I saw this Art of Manliness article, too, and a while later came across a box of my grandpa's actual razors in the shed behind his house. I decided to try to clean them up and maybe display them in my bathroom. Then I thought I should try one out. It's been a ride since then. My wife thought it was neat when I had 4 of Grand-Pop's old razors. 40+ old razors stashed all over the master bath maybe isn't quite as neat...
Ok guys BIG FUN question, what got you to be here?
- Thread starter PMT
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I saw this Art of Manliness article, too, and a while later came across a box of my grandpa's actual razors in the shed behind his house. I decided to try to clean them up and maybe display them in my bathroom. Then I thought I should try one out. It's been a ride since then. My wife thought it was neat when I had 4 of Grand-Pop's old razors. 40+ old razors stashed all over the master bath maybe isn't quite as neat...
When I was vacationing in New Orleans last year, my plastic Gillette Cartridge razor broke one morning.
This was around the time that the Rick Harrison (Pawn Stars) Microtouch DE Razors were being advertized on TV.
Since I was tired of crappy shaves and expensive cartridges, when I got back home I hit the internet to do some research and found B&B where one of the members PIF'd me a Gillette Flair Tip and an assortment of blades.
I remember my first shave using a cheap brush and a tub of Proraso Green I picked up from Amazon.com.
Best shave I had ever had and my face felt AMAZING afterwards. The two small nicks were well worth the price of admission.
I never looked back!
This was around the time that the Rick Harrison (Pawn Stars) Microtouch DE Razors were being advertized on TV.
Since I was tired of crappy shaves and expensive cartridges, when I got back home I hit the internet to do some research and found B&B where one of the members PIF'd me a Gillette Flair Tip and an assortment of blades.
I remember my first shave using a cheap brush and a tub of Proraso Green I picked up from Amazon.com.
Best shave I had ever had and my face felt AMAZING afterwards. The two small nicks were well worth the price of admission.
I never looked back!
I was fed up with the price of Fusion carts. I could get a couple of months out of each one but the shave quality was mediocre and it always left my face feeling hot. Somehow an EJ DE89 wound up on my Amazon wish list, but it was over a year before I actually pulled the trigger.
I shouldn't have waited that long. It plus some samples from tryablade.com were still less than a pack of carts at Sam's. I continued to use the canned goo until I ordered a stick of Arko and an Omega 49 brush.
That was less than three months ago and two birth quarter Gillettes have somehow found their way into my medicine cabinet.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
I shouldn't have waited that long. It plus some samples from tryablade.com were still less than a pack of carts at Sam's. I continued to use the canned goo until I ordered a stick of Arko and an Omega 49 brush.
That was less than three months ago and two birth quarter Gillettes have somehow found their way into my medicine cabinet.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
I started shaving at the age of 13 or 14 (or thereabouts). After a year or so of using Bic disposable razors, I started developing tender skin, ingrown hairs and razor acne. As time went on, it got worse. It got bad enough that I started skipping days. Eventually, I found that I could only shave every 3 or 4 days or I would have all the problems mentioned. My high school football coach did not allow any of his players to look "scruffy". If you did, you were benched. My beard was very course, very quick growing, and very visible. I finally decided to give an electric razor a go. It allowed me to knock off the majority of whiskers, but didn't give me a close shave at all. It was enough to make coach happy though.
I stayed with various electric razors for about 27 years. Never liking the any of them, but not wanting to go back to my old problems again either. Every once in a while I would try a Gillette Sensor, Mach 3 or various disposable razors, but would always develope the problems after a week or so. For the most part though, I was an electric razor guy.
In the last couple of years, with the development of grey hairs it seems, the electric was just not cutting it. I would have to shave three times a day with the electric if I wanted to stay away from the trendy "stubble look". Not only that, but the grey (or white) whiskers seem to get more irritated than the others. I was getting very frustrated, so I started doing some research via Google. I noticed that a lot of what I was reading came from just one site... B&B! I joined up, read as much as I could for a day or two and decided that I would give this whole wet shaving thing a try. I went looking at my local stores, only to be disappointed in the amount of supplies being offered. I found a MicroTouch 1 at Walmart and decided to give it a whirl. Then I found a VDH brush, soap and bowl at my local grocery store, along with Williams soap.
My first shaves sucked! The Dorco blades provided with the razor didn't agree with me at all. They had a hard time cutting through my course, curly stubble. The more I read, the more I tried different products... the better the shaves got. I learned so much from B&B in the first two weeks. I have found products that seem to work for me. I feel better, I look better and I smell better than I ever had before!
Now that I have products that work for me, I have ZERO irritation after shaving. Now, over 3 months later from when I started, I shave twice a day, 7 days a week. I love the feeling of a BBS shave! I never want to have stubble again!
