The Shaving Cadre
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Not quite Music City USA
- Thread starter fhalden
- Start date
fhalden
"Like BarberDave… I make my own fun”
I've found myself sort of passively undergoing a restraint. I have too many soaps to keep track of, so I'm going through them and pulling out the 30 I want to choose from next month. I definitely need to clean house a bit.
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Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
GearNoir
“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
Welcome to the club!
fhalden
"Like BarberDave… I make my own fun”
I've been glancing back over my 10 years of wetshaving, and it's been interesting viewing what look like different phases of my relationship to the hobby. I came to it a month after I subscribed to Dollar Shave Club, which was priced great, but brought all the downsides of a cartridge for me. Clogging, irritation, hundreds of ingrowns on my throat. So I googled around, and somehow discovered mantic59 on YouTube, and the big, old, unfriendly uber-forum we all know. What followed was years of me using a DE89, Mitchell's Wool Fat, Gillette Greens, and a $30 Parker Badger. I didn't really do any social interaction, I'm still pretty quiet, but I mostly just enjoyed my ritual. Then, a couple of years ago, I looked around YouTube and started watching some videos. It was there I discovered the world of artisans, and fell hard down the proverbial rabbit hole. Now, I've literally run out of room. And I'm switching into just exploring and enjoying the ridiculous number of soaps I've bought. If I live another 25 years, I'll be fine. It's a very curious journey, this wetshaving hobby.
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Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
Indeed. There are multiple rabbit holes to drift into. I've managed to avoid some of the more expensive ones.
I’d love to be quiet. I really would. But I just can’t.
fhalden
"Like BarberDave… I make my own fun”
Well, tonight I tried my first SV Aftershave, Opuntia, with the soap. It feels amazing on the face and smells wonderful
Razor: Edwin Jagger 3ONE6
Blade: Wizamet Super Iridium
Brush: Simpson Commodore X3
Lather: Saponificio Verisino Opuntia
Aftershave: Saponificio Varesino Opuntia
Additional Care:
Humphreys Maravilla
Osma Tradition Alum Block
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Razor: Edwin Jagger 3ONE6
Blade: Wizamet Super Iridium
Brush: Simpson Commodore X3
Lather: Saponificio Verisino Opuntia
Aftershave: Saponificio Varesino Opuntia
Additional Care:
Humphreys Maravilla
Osma Tradition Alum Block
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
fhalden
"Like BarberDave… I make my own fun”
Since my last post, I've fallen to the bottom of the SV rabbit hole. There is no soap, aftershave, or shower gel(!) left for me to get. I am in love with these products. The original germ of this process originates with @BarberDave , who has turned me on to some of my favorite products: Pannacrema, No. 89 for example. I'd say that in my case, his CEC duties have been very successfully fulfilled!
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Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
fhalden
"Like BarberDave… I make my own fun”
Yep. This year's tax refund has basically provided me with a ton of shaves with a soap I'm loving. That's it for me soap-wise for a while!
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Have you tried lifting weights?
In all seriousness - I have heard great things about the Timeless Titanium - Have a great Sunday!
fhalden
"Like BarberDave… I make my own fun”
It seems reasonable to expect that a lifelong shaving journey and the hobby surrounding it would experience shifts in focus and priority as life goes on. The so-called phases of a hobby. I'm sending a change of phase in the areas of the hobby that I'm appreciating right now. I used to keep detailed accounts of my shaves. I sort of stopped that. I seem to have lost the urge to keep getting more soap, and am now thinking about having my collection.
The sense of an ongoing investigation into how to obtain the very finest of every element of the shave for the heat result, has given way to a more meditative, observational experience. I'm not chasing the best shave, for all practical purposes, I'm getting it.
I'm enjoying my shaves as much as I ever have, perhaps more, now that I'm seemingly not as goal oriented, and just getting into the process.
Things are definitely evolving for me.
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
The sense of an ongoing investigation into how to obtain the very finest of every element of the shave for the heat result, has given way to a more meditative, observational experience. I'm not chasing the best shave, for all practical purposes, I'm getting it.
I'm enjoying my shaves as much as I ever have, perhaps more, now that I'm seemingly not as goal oriented, and just getting into the process.
Things are definitely evolving for me.
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
This!
IMO the worst thing that has ever come out of the classic wet shaving resurgence is the concept of the "BBS" shave. People (especially newcomers) seem to view it as some pinnacle of achievement or success and experience a lot of frustration (and discomfort) in chasing it. I should know because I was one of those people.
This is where I feel I am, too. Enjoy your shaves!
woodpusher
TSC’s International Man of Meh
I am ambivalent about my nondescript results. 
fhalden
"Like BarberDave… I make my own fun”
Yeah, I guess it's sort of the old trope, "Enjoy what you have." But this journey now spans over a decade (I don't count 30 years of cartridge hell) and it's seen several, um, eras. The past 5 years have really been something in the software aspects of the hobby. But this is a life long thing for me, and I'm finding I'm in a place where I'm overjoyed at what I can use.
