Your first shave?

[TEAK]

What was your first ever shave like? A recent thread asking what your reason was for wet shaving got me to thinking about my first ever shave. I don’t mean what razor and what can of goo but the whole experience of it? Who taught you, how did they teach you, was it a bonding type moment...
I can remember when I was a young boy I wanted to do anything and everything that my grandfather did, he was my best friend and my hero and I all I wanted to do was to grow up to be just like him. My favorite day of the week was Saturdays, not because I didn’t have to go to school but because it was our day together. He would set aside the entire day from sun up to sun down just for me and to this day I can't think of anything better to do my day. We would start the day by watching cartoons together while he read the paper, always reading the funnies as he called them to me.
After my grandmother made us breakfast my grandfather would go shower while I continued watching cartoons. I can remember like it was yesterday watching in total awe while he stood there at the sink and shaved his entire head, he would always growl at me like a monster while his head was covered in the fluffy white foam.
One day I got up the courage to ask my poppop if he would teach me to shave, I couldn’t have been any more than eight or nine years old. He chuckled and said sure sport as he slathered my face with foam (straight from the can but thats not the point).The next part made me feel like king of the world, I was given my own razor. He reached into the drawer and pulled out an old razor that had no blade in it (which I didn't know at the time and I didn't care) and told me this was now my razor and only to use mine. He told me how important it was to pay close attention to what I was doing and not goof around, as he splashed water on me. I took a stroke just as he did mirroring his every movement rinsing just as he did. I blew my cheeks out, pulled my nose around and everything just like him. I had no clue what on earth I was doing but I really didn't care, I figured if he did it then I needed to do the same.
When it was all done and over with I would get a dab of Old Spice, some talc (that he always got all over the place faking a sneeze) and a swig of his Listerine.
Boy talk about riding on a high horse, nothing in the world could bring me down from that high. No matter what we did for the rest of the day I was all smiles. Very few memories from my childhood can even touch those Saturday mornings with my gramps and in all honesty few things today rank up there with them.
So let’s hear your stories!

 

[bjh618]

Awesome story!

Mine is far more mundane. My father tried to show me how to shave (even though he has worn a full beard since he was 18) with some electric razor. I was too embarrassed (we're not that close), so I skulked down to the local Woolies supermarket and bought a M3 and some shaving cream. three or so years of dodgy shaves followed, until I bought a Merkur futur and found B&B.

 

[workingdog]

Great story

I cant come close to it with my shaving memories. My first shave was with dads G2 (I think) and a can of parmolive foam. No instruction given. It was a case of get rid of what I thought was a 'tache but was a collection of fine hairs at around 14 yrs.

Since that day I've been clean shaven (apart from the occational weekend) but there was no tuition / fun as youve described.

Those sort of memories are to be treasured

 

[salisburyyates]

I remember going to the drug store and choosing my razor with my dad. I picked out what I think was the Mach 3 Turbo in red. He taught me the standard puffing out of cheeks, etc etc. I think all I had at that point was some hairs on the mustache area and maybe the cheeks. He always used Old Spice, but I don't think I ever even used aftershave until I was about 18 or 19.

I remember having to shave once every 3 weeks, then when I was 16 it was about every 2 weeks, then every week, then every 5 days, and now about every other day

 

[ackvil]

When I was a youngster I would watch my father and grandfather shave. They would give me a Gillette without a blade and would instruct me on how to shave. When I needed to put a blade in the razor I had what I thought was sufficient instruction. However, it would take me many years and cuts to learn that you don't put pressure on the blade.

 

[chili]

I think I was 14-15 and my dad taught me. He taught me very well and I think because he t gave me good pointers, I found transitioning to a de then a straight very easy. Anyways Gillette gel and Mach 3 and he preached most things that are said here: Hot water, lather gel good and long into beard (he said like 2 mins or something), shave deliberately and dont shave over same area twice, stretch skin, cold water rinse. I found it odd he told me not to use aftershave but face cream only.

 

[grump]

That was a fantastic story!

I just watched and then when nobody was in the bathroom I would study the razor. How the blade was inserted and clamped in.

Then just started shaving.

Self taught, but I watched many elders shave and always had that shiny gold razor, that looked so cool, in the back of my mind.

