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Who taught you?

I taught myself, through trial and error.
Used an Atra in my early years of shaving with Colgate foam. I enjoyed that razor. Still have the handle for it. Then found out that Schick Slim Twin disposables did a good job and were cheaper. Used those for awhile. Started de shaving about 8 years ago then joined the forum. I love all the variety we have with this hobby as far as combinations go. And I won’t look back. Long live the DE razor!
 
Started around mid 70’s, 15 or 16. Always watched my dad shave, and he used a TTO Gillette and canned foam. The first time I asked him to show me how, he called to my mom to get the cream. Told me to put the cream on my face and let the cat lick it off. Dad thought he was funny. Think I just went in one day and confiscated his razor and began to use, probably just shaved once a week. Used that for couple of years until started seeing the new commercials for the fancy Gillette cartridges, and bought one.
Started back up with a DE razor about six years ago, due to the high prices of the cartridges. Bought a Van Der Hagen used it until about a year ago when it finally fell apart. Looking for a new razor sent me to a bunch of forums and then here. Still buying razors, soap, AS. Thanks guys
 
I do remember watching Dad shave - I remember all the funny faces he made while he did it - that would have been really young, like when I was six or seven. Although, I don't remember him actually teaching me. He shaved with a DE all his life (1929-2012) - I wished I'd kept his razor...not sure what happened to it.

I started in about 1984 at 13. It was with those horrible bic single blade disposables - the white ones with the yellow/orange blade covers. I taught myself and remember Mom buying a styptic pencil for me. I also remember getting a norelco electric for Christmas around that time, which I bet I used twice.

Back in June of this year, I taught my son how to shave. He turned 13 in May and had the caterpiller thing going on the upper lip. I showed him a basic shave - wet face, lather up with Edge gel, shave with a bic disposable (I forget exactly which one, it's a four blade job with pivot head and lube strip - just like all the others). I think he shaves about once a week now that school has started. This thread brings it to forefront - I'm going to show him the whole wet shaving process with the DE...maybe I'll show him tonight.
 
I started shaving in high school I believe when I was 15-16 I told my dad I needed to shave and he gave me his old Phillips electric razor that he got in high school. Very little direction was given to me he just said shave in a circular motion. I used that until it died which was around the time I started college and went out a bought my first cartridge razor Gillette Fusion.
It sucked but I thought it was the only way to shave at the time so I stuck with it until January 2017 when I was finally fed up with the irritation and terrible shaves. I started googling and I found this great forum. I bought my first DE on eBay a Shick Krona and I taught myself (with the help of Michael Freedberg). I am now 27 about to get married in 2 months and have a shaving collection that has taken over my bathroom.
I am glad I found this place.
 
From 12 years old up until a couple of months ago I only used electric razors Braun, Remington then back to Braun and electrive type need no teaching/learning it just goes.

There is no one I know that DE shaves so when I made the switch to DE, YouTube's geofatboy taught me.
 
In 1987, I started developing enough peach fuzz to warrant occasional shaving. I was provided with an electric razor, and that's what I used until I moved out in 1991. This didn't require any real teaching.

I was pretty tired of the Norelco Rip-and-Pull System I had by that point, so I switched to cartridge and canned foam. Commercials taught me (poorly) how to shave with an increasing amount of blades. That was the system I used until the beginning of this year.

I started DE shaving in January. Who taught me? You did, with some help from YouTube!
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
I got a twin blade bic disposable when I was 15 nobody taught me how to use it
I traveled a similar route. I think I used a Gillette Good news that I took from my dad's stock, circa 1983 I don't think he liked DE all that well as I remember him having one, but at some point he moved on to disposables and is still there today.

No real beard prep, just one pass and I remember some razor burn on the neck. I figured it out. Later moved to a combination of electric and carts and now I use it all as the mood moves me sans straight razors. I like sharpening as it is and if I had one, all I'd be doing is honing rather than using it.
 
No one really. Told my mom beard was bugging me at 13, she had no clue. Dad wasn’t around, figured it out using disposables.

Later on was gifted a Norelco or something, it just ripped stuff out of my face, I think I gave it to my brother after about 3 shaves and he’s still using an electric to this day (we’re 44 and 45 now).

Wandered into an AoS store one time in a mall in Denver and ended up with a brush and some AoS Sandalwood that I used with disposables for a while; also used an electric trimmer when I’d run out of razors and forget to get more. That was it until around a year ago; buddy of mine on a guitar forum started a topic and a few guys joined in.

I expressed some interest and he pointed me at some beginner razors and a really good synth, and then sent me a huge box of artisan soaps (Razorock, TFS, B&M). After that Cris from A Cut Above on YT was the one that taught me how to lather, the shaves I figured out with the help of this forum.

Been a year and it’s a habit now; I’ve amassed a slightly large collection of soaps/AS’s, 3 badger brushes and one synth, around 1000 blades and tried all the expensive razors I had any interest in.

I kept an Ikon SBS, a Timeless .95SB, a Blackbird and a Dart and I think I’m good. Can’t really see anything coming out I need, not do I need soap for maybe 3-10 years.

Thanks for feeding the beast, B&B!
 

KeenDogg

Slays On Fleek - For Rizz
Love reading these stories!

I was given some goo and a Sensor XL. Then, dad left me to my tools.
 
Since I’ve been of shaving age, my Dad has been fully bearded. He shaves with clippers and does touch ups with a disposable. So it made sense when he got me an electric shaver when I had to start shaving. Once I started looking for a closer shave he provided some tips to shave with some five blade behemoth, but I got better advice from my diving coach. Eventually after some well worded internet searches, I found my way to B&B and started wet shaving with a DE razor.
 
Mantic59's vdieos. He got me started after, like many, were extremely dissatisfied with the results of using cartridge and canned goo. This was a beautiful time in wetshaving wolrd. Wetshaving wasn't some fad or wasn't hijacked with political nonsense, and it was a small niche that we could enjoy.

I really, really enjoyed Mantic's old themes and style of videos. I'm in the minority here, but once sharpoligist took over, I started seeing less and less of the old Mantic59.
 
I started in 1959 at age 15. Dad worked out of town and was sometimes gone for a month or two and my mom recognized that I was ready. Dad had been a mug and brush with a Gillette DE but had switched to an electric most of the time before I started shaving so I had some of his equipment passed on to me. My first razor was a Fat Boy later replaced with a black handled Slim. I used whatever blades were easily available.

The brush was an old Erskine Badger that once belonged to my grandfather who died before I was born. The brush had since seen duty with my Dad and my older brother. It was already past its prime when I got it but I liked it. I continued to use it for a few years and finally mostly retired it and bought whatever the forerunner was to a Surrey or VDH cheap boar and went through them every few years. I think the first one was a wood handled version of the current $10.00 VDH. Plastic came later. I used a brush until it either wore down or lost enough hair to loose its utility.

Somewhere along the line I obtained an Old Spice mug. I usually used with Williams or Colgate pucks instead of the Old Spice soap since Old Spice didn't last as long and the others were cheaper.

I mostly learned by myself. My older brother was already off to college. Mom wasn't much help. Perhaps as a result I always considered a DE to be a torture device and toyed with injectors and Techmatics then eventually to Gillette's early two blade cartridge but still using the Slim a lot.

When mom passed the Erskine on to me she said that badger was best and every once in a while I would consider buying a new badger brush but either didn't feel I could afford it or wasn't happy with the offerings.

Eventually I started using canned foam. I tended to use ones with baby oil or ones made for sensitive skin and they worked pretty well. I would still use a mug and brush when I wanted to take a little more time with the shave.

Eventually I decided to get a new Badger brush and went shopping for one and couldn't find one. They seemed to have disappeared from the market. Then one fateful day when I was in a hurry to continue my travels or I would miss all my connections, I walked past a pharmacy in Paris that had an entire display window of shaving brushes. Seemed like they were all Badger or must have at least been mostly badger. That prompted me to do a google search where I learned that they were back, you just needed to know where to find them. That was in 2009. Today I have over 50 brushes of many sizes, mostly Badger, but a couple of Horse, a couple of Boar, and a growing number of Synthetic. Although I'm addicted to Silvertip Badger I enjoy using most all of the brushes in the collection with Finest Badger starting to come in a close second. Many of the brushes I have made myself. I have also given away about as many more brushes.

I have about 20 mugs of soap of various sizes with as many different soaps. Bigger brushes like bigger mugs. Some of the soap I make myself. Of the ones I make myself my fondest is a Black Cherry Bomb.

Although I have a few DE razors and occasionally use them I still consider them to be torture devices and mostly use cartridges. Although I sort of bounce around among Gillette, Schick and Harry's sometimes my go to razors of choice are Dorco cartridges.

I travel a lot and my favorite travel razor is a Micro Touch three blade cartridge that I use with small brushes (mostly 16 mm) and soap in small cosmetic plastic jars.

What was once a daily chore has become a lovely addiction.

I have a grandson that is about to turn 13 and needs to start shaving. Sometime soon I will get him started. I already have a Finest Badger brush, an Old Spice Mug, Col Conk Bay Rum soap, and the three blade Dorco waiting for him. I similarly equipped his two older brothers when they started shaving too.
 
I started in 1985 when I was 16 years old. My first razor was a Remington Micro-screen electric with the trimmer on the side. Dad bought it for me as a "starter" razor as I didn't have a lot of facial hair at the time but enough that something needed to be done about it according to mom. Dad used a DE but, in moms mind, that was too dangerous for me. Both of my grandfathers used straights so those were definitely out of the question. (If she only knew some of the things I did outside of her sight at that age, she would've known that a razor was the least of her worries). I used that electric all through high school and it went to basic training with me as well. As a matter of fact, I used it all the way until the late 90's when the Mach 3 came out. I replaced the head a few times as well until it finally gave up.