My wife and daughters love it too, as they all complained that kissing and hugging me was painful before.
Is it any cheaper? Nope. Is it any quicker? Nope. Is it any more effective and comfortable? Heck yeah!
I am so glad I found B&B and all of the helpful, extremely generous members! I have benefited from the abundance of knowledge, generous PIFing and fellowship with my new found brothers.
Thank you to all who have contributed to my experience!
Dan ~ TriggerMan
I stayed with various electric razors for about 27 years. Never liking the any of them, but not wanting to go back to my old problems again either. Every once in a while I would try a Gillette Sensor, Mach 3 or various disposable razors, but would always develope the problems after a week or so. For the most part though, I was an electric razor guy.
In the last couple of years, with the development of grey hairs it seems, the electric was just not cutting it. I would have to shave three times a day with the electric if I wanted to stay away from the trendy "stubble look". Not only that, but the grey (or white) whiskers seem to get more irritated than the others. I was getting very frustrated, so I started doing some research via Google. I noticed that a lot of what I was reading came from just one site... B&B! I joined up, read as much as I could for a day or two and decided that I would give this whole wet shaving thing a try. I went looking at my local stores, only to be disappointed in the amount of supplies being offered. I found a MicroTouch 1 at Walmart and decided to give it a whirl. Then I found a VDH brush, soap and bowl at my local grocery store, along with Williams soap.
My first shaves sucked! The Dorco blades provided with the razor didn't agree with me at all. They had a hard time cutting through my course, curly stubble. The more I read, the more I tried different products... the better the shaves got. I learned so much from B&B in the first two weeks. I have found products that seem to work for me. I feel better, I look better and I smell better than I ever had before!
Now that I have products that work for me, I have ZERO irritation after shaving. Now, over 3 months later from when I started, I shave twice a day, 7 days a week. I love the feeling of a BBS shave! I never want to have stubble again!
My wife and daughters love it too, as they all complained that kissing and hugging me was painful before.
Is it any cheaper? Nope. Is it any quicker? Nope. Is it any more effective and comfortable? Heck yeah!
I am so glad I found B&B and all of the helpful, extremely generous members! I have benefited from the abundance of knowledge, generous PIFing and fellowship with my new found brothers.
Thank you to all who have contributed to my experience!
Dan ~ TriggerMan
hmmm I blame the wife she told me to spoil myself and go to the barbers for a shave so I had a look asked google and here I am with a new found hobby and a nagging wife saying its costing more than the carts hahaha but love shaving now
A taste for old fashion... and a good shave!
Just don't ask my wife...
Just don't ask my wife...
I was about to drop $700 or so at the Art of Shaving store on a recent trip to NYC... Somehow I ended up here, and instead of wasting $700 at AOS, I've blown probably about 2 grand everywhere else!! LOL
So much for saving money on blades!!
So much for saving money on blades!!
I was about to drop $700 or so at the Art of Shaving store on a recent trip to NYC... Somehow I ended up here, and instead of wasting $700 at AOS, I've blown probably about 2 grand everywhere else!! LOL
So much for saving money on blades!!
IME you're saving money...
Back in I think 2009 I remember doing a search on either Google or youtube saying "how to shave" or something along those lines. This lead me to mantic59's channel whose videos I enjoyed watching. Soon after I go my first shaving brush and some cream and soap. About one year later I made the transition to DE shaving.
Funny is that I only searched for "how to shave" because of a random act of boredom or something because I never had any problems with shaving. Seven years later I can not imagine going back to cartridge and gel shaving.
Funny is that I only searched for "how to shave" because of a random act of boredom or something because I never had any problems with shaving. Seven years later I can not imagine going back to cartridge and gel shaving.
To protect the delicate, lovely, sensitive face of my wonderful girlfriend. Even immediately after shaving with carts, my stubble was such that kissing me cut her up.
I've been working in a career for the past 10 years that requires me to be clean shaven every day. I finally got tired of dealing with the irritation and decided there has to be a better way than house brand disposable razors (because I didn't want to spend the money on Mach 3 carts) a little bit of research later and here I am. One of the best decisions I've ever made.
Almost the same story as mine! No wonder our join dates are similar. Also learned about DE wet shaving by watching mantic59 in 2010, although I cannot quite remember how I got to his videos. The following Christmas Santa brought me good quality Razor, Badger Brush, and AoS cream, and the research on what products to "wish" for from Santa brought me here.
Edit. What got me back here after forgetting about B&B and being away from the forum for 4 years; I was researching the best products to care and shine leather shoes with. Naturally this Google research brought me to the all-round knowledgeable gentlemen of B&B.
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I was searching for a decent Bed and Breakfast.
