There and Back Again

[know1special]

Hello again, B&B Friends.

I wonder if you awesome folks wouldn't mind sharing some of your wet-shaving evolution in this thread.

I've been shaving in some form or another since about 1985 or so. Exclusively traditional wet-shaving since around 2006. In that time, my gear, technique and general approach have evolved several times. I'd love to hear how your experiences have shifted to and fro along the way. I think this would be interesting in it's own right but also potentially instructive for newer shavers to see that not everything is figured out on day 1.

Specifically, I'm most interested in hearing about any choices that you have made along your journey where you've moved away from a particular technique or product, subsequently had your method refined or horizons broadened, and then ended up returning right back where you were to begin with as a result.

By way of example, a couple recent instances from my own experience:

1) Like many, I began wet-shaving with razors that would be considered quite mild. Initially, the results were middling at best, albeit superior to carts. Over time, I gravitated toward ever more aggressive razors and sharper blades. This saw my technique improve dramatically as I got used to shaving with the correct amount of pressure. More recently, I've been coming back around to milder razors and having great success, much better than years ago.

2) I started off bowl lathering as a neophyte wet-shaver as that was the predominant method of most of the tutorials I was following at the time. Then, a few years ago I started to face lather and my shaves got better almost instantly. Being able to feel the lather on my face as I was making it was quite the eye opener. In recent days, I've done some test lathers and realized that I'm now making superior lathers in a bowl.

These are just two isolated cases out of a great many that have occurred along my path. Almost without fail, each time this happens my shave improves drastically.

How about you?

 

[BigJ]

So many variables, especially the changes in my skin and beard over the years.

I started with a ‘hand-me-down’ Slim in the 1960s. Then moved to carts as these were ‘more modern.’ For a time I tried an electric rotary lawn mower that felt like it was pulling out my whiskers.

In the 1980s I moved to straights for a time, but found it was too much muss and fuss during a busy AM. So back to the carts.

Eventually, I tired of the ever more complex but no more effective evolution of the Gillette cart options. So, around 2000 I moved back to DE (where I started). But this time with much more interest in technique!!

 

[Jens]

I started shaving i the early 1980s. It was in South Asia, where you could go to a barbershop and get straight razor shave for something like 25 cents..! I loved it! The first razor that I owned was a DE razor, don't know which (got it in Sri Lanka). But I had no tutor, didn't know nothing about "light/no pressure" and such, had some terrible shaves! Then I switched to disposable BIC razors (single or dual blade), and that was actually my goto razor for many years. Through those years, I enjoyed using a brush and shaving soap (Williams mug, Palmolive stick, TABAC cream), but I often used just a bar of hand soap (no brush) and my disposable BIC while under the shower, worked very well actually, I could get some incredibly close shaves that way.
Then in early 2016 I made a "big decision" to quit nicotine (snuff) once and for all. In order to preoccupy myself with something else, I deliberately dug into the world of wetshaving, and started adopting it as the "hobby" that it has become for me today -- well, more of a little oasis of bodily and mental hygiene than merely a hobby, really. Of course this pretty much coincided with a development where the number of DE and wetshaving products exploded (as did the number of shaving Youtubers) leaving us with the range of choice that we have today. So I started accumulating shaving gear ...
A few things I have left and returned to:
__ Straight razors. I love a straight razor shave, for various reasons, but I got out of it again, because I found honing both necessary and way harder than I had imagined. The flip side of that is that I actually left DE shaving for quite a while, but picked it up again as I rested the straights.
__ like @know1special, I also left milder razors (and blades) for a while, only to return to them. I suppose my encounters with more aggressive razors made me more aware of technique, but I think it was really my experience with relatively dull straight razors which got me to appreciate what nice shaves you can actually have without using a super sharp or aggressive edge. I guess I learnt that (at least for me) the whole notion that "the most aggressive DE razors approximate the straight razor experience", is complete nonsense. I actually find straight razors way gentler than DE's (any DE really, both aggressive and milder ones).
To be continued ...

 

[Jay21]

I started shaving in my teens with a Gillette (I think it was an Atra) and whatever cheap soap puck and brush my mom bought at the local department store. As I had soft whiskers in my teens, I never really bothered to learn the art of proper lathering and multiple-pass approaches. I wanted to rip through the shaves as quickly as possible because I hated shaving. It was a chore.

