Hello all. My name is Eric, and I started this journey into traditional wet shaving about two and a half years ago. I learned to shave with my dad's Gillette SuperSpeed when I was a kid, but switched to carts when he did. After a couple decades of shaving with carts, and living with the welts all over my neck caused by tons of ingrown hairs from the less-than-wonderful "lift and cut" action, I saw a mention of DE safety razors on a blog that I was reading. I was surprised that they still made them, but was immediately curious and started taking a look at what was available.
Lots of looking around and reading reviews on different brands and models led me to a couple forums that were dedicated to traditional wet shaving. That led to reading about brushes, shaving soaps, creams that didn't come from a can, and every other part of this wonderful hobby. After a couple weeks of absorbing everything I could I made my first orders, and a few days later learned what it was like to shave without acquiring ingrown hairs from the process. It took a week or so of learning how to get it right for my neck to clear up, and I haven't had to deal with that pain since.
Throughout my intro into shaving awesomeness, I kept running across mentions of straight razors. My initial reaction was "not a chance", which took about a month to morph into "I must have one". I ordered my first straight, a Ralf Aust, and have accumulated a small collection of mostly vintage straight razors.
Within a year I had started crafting my own scales, doing some light restoration on vintage straight razors, and turning shaving brush handles. A fair number of shaving soaps, creams, aftershaves, and fragrances have been accumulated in the last couple years as well. I'm still loving this hobby, and am thrilled to be a part of The Shaving Cadre.
Lots of looking around and reading reviews on different brands and models led me to a couple forums that were dedicated to traditional wet shaving. That led to reading about brushes, shaving soaps, creams that didn't come from a can, and every other part of this wonderful hobby. After a couple weeks of absorbing everything I could I made my first orders, and a few days later learned what it was like to shave without acquiring ingrown hairs from the process. It took a week or so of learning how to get it right for my neck to clear up, and I haven't had to deal with that pain since.
Throughout my intro into shaving awesomeness, I kept running across mentions of straight razors. My initial reaction was "not a chance", which took about a month to morph into "I must have one". I ordered my first straight, a Ralf Aust, and have accumulated a small collection of mostly vintage straight razors.
Within a year I had started crafting my own scales, doing some light restoration on vintage straight razors, and turning shaving brush handles. A fair number of shaving soaps, creams, aftershaves, and fragrances have been accumulated in the last couple years as well. I'm still loving this hobby, and am thrilled to be a part of The Shaving Cadre.
