when did you start 'wet shaving' and what did you use?

[saj]

1965 - Gillete adjustable

which one? you still got it?

 

[saj]

Started about five years ago with:

Taconic Bay Rum shave cream
Astra SP blades
QShave butterfly double edge
Pinaud Clubman VIBR aftershave

Only thing that's remained from that list since then is Pinaud Clubman VIBR.

i did get a qshave merkur futur clone, used it the other day after ages, its not bad razor

whats that aftershave like?

 

[saj]

I grew up on 2 bladed plastic cartridge razors and eventually moved to the Gillette Sensor and then the Mach3. A little over a year ago, I decided to give a DE razor a try. I bought a Feather Popular, Nivea cream, and awful Derby Extra blades. Since then I've tried a number of other razors, including a Lord, Baili, multiple Gillette Techs, a Merkur clone, The Winning Razor, and my favorite a Henson AL13. I'm down to 2 razors because if I don't love something, (in my mind) there's no point in keeping it. I've tried a bunch of different blades and some I like and some I didn't. But I'm getting to a pretty consistent set of hardware and software that I could keep using for years if I wanted to.

i like the baili razor i got, basically a tech

love the winning raozr and henson too

 

[saj]

I started with Nivea foam
Mach 3
I was 15 or so
5 y ago I switched to DE and this was my blade for about 3 years. I never knew all this heaven existed untill recently
View attachment 1593414

how was the shaves with that razor?

 

[saj]

@saj ...at that age it was Peach Fuzz. I probably could have used a plastic knife. LOL!

b/r

ON_1

lool

 

[saj]

I started out using a Gillette Slim in 1975, age 16. I used Barbasol. A friend of mine had cases of Arko sticks. I used them for a while. Somewhere in the 1980s, I started using Schick disposables and then the Gillette Sensor. By the late 1990's I used a Gillette Mack3. When I became a Buddhist monk I used Bic disposables for my face, and the Thai version of disposable Kamisori for shaving my head every two weeks, basically a shavette. When I disrobed I went back to Mach 3. In 2015 I purchased a Micro Touch One, as seen on TV, out of nostalgia for my misspent youth. A co-worker into DE shaving talked me into buying a Merkur 34 and Astra Platinum blades. He introduced me to B&B. He was a long-time lurker and told me there was good information here. My collection evolved into an obsession with Fatips. Not one for being into lurking here I am.

thats interesting you were a buddhist monk, i watched a monk on youtube who posted a day in the lie of a monk vid and he used a safety razor in the morning ad had to shave his eyebrows i remember that, did you have to do that too?

now i know fatips are your number 1 razor lol

 

[saj]

I started with an electric in the early 70's. I switched to carts in the 80's. I switched to de about 5 years ago. My first de set-up was a Parker razor, TOBS Sandalwood cream & a cheap Perfecto badger brush.

nice which parker razor?

 

[steveclarkus]

which one? you still got it?

It was a slim. I made a move a few years ago and the movers either left my Dop kit behind of stole it. I also had a travel Tech and Shick adjustable SE. Otherwise, I would still have it. There were also several items that didn't make the trip. We've made 21 moves in our careers and this was simply usual.

 

[Dobric]

how was the shaves with that razor?

Good. I'll need to re visit that razor, but as far as I can remember no nicks or cuts.

 

[mikhou]

i like the baili razor i got, basically a tech

love the winning raozr and henson too

The Baili was fine. I just prefer my pre-war Tech to the Baili so I PIF'd it. I didn't get along with the Winning Razor, and I need to PIF it. The Henson is my favorite and it's my primary with a pre-war Tech as a backup. I'm not a collector so I have only 3 razors left - the Henson, pre-war Tech, and the Feather Popular, but I only keep the Popular with it's butterfly mechanism open to rest my blade on between shaves.

 

[Shaving like a boss]

I started wet shaving in 1980 with a Trac II. I switched to a safety razor when I found my Grandfathers Fatboy while going through his things after he passed. I remembered watching him shave with it when I was a little boy. My Grandpas razor is my daily driver to this day, though I have an assortment of DE razors as well as my original Trac II on the rack.

 

[Eric_75]

Pretty sure I started with one of my dad's disposable Bics and then went to the Gillette Sensor and Sensor Excel. I never really cared for the Mach 3. This would have been early '90s.

 

[Raven Koenes]

thats interesting you were a buddhist monk, i watched a monk on youtube who posted a day in the lie of a monk vid and he used a safety razor in the morning ad had to shave his eyebrows i remember that, did you have to do that too?

now i know fatips are your number 1 razor lol

Yes, I had to shave my eyebrows. It's not a Buddhist rule. It's a Thai custom. It came about when Burma attacked Thailand. The Burmese snuck into Thailand disguised as monks. The Thais got wind of it and had monks shave their eyebrows to distinguish them from Burmese soldiers. Thai monks have done it ever since. You'd be surprised how much dust eyebrows protect you from.

 

[dmshaver]

nice which parker razor?

My first de was the Parker 90r. It served me well & helped me jump into this wonderful pastime!

 

[CDinVT]

2009, My mom got me the VDH premium set and VDH razor( Weishi TTO) for Christmas

 

[fuzzball]

I used electrics when I started shaving in the mid-late '80s, then switched to an Atra around '90, which I used for about 20 years. Somehow I wound up with a Fusion handle which I still have, but I started my DE journey seven years ago with an EJ DE89 and a sampler pack, first with canned goo before moving to Arko and an Omega 10049.

Those Fusion carts, though, they last forever. I think I had at least two or three years of use on my last one. Still kinda irked that my ol' trusty Atra handle walked off on me.

 

[J B Addis]

A heavily used, not-especially-sharp ERN straight given to me by my stepfather's brother at age 14, occasionally touched up on some worn out 2500 grit sandpaper, with either plain water or whatever soap was handy, no brush. Luckily I didn't develop much facial hair until quite a bit later, when my honing abilities and general shaving knowledge had improved somewhat. Still, it got rid of the unsightly fuzz above my upper lip, and I've used a straight exclusively since then.

 

[Tanuki]

1968 or 69, Gillette Techmatic, Williams Mug, cheap drugstore boar brush.
The Techmatic was terrible, switched to Schick injector after 2 or 3 cartridges. Then my mother gave me her dad's Old Type in the early 70s and it was DE from there on. I added a Merkur 36 slant in the late 70s, so I had a rotation before I knew anyone who used more than a single razor.

 

[hariph creek]

Around 1990. Around 16 years old, or so.
Some random used disposable twin blade I found in a medicine cabinet.
I used it for several months, using water only.
The.
Same.
Used.
Razor.

Nobody taught me to shave. Nobody said anything about my butchered face.
Then a family friend asked me what happened to my face. Told me about maybe not using the same razor, forever. Also suggested I could put stuff on my face to shave.
After that, well into my 20's. I used whatever cheap twin disposable was handy. Coupled with plain old Noxema face cleaner.
In my late 20's I started on the multi blade race. More blades, more money, less comfort. Also switched to canned goo gel stuff.
When Cremo came out that was a substantial improvement.
Then about a year and a half ago, I finally got sick of crappy, expensive multi blade shaves, and got a Henson.

 

[VBH37118]

1970 or 71, Gillette twist to open, rise or Colgate cream and a Gillette stainless or super stainless. I learned to get good shaves because I had to probably like everyone else. Stayed with that set up for a few years then on to trac ii, Atra and so on. Today I go from de, cart, electric straight and just started using an injector. Looking back I could have stayed with my first setup and have been fine but no fun and where would I have spent my money? At least no one gets hurt in this hobby.