When did you start shaving as a kid and why?

[Ashe]

All,

When I was still a young kid (I think 14) I made the habbit of shaving with a BIC disposable (and afterwards Gillette) every week hoping I will quickly grow sufficient beard to shave every day. When I started I didn't lather up and only used hot water and finished up with some sort of balm after the shave.

Despite the fact that there was absolutely no need to shave it made me feel great and adult.

I can't believe I was the only one doing that therefore I ask all of you: go ahead and let us know whether you did the same!

Thanks for this wonderful site!

 

[fuerein]

Can't say I did. I avoided it like the plague as long as I could. I only started shaving when my father got remarried when I was about 14 or so and had a bit of a beard coming in (he wanted me as his best man and he, his fiance now wife, and my grandmother would not allow me to go up there unshaven). He gave me a foil style electric which I used until I went on a trip to Germany (forgot to purchase a power converter and the thing died from no recharging) at which point I switched to an M3. Later switched back to a rotary electric when I was working at a job that required a daily shave and I didn't have enough time some mornings for a typical M3 shave. Found DE wet shaving not too long ago and am not looking back!!

 

[Justso]

I suppose I started shaving around 16 or so, mainly because I could not (and still can not) stand feeling unshaven. My beard was starting to grow somewhat where I needed to shave every two or three days at that age and so I went to the store and got the new fangled Gilette Sensor and a can of Edge Gel. After that, I started shaving every day because it felt good, not necessarily because I needed it. By the time I hit 18, I needed to shave every morning and still do to this day. If I go two days without shaving, which sometimes does happen, I feel like a wildabeast on the second day.

Interesting enough, I stumbled onto wetshaving when I was about 20. I ended up buying a razor and a brush from Bernd at Shavemac. Got everything home, tried it for about 3 weeks and got frustrated because my shaves were horrible, although I loved the brush experience. Back in those days, there was no Badger & Blade or other internet resources. So, back to the Sensor I went and eventually shelved the brush because the Edge Gel was faster.

About a year ago, I got the bug again and really researced wetshaving and stumbled onto B&B. Since then, my face is smooth and my wallet is thin. But hey, this time I learned how to wetshave properly and with time, developed the technique necessary to use a variety of blades and razors. I cannot imagine ever giving this up.

 

[TheChefs]

Started when I was 14 or 15 since I had some fuzz on my face which had to be taken care off. I used a cartridge razor. I'm glad that 14 years I've discovered wet shaving.

 

[Jonnybc]

I'm ashamed to say that my first shave was with an electric. I was 14 and had a fair growth. My father too this oppertunity to upgrade his razor so I was given his old one, It was a brown Remington with an adjuster. I was about 16 when I decided to shave with a bladed razor.

 

[Kyle]

I started shaving at the age of 12. I began with sideburn trimming and additionally had a sprinkling of dark hairs down to and along my jawline. Though it wasn't at first necessary, I did shave my entire face.

Shortly after college, faced with the daunting task of completing a daily shave, I switched over to an electric razor. I bounced back and forth between cartidge and electric systems for almost a decade before discovering the DE and true wet shaving.

 

[NMMB]

I started shaving at 14 - when the girls at school started to make fun of my "beard" (a few rogue hairs that sprouted early and grew surprisingly long). I don't recall the brand, but I know that I started using some el-cheapo disposable blades and some canned cream. It wasn't long after that I started to grow hate shaving and would avoid it as much as possible... I grew a "real" beard (full) at age 16 and have had some sort of beard ever since (I still wear a goatee and love it).

 

[jfm]

At 13, when I started to grow a noticeable mustache. The weapon of choice was the first generation Gillette Sensor and the pseudo-lubrication was provided by Edge gel. It worked quite well for me until my beard continued to grow in and turned into the wire-bound forest it is today.

 

[mrob]

I started at 15/16 or so, and was a once a week shaver till college. I then grew a beard which I kept until just a few years ago--20+ years. When I shaved off the beard I left a goatee--I shaved that off on a whim a few months back and decided to research better ways to shave, and here I am.

 

[crackstar]

I was 14 when I started shaving, myself and a friend of mine were the only 2 who had noticeable beard stubble. I would say I enjoyed shaving right away, because I started using a brush and Noxzema lather cream and a Schick Injector that dad bought me.

Jeff

 

[Creslin]

I started because I was given a razor for 14th birthday and my mother didn't like the rather treelike fuzz that I had growing. That was kinda crappy birthday because the razor was all I got. Oh well, that started a 22 year exile to cartridges which seems to have ended this past week.

 

[Nick75]

I think I was about 15 when I first started shaving, using Gillette disposable razors and simply slapping shaving foam on my face without any warm water beforehand...

I think I shaved once a week to begin with (for a couple of months or so) and then it got more and more frequent, up to the point when I was shaving every day from about 17 onwards... although to be honest, my beard didn't really start coming through thick and fast until I was in my mid to late twenties.

Now, at 31, I feel the need for a good close shave every day (as close as possible) to keep my face smooth for the 16-18 or so hours that I'm awake during the day..

