Philosophical Shift in my approach to wetshaving

[SilentTuba]

For some backstory, I decided to start DE wetshaving back in 2009. I had finally had enough of the tugging and irritation I got from the Mach 3/Fusion razors I'd been using, and decided to do something different. Saving money on blades was also a big plus, so I picked up some gear, and got started. I was in my mid-20s, at the beginning of my teaching career, and spent a few years experimenting with different products and gear. I went through a few razors and brushes, and then there were the soaps....so many soaps! I participated in PIFs and passarounds, and very much suffered from FOMO...I had to try everything! I was limited only by my budget, which was pretty modest. Fancy expensive badger brushes were a pipe dream, as were beautiful handcrafted things like scuttles and fancy shave bowls. Some day I'd be able to have that stuff!

Over the years, I started to settle into things. I found a razor I really loved, and ran with it. I have blades I really like, so that's what I buy. I found that I actually prefer boar brushes after all, so now I have a rotation of four of them that I use. I've spent the last year or two trying to work my way through my soap collection, and there's still some stuff to work through, but I'm making progress. Once I get through it, I think I'll probably only keep 1 or 2 soaps around at a time. I have several different aftershaves, but find myself reaching for the same thing almost every day.

I'm not sure when it happened, but the desire to try everything there is has been replaced with finding a sense of comfort and peace in a consistent routine.

Gentlemen...I've become boring! Why couldn't this have happened when I was younger and couldn't afford anything?!?!?

 

[ackvil]

Because it comes with wisdom and age!

 

[musicman1951]

Count your blessings, it took me a lot longer to arrive at the same place. I retired from 38 years teaching 9 years ago.

 

[OhioBob]

Congratulations! Guess it's going to take me a while to reach that point, still buying razors, brushes, blades and soaps. Having fun trying it all though!

 

[BigJ]

Congratulations!!

Finding what makes you happy and enjoying the result is achieving Nirvana!!

 

[Test4echo]

I've had a similar experience as you. I've found a razor and a blade that works for me. I use and buy new PAA brushes. My goal is to work my way through my aftershaves and settle for one soap/aftershave combo at a time.

 

[MrSpeedy]

Good read! I had a similar experience, although I still allow myself to buy the occasional new soap.

Are you still teaching? I teach 7th grade science.

 

[SilentTuba]

Good read! I had a similar experience, although I still allow myself to buy the occasional new soap.

Are you still teaching? I teach 7th grade science.

Yep, 14 years in now! Grades 3-8 instrumental music (band). Best job in the world.

 

[Atlantic59]

It seems a lot of people go through a phase of curiosity and exploration when they get started in this type of shaving. After that initial period, which varies from person to person, they find a few things that gives them consistently good results and don't see the need to explore so much. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[MrSpeedy]

Yep, 14 years in now! Grades 3-8 instrumental music (band). Best job in the world.

It's a second career for me; I'm 5 years in. Best job I ever had!

 

[Tester28]

You have seen the light!
After over a year of flitting from one desirable object to the next I've finally
found my 2 stalwarts....a Wolfman 1.35 and a 1.55 in Ti. These will be my
drivers for as long as I can help it. Two nice synthetics that perform as good
as expensive badger brushes. Some SV soaps. And a huge trove of wizamets.
Not looking for anything else.

Planning to put a couple of surplus Wolfman heads up on the classifieds soon.

 

[engblom]

I got a similar story.

I converted from cartridges to DE in the end of 2012. Until 2017 I tried about 30 razors. Then I found the razor that changed everything and it settled my "RAD" (some would not call 30 razors in about 4 years as RAD). The rest of the razors are waiting for my children so they might try them once they are old enough to need a shave. After that I will sell/PIF what is not used by anyone.

I never bought a lot of brushes. My first brush was a completely terrible badger brush. Even after many months of use it was stingy and terrible. It never broke in. Then I tried a few synthetic brushes and thought that now I am done with buying brushes. Then this year I begun to think that they probably pollute with micro plastic particles so I bought Omega Boar and wow, that settled my brush need. The rest of the brushes got thrown away. Omega Boar is unbelievable good.

When it comes to soap/creams I am also pretty much settled. First I begun with own made soaps and those were really good but I got tired of making soaps. Then I begun the struggle to find a good enough soap/cream to replace my own soaps. After some tries I settled on Speick cream.

As after shave I only use witch hazel with menthol crystals.

I got a simple standardized shaving routine that is the same each day I shave.

 

[Cal]

I'm not sure when it happened, but the desire to try everything there is has been replaced with finding a sense of comfort and peace in a consistent routine.

You have seen the light!

I've seen the light several times. It's VERY DARK in my current rabbit hole though.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

It took me a little less than 2 years to see the light...for the most part

I’m still messing around with brushes though. I’ve found they make the biggest difference to the shave experience, even using the exact same soap. I probably could just stop with what I have that’s working pretty great, but won’t.
Life’s too short to not just spend a few extra bucks and experiment with the possibility of a little extra comfort and bliss during the shave itself, so what the heck why not.

But I’m done chasing razors, soaps, and blades. I’ve found the old designs and European drugstore software to be far better than adequate and more than enough for my needs, and cheap too!

 

[MikeyS]

I’ve made it a point to “zero in” on what works best for me as soon as I realized just how many different options for soap, blade, razor etc there were. I could literally spend the rest of my life trying different combinations and not try half of what’s available. Thankfully I have at least found the blades that work for me and am very near narrowing my soaps down.

To tester28 above: may I ask which wolf mans didn’t make the cut and why? I’m very close to pulling the trigger on one now that I know I prefer larger gaps with a smaller blade exposure vs smaller gaps with high exposure and the WR2 is calling pretty hard as I’m looking for that one great razor to invest in and end that search

 

[sarimento1]

ahhh...maybe one day i can reach your nirvana!!

 

[AimlessWanderer]

I spent my first 20 years of DE shaving with the same razor and blade brand, though only moved to soap and brush towards the end of that. The last 10 years of so, I've been mildly more adventurous, but while trying other things, I have still retained a primary set up as a base to work from. I do like a bit of variety, but consistency is important for me too, and I never stray far (or for long) from my primary kit.

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

I came back to DE shaving at the first of this year after being on the dark side for 30 years. I bought a few razors (4), but only because the first razor was junk, the second razor is my daily driver and the other 2 because of nostalgia.

I have two brushes and one more on the way. I use one blade, although I have a stash of ten tucks I’ve never tried. I use two soaps, one for when I’m short of time and the other when I can spend as long as I want on shaving.

So I never really went down the rabbit hole. I guess it might be an age thing. Isn’t there an old saying that age brings wisdom?

 

[haggis]

Isn’t there an old saying that age brings wisdom?

Well I'm waiting.

 

[Adam18]

To the OP .... Good for you ! I think it's great that you've "settled in" and are happy with your small supply of stuff.
For me, it's quite different. I use five razors in rotation, with only two blades (Nacet in 4 razors, and Feather in one.)
I enjoy rotating through eleven brushes (3 badgers, one boar, and 7 synthetics) and currently enjoy five soaps, five
creams, and one stick. Then, ..... six different after-shave splashes and three balms. So, as you can see, for me it's
a lot of fun to use "lots of different stuff." This is why I really appreciate our hobby and our B&B --- Variety is terrific !!
I'm the same way with wine (about 120 different bottles constantly rotating through our cellar), fine cuisine (my wife
and I "rotate" through about a million different recipes and ingredients), jazz albums (too many to count), literature
(three rooms of wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookcases), single malt Scotch (always a dozen different ones on hand),
etc., etc., etc. So, ..... different strokes for different folks. Many ways to achieve that special sublime shaving delight.
Happy Shaving my friend !!! Enjoy what you have !