How were YOU converted?

No real conversion. As I have mentioned, I was given a Gillette 195 (a.k.a. Fatboy) new by a stewardess on a United flight in the fall of 1960. I used that razor for 20+ years, until I lost it and fell into The Dark Era - blue bic disposables mach 3s - but I always kept my Floris brush and good shaving soap.

This January I moved into a swell new affordable apartment. With a nice bathroom. I hated the price that I saw on the stupid cartridges, so I did a little research. I bought myself a same-quarter Fatboy on ebay and some blades. I sent my beaten-up now butterscotch Floris to be refurbished by Larry at Whipped Dog. Get a bright cool bowl and mug. Haven't looked back since. Rose and almond creams and soaps are my AD.

I've learned an enormous amount here on B&B. But the basic shave moves are the same I perfected over my first 20+ years of DE shaving; it's my prep and all the cool products that are new to me.

Started with my Dads single edge razor, learned a lot from Dad in my early days of shaving. then went into the navy and tried the old injector razor, about 6 months in i switched to the DE wet shave, and got an even better shave, stayed with the DE for many years and on and off tried the cartridges, they were ok for fast shaves but not only did i not get a BBS, I didn't like the high cost. Now that I'm retired I'm a die hard DE wet shaver, with the mug, hard soap and brush.

How was I converted? By being fed up with paying $30 for an 8 pack of Fusion cartridges.

Now that's not to say I'm saving money on shaving. RAD has completely decimated that idea; however, I don't pay as much for blades!

There was a member of another forum that I frequent who started a thread one day about how much cheaper the DE blades were than the cartidges. I remembered that I had the old Gillette that belonged to my late Father somewhere in the garage. So I looked up blades on Amazon and found 100 Derbys for $9 and jumped on it.
Other than the choice of blades I haven't looked back although what started as a money saving move became an expensive hobby.

Rick2035 said:

How was I converted? By being fed up with paying $30 for an 8 pack of Fusion cartridges.

Now that's not to say I'm saving money on shaving. RAD has completely decimated that idea; however, I don't pay as much for blades!

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+1

I used to hate shaving, didn't know the proper way of doing it and I had a lot of acne. And a guy mentioned it in cigar forum which piqued my interest. Didnt make the initial full plunge because of the start up cost, bought a body shop brush followed by tabac soap maybe a year after that bought a ej89 after that is all history.

BSAGuy said:

I got hooked on the Rick Harrison Micro Touch One commercial. Started looking at vintage Gillettes on ebay, found this site and it was off to the races.

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+1

I was in Germany a few years ago on business and forgot my razor. I went to the local supermarket and had the choice of a 5€ Wilkinson Sword combo of 5 DE blades and razor, or at least double that just to replace the cartridge razor I'd forgotten (Sensor).
I thought...hmmmm....can DE be that bad? It wasn't!

Also not converted. Started with Gillette TTO's. I believe the first was a fat boy and then a black beauty. Quickly moved to injectors and then to Atra's with Edge gel. Thought it couldn't get any better than this set up. Pretty much used everything Gillette came out with ending with the Fusion. Through all of this no matter what tools I used I was always a wet shaver. Shower first, leave face wet, apply gel and shave. About the mid 90's I received a shave set from C & E as a gift. It was a gold safety razor, brush & C&E sandalwood shave crème. I used up the crème, lost the razor and stuffed the brush in a drawer for 20 years. Last December I got fed up with the cost of Fusion carts and started digging on the internet. Found this place and another forum and bought a parker 90r, tweezerman brush and some proraso. The rest is history. I just last week dug out that brush that was stashed in the drawer. It is a boar brush with no name and sort of looks like an everready. I had been searching for a brush with major backbone and it had been in my possession forever. It is now part of my regular rotation. I love everything about this hobby, especially all the great smells. I look forward to shaving every day now. B & B has been wonderful with all the helpful people and the wealth of knowledge available. Thanks everyone!

I read an article about wetshaving & using a DE razor a few years ago in my local fish wrap, St. Petersburg Times. The article helped draw my interest in wetshaving & soon I was ordering a EJ89 & a Tweezerman badger brush from Amazon & the rest is history!

My brother got a great straight shave while on his honeymoon in New York. Ended up buying a bunch of gear. He showed me when he got home and I was intrigued. Got gift certificates for Christmas and loaded up.

I was tired of 5 o'clock shadow three hours after an electric shave. I tried carts, but they never really impressed me and gave me rashes and ingrown stubble.

