My journey to wet shaving....

[bcraig.waciii]

So, to start, I have been shaving for the past three years almost everyday. I've always been facinated by shaving. I used to watch my dad shave with his disposables and his VDH Boar hair brush and puck in awe. Before that, I watched him shave with his electric in wonder. I always thought of it as a sort of right of passage. I had these ideas of my dad showing me how to shave in the double sinked bathroom at our cabin. This sort of stuck in my head for a long time. When I noticed my first whiskers at 14, a cry of happiness was let out because I knew that it was time. I waited until the following weekend when we were up at the cabin, and I approached my dad telling him it was time I shave. He reached into his dopp kit and pulled out a blue double blade disposable along with some generic goop in a can. I was shocked, wondering where the new mug, soap and brush were, considering that is what I had seen him use most recently. Stunned, I walked away to my bathroom, alone, and proceeded to cut my face up pretty good. It didn't feel right at all, and just plain hurt. Yet I laboured through it, daily, thinking that is what I had to do considering I was now man who shaved. Well I didn't know anything.

Slowly those cuts and nicks became razor bumps, and pus filled leisions on my face. Then my face really broke out in full force, with cystic acne. I thought it was my hormones at the time, not even suspecting that it was all shaving related. Afterall, everyman I saw with a smooth face, didn't have acne, or so that I was aware of. I had no idea that it was all because of my razor and goop. It also probably didn't help that my dad purchased me a year's supply of disposable razors at costco, thinking he was doing me a lot of good. I have to give him credit for that, because it was what he knew. So, I began treating with face washes, and highly advertised acne systems. They worked okay.

Eventually, I asked my dad, about electric razors. Somewhere along the line I had read that electrics don't nick, cut, or irritate. This perked my attention because I had realized that it had to be my disposables cutting open my acne. Well, because he heard me talking about electrics my dad purchased one for me on my following birthday. It worked really well, for a time. My acne seemed to have subsided because I wasn't cutting them open and spreading the bacteria around. Yet, for the first time, I had a ton of irritation on my neck, and cheeks where I didn't have any acne. This bothered me. But the real problems didn't begin occuring until the fourth month I had the razor. This is when I realized that much of my problem was ingrown hairs. I had let one of the pustules dry up and I was trying to see what caused it when out popped a curly hair.

I then knew it was time to look for an alternative to electric shaving. So, I began looking online and in books. I came across DE shaving in a couple of books, and found a couple of places that said DE shaving would help, if not cure my acne. So I watched all of the mantic59 videos over the course of a month. After that, I knew deep in my heart that DE shaving was the answer. Yet, I held off for a long time thinking that it would be way too expensive to get started with a kit. I browsed ebay forever looking for an economical non-chinese made brand new razor. I even purchased a boar hair brush and puck of VDH soap thinking that it was good enough. Then I watched the mantic videos again and saw that he wasn't using a brand new razor all the time. Some of them were older Gillette models.

Needless to say, I expanded my search on ebay to antiques. Before long, I had my first DE razor on the way. It was a Gillette made around 1970, absolutely beautiful. I went down to Walgreens and picked up a pack of blades. Over the next week, the razor finally arrived. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. It was actually a travel safety razor. Nevertheless, I used it for about a month. Then it was time for father's day. I really wanted to give dad something special and something I cared strongly about.

So, I bought him a Gillete Blue Tip, a VDH premium brush, pinaud aftershave, blades, and some VDH Luxury soap. That was the coaxing he needed to share his shaving expiriences with me, and how his dad shaved, etc. It was truly an enlightening day. He told me stories about shaving that his father told him, and his father before him. Granted, the whole shaving expirience does not run very far since most of them were loggers in California. It was my Grandfather's group that really began with the smooth facedness, except for his pencil moustache.

I then purchased another safety razor, this one a Gillete butterfly open from around the 1950s. This is the one I have been using since. Great shaves and near BBS. My acne is not visible anymore, almost cured. Then with help from B&B and what appears to be a very supportive and caring membership base, I have come to love shaving again, and not hate it.

So, I want to thank everyone here for being who they are and for creating such a good community.


Thank you,

Bill



P.S. I still haven't purchased anything like Poraso. I'm currently using William's soap. Any recommedations for creams or soaps? I feel I am getting quite a good shave from my 1950s Gillette, and my Personna generic blades. The William's is great. I almost like it better than the VDH they carry at Walgreens, but I would like to economically upgrade my shave with a cream or soap. Thank you.

[mistervee123]

Glad to hear that things are working out for you lately. Sounds like luck is with you. Time to play the LOTTO!

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to B&B !!

[Sledgehammer39]

Welcome Aboard!

[demaro]

Welcome to the group Bill !! Great post !!

[johnh]

Welcome and a great post.

[SiBurning]

Thanks so much for that touching post.

I've been using a DE for a couple decades and have been a member here for a few years, so I sometimes get bored with the whole shaving web site thing and start ignoring the shaving parts of the site. Posts like yours keep me going.

Make sure to look around the site. There's a lot more going on than just shaving, and there's some seriously hardcore folks in some of the "Everything Else" forums.

Welcome to B&B.

[D.W.B.]

Greetings and Salutations to B&B. That was a great read.

[the_edski]

Welcome to B&B! It is a tough road that brings many of us here, but the journey is worth the rewards once you know how great a real shave can be!

[Whilliam]

Great post!

Welcome. Learn. Enjoy!

[ackvil]

Welcome to B&B.

Great intro post.

[gnoils]

Great story! Glad to have you here.

[bcraig.waciii]

WOW!!! I didn't realize that anyone had read my post let alone responded to it. Thank you for the welcome!

[Attila]

Really great post. Thanks for sharing that with us and welcome! It only gets better and better the longer you continue with it. Make sure to look at the review forums. Lots of great ideas for different soaps and creams there. I really like Proraso, Mitchells Wool Fat and Cremo Cream. I'd say those are my top 3 to shave with.

[Blue_2]

Welcome to B&B! Great intro post.

It's been three weeks since the post, any new developments?

[bladeguy]

Great read, welcome!

[ewickham]

Welcome to B&B! That was a very nice post. DE shaving was something I came to on my own, and there was really no rite of passage between my father and me. There are times I wish I could have had that type of bond with my father. It's such a uniquely guy thing, DE shaving, different from most other guy things. It's about taking the time to care about how you look. It's a real brotherhood here at B&B, and I relish that. I know you will too. It's a place to come and just be one of the guys.

[Hoss75]

Thanks for sharing and welcome

[bcraig.waciii]

Welcome to B&B! Great intro post.

It's been three weeks since the post, any new developments?

Well, all I can say is that I have an itch I feel I must scratch soon to buy more shaving gear. I read these posts on B&B and then my imagination gets going. I begin dreaming and waiting for the morning. I sometimes even scratch that urge by shaving twice per day, because it is such an enjoyable expirience. Then of course a few days ago I figuired out that if I only do two WTG passes, I have stubble in the evening to shave off. It's not much of anything really, just enough to give me a reason to shave before bed. I think it helps me sleep.

As I said in my original post, I have virtually no acne anymore, and am thouroughly convinced that DE shaving is helping with the scarring from the cystic acne. I have also taken many people's advice and have begun using Dickinson's Witch Hazel. I cannot say it is the most wonderful smelling stuff in the world, but it seems to grow on you. I will keep you all posted if anything else occurs.

An update on my dad: Right now I believe he is using the safety razor I gave to him, but he is using it with Dove soap. I think when I get back from vacation I am going to purchase us each a tube of CO Bigelow shave cream, just to see how it goes over, plus I have been wanting to try it. I can also get it locally at our Bath and Body Works outlet.

Again, thank you all for reading my post and leaving suggestions. Keep them coming!!

[bcraig.waciii]

Welcome to B&B! That was a very nice post. DE shaving was something I came to on my own, and there was really no rite of passage between my father and me. There are times I wish I could have had that type of bond with my father. It's such a uniquely guy thing, DE shaving, different from most other guy things. It's about taking the time to care about how you look. It's a real brotherhood here at B&B, and I relish that. I know you will too. It's a place to come and just be one of the guys.

I couldn't agree more. The whole father bonding expirience is something I believe should be very important. Although, I guess in my family the whole shaving thing is very unimportant. I asked my dad what his first shaving expirience was like and he said it was horrible. It was back in the late fifties and early sixties when he began shaving in his mid-teens. Apparently my Grandfather saw he had some whiskers growing and decided it was time to get him shaving. He went down to the drug store and purchased a new one for himself and gave my father an oldermodel he used during his college days. He handed my dad the razor and some Barbasol and told him to have at it. Apprently the shave was less than fun for my father. Yet, he figured it out and figured I would do the same.