About a year and a half ago I ventured back into the world of wet DE shaving after a hiatus of some 40 years. Like most American guys of my time we started shaving with DE razors and then Gillette weened us off those and starting courting us with an ever-increasing number of blades. Along with the ever increasing numbers of blades in a cartridge came an ever-increasing price tag. Finally I threw the fusion behemoths to the side and opted for the old way...maybe not as old as straight razor shaving, but old enough for me. So I was lured back to the DE by the thought of cheap shaving. It promised frugality and...for me...nostalgia. What I discovered was how I just loved the way it makes me feel.
Now, hundreds of dollars later...much more than i would have ever spent on fusion blades in the same length of time, I am addicted to the cult of DE shaving and all it's permutations. I started with some research with the Jagger DE89L barley corn number: A glizty, showy razor of beautiful workmanship. I bought a number of sticks and cremes...arko stick, la toja stick, steick stick... The creams included my first tub of TOBS Eton College and the Proraso green in a tube. Shortly later I added the Proraso red sandalwood scent in a tub. I felt I needed a vintage super speed the year of my birth so I found one on ebay. Later on I added the beautifully old-fashioned Merkur 1904/1906 open comb. I tried a variety of blades, cutting myself initially on most of them, settling on a 100-pack of Personnas....one of the blue varieties but I also get confused which is which in the array of personna blades. I became intrigued at especially the international character of DE blades...German, Swedish, Russian, Indian, Pakistani, Israeli, Egyptian and so forth. Patriotically I opted for the big pack of personnas (not the israeli ones) Along the way I really liked the Russian gillette silver blues and probably would have gotten a hundred of those had I not gone with the personnas. A feather still hasn't touched my face and it's probably my latent fear the Japanese are out to kill me with their sharp metal. Before the switch to DE shaving, I for several years had been using a Vermont Country Store apothecary style shaving mug along with Williams shaving soap and a cheap no-name badger brush along with the fusion razor...now a sacrilege to me of course. Along the way I purchased an antique scuttle which I found useless for what it was for and even later bought a Georgia Pottery G12 scuttle which i love for the hedonism of a warm shave. I'm giving the apothecary mug, along with the antique scuttle to a friend. I have been a face latherer from the start and just like this. The exercise it gives my skin makes sense. Oh yes, three different shaving oils have graced my face. I started with Somerset, which i liked. I went on to AOS lemon which I found a waste of money...I was going for the scent of lemon in addition to the greasiness. Now I am happy with a grimm smolder oil. Early on I started with a Simpson wee scot. Scratchy as **** and just a bit silly I think. Still have it for travel though. I guess i can say (or think rather) that i own a Simpsons. Big whoop. From there I went to a Semogue 1305 which I fell in love with until the paint bubbled off the handle after I had immersed it in hot water enough times. From there I bought a Truefitt and Hill wellington brush, supposedly a trumped up Rooney; an elegant brush with which I firsthand discovered floppiness. And from there I came to where I am in the happy spot on brushes, a Semogue owners club cherry wood boar brush. I think this broken in is every bit as soft as my truefitt and hill nee rooneys black-handled beauty. I bought some Syril something or other rose shaving cream. I don't know what possessed me wanting to smell quite like the long-dead queen mother but I feel I did and I pitched it...also just didn't like the way it shaved. Both Truefitt and Hill creams are lovely (the tragalfar and the west indian limes) I had tried some of the castle and forbes lime and just didn't like it. My forays into English and Scottish Creams have led me to the realization that TOBS creams are the best of what I like so far and not so obscenely expensive. I own the St James and the Eton College, which even though they are similar to each other, are at the top of what i like in shaveability as well as scent. Why would they name one avocado if it doesn't smell like avocado? Those English! Then I decided I needed some soaps and bought some Grimm smolder and some Dr Jon's Ann Bonny. I like them all. Arko at first I liked the smell of and then finally agreed it does in fact smell like a urinal puck. Best part of arko is the old-timey packaging. I purchased a Parker 99R...it's a heavy club on the face with a strange shaving angle given it's butterfly doors and as such I'm giving it to a friend. For such a tank, they could've made the butterfly doors a bit sturdier I think. I just ordered the Weber bulldog handle and I have it paired up with a Muehle R41 head which has yet to arrive. The I guess the Brits purveying it were on holiday when I ordered it. The Weber handle did arrive and it is the mack-daddy of testosterone-infused shaving handles. The kind of thing a marine corps drill instructor would shave with.
So I am, as you can see, quite hooked. DE Shaving is the one thing I spend money on in pampering myself. I consider it a zen experience. I have a Gentleman Jack alum block I use every shave. I love the way it cools my face. Sometimes it it stops the bleeding and sometimes it doesn't. My stable of aftershaves include Pinaud Clubman (stupidly heretofore I thought this only for old men who bought on the cheap), Proraso green (new one I think), Captain's Choice bay rum (I don't know why i keep buying bay rum aftershave....although the captain's seems better than most I just really just don't like any of the bilge water)...and the most interesting of the pack, some Lucky Tiger. It has a lovely orange scent that lasts all of 10 seconds. For giggles, I bought some Aqua Velva. I swear they've either changed the formula or it was rancid. How does alcohol go rancid?