It seems to be a common trajectory among YouTube wetshavers that they show up, try everything, profess expertise, get a bunch of followers, then suddenly stop making videos and selling everything. Not universal, by any means. The Cadre video producers take a healthy approach. It's nice to watch a video of someone who is primarily motivated by sharing a shave and some musings, rather than selling me every single item they use. 5 year active YouTube shaving channels are fairly scarce, but longevity, I surmise, is a function of the primacy of the enjoyment of shaving, over the performance of a "social media personality."
One guy, who posted his farewell video today, gained about 5k subscribers in about a year, producing 5 minute videos featuring a product, or a comparison. The videos were unparalleled in the professionalism of the whole production. And that was his downfall, apparently. He found out that 25 hours a week to write, shoot, and produce 5 min of video is something people get paid a lot of money to do because it is hard work. Doing the videos, he's decided, has sucked all the joy out of shaving. My hope for him is that he's enjoying a shave years from now, and can look back at his YouTube year.
Others just stop. I came very close to shooting a video a couple of years ago, but decided the value of my inner dialogue while shaving was too great to impose upon by the necessity of making an affable, friendly, and informative presentation. Ultimately, the process wasn't appealing to me. But I do enjoy sampling YouTube shavers. I subscribe to 5 that are currently active.
What I prefer in a shaving video isn't what most are giving. I'm not looking for product reviews really. It's nice to see new razors, but I'm not buying. I watch shaving videos because I find watching shaving is relaxing. I also enjoy watching people do things really well, with equipoise.
I've had all these transient YouTube shavers in mind because of @BarberDave 's Barber Shave video the other day.
Before I started wetshaving, I had a sweetheart deal with an incredible master barber in Baltimore for about 5 years. I built, hosted, and maintained his website (,no social media yet) and instead of paying me, I got 4 hot towels shaves a week and a mani/Pedi a week for my wife. So I've had the great fortune to experience a lot of hot towels shaves just like the one Dave performs in his video.
The video was so great because it answered some questions I'd always had, and it pointed out how detailed and well thought out each individual movement is, throughout the process.
Having direct sensory feedback no barber can have lets me shave myself best. But every once in a while, I'll spring for a full hot towel shave by a master barber. It's the most relaxing thing out there.
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
It seems to be a common trajectory among YouTube wetshavers that they show up, try everything, profess expertise, get a bunch of followers, then suddenly stop making videos and selling everything. Not universal, by any means. The Cadre video producers take a healthy approach. It's nice to watch a video of someone who is primarily motivated by sharing a shave and some musings, rather than selling me every single item they use. 5 year active YouTube shaving channels are fairly scarce, but longevity, I surmise, is a function of the primacy of the enjoyment of shaving, over the performance of a "social media personality."
One guy, who posted his farewell video today, gained about 5k subscribers in about a year, producing 5 minute videos featuring a product, or a comparison. The videos were unparalleled in the professionalism of the whole production. And that was his downfall, apparently. He found out that 25 hours a week to write, shoot, and produce 5 min of video is something people get paid a lot of money to do because it is hard work. Doing the videos, he's decided, has sucked all the joy out of shaving. My hope for him is that he's enjoying a shave years from now, and can look back at his YouTube year.
Others just stop. I came very close to shooting a video a couple of years ago, but decided the value of my inner dialogue while shaving was too great to impose upon by the necessity of making an affable, friendly, and informative presentation. Ultimately, the process wasn't appealing to me. But I do enjoy sampling YouTube shavers. I subscribe to 5 that are currently active.
What I prefer in a shaving video isn't what most are giving. I'm not looking for product reviews really. It's nice to see new razors, but I'm not buying. I watch shaving videos because I find watching shaving is relaxing. I also enjoy watching people do things really well, with equipoise.
I've had all these transient YouTube shavers in mind because of @BarberDave 's Barber Shave video the other day.
Before I started wetshaving, I had a sweetheart deal with an incredible master barber in Baltimore for about 5 years. I built, hosted, and maintained his website (,no social media yet) and instead of paying me, I got 4 hot towels shaves a week and a mani/Pedi a week for my wife. So I've had the great fortune to experience a lot of hot towels shaves just like the one Dave performs in his video.
The video was so great because it answered some questions I'd always had, and it pointed out how detailed and well thought out each individual movement is, throughout the process.
Having direct sensory feedback no barber can have lets me shave myself best. But every once in a while, I'll spring for a full hot towel shave by a master barber. It's the most relaxing thing out there.
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk