What's new

What do friends & family think about your hobby?

I enjoy shaving with a safety razor and the rest of it, but don’t see the need to talk about it any more than guys talk about shaving with any other tools. And I never considered shaving to be a hobby.

This is not worth having an obsession over IMO.
 
I don't talk about shaving with relatives. I don't talk about shaving with friends or colleagues. It is just irrelevant. They can't understand why I have 250+ razors. 65 brushes, lots of AS and many thousands of blades. Let's not forget, for 99% of people "it's just shaving".
Truer words have never been posted.
We deranged people are far and few between. Totally agree....99% of the folks out there see it as " just shaving"
Never thought I would be a 1%'er in my life.
 
Last edited:
I don't discuss razors (or show anyone the pictures of my collection on my phone) but I do dabble in soap making and have a much easier time bringing that into conversations than anything else I have an addiction to. My family is usually pretty responsive to talk when I give away some of my soaps to them. Even today, my wife actually went with me to the Dollar store specifically for me to buy some bath soap. Then she had to hear "soap talk" all the way home, so that's probably one and done.
 
I don't discuss razors (or show anyone the pictures of my collection on my phone) but I do dabble in soap making and have a much easier time bringing that into conversations than anything else I have an addiction to. My family is usually pretty responsive to talk when I give away some of my soaps to them. Even today, my wife actually went with me to the Dollar store specifically for me to buy some bath soap. Then she had to hear "soap talk" all the way home, so that's probably one and done.
I think many more people would be interested in soaps than in shaving.
 
Last edited:
I don't discuss razors (or show anyone the pictures of my collection on my phone) but I do dabble in soap making and have a much easier time bringing that into conversations than anything else I have an addiction to. My family is usually pretty responsive to talk when I give away some of my soaps to them. Even today, my wife actually went with me to the Dollar store specifically for me to buy some bath soap. Then she had to hear "soap talk" all the way home, so that's probably one and done.
OK...I'll bite. You make soap, but went to the Dollar Store to buy bath soap?:001_huh:
 
Yup. I like the Palmolive original bars for the shower. Scent is great and I can't duplicate it. Mine are typically shea butter and oatmeal because that's about all I know how to make. That's why I said I dabble in soap making. :biggrin1:
Palmolive bars long time fan here.
 
I recently got into a conversation with a close colleague about shaving and it turns out he was really unhappy with his electric razor, cartridges, and some razor club stuff that he had tried, and was just hating his shaves. To make a longish story short, the poor chap now has a Karve Overlander and a rather nice Thiers Issard that I failed to talk him out of after I’d foolishly mentioned straight razors. Anyway, he is happy and having fun with it, getting the best shaves he’s ever had, and he’ll never go back.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I recently got into a conversation with a close colleague about shaving and it turns out he was really unhappy with his electric razor, cartridges, and some razor club stuff that he had tried, and was just hating his shaves. To make a longish story short, the poor chap now has a Karve Overlander and a rather nice Thiers Issard that I failed to talk him out of after I’d foolishly mentioned straight razors. Anyway, he is happy and having fun with it, getting the best shaves he’s ever had, and he’ll never go back.
Did you also tell him that if he didn't stop he would go blind?
 

istockphoto-1014632006-612x612.jpg

What do friends & family think about your hobby?​


I noticed it is usually the same response. They discretely look over one shoulder and then the other. Very slowly they begin backing away, all the while nodding and keeping a close eye on me. When they have established a safe distance only then do they feel it is safe to turn their back on me and dash off to do something they just remembered, like changing the water in the goldfish bowl.

It is compounded by me earning a living in this cottage industry. The eyes glaze over each time when I get to the part about lathering up the face more than once. There is usually an attempt as they try to conceal a grimace. "Oh, poor Captain - he doesn't seem..." is written on their faces. "Been friends all these years and I had no idea that - hmm, such a shame."
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune

View attachment 1500550

What do friends & family think about your hobby?​


I noticed it is usually the same response. They discretely look over one shoulder and then the other. Very slowly they begin backing away, all the while nodding and keeping a close eye on me. When they have established a safe distance only then do they feel it is safe to turn their back on me and dash off to do something they just remembered, like changing the water in the goldfish bowl.

It is compounded by me earning a living in this cottage industry. The eyes glaze over each time when I get to the part about lathering up the face more than once. There is usually an attempt as they try to conceal a grimace. "Oh, poor Captain - he doesn't seem..." is written on their faces. "Been friends all these years and I had no idea that - hmm, such a shame."
I can almost see their eyes glaze over.... You make a living selling shaving products to whackjobs? Perhaps, you are one yourself.... they mutter to themselves as they edge away slowly.... getting ready to run, as your photo suggests.
 
I try not to mention it much to my wife, unless I remark about what a good shave I got on this blade, and I’ve used it 80 times because I honed and stropped it! (Saving money ✅) I know she is internally rolling her eyes every time I make a shaving purchase, and she knows every one since she itemizes our monthly expenses (this has caused me to but less the past three months, wanting to avoid “the talk.”) But I know she is relieved that I am spending much less money on shaving gear than in some of my other past obsessions, like ski gear and books (saving money ✅).
She is on board with the basic reason I switched from all cartridge to DE, however: to reduce disposable non recyclable waste (good for the environment ✅). This would be the only segue into the topic with any of my friends or family: how during the early days of COVID I made it my project to reduce single use products in the bathroom (installing a bidet attachment, reducing liquid soaps and shampoos in single use plastic containers, bamboo or recycled TP, heating shaving water in the sun or on wood stove , etc.). Otherwise I just assume no one would be interested in my shaving obsession. Those who have been in the bathroom can clearly see several razors, two brushes and shaving soap, and no one has remarked about it.
 
Top Bottom