We have become spoiled.

[Elvergun]

I wonder what a teenager - someone who has never known a world without the internet - would think after reading this thread.

 

[Unleaded]

I agree completely with your post. I also see the irony in spending so much time, money and discussion on tools and procedures that to most are just merely "old".

I'm definitely one of the guys to whom shaving - and all the accoutrements that go with it - has become a hobby, though. For me, I also think it's a connection to a time when men paid attention to details, were well-groomed, and gave thought to manners and how one projected himself, and how others responded to him.

I'm quickly becoming a dinosaur in that respect, I realize. But I'm also one that rails against the fact that cursive writing - or handwriting in general - is no longer offered at many schools. My handwriting is nothing to be proud of, but I still think writing coherently, and being able to compose correspondence effectively, is still a skill that should be valued. But I digress...

 

[linty1]

Good observations, I do try to be a minimalist when it comes to shaving, although RAD sometimes hits me and I rationalize with myself and that I simply can't use more than one cream/soap at a time without the other one(S) drying out as I just don't use them fast enough. Oh to be blessed with quick growing hair.

 

[emwolf]

great post. I personally never thought of anything beyond the Pharmacy until finding B&B.

 

[dkeester]

We are spoiled by what we have available. This is both good and bad.

I have spent more on shaving supplies in the last two months than I ever have, and it is probably more than all of my cumulative shaving purchases from previous years. So, this is definitely a hobby for me and I definitely have Multiple Shaving Acquisition Disorder. But my face feels better than it ever has, I am enjoying shaving now, and it improves my attitude and sense of well being in the mornings. My days are just better now. I start planning my shave as I am getting ready for bed each night. It is a very pleasant way to end the day. So, all of these products are having a beneficial effect on my mental health even if they are having a deleterious effect on my bank balance.

Also, I probably wouldn't be wet shaving without the Internet and sites like B&B. I learned the basics from YouTube videos. My first DE shave (with a razor, blade, and soap from Van der Hagen) was such a different and better experience that almost immediately after I registered for this site because I knew I wanted to discuss it and learn more. I am refining my techniques based on posts here. The product reviews here are very helpful too. I have also had some great conversations.

There is a wealth of information. There is also a wealth of temptation. And we are spoiled by both. However, as far as shaving goes being spoiled is a net positive for me.

 

[parastang]

I think you have a great point on this. I will add one more to it. ''Back in the day," shaving was a task to be completed but now, at least for folks on this and other forums like it, shaving is more than a task or chore. When something becomes a hobby the ''why'' changes our view and then we want to dive deeper than what was on the surface before.

 

[htownmmm]

Yes we have- and I love it! On any given day, I can use a razor from Germany, shave soap from Italy, a brush from the UK, and A/S from Spain. All while listening to music on a device as small or smaller than a deck of cards. Once finished, I can turn on my 65 inch tv made in Asia and laugh at the men on the screen who make more than me but come to work with horrible shaves and skin. Spoiled- u betcha!

marty

 

[Big Jim]

When I started shaving in the mid-1970s, there was no internet, no eBay, no Amazon, no YouTube. You got whatever the local drug store had, a Rexal in my case. Choices were one, two, or maybe three Gillettes; Super Adjustable, Black Handle Super Speed, and the new Trac II. Shick only had an injector at the time (holidays would find the stick shift and other knick-knack type handles) and sometimes there was a push-button GEM hanging in there. Might get Schick or Gillette or Wilkie blades, usually only one brand hanging on the wall (I always grabbed the Schick if there was a choice, they were cheaper). Soaps were represented by Williams, sometimes Old Spice. A cheap Eveready or no-name brush and a few brands of canned goo rounded your options. Since Williams was half the cost of canned, once you paid off the $1.25 for the brush it was money in the gas tank to a teenager ($0.55 / gallon) so Williams was it, and I discovered I liked it better than the canned.

Since you use a wet washrag and wet soap to wash, I figured wet soap and brush made lather. And boy does it. Drop the soap in a cup and fill it with water, toss in the brush to soak for good measure. After a bit start swirling it all around, turn the cup on its side to pour out the water, holding the puck in the cup with the brush. Soggy puck, soggy brush and start to swirl it around. Tip the cup to drain excess water once or twice. Moments later mounds of glorious lather is exploding out of the cup. You learn to keep at it another minute to make it a bit denser so it shaves better. Once I found the B&B I have seen many a thread saying dry puck, dry brush, add water a drop at a time. Huh? I've tried it and it does make a nice lather, takes twice as long though. Marco seems to be the other lone voice in the wilderness about using LOTSA WATER to make lather.

Now we go on and on and on about the selection of razors, which is best, what is the best material, plating, new/vintage, DE/SE/Injector/Straight, etc. Well over 100 different soaps and creams, numerous brush manufactures. Folks do 70 blade tests and can't decide on a favorite, while others go so far as to work out a specific blade/razor/soap combo. We obsess over minutia, over spend on the latest greatest stuff and forget not too long ago you made what your local store had on the shelf work for you. And it worked quite well.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, my own overflowing den is testament to this. But then I see someone who has one razor/blade/brush and favorite soap and wonder If they have found the way back to a simpler time.

Gotta go, eagerly awaiting the post today, I am expecting some new soaps, oh and some ink and a pen and a...

Call it what you want, but if it were not for the internet there would not be much of a market for wet shaving supplies today. The internet made a very thin market both more accessible and thicker. The broad choices we have today just could not exist.

 

[DCRIII]

It's nice to be spoiled!

 

[PRobots]

Thanks for posting this. Some of us younger folks (28) wish we could have been around when the corner store sold some of the products of old. All I remember growing up was cans and carts in the store. My dad always used a safety razor though. After his last Schick Krona bit the dust he moved to carts when he couldn't find another safety razor in the store. Lucky for him I use the Internet and got him a replacement when I learned he went to carts. I am very thankful for the variety of products out there but don't feel the urge to try them all, at once that is. I have a lifetime of shaving ahead of me and am curious to see how things change moving forward as well.