Then, during college, I switched to electric. I went through several varieties, including Braun and Norelco. Shaves were ok, but not especially close. I only shaved a few times a week, so I'd knock down the forest with the electric, which would leave lots of areas of stubble behind, but then I'd clean up with a cartridge most of the time. Of course this double approach left my face irritated, so I shaved at most 2-3 times a week.

I went through various years since college not really paying attention to what I was doing, but I didn't really care either. I would bounce around between disposables and cartridges, using whatever canned cream was out there. My shaves weren't great, but I never really cared then, either. And I only shaved a few times a week. It was a chore. It was done only when my whiskers achieved critical mass.

Then, in 2015, I thought I'd try DE shaving with lathering soap again. I hate to admit it, but I saw a commercial by the Pawn Stars guy endorsing a DE razor on the television. After some internet researching, I ordered a Parker 96 instead, which had great reviews, and used that for a few months. Of course I tore my face to hell because I never learned how to shave with it. No one ever showed me and I never looked anything up. I figured shaving is shaving. The shaves weren't great, either. The razor, as it turns out, wasn't very good after all. It had poor blade alignment and it corroded very quickly. Since my shaves weren't great, and the razor wasn't face worthy anymore, I went back to cartridges and canned creams again.

I bounced around for several years again, not really caring about my shaves again. I'd shave a few times a week, and I didn't care about the quality. Shaving was still a chore that I didn't care about.

Then, this Christmas I traveled to see family. I packed a very basic shave kit with disposable razors and cream that I had never used before. The shaves were horrible. This made me decide, on a whim, to get back into DE shaving. I decided to research things much better this time, which led me here. The kind people here have really helped me tremendously, and I can honestly say that at 46 years old I'm finally learning to shave properly and correctly. I'm getting some of the best shaves of my life, and I'm only getting started. My technique is getting better every day. Now, I like shaving. I look forward to shaving daily now.

 

[Dave himself]

When I started wet shaving roughly around three years ago I was using half DE Shavettes. It took me quite a while before I got my technic anywhere near good enough to get good shaves. Then I started looking at De razors and decided to give them a try. Looked at a lot of threads here and decided on a Merkur progress as my first DE razor. In a short space of time I discovered that I liked aggressive razors as was mostly shaving on setting five and above. Lately if been looking at Feather AC razors so I've took the plunge and ordered a Feather clone with some blades. I'm really looking forward to getting some shaves with it and see where I go from there.

 

[desertcat]

Returning to B&B is my "full circle" ...after about 11 years wetshaving with a very limited kit. I got started with a Merkur 34C in 2012 and with the help of forum members I managed to get satisfactory results. I returned to the forum to hopefully improve my results, and discovered a whole new array of contemporary CNC razors and artisan soaps... Obviously my collection expanded from about 3 razors to around 12, and my brushes and software multiplied in a similar fashion. In my re-learning I have discovered the following: my stubble is removed more readily by moderately aggressive razors, my skin is much happier with bowl lathering, and modern products are certainly effective but are no substitute for skilled technique.

 

[@ngel]

That seems to be very common, I did too came back to “mild razors” but really, once you find the sweet spot on a razor considered for newbies, they are bliss and lack nothing!

I also found that anything north of $50 dlls has everything to do with vanity and nothing with performance! I mean, yes…a titanium, platinum, adamantium, kryptonite razor is gonna last till eternity, but I find hard to believe buying a 50 times more expensive razor is gonna give you a 50 times better shave. That said, if people can afford them good, but thats one rabbit hole I have stayed way clear from

I also thought that I was never gonna try a boar bristle brush again after getting into badgers and synthetics, well let me tell you I came back to love the pig! I have a no name cheap boar bristle gifted to me thru a pif years ago and I love that thing!

 

[OkieStubble]

I began shaving in 1975 at the ripe old age of 15 with my father’s Trac II. Switched to Gillette Good News disposables and then spent years blowing my money on Mach 3 cartridges until about 2010 when a friend turned me on to DE shaving and this forum. The razor bumps I always got on my neck after shaving went away for the first time since I began shaving as a kid.

Just like most here, I spent the first 5-6 years collecting all manner of shave gear and products, searching for that one, true, divine shave that beats all other shaves. In these years, I collected and used all manner and type of brushes and learned to use and have mastered all type and manner of razors. DE, SE, Injector, Straight and Shavettes have all been used, come and gone and come and gone again.

