Hi everyone! I'm 52 years old and just got rid of a 12 year old beard. Here's my history:
I electric shaved from high school until my early 30's, when I got a brush and a mug of soap as a Christmas present. At that point, I started wet shaving with a Gillette Sensor (2 blade), albeit with little knowledge of what I was doing, simply because it was noticeably closer, and, in some ways, less irritating to my neck. I'd still get some irritation, so I went to Noxema brushless shaving cream for a while then to Aveeno stuff in a can (with oatmeal(?) without scent) until I finally decided to just grow out a beard to avoid a lot of the hassle altogether. I still shaved my throat below the beard (by this time with a Mach 3) and eventually just got in the habit of slathering a film of bath soap on my throat and doing enough ATG work to get it reasonably smooth. Remarkably, this worked reasonably well.
I lost my job in late January (recession-related/automotive-related) and started getting concerned about my old appearance (particularly with a mostly white beard) so I decided to get rid of the beard. Together with some hair darkening, I believe I now look quite a bit younger than I did. Haven't snagged an in person interview yet, but I'll have to take this one step at a time
At first I figured I'd get an electric razor to make the chore quick and simple each morning, but when I visited the Consumer Reports electric razor report I found the following passage: "The closest of shaves should make a face feel like fine, 1000-grit polishing paper."
I knew that that wouldn't be very satisfying, so I googled "how to shave" and ended up watching the following video by MarkGauvrea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6SglZopfmk . Good start. In the comments section, someone asked him if he belonged to B&B, then explained what B&B was. Mark also recommended Mantic59's videos as the ultimate source to another commenter, so that's what got me here.
I spent the first week working with the old brush and soap and my Mach 3, learning the grain of my face, then started in with the Mama Bear soaps and a Super Speed of my birth date that I bought from B/S/T about a week ago. The first few days were really variable, but things are getting much more consistent now.
I'm enjoying this very much and--one of the few benefits of extended unemployment--I have the opportunity to take my time shaving each morning while I learn.
Thanks, everybody, for the help!
I electric shaved from high school until my early 30's, when I got a brush and a mug of soap as a Christmas present. At that point, I started wet shaving with a Gillette Sensor (2 blade), albeit with little knowledge of what I was doing, simply because it was noticeably closer, and, in some ways, less irritating to my neck. I'd still get some irritation, so I went to Noxema brushless shaving cream for a while then to Aveeno stuff in a can (with oatmeal(?) without scent) until I finally decided to just grow out a beard to avoid a lot of the hassle altogether. I still shaved my throat below the beard (by this time with a Mach 3) and eventually just got in the habit of slathering a film of bath soap on my throat and doing enough ATG work to get it reasonably smooth. Remarkably, this worked reasonably well.
I lost my job in late January (recession-related/automotive-related) and started getting concerned about my old appearance (particularly with a mostly white beard) so I decided to get rid of the beard. Together with some hair darkening, I believe I now look quite a bit younger than I did. Haven't snagged an in person interview yet, but I'll have to take this one step at a time
At first I figured I'd get an electric razor to make the chore quick and simple each morning, but when I visited the Consumer Reports electric razor report I found the following passage: "The closest of shaves should make a face feel like fine, 1000-grit polishing paper."
I knew that that wouldn't be very satisfying, so I googled "how to shave" and ended up watching the following video by MarkGauvrea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6SglZopfmk . Good start. In the comments section, someone asked him if he belonged to B&B, then explained what B&B was. Mark also recommended Mantic59's videos as the ultimate source to another commenter, so that's what got me here.I spent the first week working with the old brush and soap and my Mach 3, learning the grain of my face, then started in with the Mama Bear soaps and a Super Speed of my birth date that I bought from B/S/T about a week ago. The first few days were really variable, but things are getting much more consistent now.
I'm enjoying this very much and--one of the few benefits of extended unemployment--I have the opportunity to take my time shaving each morning while I learn.
Thanks, everybody, for the help!
Last edited:
