When it was finally time for that first peach fuzz to come off, which was really more like wire bristle, and likely long over due, there wasn't much instruction given. After watching my father shave since I was little, I was able to put the major pieces of the puzzle together for myself.
Tools: canned goo, disposable plastic safety razor (for me, my father used carts, I was just starting on the other hand)
Method: rub the goo on your face, use the business end of the razor to remove whiskers
Simple. Seems easy enough.
... or not, as I found out forthwith after trying this procedure for myself for the first time with seemingly little guidance.
I love my father. He was/is a great father. He had what I would consider to be a rough childhood. He was the youngest, by a large margin, of a large family. His father died when he was young. The elder of his brothers all died in WW2, I believe. His mother, who was widowed with children and was very poor, raised him. I'm not too sure how much of a male role model presence there was in his life. I believe some/one of the younger of his brothers made it back from the war. To be perfectly honest, I don't really know too much regarding my father's family. He is currently the oldest living member, the patriarch, if you will. I met his sister (my aunt), who ranked only one position higher up in the hierarchy from himself, before she died, but never met any of his other siblings or parents. I don't know how my father learned to shave himself. Trial and error? A gracious male family friend? His mother? Who knows.
All that being said, I don't know why there wasn't more direct invovlement in what I now consider to be a very important right of passage for a young man: his first shave. Being that my father lost his father at a young age, I believe he did the best that he knew how with us kids. Being a father myself now, I know that he did. Any commited father will do no less. Maybe he didn't devote more time to proper instruction because he didn't receive any himself. Maybe he thought the current state of shaving technology rendered in-depth instruction unneccessary. Maybe this occaison wasn't marked for me, becuase it wasn't marked for him.
As a result, I NEVER had what I would consider to be a truly sucessful shave until I started using a DE and studying up on proper technique. To make matters worse, I have a course curly beard. You can see where proper instruction might go a long way (and it has). Oh yeah... I tried all the latest gizmos and technology to no avail. I owe my current path to my brother who found this place and directed me here also.
Gentlemen and fathers, we owe it to the young men in our sphere of influence to send them to a proper shave school, in our bathroom or theirs. Shaving of the beard is a ritual that sets men apart from the fairer sex. It is a moment in a boy's life when he has taken the first steps on his journey to manhood. It deserves the proper acknowledgement and fanfare, and the solemn reading of his new rights and responsibilities from the men who care in his life. It is deserving of attention to proper instruction, patience and encouragement. That young man deseves to go into public looking proper and unashamed, instead of bloody with a face full of ingrowns. Unlike a woman who can hide her legs under long pants, a man with a bad shave is easily identified... and deflated, discouraged and embarrassed. This seemingly dull task of shaving may have a larger impact on the direction of that young man's life than you'll know.
Popular society tells us that shaving is something to be done and get over with. Like brushing your teeth or wiping when you're done in the bathroom. I now say it is not. I say shaving is about more than taking whiskers off of your face. This whole ritual has changed my outlook about myself. I feel pride when I leave the house in the morning, the kind that puts a smile on your face and a skip in your step. The kind that makes your coffee taste better. The kind that makes your wife wink at you when you walk out the door. That feeling of pride lasts... and lasts... it translates to everything you do and everyone you meet during the day. You want to dress better. You want to get your hair cut more than twice a year. You start caring how you present yourself to others and how you are perceived by them. Others will notice these new qualities in you. I have found they will rub off, too. I have a friend whose wife now tells him, "You should dress up a little more when you go to work. Jason wears a scarf and overcoat, button-up collared shirts, nice slacks and polished shoes. He always looks so sharp lately. You dress like a slob." (I am in a professional occupation, engineering, but dress is usually business casual. Some have been known to wear jeans.) I now know more about proper menswear/attire than I ever have, which isn't saying much. If you want to be treated by others as you think you deserve, you must dress the part. You shouldn't have to, but unfortunately perception is reality. If you present yourself as someone to be taken seriously, with authority but a kind disposition, and mutual respect for yourself and others, in reality you are in fact such a person. Some at my work complain that the company does not treat its engineering staff as professionals... yet they refuse to dress like one. You can't have your cake and eat it too. My wife sees that I am taking better care of myself, and now she wants to take better care of herself too. I've started exercising more. I watch what I eat. I want to spend more time with my son. I have a desire to cast off the disposable society we live in and invest my energies into things that will last. To learn new skills. To proceede cautiously, purposefuly, and do it the right way, though it may take an initial investment. To love people, not things. To ensure my son is given proper instruction in all arts of manliness and gentlemanly conduct and the identity in society that is associated with it. etc. etc. My life has become more staisfying in subtle, but important ways.
Because you care about and respect yourself, I believe you find that you will also presently begin to respect others, moreso than usual. Maybe have a little more compassion? Perhaps a little more patience than usual? Perhaps performing random acts of kindness, just because this fellow could use a hand up and I am such a man as would do this for my brother? Who knows what impact this might have on society. Is it possible that the destruction of traditional shaving as mainstream is responsible for generations of men
struggling to find an identity as a man in a society that no longer makes much of a distinction? An identity that some of our fathers and their father's father's had? No one will ever know the answer to that. I also find that my new found interest in my own manliness has made my wife more feminine in juxtaposition... funny how that works.
All that... from a shave.
I would love to hear what grade you got in Shaving School. What instruction were you given? Class, dismissed... or, whatever.
