What started it?

[gmgaj]

So I'm curious about what got everyone started in wetshaving?

For me it was economics. I was running out of my M3 blades, and just couldn't get over the cost 8 generic replacements. For what it cost for the refills, I ended up with a full beginner setup. In the following 6 weeks, I've spent at least 6 times the initial amount. I guess the M3s would have been cheaper. But I enjoy shaving now, so that is worth the expense in itself along with getting a better shave quality.

 

[mgoldmann]

For me it was the big three:

Shave Quality- any blade has always given me a better shave than any electric

Shave Comfort- a DE has less razor burn than a multiblade cartridge

Economics- a DE is still cheaper than a cartridge

 

[Vlad]

I overheard something on a TV morning show about how to get a better shave. I think they mentioned WTG and washing first. Anyway, it got me googling the subject, found Mantic's YouTube videos, which got me to B&B, which got me broke on acquisition disorders!

 

[Lamar]

Electric razors were never comfortable for me. Cartridge razors were better but my neck was always irritated and the price became an issue and I never liked the smell of the gel in a can. Now I'm pretty happy with my DE razor and setup and I shave everyday (which I hadn't done since I was in the Navy nearly 20 years ago).

 

[mchad21]

Wanted to get rid of the burning, itching, and ingrown hairs.

 

[Uncle Brian]

I ran out of Mach 3 blades and wondered if a razor like I had back when I was a young fella would still be a practical thing ... didn't even know if they still made blades

Tried a Tech and about 12 other DE and SE razors but mostly I learned all about prep and pressure and beard reduction.

I took a Fusion Challenge as a bit of a joke to see just how bad the 5 bladed monster was and found that with my increased knowledge it shaved great. I have now had 25 BBS from the same cartridge using NZ made shave gel and a boar brush..

SE has been sold all the DEs will follow and it will be me and my Gillette Fusion Pro-Glide Power ... go figure.

That result was NOT in the plan but as we say around here YMMV

 

[PMT]

Tried mug and brush in the 70's, but later fell into the cart and goo thing, always thinking that gillette's latest was the best, stumbled on an article about DE and no looking back! love the economics too!

 

[Niles]

I heard about B&B from a mention on Basenotes. Read a few of the front page articles and decided to order a DE and join the site.

 

[The Kiwi]

So I'm curious about what got everyone started in wetshaving?

For me it was economics. I was running out of my M3 blades, and just couldn't get over the cost 8 generic replacements. For what it cost for the refills, I ended up with a full beginner setup. In the following 6 weeks, I've spent at least 6 times the initial amount. I guess the M3s would have been cheaper. But I enjoy shaving now, so that is worth the expense in itself along with getting a better shave quality.

First off, that term you used gives me the willies, like fingernails on a blackboard. You didn't have to "start" wet shaving, if you used a cartridge razor system. Only electric shavers are used "dry" because canned goo is definitely "wet". The more easily dealt with term is "Classic" or Retro shaving. Given that there have now been very close to two generations worth of shaving men since the introduction of the first cartridge, even the word "traditional" is on shaky ground.

I have wet shaved for very nearly 59 years, allowing a few months wasted several times with electric shavers back in the 1950s and 1960s, when I was relatively young. However, I haven't always used nothing other than the classical shaving era's aftershaves, brushes, creams, razors, and soaps.

For instance, I only used the classic (or "traditional") creams and soaps on Sundays from 1993 to 2011, and my brush really had seen better days before a puppy worked it over while chewing at everything loose it could find. And expense had nothing to do with switching back from one classic shave a week, to one cartridge shave a week. What did it was realizing that the End of Line for the Sensor in the USA had passed without any fanfare. That annoyed me.

 

[rushchairman]

First off, correct yourself. You didn't have to "start" wet shaving, if you used a cartridge razor system. Only electric shavers are used "dry" because canned goo is definitely "wet". The correct term is Classic or Retro shaving.

thanks for the clarification. i'm sure we're all wildly enriched for having heard this lecture.

 

[rushchairman]

So I'm curious about what got everyone started in wetshaving?

