxation, therapy.

I feel pretty close to that too, comfortable with the razors I use, the brushes and soaps and creams, and above all the maturity of my shaves. Thanks to the community here at B&B!

Oh, here they come to celebrate with us non-hobby shavers..

Run man, run for your life!

Angry Black Friday GIF by Buyout Footage
You summed it up perfectly!
 
Call it what you will, but for me, shaving is neither a hobby nor a chore. It's just something I very much enjoy doing usually every other evening. A leisurely 20 minutes or so alone with my thoughts, or perhaps some favorite music is in my opinion a perfect way to end the day.
I'm not a collector, although I'll admit having 6 or 8 aftershaves, and about the same amount of soaps and creams. But 95% of the time I shave with the same favorite razor. One of the beauties of shaving is that it can be tailored to be whatever you want it to be. 🤗
 
I will still shave every day and enjoy the experience
I have been wondering before whether "hobby" is the most fitting word for my relation with wet-shaving. I consider it more to be something like yoga, in-between hygiene and a spiritual practice. But most people don't understand that in the context of shaving if they are not hooked themselves. Then "hobby" is easier to relate to.
If I was left in the wilderness with just one little cheapo YUMA razor and a stick of arko, I'd still be as committed and in the same basic state of bliss every time it was shave-time ... :angel:
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
Hobbies are like gambling - you need to know when to quit before it's too late. I used to collect watches, knives and many other stuff, but after getting a few good products of each of them, I sold the rest of my collection and just kept 2-3 of them and that's it. I'm trying to do the same with the razor's, but I'm afraid that I'm very deep into the rabbit hole and I can't really do anything about it at the moment.

Having the willpower to sell your razor collection and just keep 2-3 of your favorite razors is probably the best thing anyone can do, but some of us still hope that the next razor is going to be the ''one'' and it's going to make us sell everything we have and move on, but that moment never really comes, does it?
I totaled up the cost of my 6 top razors and replacement handles for some of them just yesterday.... I did sell 11 razors to fund the last one. ;).

A rough estimate is, for the price of my razors alone, I could have purchased 12 years of Gillette cartridges, (I used a conservative cartridge use number.... two weeks per cartridge... as a guesstimate) not including any new handle designs they release or increases in the prices over those 12 years. This doesn't include brushes, soaps and blades. Ouch.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
It is a hobby for myself I'd like to think. I shaved daily for a lot of years so I just keep doing this during my retirement. I worked in industries where you had to be clean shaven while on site.
I started traditional wet shaving mostly because it seemed like the thing to do when retired and by fluke while looking at ways to sharpen kitchen knifes properly I saw a old Gillette razor I thought my father owned and while investigating I discovered DE blades where still being manufactured and where much cheaper than cartridge razors. So I bought a adjustable razor on line and that was the start 6 year ago.
You can save money different ways now that I know the ways and I also trim my own hair (head shaving) would be similar savings and that is where lots of money that I saved to finance my collection of brushes soaps, splashes and razors.
I figure I saved about $80 a year on not using shaving cartridges and canned gel and about $360 a year on haircuts so total saving is $440 per X6 = $2,640 Canadian and that is what I have spent roughly so my days of accumulating are mostly done, just bought a tub of Cyril R Salter Rose cream+ some Yaqi razor heads 3 weeks ago and was thinking I should be good for a long time.(I keep saying this but my memory is short :wink2:.)
For a fellow starting out the best thing is buy a good razor and some blades with a good soap and stick to it to learn your technique if not interested in buying interesting high end shave gear as a hobby is my best advice. You can save money and enjoy shaving but there are a few distractions or Rabbit holes that are a lot of fun to get caught up in and just spend and research for many years like myself.
It has been a very rewarding experience for my self like many others and a person could sell his razors and brushes and keep a few but I'm not ready for that and will just keeping posting my shave gear and pass some knowledge as we bump along in life.
Traditional shaving can be addicting to some but you do get a good feeling mostly along the way, some of my other hobbies can be very financially draining and much more dangerous to venture into like scuba diving, golf and travelling.
Have some great shaves!
 
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I started out looking to save money, quickly started going down the various rabbit holes, recovered from that, and now I'm at "I want a close, comfortable shave with a minimum of fuss every day." I still have a DE razor, an AC-format SE razor, and a couple of cart handles, but I've pretty much lost interest in collecting, don't really care about finding shaving nirvana, etc. I really don't have a lot of gear on hand anymore, just the stuff I like.

One curious thing I have noticed after pursuing DE shaving for a dozen years or so is that I no longer really care much which blade I use. I use whatever I have until it's dull, then replace it. Obviously some are better than others for me and I'll get those when they're on sale, but otherwise I can use whatever's available at the grocery and get the job done.
 
You can save money different ways now that I know the ways and I also trim my own hair (head shaving) would be similar savings and that is where lots of money that I saved to finance my collection of brushes soaps, splashes and razors.
I figure I saved about $80 a year on not using shaving cartridges and canned gel and about $360 a year on haircuts
That's a great point about the haircuts there @Ron R I've never really thought about it like that to be honest.

I got a trimmer the first April of the lockdown, I never dreamed I would ever cut my own hair, but I have been doing it ever since, and it must have saved me £500-600 in that time.

It's not the 80's and the barber spent less and less time cutting it anyway, so a straightforward all over buzzcut does me fine nowadays.

My only fear now you mention it, is a short trip down the hairtrimmer rabbithole.
 
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Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
That's a great point about the haircuts there @Ron R I've never really thought about it like that to be honest.

I got a trimmer the first April of the lockdown, I never dreamed I would ever cut my own hair, but I have been doing it ever since, and it must have saved me £500-600 in that time.

It's not the 80's and the barber spent less and less time cutting it anyway, so a straightforward all over buzzcut does me fine nowadays.

My only fear now you mention it, is a short trip down the hairtrimmer rabbithole.
No need to buy a hair trimmer if the old one works well, I recently bought a new model for around $40 Canadian and it works better than the one my wife bought 5 years ago for a Christmas present.
 

AimlessWanderer

Remember to forget me!
The forum is a hobby for me. Shaving, not so much. Five minutes every couple of days, doesn't constitute a hobby.

Some people do have a shopping hobby which they call a shaving hobby, but I'm not one of them. Shopping hobbies can easily pretend to be other hobbies too.
 
Clearly, some folks consider their wet-shaving activity a hobby. Others, not so much.

I'm not really sure what to call my relationship to it.

I've been at it a long time and have accumulated an obscene amount of associated 'stuff'. I've managed to acquire a decent amount of skill at it. I hang out online and chat about it with mostly pleasant, like-minded folk.

Meh...If all this constitutes a hobby, so be it.

At the end of the day, I think I'll choose not to fixate on what to call it and just busy myself with doing it. 😎
 
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