And after 16 years of using Gillette Blue II disposables coupled with shaving gel I've got to the point whereby I've become pretty sick of getting little nicks on my face every couple of days, along with a bit of redness here and there (not to mention the inevitable unpleasant stinging sensation straight after shaving).

And so, I find myself here, at Badger and Blade. Badger and cream ordered, received and already used a few times...blade (Merkur HD) is on its way... I must say though, even with using a decent badger's hair shaving brush with cream (Truefitt & Hill Sandalwood) and just a DISPOSABLE BLUE II razor (yes, you read that right!) I'm getting a much better & closer shave... just hoping that the new DE razor doesn't give me too much of a close shave when it arrives lol...(one can't help feeling a tad apprehensive about shaving with one of those beasts for the first time lol...but hell, I'm willing to give it a try and learn how to use it properly..)

 

[fuerein]

And so, I find myself here, at Badger and Blade. Badger and cream ordered, received and already used a few times...blade (Merkur HD) is on its way... I must say though, even with using a decent badger's hair shaving brush with cream (Truefitt & Hill Sandalwood) and just a DISPOSABLE BLUE II razor (yes, you read that right!) I'm getting a much better & closer shave... just hoping that the new DE razor doesn't give me too much of a close shave when it arrives lol...(one can't help feeling a tad apprehensive about shaving with one of those beasts for the first time lol...but hell, I'm willing to give it a try and learn how to use it properly..)

I don't know everyone else's experiences, but I didn't get a super close shave right after starting the DE. It took me a bit to get the method/control down to where I'm now getting (and still working on a better) shave.

 

[EL Alamein]

I was about 12 or 13 when I started. I already had a smattering of stubble about my face and it was coming in thicker by the week. I tried everything from Dad's old atra to electric (Ronson and Braun) to the DE to finally the straight razor. I settled on the straight because it was the absolute closest shave. I used it with Edge gel then with noxema skin cream. I pretty much used noxema until about 10 years ago when I decided to try the Conk soap. Then a few years ago I discovered the high end stuff and use that. All this time though I have used a brush, save when I used the canned gel (which wasn't for long). Yes, I used it with noxema and it worked great. It didn't lather but it did work the noxema into the face very well.

Chris

 

[Nick75]

I don't know everyone else's experiences, but I didn't get a super close shave right after starting the DE. It took me a bit to get the method/control down to where I'm now getting (and still working on a better) shave.

yeah, i suppose that's something I have to expect. I don't expect miracles straight away, but I'm more than willing to give it a shot!

no doubt it will take a bit of time - trial and error and all that...

 

[Buzz]

And so, I find myself here, at Badger and Blade. Badger and cream ordered, received and already used a few times...blade (Merkur HD) is on its way...

(one can't help feeling a tad apprehensive about shaving with one of those beasts for the first time lol...but hell, I'm willing to give it a try and learn how to use it properly..)

I used a brush and some Williams soap with a SensorXL for a few years before making the leap to DE a couple of weeks ago.

I was a bit apprehensive before the first shave also. I'm sure you've already ready the excellent posts here on technique.

My only advice would be to make sure that you've got plenty of time on your DE first shave. You don't want to feel rushed. That might mean waiting for a weekend morning or getting up a bit earlier.

 

[caloy24]

I seem to remember starting shaving at 15, oh, so many years ago (1965). I used a Gem Junior razor with the fat black bakelite handle, and Barbasol brushless cream in a tube.

A friend borrowed that razor and lost it, but I have since rediscovered the joys of shaving with a Gem SE, after many intervening years of using various Gillette DE razors, and a Merkur open comb that I bought in Williams Bros. Cutlery in San Francisco in the early 70s. I still have that Merkur plus a couple of Gillette Techs that I accumulated over the years.

For the answer to the question of "Why" I started shaving; I suppose that I thought that it was about time, but since my whiskers and hair are blondish, I probably could have waited longer to start. It's not like you could really see the whiskers on my cheeks very well.

 

[guenron]

Great question Benjamin! Brings back bitter-sweet memories of youth.. Well I must admit shaving was traumatic for me. I was just about 13, sent home from school because of my excessive beard, and did not have any idea of what to do. Walked into my local barbershop and talked to my buddy the barber who got me started on "How to sling a razor." Went home knowing enough to use a carbon-steel straiight and yardley soap in the wooden bowl with a small wooden handled brush. He sharpened the razor for me weekly for either 10 or 25 cents, as needed, walk-in basis. Got fair shaves, nothing great.. That was how it started.

 

[Austin]

I started shaving at the insistence of my High School principal at the age of 15. Looking back at pictures of the time, I sure looked scraggly with long hair.

 

[rtaylor61]

I started shaving at the insistence of my High School principal at the age of 15. Looking back at pictures of the time, I sure looked scraggly with long hair.

Former hippie! If you had used the same barber back then as I did, (Linda Nesmith, what a babe!) you would not have looked scraggly!

I was about 15. I bought a Gillette Atra (which I still have and used until last year). I started because our high school had a no facial hair policy. You could have chops, but no mustache or beard.

Randy