The Tyranny of Choice

[Quaznoid]

21st century shavers have a multitude of shaving choices that make RAD a difficult disease to avoid. The Web has made available so many choices that it can almost compel one to buy and shop and buy and shop without restraint. This helps explain why so many post-Web shavers view my habits as a minimalist cult.

In reality, it’s nothing of the sort. The pre-Web culture dictated my behavior as much as the Web dictates the modern culture.

Let me take you back to the ancient days, the early Seventies. There was no web, no internet, nor the vast community they facilitate. There was you. You and people you knew, actually knew, breathing flesh that you could see and talk to. Family, friends, acquaintances and a universe of strangers, seen and unseen, that was everyone else.

You became aware of a consumer product by advertising on tv, radio, newspaper, magazines or word of mouth. Or you stumbled upon it at a store. That’s it. Your selection was limited to what you found in the stores near you. Even if it was advertised, you couldn’t buy it unless it was in the store you were in. Mail order was possible, but only if you knew the product existed and knew where to order it from. Each consumer was on an island limited to the products on his island with no communication with the other islands and no way to get to them.

In this isolation I learned to shave. I found a brand new 1973 SuperSpeed at my local drug store for $1.99 with 5 Thin blades included. I found a boar shave brush for a couple bucks and a puck of Williams. I didn’t know how to make decent lather and there was no one to teach me. My first shave was a bloody mess because there was no one to teach me. I struggled on with the kit and figured it out. When the Williams ran out I couldn’t find any more so I used regular bath soap scraps from around the house. It worked. It worked well, and I didn’t look for the Williams anymore. And I shaved with that kit for most of the next 30 years or so. I did try the Wilkinson Bonded for a bit; I grew a beard for a while. I used canned shave cream sometimes.

Not until the 21st century did the Web bring me to The Shave Den and B&B and the giant universe that so many take for granted. Only then did I discover the variety of products that are available. I caught some RAD and tried a few things. I learned that what I had been doing couldn’t be much improved on. The discovery of the vintage Schick injectors was eye opening. So there WAS a better shave! I embraced the Schick; the other stuff didn’t impress me.

So that’s how I got here. It’s not a cult; it’s not particularly deliberate. It was how I was brought up, in the pre-Web world. We had fewer choices but were we worse off?

 

[euro]

The internet has both its cons and pros. People from all over the world, different religions, different cultures can communicate with each other and exchange ideas or any tips of some hobby. If I had to write some essay I had to go to a library and search for the books I would use for my essay, you had to write everything by hand. IMHO information was pretty limited compared to now.

Sometimes when I talk with young men about how I grew up they have a hard time understanding how we managed to have fun without internet. We played the whole day outside it didn't matter if it rained, snowed or was freaking hot we always could entertain ourselves.

I really understand your post and you made some great points. I had a conversation with my sister a couple weeks ago, remember when you could go to those places who rent out VHS tapes? Watching a new movie was an experience you wouldn't forget. Now? Heh, you can watch every movie you want for free if you want.

My dad was a DE shaver, I remember him using Wilkinson blades he got from an Indian vendor at a local market. He always used the Palmolive Classic soap since the day I can remember. He didn't have a shaving bowl instead he lathered on his face.

Of course this is not a cult, we just love shaving. Sure you can save money if you want, it is possible but I bet most of us don't care about that we pretty much want to enjoy life while we still can and our health allows it. ALL hobbies cost money it's just how much you want to spend on it.

 

[Balin]

Great post and thanks for sharing!!

Personally, I do not view your shaving habits as a minimalist cult! I appreciate your views and the way they are delivered. If you are referring to the challenge thread, I think it was intended as a form of respect/flattery even though it may be uncomfortable.

The Web/Social media has taken word of mouth advertising to the next level! When I was joining the work force, Influencer was not even a job title. We influence each other here at B&B both intentionally and unintentionally.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Let me take you back to the ancient days, the early Seventies.

I learned twenty years later, and things weren't much different. The biggest difference was that most razor options available, were either cartridge systems, needed AA batteries, or plugged into the wall.

I chanced upon a double edge razor hanging on a peg, with a pack of blades hanging adjacent. I decided to try it. I was in my late teens, and my father had grown a beard, largely due to growing tired of cutting himself shaving. My grandfather used electric. My only teachers were pain and patience.

Now we are in this era, I have explored further. I have stocked up with a lifetime of blades, having gone through painful (literally) blade droughts in the past. I have tried new razors and soaps. 2023 for me, was a vast exploration of different brushes.