After the service, I always maintained some form of facial hair, at least a mustache, so shaving wasn't a big chore for me. Once the electric finally died, I bought the Mach 3 and Barbasol and used that until gels came about and switched to to using them instead. I always used whatever sensitive skin formula was available.

After about 20 years of shaving with the Mach 3, I got to a point where I couldn't justify the price of the replacement carts and just grew a beard. I used whatever cheap disposable from the local store for edging and scissors for keeping it trimmed. I kept the beard until August 31, 2017 when I decided to shave it off due to FDA requirements at a job I had started at the end of the previous month. (I don't do beard nets and hair nets, LOL)

I started talking to some guys at work about it and another maint. tech told me that he used a DE and that it was very cost effective. I was definitely interested as I didn't want to spend the money on carts to shave my face and head daily. I did some research online and bought a Merkur 23c, a cheap badger brush, 100 Astra SP's and the 4 pack of Col. Conk soaps. I also purchased an apothecary soap mug and razor/brush stand. This was a lot to me at the time but I knew that the cost would be way less than the Mach 3. I did end up with carts for my head and went with DSC until I found where they got their razors and then started buying direct from Dorco. My favorite being the Pace 4 with the Pace 6 close behind. The rest, as they say here, is history.

I now have 3 razors: the 23c, a WCS razor and a Merkur 37c slant. I have given 2 other razors away and will give the WCS razor away after I add the Parker Semi-Slant to my den next month. I have 1 boar, 1 badger (not the cheap one I started with. It got binned within a few months and the boar was purchased), and 2 synths. I have at least 250 blades and about 5 years worth of various soaps. I have completely taken over our small bathroom as my own and I'm not quite sure how it all happened, but that's why I'm in several various sabbaticals. I have a problem. LOL.

I will keep the 23c to pass on to my step son when he turns 18. He is already shaving but his dad doesn't want him using a DE because he says carts are better and safer. I did give my son all of my C.O. Bigelow stock and he loves it. He is currently using the Dorco Pace 3 here and a Sensor at his dads. He is interested in shaving like I do though and my meticulous grooming habits and ideals of how a man and gentleman should present himself have rubbed off on him considerably. I have a plan to put a set together for him for graduation that will include the 23c, a synthetic brush, a stainless bowl, a blade sampler and a custom metal razor/brush stand that I will fabricate, all to go along with his Bigelow. I'll probably even run to B&BW for a large tube stock for it as well (the 3/$20 deal they always have).

Thanks for this thread as it brought up memories long forgotten.
 
I started shaving in high school in the early 1970s using a Schick injector and a can of shaving cream (not Barbasol - the other one). My parents were divorced and my older brother was away at university. As Jaco Pastorius once said, “I am formally self taught.”

During college a guy down the hall let me have a go with his new Trac II, after which I went through a succession of most of the Gillette cartridge models, finally landing on Fusion. Somewhere along the way, I switched to Edge gel.

Then two years ago my daughter came home with a Merkur 23C and 100 Astra SPs. After one try I was hooked.

I have now spent the last two years, watching and reading, trying numerous products, and hanging out on B&B. It’s been a good two years!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Self "taught" through Scientific Discovery:

Scientific discovery is the process or product of successful scientific inquiry. Objects of discovery can be things, events, processes, causes, and properties as well as theories and hypotheses and their features (their explanatory power, for example).

- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
 
Self taught in the mid-1960's with a Schick injector. Got sucked into cartridges while in college, and came back to traditional shaving in 2016.
 
My Dad taught me. I had a fairly healthy moustache at 14, so he decided it was time for me to start shaving. He gave me a tour of his razors (a 1964 Slim Adjustable, a '53 English Ball-End Tech, and a mid-'60s Schick L1 Injector) and showed me how to lather up using a late-'50s Victoria boar brush and a regular bar of soap (Dial Gold in the shiny gold foil wrapper).

Then, it was my turn. I chose the Slim because it looked fancy, and painted my whole face with lather. Despite cutting myself up, I was hooked by wet shaving.

Anyway, I still have the Slim... and recently inherited the Tech, two Victoria brushes, and various other shaving items. I still occasionally use the Slim and Tech, although not as much as I used to because of RAD and other disorders inflicted on me by the nefarious band of ceaseless enablers on this forum. But, those selfsame enablers also continue to teach me things about shaving that I didn't know, so I can't be too mad at them. ;)
 
zero instruction when I was younger.

I vaguely remember Japanese flags frequently while in HS. think I tried the ancient *** norelco that was in the closet. irritation city.

can crap and bic two blade up until this September. due to irritation i excalibur clubbed to two bladers.....months between using a new one. back in the 90's did use a double AA powered small Norelco bought at PX for emergency use prior to Sunday formations at AIT.

now in my late forties this year around september......for my birthday I decided to try a DE. Short handled VDH which I've since moved on from. as bad is this sounds, I'm glad meijers had them on the shelves or I would have never thought to move in this direction.

20191213_060154.jpg


the rippled skin problems right side of neck are now gone. my skin is different now. won't touch plastic again. ever.

internet has been my teacher and source of information.

camo
 
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