After years of trying different razors and blades, many expensive razors, I found what worked; and my efficient setup is made up of some of the most inexpensive, nonetheless tried-and-true, products on the wet-shaving market: Gillette Tech/Astra SP blades/Arko stick/Omega boar brush.

My Son Mike got me back into DE shaving in 2013 after some 40 years of shaving with cartridge razors. The high cost of Fusion cartridges helped in my conversion.

Rick2035 said:

How was I converted? By being fed up with paying $30 for an 8 pack of Fusion cartridges.

Now that's not to say I'm saving money on shaving. RAD has completely decimated that idea; however, I don't pay as much for blades!

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same here. I was even using disposables for quite some time. hated those too.
I think I just googled safety razor one day because i knew old timers used them. I did the math and figured I'd save a ton by switching. HA!
found this place through google. badda bing badda boom

It was the mid 60s there was no alternative.

Over the last winter season I was watching Blazing Saddles and saw Gene Wilder shaving with a straight. So I Google how to straight shave, cuz the way he did it couldn't be safe or correct. Google then pointed me to art of manliness.

After perusing art of manliness and reading the shave like your grandpa article, I was intrigued. That then pointed me to mantics video series and this wonderfully helpful forum. The bug was caught. So I studied up and talked with the wife.

At that point we bought carts for her to use, I used an electric bar clipper. I gave up carts and wet shaving 15 years ago in my 20's. I hated having to pay for her carts, and I just didn't shave. I'd go a month or more before whacking off the fuzz, and hated my face 4 days later so I wouldn't shave again for a month.

So after reading, research and the thought of saving money (Ha-ha!) I finally convinced myself and then the wife. Get on Amazon and realize I can acquire most of my gear there, cheaper than the cost of carts for the same dollar amount with comparable time usage, and my eco footprint shrinks considerably.

Along comes an Edwin Jagger de89 and a Tweezerman brush for $50ish from Amazon. Head to the local mall and get some Macca Root cream, which was played up to the wife as awesome from the girl at the body shop. So we were headed in the right direction. Even if I hated wet shaving still, wifey would win out with great product.

A couple days at home doing dry runs (bladeless) for practice, and figuring out a good routine to follow I went my first go around. HOOKED! Real tools, real product, real craft, I was upset I hadn't learned all this earlier in life. I walked out of the den a real man, changed for the rest of my days. Then I told the wife I'd teach her how to craft shave, and I'd shave her legs to teach her how.

Close to six months later I've got S.A.D. for local found stuff, the search is fun and seeing our community grow is amazing (Vote with your dollars!). Picked up a vintage Gillette & a Merkur. Use cheap blades from the beauty supply. And I still shave my wife's legs...

Skeezixx said:

It was the mid 60s there was no alternative.

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Greetings to a 60s' brother. I'm an early post-war boomer.

I used a DE in the early 60s; then a Ronson and Schick electrics in the early to mid 60s--they were horrible. A 'hitich' with Uncle Sam had me return to DE razors, electricity was not always available; but strayed for years following the service. These days, I'm all DE for my daily shaves. Never to return to an electric for cleaving morning stubble.

walked into AOS at the mall of america and thought it was super cool, but super expensive and I started doing research on it and found out it can actually be cheaper than using my mach 3 and barbasol can! I found this website and some others and eventually bought some TOBS Sandalwood, an escali brush and a weishi razor. I have since added another cream, two soaps, four aftershaves, a better brush, and a better razor. It has only been about two months since I started wet shaving but I can't even remember what it was like to use a cartridge razor and I don't feel like using one to remember because I just love my DE razor!

A few years ago someone mentioned something about shaving with a DE razor on another forum I go to. I looked into it but never bought anything, just chugged along with my Mach 3 and canned goop.

At the beginning of the summer I saw the Micro One Touch commercial and noticed the VDH Luxury starter kit at Walmart. It grabbed my interest again since I hated shaving. Found this forum, bought the starter kit, was able to get my grandpa's old razor.

Some years ago i bought some Williams soap and a terrible brush thinking I'd try old school shaving, at least the soap part of it. Was still using carts. Never could get a good lather with the soap so I went back to gel. Fast forward to Christmas 2013 and my niece gives me a tub of Body Shop macca root shave cream. decided to get out my old brush and give the cream a try. Loved the cream, but not the brush, so I looked on Amazon and got a Parker badger brush and noticed razors and blades in the recommend section and decided to go all in. I got a long handle Merkur and blade sampler. Have not looked back. Now I have the Merkur, a Merkur slant, a Merkur OC, a Slim, a SS an Aristocrat, A NEW and an EJ. Also have about a dozen creams now as well.