Oh, I have some pre de provence soap on order and my next cream....not for some time now...will be T&H's 1805...
Am I happy with all of of this? Yes.
Now, hundreds of dollars later...much more than i would have ever spent on fusion blades in the same length of time, I am addicted to the cult of DE shaving and all it's permutations. I started with some research with the Jagger DE89L barley corn number: A glizty, showy razor of beautiful workmanship. I bought a number of sticks and cremes...arko stick, la toja stick, steick stick... The creams included my first tub of TOBS Eton College and the Proraso green in a tube. Shortly later I added the Proraso red sandalwood scent in a tub. I felt I needed a vintage super speed the year of my birth so I found one on ebay. Later on I added the beautifully old-fashioned Merkur 1904/1906 open comb. I tried a variety of blades, cutting myself initially on most of them, settling on a 100-pack of Personnas....one of the blue varieties but I also get confused which is which in the array of personna blades. I became intrigued at especially the international character of DE blades...German, Swedish, Russian, Indian, Pakistani, Israeli, Egyptian and so forth. Patriotically I opted for the big pack of personnas (not the israeli ones) Along the way I really liked the Russian gillette silver blues and probably would have gotten a hundred of those had I not gone with the personnas. A feather still hasn't touched my face and it's probably my latent fear the Japanese are out to kill me with their sharp metal. Before the switch to DE shaving, I for several years had been using a Vermont Country Store apothecary style shaving mug along with Williams shaving soap and a cheap no-name badger brush along with the fusion razor...now a sacrilege to me of course. Along the way I purchased an antique scuttle which I found useless for what it was for and even later bought a Georgia Pottery G12 scuttle which i love for the hedonism of a warm shave. I'm giving the apothecary mug, along with the antique scuttle to a friend. I have been a face latherer from the start and just like this. The exercise it gives my skin makes sense. Oh yes, three different shaving oils have graced my face. I started with Somerset, which i liked. I went on to AOS lemon which I found a waste of money...I was going for the scent of lemon in addition to the greasiness. Now I am happy with a grimm smolder oil. Early on I started with a Simpson wee scot. Scratchy as **** and just a bit silly I think. Still have it for travel though. I guess i can say (or think rather) that i own a Simpsons. Big whoop. From there I went to a Semogue 1305 which I fell in love with until the paint bubbled off the handle after I had immersed it in hot water enough times. From there I bought a Truefitt and Hill wellington brush, supposedly a trumped up Rooney; an elegant brush with which I firsthand discovered floppiness. And from there I came to where I am in the happy spot on brushes, a Semogue owners club cherry wood boar brush. I think this broken in is every bit as soft as my truefitt and hill nee rooneys black-handled beauty. I bought some Syril something or other rose shaving cream. I don't know what possessed me wanting to smell quite like the long-dead queen mother but I feel I did and I pitched it...also just didn't like the way it shaved. Both Truefitt and Hill creams are lovely (the tragalfar and the west indian limes) I had tried some of the castle and forbes lime and just didn't like it. My forays into English and Scottish Creams have led me to the realization that TOBS creams are the best of what I like so far and not so obscenely expensive. I own the St James and the Eton College, which even though they are similar to each other, are at the top of what i like in shaveability as well as scent. Why would they name one avocado if it doesn't smell like avocado? Those English! Then I decided I needed some soaps and bought some Grimm smolder and some Dr Jon's Ann Bonny. I like them all. Arko at first I liked the smell of and then finally agreed it does in fact smell like a urinal puck. Best part of arko is the old-timey packaging. I purchased a Parker 99R...it's a heavy club on the face with a strange shaving angle given it's butterfly doors and as such I'm giving it to a friend. For such a tank, they could've made the butterfly doors a bit sturdier I think. I just ordered the Weber bulldog handle and I have it paired up with a Muehle R41 head which has yet to arrive. The I guess the Brits purveying it were on holiday when I ordered it. The Weber handle did arrive and it is the mack-daddy of testosterone-infused shaving handles. The kind of thing a marine corps drill instructor would shave with.
So I am, as you can see, quite hooked. DE Shaving is the one thing I spend money on in pampering myself. I consider it a zen experience. I have a Gentleman Jack alum block I use every shave. I love the way it cools my face. Sometimes it it stops the bleeding and sometimes it doesn't. My stable of aftershaves include Pinaud Clubman (stupidly heretofore I thought this only for old men who bought on the cheap), Proraso green (new one I think), Captain's Choice bay rum (I don't know why i keep buying bay rum aftershave....although the captain's seems better than most I just really just don't like any of the bilge water)...and the most interesting of the pack, some Lucky Tiger. It has a lovely orange scent that lasts all of 10 seconds. For giggles, I bought some Aqua Velva. I swear they've either changed the formula or it was rancid. How does alcohol go rancid?
Oh, I have some pre de provence soap on order and my next cream....not for some time now...will be T&H's 1805...
Am I happy with all of of this? Yes.