I began a natural process 5-6 ago, minimalizing my enormous shave den down to just a boar & synthetic brush for myself and a black badger for the wife because she likes the scritch of it on her legs when shaving. I keep just one or two, sometimes 3 representations of my favorite Razors from each type, i.e. a birth year Gillette Flair Tip and a mint Schick Krona as two of my favorite twist to opens. In fact, I shaved with the Krona this morning.

I still have and keep my very first DE I ever purchased which was a Merkur 33C Classic. I keep it, along with a cheap $4 Chinese Gillette Super Blue along with a modern all stainless steel 3 piece from Fendrihan called the MKII. The cheap, $4 3 piece with it’s nickel plated brass head and long plastic hollow handle, is my most treasured and loved DE of them all. I get straight or shavette quality shaves from that razor.

Many years ago, a former, longtime member, sought me out thru PM and graciously gifted me a very used but very well honed Straight razor. At the time, I don’t know if I would have started trying a straight on my own accord, but his awesome offer to stay the course with me in tutoring me, keeping the blade honed until I could learn on my own and always being patient with the many questions I had, got me thru and past the trial of the 100 shave mark. While even with all his help, I just didn’t have the skill and patience to hone my razor on stones, the evolution of 3M lapping film saved the day!

That old straight he gave me was PIF’d to another member long ago, but the wife and kids bought me a Dovo Bismarck many years ago. I hardly ever use it though, because I have come to appreciate and love the simplicity, closeness and lightweight and nimble handling of Shavette’s. I started with the Feather
Artist Club, but just naturally gravitated towards Shavette’s that use DE blades. In minimalizing my den, I didn’t want to keep buying the costlier Professional blades from Feather or Fromm blades for my Injector, so I got rid of them both in preference of the universal use of DE blades in my DE’s & Shavettes.

I only have and use 4 soaps for the 4 seasons, but I used to have 20-30 soaps just like many others, before I whittled down to Spring: La Toja, Summer: Proraso, Fall: L’Occitane Cade, Winter Haslinger Schafmilch. I also keep a stick of Arko around in my Dopp kit for travel.

I still have some scraps of some older soap stuff I need to 3017, like a half a kilo of Klar Kabinett and an old tub of cream, but for the most part everything is paired down to a more sustainable den for me.

Except when it comes to aftershaves. That became a bit of a monster for me over the years. While I haven’t purchased any in years, I probably have somewhere around 200 modern and vintage aftershaves in my den or stored in a deep dark closet somewhere, waiting and hoping to see the light of day.

Stuff like a lifetime supply of aftershaves like vintage Shulton Old Spice, vintage Brut, vintage English Leather vintage Grey Flannel, assorted flavors of vintage Avon…. And that’s just the lifetime supplies. It’s not counting other vintage stock I have on many other aftershaves like many of the 80’s powerhouses, like Polo Green, Calvin Klein Obsession, Halston Z-14, Skin Bracer, British Sterling, Coty Musk and many other vintage bottles I just can’t think of off the top of my head. And the modern stuff? Way too many to count or name. . And then there’s my Bootlegger’s Collection and Series of aftershaves.

If you haven’t guessed, I have issues when it comes to aftershaves.

 

[know1special]

@OkieStubble, outstanding entry amigo! Quite a read, thanks ever so much for sharing your history.

And many thanks as well to all those who've stopped by to contribute so far. Absolutely fascinating to read about all the winding paths we've taken to get here.

With any luck, we'll snag a few more accounts before too long.

 

[OkieStubble]

@OkieStubble, outstanding entry amigo! Quite a read, thanks ever so much for sharing your history.

And many thanks as well to all those who've stopped by to contribute so far. Absolutely fascinating to read about all the winding paths we've taken to get here.

With any luck, we'll snag a few more accounts before too long.

Take away the picture in my post along with the paragraph spacing and indentions, I bet it wouldn’t appear like such a long read. I don’t like typing or reading, ‘wall o’ texts.

 

[know1special]

Take away the picture in my post along with the paragraph spacing and indentions, I bet it wouldn’t appear like such a long read. I don’t like typing or reading, ‘wall o’ texts.

LOL, long or not...it was great to hear about all the twists and turns. I'd really like to illustrate for the newer folks in particular that for most of us it's a marathon..not a sprint.