 

[shumanfoo]

When I was a kid all that was available in my house was a safety razor. I have no idea what brand it was . But I remember my dad shaving in the morning.
He had a very rough coarse beard so he could never use an electric razor, it just would grow back too quickly.
I started with the same safety razor and used to cut myself all the time as I recall.
By the time I hit college the Trac II's were coming out and so like the whole world I switched to them. I never had a big problem shaving with these.
But shaving was never an experience just something to do to look neat and presentable.
But just recently after shopping around for my son who wanted a safety razor I
got back into the DE shaving mode.
I approach every morning now with a slight glint in my eye looking forward to my Merkur and Al's Bomb cream.(The Bomb is pretty good stuff if you haven't tried it).

 

[69Stang]

one of the best closet shaves ive ever had was with the safety razor. i first shaved years ago with my dads Gillette razor i put in a new 5 blade cartridge and went ot work. didnt have much to shave at that time but shaved anyway.

 

[neilt]

Man, I am bad, I don't remember...and I am not that old...

 

[Spencer]

I vaugely remeber my Father teaching me the theory of shaving early one morning when I was about 5 or so.
He showed me how to lather in a cup with a brush, and then explained how one shaves whilst demonstrating with a bic disposable.
When it became time for me to have my first shave, I simply went to the store and purchased some gillette goo and a fusion system, and had at it from memory.
I remeber not having all that much to shave, but from the word go I always had neck irritation from those silly carts.

 

[BlackBard]

I do not remember my first shave. That memory is lost in the mists of time. I do know that on one taught me how to shave. My dad used an electric razor and I know I tried it, but it didn't work for me. My first razor was what ever Gillette DE was laying around at the time. That was mid- to late- '50's. Then I bought a new Fat Boy.

 

[CraigarTA]

When I was getting ready to start shaving, my parents where separated and my poor mother didn't know what to tell me to much.
When my step dad came on the scene he tried to teach a few things, but I really didn't need to shave until I joined the Army and that is where I learned all of the bad habits that haunted me for years.
At least the DI at the reception center gave one piece of good advice after someone asked what to do when shaving.
He told us he used a Atra and do not use a disposable unless it is in your wall locker display

 

[FL shaver]

My old man handed me a twenty and told me to get whatever I wanted with it. "After that, you're on your own." I rode my bike to the only pharmacy in town and picked up a can of Gillette foamy and some Trac II (I think) carts and a razor. I can remember to this day how much my tender skin stung after removing the few hairs at the outer moustache region just above the corners of my mouth. I used way to much cream and applied way to much pressure. I never really enjoyed shaving until February of this year, nearly 30 years later.

 

[dklaiman]

I was 12 and headed to a friend's Bar Mitzvah. My mother told me I had a dirty upper lip. My dad took me upstairs, plugged in the Norelco, and told me to rub it back and forth. I used an electric from then until I was 15. My girlfriend at the time commented that she had hugged one of my friends and his cheeks were smoother. I immediatley switched to a cartridge razor and canned shave cream.

 

[mharris127]

I can remember my first shave. It was with one of the early Norelco electric two-circle blade model shavers that my grandfather gave me. I remember being afraid that I would be electrocuted when I plugged it in and touched it to my face. I used that thing for about six years until it gave out and I went to my (by then) deceased grandfather's Schick DE and started shaving with that (which I still use today). Surprisingly by the accounts on here, I had less cuts and irritation with that DE combined with Barbasol than I did with the electric or most disposables.

I also have an old GEM single-blade (I think the 1912 model) that still has his blade and hair in it -- it hasn't been used in over 20 years. I have to thank the posters here on telling me where to find blades for that Schick DE (and the GEM, if I ever decide to try it out), I had to quit using it for about four years due to not being able to find blades for it. I finally found DE blades at my local Dollar General and started using it again about six months ago but yearn for the smooth shave that came from my first blade brand (a Schick, ironically). I have some Feathers en route and hope to use them soon.

 

[boctok]

I wish I could say my first shave was as wonderful a moment as the story that begins this thread but it wasn't. Early eighties, edge gel and Trac II black plastic promotional kit that I picked up alone, self taught. My Father was unfettered by the demands of living artfully; he used regular unlathered soap and an open comb DE passed down from some unknown source. I'm thinking about implanting a better story in my memory so I can look back with fondness on my first shave.