Why are we all here?

With each addition of another blade to the cartridge my shaves got worse and worse. I decided enough was enough to get a better shave and for the mega cool factor I started researching straight razors. I found B&B and in the end I'm DE and some times SE shaver. I couldn't master ATG grain with a straight so gave up the ghost.

Idid not do this to save money but for a better shave. Now shaving is fun, my skin is better and BBS without irritation is attainable. Sure I spend more money but to me it is well worth it for the better shaves, better skin, lack of irritation and the enjoyment. I can't believe I get up earlier so I have time for a proper shave.

cvargo said:

To save money... I mean

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Same here... And for what is worth my initial setup was quite cheap, disposable straight with 100 blades (Sedef), Wilkinson's Sword Brush and Soap, and lather bowl, not more than 25€.

But since, I got six vintage straights that need restoring, a couple of soaps and creams, a set of natural honing stones, some strops and an extra shelf for my bathroom, and it's only been a couple of months :S

I remember very well since it's just three weeks that I decided to look for alternatives to my Gillette Fusion. Two key factors were the sparks that started it all.

I appreciate Quality and Passion, be it a pencil, a chair or whatever I'm fascinated by things that have been well thought, designed and crafted by people who are passionate about what they do and not just created by gazillion dollar companies that only care about their margins and huge sale numbers. I wanted something that appealed to me for its construction, durability, something nice to hold. The toy-ish fusion only appealed to me years ago because of its marketing campaign and because they succeeded in convincing me that more blades are good.. How wrong I was!!!

Point number two is connected to the first one, I've no problem spending a bit more for good stuff, but I give the right value to things and I just felt that cartridges prices were unfair and hyper inflated far what you get, there had to be an alternative!!

So these are the reasons that brought me here in the first instance, the reason why I'm staying is because I've discovered that the morning shaving ritual can be a kind of meditative moment, something that can satisfy, relax and heal my mind by concentrating on simple yet meticulous actions I do just for me.

because i don't like shaving... electric razors are useless. cartriges give a great shave if you can hit the 15 minute window when you have enough hair to prevent irritation, without so much they clog each pass, and so much money i'd use them too long. disposable cartriges are about as bad. grew sideburns just to have less area to shave. i ran across a bunch of old wet shaving stuff at my grandmas estate in around 1999, wanted to get into that then but you can't buy those blades anywhere and seemed more dangerous than carts. i picked up the VDH delux kit since canned goo sucks, conditioner sucks, so shave soap can't be worse; wow that makes shaving suck less! finally last year a dude on a forum was all "you're all shaving wrong, go DE for $10 you'll never look back" reimi razor, big ol' blade sampler, and the aquisition disorder started....

I inherited my Grandpa's TTO vintage Gillette, and after looking around on the web, ended up here. I will never go back to carts, and love the great shaves I've been getting.

I must admit that I am mainly here for the "Everything else" section. I am a very frequent visitor of "The Nib", "The Speakeasy", and "The Haberdashery".

I had gotten my grandfather's old brush (and razor) that needed to be refurbished and found myself here contacting Rudy Vey

I bought a Micro Touch One, after being disgusted with cartridge razors for decades. I enjoyed the shaves so much, I researched better razors and blades, then stumbled onto this site. Things just got better, from that day on.

Annoyance with being confronted with a new choice of disposable shaver every time I needed to stock up.
Sheer waste of disposables.

My dad was a Safety razor, mug and brush guy, and that's how I learned to shave. I've been doing it 20+ years now. I've only joined any forums recently. I have a pretty good size collection of gear after all these years.

Well I used a fusion for a good 2 years or so, not shaving nearly every day. Got disgusted with the horrible prices on the replacement carts. Switched to a shick, because lower price but still 4 blades Was around that time (im just guessing) that my beard reached a thickness which started causing irritation on my neck. Stopped shaving for a good while and switched to a beard trimmer. Guess I got fed up with that as well. Started google searching and somehow ended up on the local site(local for SA), Mantality. Saw DE blades and after a couple of months bought myself a muhle DE razor. Took some months to find the best blades available, but now I'm shaving happily

If my humble opinion we are here to some degree as a "throwback" to a time when shaving was defined by the method we shaved. At that time that was all I knew from our life's experience when it came to shaving.

For years I assumed that shaving with an electric razor was the "norm" by today's modern standards. I still recall my late Dad telling me that eventually I would have to buy an electric razor when I was old enough to shave on a daily basis. As far as I knew my Dad was absolutely correct. That was the end of the story up to that point.

After shaving with an electric razor for many, many years the electric razor I owned eventually stopped working. At the time I had "cash flow issues" so I opted to start shaving with cartridge razors. That went well for the first 9-10 months of my wet shaving period of my life.

In February 2014 I discovered Rick Harrision's promotional package of a double-edge razor with sample blades and a razor stand. Once I started shaving with this new "old" form of shaving I wondered why I didn't start shaving using this method earlier.

