First Things First!
I'm honored to have been included in the inaugural group of members of this forum! I've come to know and respect the other founding members of this cadre and consider all of them friends, even though I have never met any of them. The amount of shaving and grooming knowledge represented by this group is vast and priceless. A great group of gentlemen that are more than willing to share our shared passion of Wet Shaving.
So kick back and pour yourself a drink. I hope you find my ramblings useful and entertaining!
Remember there are no stupid questions here, so ask away. If I don't know the answer I'm sure one of the other member will!
A little about myself.
I'm southern born and have lived the South my entire life. I'm married with 1 son who is 28 years old. (He is also a Wet Shaver, yeah I converted him.)
I'm a Electronic Maintenance Tech, which is a fancy way of saying I fix and maintain the equipment where I work at. Really I'm a multi-craft maintenance tech with emphasis on Electrical repairs. Most all of my career has been maintenance or maintenance related.
I've always enjoyed fixing things and figuring out how things work, so my career fits me well.
I enjoy an occasional cigar or bowl of tobacco in a pipe. I'm enjoy whiskeys of all types and wine on occasion.
I used to avidly collect knifes, and I enjoy shooting and hunting. I have a small collection of guns and also load and reload ammo.
The only sport I really follow is College Football, ROLL TIDE!
What follows in this post is a brief account of how I got into Traditional Wet Shaving.
December 5, 2015
This was the day I started back into the world of Wet Shaving after many years of shaving with a Braun Series 7 electric razor. Long story short it broke and I didn't want to spend the money to fix it or replace it. I was never really happy with the shaves I got from the Braun. They weren't that great and took too long to get just a Close Comfortable Shave (CCS) or Damn Fine Shave (DFS) shave. Not to mention the razor burn when I did, nor the fact that I didn't even know what those terms meant at the time.
I remember how quick and easy the multi-bladed cartridges and canned goo were. Never really thought about the shave results then. Just squirted out some goo, smeared it on, and one pass shave and done.
I just didn't want to pay for the cartridges, and I had heard about Dollar Shave Club. While researching it, I came across Harry's and the general consensus was that Harry's was better quality and you didn't have to sign up for monthly shipments, just order as you needed.
All the time I kept seeing references to Wet Shaving and Traditional Wet Shaving. So I started looking into that and discovered that the old type razors, Double Edge (DE), Safety Razors, Single Edge (SE), Injectors, Shavettes, and Straight razors where the way to go. The canned goo was hardly ever mentioned, instead Shaving Brushes making a lather with either Soap or Cream was the best way.
I liked the fact that the blades were low cost, I mean really low cost compared to cartridges and from what I gathered a tube of cream could last for 5 or 6 months. Yeah I was going to save a lot of money with this! (HAHAHAHAHAHA)
After doing more research I placed some orders and started my journey into Traditional Wet Shaving. I had to prove to my self first that everything I was reading was correct so I started with a Gillette Mach 3 and a Harry's starter kit. I also ordered a couple of creams and an Edwin Jagger Double Edge Razor.
This is what I started my journey with:
The first thing I learned was the 3 pass shave with the Mach 3 and canned goo. WOW my face hadn't been that smooth in a long time! The Harry's worked great on a single pass shave, but I couldn't do multiple passes with it. Too much irritation.
I started using the Brush and Cream and WOW I was hooked. I didn't know if the DE was going to give a better shave, but I new I was never going back to canned goo.
I new there would be a learning curve with the DE but I was committed to learn it and see if the shaves was better. About a month later I was consistently getting DFS+ and Baby Butt Smooth shaves with no nicks, weepers, or irritation. I had learned the meaning of "No Pressure" and actually enjoying shaving.
I took to heart the advice of not changing but one thing at a time, and started testing different blades. After a while I had found 3 that worked great for me and I could get BBS++ shaves using any of them.
Then I started trying more DE's, brushes, soaps, and creams, not to mention the After Shaves and Colognes.
So that brings us up today. I have dozens of soaps, creams, after shaves, colognes, more than a couple of dozen brushes, and about a dozen DE's that I use. I have currently have 7 straight razors and I'm 137 shaves into my straight razor journey. I've restored 3 of the razors that I'm using. I'm also honing all of my razors.
What follows is the continuing journey into the wonderful world of Traditional Wet Shaving. I'll be throwing in some other interest also, mainly Cigars, Pipes, and Whiskey.
Sorry for the long post. I hope someone might find it useful.
I'm honored to have been included in the inaugural group of members of this forum! I've come to know and respect the other founding members of this cadre and consider all of them friends, even though I have never met any of them. The amount of shaving and grooming knowledge represented by this group is vast and priceless. A great group of gentlemen that are more than willing to share our shared passion of Wet Shaving.
So kick back and pour yourself a drink. I hope you find my ramblings useful and entertaining!
Remember there are no stupid questions here, so ask away. If I don't know the answer I'm sure one of the other member will!
A little about myself.
I'm southern born and have lived the South my entire life. I'm married with 1 son who is 28 years old. (He is also a Wet Shaver, yeah I converted him.)
I'm a Electronic Maintenance Tech, which is a fancy way of saying I fix and maintain the equipment where I work at. Really I'm a multi-craft maintenance tech with emphasis on Electrical repairs. Most all of my career has been maintenance or maintenance related.
I've always enjoyed fixing things and figuring out how things work, so my career fits me well.
I enjoy an occasional cigar or bowl of tobacco in a pipe. I'm enjoy whiskeys of all types and wine on occasion.
I used to avidly collect knifes, and I enjoy shooting and hunting. I have a small collection of guns and also load and reload ammo.
The only sport I really follow is College Football, ROLL TIDE!
What follows in this post is a brief account of how I got into Traditional Wet Shaving.
December 5, 2015
This was the day I started back into the world of Wet Shaving after many years of shaving with a Braun Series 7 electric razor. Long story short it broke and I didn't want to spend the money to fix it or replace it. I was never really happy with the shaves I got from the Braun. They weren't that great and took too long to get just a Close Comfortable Shave (CCS) or Damn Fine Shave (DFS) shave. Not to mention the razor burn when I did, nor the fact that I didn't even know what those terms meant at the time.
I remember how quick and easy the multi-bladed cartridges and canned goo were. Never really thought about the shave results then. Just squirted out some goo, smeared it on, and one pass shave and done.
I just didn't want to pay for the cartridges, and I had heard about Dollar Shave Club. While researching it, I came across Harry's and the general consensus was that Harry's was better quality and you didn't have to sign up for monthly shipments, just order as you needed.
All the time I kept seeing references to Wet Shaving and Traditional Wet Shaving. So I started looking into that and discovered that the old type razors, Double Edge (DE), Safety Razors, Single Edge (SE), Injectors, Shavettes, and Straight razors where the way to go. The canned goo was hardly ever mentioned, instead Shaving Brushes making a lather with either Soap or Cream was the best way.
I liked the fact that the blades were low cost, I mean really low cost compared to cartridges and from what I gathered a tube of cream could last for 5 or 6 months. Yeah I was going to save a lot of money with this! (HAHAHAHAHAHA)
After doing more research I placed some orders and started my journey into Traditional Wet Shaving. I had to prove to my self first that everything I was reading was correct so I started with a Gillette Mach 3 and a Harry's starter kit. I also ordered a couple of creams and an Edwin Jagger Double Edge Razor.
This is what I started my journey with:
The first thing I learned was the 3 pass shave with the Mach 3 and canned goo. WOW my face hadn't been that smooth in a long time! The Harry's worked great on a single pass shave, but I couldn't do multiple passes with it. Too much irritation.
I started using the Brush and Cream and WOW I was hooked. I didn't know if the DE was going to give a better shave, but I new I was never going back to canned goo.
I new there would be a learning curve with the DE but I was committed to learn it and see if the shaves was better. About a month later I was consistently getting DFS+ and Baby Butt Smooth shaves with no nicks, weepers, or irritation. I had learned the meaning of "No Pressure" and actually enjoying shaving.
I took to heart the advice of not changing but one thing at a time, and started testing different blades. After a while I had found 3 that worked great for me and I could get BBS++ shaves using any of them.
Then I started trying more DE's, brushes, soaps, and creams, not to mention the After Shaves and Colognes.
So that brings us up today. I have dozens of soaps, creams, after shaves, colognes, more than a couple of dozen brushes, and about a dozen DE's that I use. I have currently have 7 straight razors and I'm 137 shaves into my straight razor journey. I've restored 3 of the razors that I'm using. I'm also honing all of my razors.
What follows is the continuing journey into the wonderful world of Traditional Wet Shaving. I'll be throwing in some other interest also, mainly Cigars, Pipes, and Whiskey.
Sorry for the long post. I hope someone might find it useful.
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