I had been shaving with electric razors for about ten years after getting tired of using the 3 blade store brand monstrosities. The Norelcos and Brauns served me well while reducing my shaving expenditures. While researching electric razors online I ran into videos from ShaveNation among others which introduced me to old school shaving. My desire to learn something new led me to an old Superspeed, Van der Hagen boar brush and soap. My first DE shave introduced me to a styptic pencil which I became well acquainted with for a couple months.
Frustrated, angry, disappointed I went back to the videos trying to figure out why I couldn't get a nick free shave. In so many other things in life that I struggled with I would just give up at this point. For whatever reason (maybe just to justify my little investment to SWMBO) I continued. I worked on my lathering and blade angles and didn't need the styptic pencil one shave. Over more months I honed my technique and got better shaves. After that I was in this hook, line and sinker. Now my main issue is trying to scale down the shave den.
Frustrated, angry, disappointed I went back to the videos trying to figure out why I couldn't get a nick free shave. In so many other things in life that I struggled with I would just give up at this point. For whatever reason (maybe just to justify my little investment to SWMBO) I continued. I worked on my lathering and blade angles and didn't need the styptic pencil one shave. Over more months I honed my technique and got better shaves. After that I was in this hook, line and sinker. Now my main issue is trying to scale down the shave den.
I always hated shaving. I tried cartridges and a couple of different electrics, but they all left me with serious skin irritation and/or nicks. I avoided shaving as much as possible and would often go weeks without shaving even though my wife hates it when I am stubbly. Before getting into wet shaving I was a member of the Dollar Shave Club for a number of years. It was cheap, but I wasn't using the cartridges and they were starting to stack up. So, I cancelled my membership and started working through the built up cartridges while wondering what I could do to shave as cheaply and get a better shave. Then I saw a link on Facebook to an article talking about the "dirty secret" of DSCs products. That article talked about Dorco and how they have a better deal on the same razors than DSC. That article also mentioned wet shaving and DE razors. I have always liked DE razors since I saw one in my grandfather's bathroom and the idea of using a shaving brush sounded interesting. (I am also interested in older, low-tech ways of doing things.) So, I read a few more articles both here and on other sites. Then I found out about mantic59's videos and watched them. I was sold on the idea of getting better shaves much more cheaply. I went out to my local Wally-Mart and bought the Van der Hagen razor and Luxury Shave Set. The next Saturday I took my first DE shave and was hooked. I made an account that day and started posting. I also started looking at more gear online and started ordering. My first DE shave was February, 20 2016. Now it is two months later I am over 500 posts here. I own around 30 DEs, both modern and vintage. I own enough soap that I need to start a 3017 journey before I buy more. And now I want to collect a few high-end aftershaves.
But the bottom line is that I have shaved almost every day for that two months. I love shaving. It is the best part of my day. I have spent a small fortune building out my shave den and own more personal care product now than my wife does, but I am loving every minute and she loves that I am no longer stubbly. I feel better about myself and my mental outlook has improved just by having a nice shave every morning.
But the bottom line is that I have shaved almost every day for that two months. I love shaving. It is the best part of my day. I have spent a small fortune building out my shave den and own more personal care product now than my wife does, but I am loving every minute and she loves that I am no longer stubbly. I feel better about myself and my mental outlook has improved just by having a nice shave every morning.
Same for me. It was that "shave like your grandpa" piece on the Art of Manliness website. It made me remember that i had a plastic handled Slim Twist from years ago when I wanted to "save money", but had given up due to harsh shaves. I then found B&B. 2 years later BBS is a fairly common occurance amoungst my 20 razors and 20 soaps to choose from
I wanted to conquer the double edge razor.
I tried it when I was in the Army back in 1966, and I couldn't shave with a DE razor. I needed a mentor.
That number on here to the right shows when I learned how to use a double edge razor.
Shaving with a DE razor is OK with me.
I tried it when I was in the Army back in 1966, and I couldn't shave with a DE razor. I needed a mentor.
That number on here to the right shows when I learned how to use a double edge razor.
Shaving with a DE razor is OK with me.
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I had used an injector back in the 70's, and an electric since. I've been trying to get back in touch with the basics and when my electric said it needed new cutters and more cleaning solution, I realized that bade and brush would be more satisfying. Six months ago, I took the money I would have spent on the cutters, etc., bought a Merkur 34C, brush and soap. Have enjoyed it since. Shaving has become a pleasure rather than a chore to get through.
Like most, came here to save money; about 45 days, a VHD, a SuperSpeed, a Fatboy, a pre-War Tech, post-War Tech, and now an OLD Model, blades, shaving cream, Barbicide, a bottle of Thayer's and maybe $350 later....it's going to take awhile to break even.
On the upside, I have convinced a friend to join us in the sickness.
On the upside, I have convinced a friend to join us in the sickness.
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