- Jason
Tools: canned goo, disposable plastic safety razor (for me, my father used carts, I was just starting on the other hand)
Method: rub the goo on your face, use the business end of the razor to remove whiskers
Simple. Seems easy enough.
... or not, as I found out forthwith after trying this procedure for myself for the first time with seemingly little guidance.
I love my father. He was/is a great father. He had what I would consider to be a rough childhood. He was the youngest, by a large margin, of a large family. His father died when he was young. The elder of his brothers all died in WW2, I believe. His mother, who was widowed with children and was very poor, raised him. I'm not too sure how much of a male role model presence there was in his life. I believe some/one of the younger of his brothers made it back from the war. To be perfectly honest, I don't really know too much regarding my father's family. He is currently the oldest living member, the patriarch, if you will. I met his sister (my aunt), who ranked only one position higher up in the hierarchy from himself, before she died, but never met any of his other siblings or parents. I don't know how my father learned to shave himself. Trial and error? A gracious male family friend? His mother? Who knows.
All that being said, I don't know why there wasn't more direct invovlement in what I now consider to be a very important right of passage for a young man: his first shave. Being that my father lost his father at a young age, I believe he did the best that he knew how with us kids. Being a father myself now, I know that he did. Any commited father will do no less. Maybe he didn't devote more time to proper instruction because he didn't receive any himself. Maybe he thought the current state of shaving technology rendered in-depth instruction unneccessary. Maybe this occaison wasn't marked for me, becuase it wasn't marked for him.
As a result, I NEVER had what I would consider to be a truly sucessful shave until I started using a DE and studying up on proper technique. To make matters worse, I have a course curly beard. You can see where proper instruction might go a long way (and it has). Oh yeah... I tried all the latest gizmos and technology to no avail. I owe my current path to my brother who found this place and directed me here also.
Gentlemen and fathers, we owe it to the young men in our sphere of influence to send them to a proper shave school, in our bathroom or theirs. Shaving of the beard is a ritual that sets men apart from the fairer sex. It is a moment in a boy's life when he has taken the first steps on his journey to manhood. It deserves the proper acknowledgement and fanfare, and the solemn reading of his new rights and responsibilities from the men who care in his life. It is deserving of attention to proper instruction, patience and encouragement. That young man deseves to go into public looking proper and unashamed, instead of bloody with a face full of ingrowns. Unlike a woman who can hide her legs under long pants, a man with a bad shave is easily identified... and deflated, discouraged and embarrassed. This seemingly dull task of shaving may have a larger impact on the direction of that young man's life than you'll know.
Popular society tells us that shaving is something to be done and get over with. Like brushing your teeth or wiping when you're done in the bathroom. I now say it is not. I say shaving is about more than taking whiskers off of your face. This whole ritual has changed my outlook about myself. I feel pride when I leave the house in the morning, the kind that puts a smile on your face and a skip in your step. The kind that makes your coffee taste better. The kind that makes your wife wink at you when you walk out the door. That feeling of pride lasts... and lasts... it translates to everything you do and everyone you meet during the day. You want to dress better. You want to get your hair cut more than twice a year. You start caring how you present yourself to others and how you are perceived by them. Others will notice these new qualities in you. I have found they will rub off, too. I have a friend whose wife now tells him, "You should dress up a little more when you go to work. Jason wears a scarf and overcoat, button-up collared shirts, nice slacks and polished shoes. He always looks so sharp lately. You dress like a slob." (I am in a professional occupation, engineering, but dress is usually business casual. Some have been known to wear jeans.) I now know more about proper menswear/attire than I ever have, which isn't saying much. If you want to be treated by others as you think you deserve, you must dress the part. You shouldn't have to, but unfortunately perception is reality. If you present yourself as someone to be taken seriously, with authority but a kind disposition, and mutual respect for yourself and others, in reality you are in fact such a person. Some at my work complain that the company does not treat its engineering staff as professionals... yet they refuse to dress like one. You can't have your cake and eat it too. My wife sees that I am taking better care of myself, and now she wants to take better care of herself too. I've started exercising more. I watch what I eat. I want to spend more time with my son. I have a desire to cast off the disposable society we live in and invest my energies into things that will last. To learn new skills. To proceede cautiously, purposefuly, and do it the right way, though it may take an initial investment. To love people, not things. To ensure my son is given proper instruction in all arts of manliness and gentlemanly conduct and the identity in society that is associated with it. etc. etc. My life has become more staisfying in subtle, but important ways.
Because you care about and respect yourself, I believe you find that you will also presently begin to respect others, moreso than usual. Maybe have a little more compassion? Perhaps a little more patience than usual? Perhaps performing random acts of kindness, just because this fellow could use a hand up and I am such a man as would do this for my brother? Who knows what impact this might have on society. Is it possible that the destruction of traditional shaving as mainstream is responsible for generations of men
struggling to find an identity as a man in a society that no longer makes much of a distinction? An identity that some of our fathers and their father's father's had? No one will ever know the answer to that. I also find that my new found interest in my own manliness has made my wife more feminine in juxtaposition... funny how that works.
All that... from a shave.
I would love to hear what grade you got in Shaving School. What instruction were you given? Class, dismissed... or, whatever.
- Jason
I taught him to say "Marlborough", "Lavender" and "Arlington" when he opens the associted D.R. Harris because he can distinguish the colors on the labels, and even a few other brands. 