We may all have some version of this story in our past but I'm grateful I discovered this form of shaving in the latter days of my shaving life. I refuse to go back to other forms of shaving that did not make sense.

Started getting horrendous skin issues and at first didn't realise it was anything to do with goop in a can. Started researching products to avoid, which took me to better soaps, which in turn took me to issues with cartridges (especially the cost!) Looked at alternatives and never in a million years would have realised that DE was still so popular - or the cure to my problems! Found this site and The Shaving Room, and for the first time ever, I enjoy shaving.

I learned to shave on a a cart. Thing is, my dad didn't shave. Ever. He was a farmer and a construction worker and a bit of a hippie, and razors were only in the house for my mom to shave her legs. So if I'm honest with myself, I think the first time I shaved was with a yellow Bic disposable. After that I got some kind of multi-blade thing, but I hated it. I hated everything about shaving, and I decided to go the way my dad went and wear a beard. And I still do.

But a few months ago I was cutting my own hair with my beard trimmer, buzzing it down to stubble, and I had been looking at some really nice straight razors earlier that week at a barber shop down the street, and I decided, somewhat on a whim, to schedule an appointment at that shop to have my head shaved with a straight razor. And I did, and it was great! So I decided I wanted to shave my head daily, but I did NOT want to go back to a Mach 3. All my Google searches brought me to safety razor wet shaving, and eventually here. And then I learned so much here I decided to stick around.

kansaskyle said:

I was researching Harry's and Dollar Shave Club when I ran across wet shaving, and found it really intriguing.

I'm waiting on my initial DE gear to arrive this week to get started!

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Kyle: This was pretty much the exact same scenario as me. I was pretty much ready to order from Dollar Shave Club when I came across the wet-shaving community. I think "shaving101" was the first site I found, which eventually brought me to West Coast Shaving, and their B&B gear focused me on this site.

Wet-shaving has been awesome, but it's the community here at B&B that encouraged me to become a contributor and active participant. It's nice that new folks can mingle with the experienced crowd without feeling intimidated. I also enjoy the fact that this place pretty much has something for every gentlemanly pursuit. In the last month, I feel like I've "grown up" a bit in taking care of myself, thinking through my sense of style, and taking a more adult view of grooming and gentlemanly pursuits.

Anyway, welcome to the group! I think you'll love the wet-shave experience, but give it at least two weeks of focused learning and improvement. The first shave can be intimidating, though even a poor experience can often be better or more rewarding than traditional cartridge shaving. After that, the learning curve is extraordinary for the first couple of weeks. Obviously I haven't been here too long, but I feel like I've built years of knowledge in that time due to active participation in the forums, other independent reading, and practice at home (one shave a week has been transformed into daily).

Cheers!!

This past May, my wife and I had our vacation in UK. We spent a lot of time in London and I wanted a keep sake. The only thing I could think that I really wanted was a DE start-up kit, after hearing so much about the better experience from a buddy of mine. I used to shave sporadically through my work weeks due to the poor shave results I was getting. I absolutely hated shaving. Since the end of our vacation, from the time I unpacked my new DE shave gear, I have shaved every day (save 1 or 2). I have accumulated a collection of fine soaps, creams, aftershaves and a few razors that I now hold in high regard. It's an absolute pleasure now. I now love shaving. I also like being well groomed without having to endure irritation caused by a grueling and daunting task that I could once only decided to suffer every other day or so. It's now something I look forward to daily. This forum has been so helpful in what to avoid and how to achieve successful shaves. I've been enlightened by the guidance given to simply do something properly. I'm grateful for it. I'm also grateful for finding something I can enjoy completely on my own. It's rewarding. The entire wetshaving gig has proven itself to turn into a slightly extravagant endeavour, however, it's probably one of the most enjoyable hobbies/essential tasks (to me) I've ever gotten myself into. This write up may seem somewhat exaggerated or over the top, but it's true. 100%

I learned to shave with a DE razor and canned foam but was seduced to the dark side by the promise of better shaves with cartridges. It took me thirty years to realize that, not only was the promise never fulfilled but now the cart manufacturers were charging me an arm and a leg for crappy shaves that I hated. I began to research "traditional shaving," found that men were still using brush, soap and single blade razors and bought a Superspeed. I found B&B shortly thereafter and now enjoy the many benefits of saving money on my "traditional" shaves. BTW. The shaves save money but my collecting shave gear has cost me a bit![emoji6]

Hi,

I already knew how to shave with a mug, brush and DE before the site came about. I started in 76 with Dad's old Tech. I came across the site a little over a year ago researching some odd DE razor I had come across. Looks like I stayed around.

Due to being here, I have been able to try some other oddball razors, and likely will try more as time marches on.

Stan

It keeps my addictive personality from the harder stuff!

I look forward to my morning routine now and love it

I haven't been here that long, but it started for me when I was looking for a 1959 Fatboy this site came up in the search. I eneded up with a Slim, a Fatboy, a Vision, and 2 ultra modern fixed blade non adjustable safety razors.

I just wanted a better shave....