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"Wet Shaving"?

I think there are a lot of people who use "Wet Shaving" interchangeably with "Traditional Shaving," and it can be confusing.

In my opinion, here is the difference:

Wet Shaving: Not dry shaving
Traditional Shaving: Using a soap/cream, a brush and a DE/SE/Str8 (which others have pointed out, is also wet shaving with water, I hope!)

What is traditional anyway ? I mean the goo is around for nearly 65 years and take a look at this electric razor from 1932.
 
I prefer calling it something along the lines of "Ye olde wet shaving".
As in, shaving with things considered old and obsolete in today's technologically advanced world. (brush and cream instead of a can, etc')

"Wet shaving" is to broad a term, it just means shaving with some kind of application of water involved.
 
IT is a terrible term that conjures up an icky feeling and I never use it.

LOL!

I only react like that when somebody orders "wet fries" at the burger joint.
Whoever thought up the idea of referring to "Chili Fries" as "Wet Fries" should be slapped with one.
 
80-100 years is less than 10% of the history of shaving, and less than 33% of the relatively modern history of shaving with design-specific soap, brush, and blade.

To be more accurate, 80-100 years is about 2% of the history of shaving ^^ They were shaving about 3000 years before christ. I repeat, what is traditional shaving ? When did this term appeared ? After the appearance of the first multi-blades razor(70's) ? When the goo overwhelmed the market (50's-60's) ? I'm pretty sure that 25 years ago, shaving with a DE wasn't traditional, it was simply shaving. For me, traditional shaving is a manual act that include a soap and a brush, no matter you're using a DE or a Multi-blades razor.
 
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If the popularity of using slightly retro gear makes much of a blip on the society's consciousness, historians will get the last say to describe what we are doing. We are pleasing ourselves with small pleasures that we weren't necessarily enjoying 10 to 15 or even 20 years ago (18 in my case). The NAME for what we do isn't important enough in the long run to get excited about. I like the tern "Traditional" for what I do, and "Classic" for straight razor shaving.

(And don't forget, I was shaving once a week, over 58 years ago now, using bar soap, water, and {probably} a Gem Junior SE razor. When I reached the every other day shaves necessity, I put the mug soaps of the day to work, and soon changed to a Schick Injector. But I had a can of Noxzema Medicated shave cream when I was in a hurry, even back then. After a brief time trying to get over the constant skin irritation with an electric shaver, at a point roughly ten years after beginning, I picked up a Gillette DE, a Slim adjustable, to be exact, and used DEs from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s, never put the last Super Adjustable away -- I used it on weekends.)
 
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The Count of Merkur Cristo

B&B's Emperor of Emojis
If it concern water, it's wet shaving. That's it :)
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“Life is [like] a razor, you are always in hot water or a scrape”. Anonymous
 
Calling wet shaving "just shaving with water regardless of the tools used" is like saying a superspeed has a five gear transmission. Some terms are not meant to be taken literally. IMO, and also according to the very knowledgeable guys who expedited my transition to DE, "Wet Shaving" is only considered that when practiced with either a DE or a straight razor with a proper lather or a brushless/latherless cream from a tube or a tub of soap. Using a fast-shave cartridge with gel from a can does not fall under the "Wet Shaving" definition.
 
Calling wet shaving "just shaving with water regardless of the tools used" is like saying a superspeed has a five gear transmission.

I think hobbies differ depending on whether you are in or out, and interested in the detail or not. Before I discovered DE shaving I shaved from being mid teens til 2011 with a variety of carts and some disposables. That's thirty five years. I never owned a brush and soap til last year, always used tinned foam and gel. Never had a problem. Great shaves and non of the problems that seem to effect folks here.

I personally consider the use of brush & soap being my personal marker of wet shaving.

Probably for me that's because its also the demarcation line between shaving in or out of the shower.

In the shower is just what you do, like washing your hair and cleaning your teeth or putting your tie on. Out the shower turns shaving into a specific act, its tangible, you can quantify it. I think its nothing to do with the tool used. I consider a cart or disposable a legitimate part of wet shaving.
 
Calling wet shaving "just shaving with water regardless of the tools used" is like saying a superspeed has a five gear transmission. Some terms are not meant to be taken literally. IMO, and also according to the very knowledgeable guys who expedited my transition to DE, "Wet Shaving" is only considered that when practiced with either a DE or a straight razor with a proper lather or a brushless/latherless cream from a tube or a tub of soap. Using a fast-shave cartridge with gel from a can does not fall under the "Wet Shaving" definition.

You need to include SEs and Injectors. I just say "single blade razors".
 
Wet shaving = shaving that is not done dry.
That means the beard needs to be saturated (by prep) and then kept wet by good products (which excludes many types of canned foam.)
I'm not sure how "wet shaving" came to be synonymous with traditional shaving, but it is not something I can agree with. Traditional shaving is wet shaving, but not all wet shaving is traditional. I would even count wet-and-dry electric razors as "wet shaving" when used appropriately.

+1
 
Calling wet shaving "just shaving with water regardless of the tools used" is like saying a superspeed has a five gear transmission. Some terms are not meant to be taken literally. IMO, and also according to the very knowledgeable guys who expedited my transition to DE, "Wet Shaving" is only considered that when practiced with either a DE or a straight razor with a proper lather or a brushless/latherless cream from a tube or a tub of soap. Using a fast-shave cartridge with gel from a can does not fall under the "Wet Shaving" definition.


I can NOT disagree more with you - you're describing 'traditional shaving', not 'wet shaving'.
 
Since the water is the KEY element of wet shaving, I always wandered If I could get a good shave underwater XD Not I'm a pool since....well its kinda nasty but in the ocean ? Gents, you have your challenge.
 
^ I am actually thinking of attemping this this weekend at our cabin on the Puget Sound. I like swimming in the cold water, and many of you seem to like cold-water shaving... So, why not?
 
I can NOT disagree more with you - you're describing 'traditional shaving', not 'wet shaving'.

Then what pray tell, Sir, is dry shaving? Because electric users already enjoy a suitable moniker and anyone shaving DE or straight sans water could, at worst, be called foolhardy. I believe purveyors of modern cartridge razors should be called 'Modern Shavers' and the practice 'Modern Shaving'. We put in the time and the effort, we should claim this succulent term exclusively for our method. Even if we suppose its technically wrong, it could be a myth well worth perpetuating.
 
I could see shaving underwater working, sort of.
You would need a pair of swimming goggles, a mirror and a good pair of lungs :)

Good luck!
 
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