For me it was economics. I was running out of my M3 blades, and just couldn't get over the cost 8 generic replacements. For what it cost for the refills, I ended up with a full beginner setup. In the following 6 weeks, I've spent at least 6 times the initial amount. I guess the M3s would have been cheaper. But I enjoy shaving now, so that is worth the expense in itself along with getting a better shave quality.

for me, it was the desire to commune with my ancestors through a shared tradition. using the typical barbershop products, specifically aftershaves, i also tap into a sort of "sense memory" and can feel like i'm back in the barbershops of my youth. it's equal parts comfort and regression.

 

[AABCDS]

I was trying to find a stand for my Merkur Futur. I toyed around with the idea of getting the matching brush and my searches led me here last year.

 

[Beerman]

I found shaving to be a painful, bloody ritual which I went through on a everyday basis. Was always looking for something better from the age of 13 on. Every now and then (maybe once per month or so) I would get, what I now know as a BBS, using a cartridge razor and canned goo. Finally found a synthetic brush put out by Gillette for a few years called the "Gillette Brush Plus"). It came with a cartridge, loaded with some sort of soap or cream and you would twist the bottom and a portion of soap would come out in the middle of the brush and you lathered from there. I was in HEAVEN as I was now able to get a pain-free shave most of the time, not just the once or so per month. Gillette, in their infinite wisdom, discontinued this gem, and I began to look elsewhere. Found some creams via Crabtree and Evelyn as well as a brush from Col. Conk and been "classic" shaving ever since.

I'm still not a "pure" wetshaver, as I've tried the SE and DE and prefer a disposable made by Schick called the Slim Twin. I also shave in the shower, which I've done for around 20 years or so.



Beerman

 

[johnnyxxl]

I got started because it was going to be better and less expensive. I was drawn into it because I wanted to be simpler and less impact on our environment.

So I'm curious about what got everyone started in wetshaving?

For me it was economics. I was running out of my M3 blades, and just couldn't get over the cost 8 generic replacements. For what it cost for the refills, I ended up with a full beginner setup. In the following 6 weeks, I've spent at least 6 times the initial amount. I guess the M3s would have been cheaper. But I enjoy shaving now, so that is worth the expense in itself along with getting a better shave quality.

 

[Toothpick]

#1 was the cost savings. at least until i became a member here
#2 was the cool factor. being the only person i know that uses (at the time) a DE safety razor. automatically had the upper hand
#3 i thought it was cool!!!! shaving like they did 50+ years ago!

 

[paco664]

for me cost was never an issue....

it was a return to "the lost art of being a man"... i strictly shave with straights.... i get a extremely good shave.. i take better care of my skin....

i also have the satisfation of shaving daily with a razor i hone myself *(as well as razors i make myself)....

 

[xRussox]

For me it was a few things.

1. My friend Regularfella got into it and started sharing with us, then i got interested.
2. He got a lot more people into it, PIF'd a friend and got another one to get stuff.
3. After seeing how pretty the stuff was (The shavers he was getting, the brushes), the good review he gave us about it.
4. Knowing that it was cheap (Even tho it's not easy to find here)
5. Knowing that it's better for your skin.
6. Being PIF'd by tfinch

Know i think i'm reading too much about it and wanting too much stuff that i just can't have.
It's an addiction !!!

 

[Modern Art]

I was a young man frustrated with his poor quality shaves and growing increasingly tired of the cost of Mach 3 blades. I took to Google looking for shaving tips and found this site. After reading for several hours I was sold when I saw the cost saving of DE shaving. That weekend I went to my local cigar shop and picked up a Merkur HD, a very nice badger brush, and a few pucks of Col. Conk's. That was in the fall of 2006, been in love ever since.

The fun part is participating in a masculine ritual few enjoy any more. As DEShave said, I thought it was cool.

 

[chris.hale]

It was the clogging of the carts that did it for me. I found that if I shaved every day I got irritation, but I hated shaving anyway so skipping a day or two wasn't a problem. Unfortunately that meant that I spent longer trying to unclog the cart than I did shaving with it, and putting up with a lot of tugging. I tried Googling "single blade razor" to see if that would help with the clogging problem and stumbled across various traditional shaving sites, including B&B.

I saw how cool the DE razors and brushes looked, not to mention the soap in the nice wooden bowls, and how cheap the blades were compared to carts and decided to give it a shot.

 

[tmurzz]

Ran across a wet shaving thread of another forum. For some reason I started to read that thread and got linked this site.

The rest is history. Not to mention I was using 2 blade disposables.