I feel wiser both for the humble beginnings, and the discoveries I made later. I have enjoyed the explorations since, but do find too much choice overwhelming. While I have a myriad of blades, I tend to draw them at random from a tub of mixed ones, and predominantly stick to one razor for every shave.

I like having two brushes and three soaps/creams to chose from in the bathroom. That's as much choice as I care to face daily. I do own more, much more, and will swap them periodically. I do not want to be without choice, nor face too many.

I'm a curious minimalist. I like to keep things simple in my shaves, but I do harbour broader questions. The questions needed shopping and trials to find the answers, but thereafter, I will fall back into my one razor, two brushes and three soaps comfort zone. I can tolerate more options being stashed in the bedroom, but don't want to face them daily in the bathroom.

It's been fun. I own too much stuff, but have still saved money over the commercially pushed options. My shaves are better, my online friends widespread, and my understandings broadened. I still like my (comparatively) simple daily shaves though.

 

[wrestlerjrh]

I understand and appreciate where you are coming from, and I don't doubt it works for you. That said I started wet shaving by researching it with and involving my wife, and she is big on scents, so I will probably be avoiding RAD and BAD, but exploring scents of soaps and aftershaves with my wife and finding ones that we both like will be a part of my journey. That has included things we can find at local drug stores like Pinaud, Brut and Aqua Velva but also things that I would have missed out on in the pre-internet world like TOBS and Stirling. The internet has brought both good and bad, but I am happy with the choices it adds, everyone is free to choose how much the engage in it in accordance with their preferences and means.

 

[gurdygurds]

My happiness seems to coincide with the amount of simplicity I’m able to maintain in my life. I’ve always had a touch of ocd that I’ve had to contend with and can find myself overthinking and over analyzing things often. Add those things into hobbies and online forums and it’s a recipe of disaster. Maybe disaster is a bit extreme, but it’s a recipe for unnecessary distraction as well as time and money lost. Even knowing all of this, I find myself tumbling down the rabbit holes and have to quickly hit the breaks. Even with this hobby I found myself very quickly accumulate a handful of razors that I don’t need. (Someone please by these razors from me!) I had to keep reminding myself that the original draw was less expensive shaving and an enjoyment in the process, not having the green light to spend on “gear”. So, uncle @Quaznoid and others are great touchstones with their posts. They’re in my opinion great advice for the newbies, and great reminders for everyone.
But then again, what the hell do I know?

 

[thombrogan]

We had fewer choices but were we worse off?

If I wasn’t torturing myself hoarding and accumulating wet shaving goodies and techniques, I’d do it with political treatises or some other nonsense, but I wouldn’t have had a chance to meet you on this forum. I suspect that makes me better off and regret that it punishes you.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

I remember at one point people commonly believed IT and/or the internet would be revolutionary, like the agricultural and industrial revolutions. As it turned out the technology has had very little effect at all on our productivity - perhaps none at all.

IT hasn’t made us more efficient and I suspect it actually made us less efficient - we waste time dealing with emails and video meetings and work longer hours than ever before, but we get no more done. The internet has merely stimulated demand by making it possible to shop globally 24/7 without getting off the couch, and the biggest companies in the world are now online ad agencies and stores - but that means the economic growth over the last couple of decades is just an unsustainable bubble of consumer addiction. Nothing I ever bought online changed my life - some of it might be better stuff but if I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have missed it.

I can’t disagree with @Quaznoid on this one. We’re just working longer hours so we can clutter our homes with more stuff that we don’t need. The only result of our lifetime endeavours - all we will leave behind - is landfill. The smart thing is to opt out of it all, buy less stuff, save your money, work less, retire earlier, and enjoy life.

 

[Quaznoid]

I had a target to retire as soon as I had $x in the bank. I was able to retire at 60. I did it by living beneath my means. I paid off my 30 year mortgage in 9 years. I always bought cars with cash and avoided borrowing money or carrying credit card balances. I raised and educated 2 kids. I’ve seen 47 states and 3 continents. It was actually quite easy and engendered no suffering. Now every day is Saturday.

 

[Quaznoid]

I don’t like that previous post. It wasn’t my intention to boast. I reacted to Shavington’s post about frugality. My point was that it is not hard to accumulate wealth and retire early and comfortably if you take it easy on the spending and adopt frugality and moderation as a lifestyle. You can live a good life regardless. Most of the satisfaction comes from within.

 

[BigJ]

Excellent post!!

I remember those ‘olden days’ when we actually walked into the shops and talked to real people!

 

[Markdad2]

I respect your approach to life. I wish I could be so practical. My Dad, is a collector of sorts. For him it is pipes and tobacco. His Dad, my Grandfather, was a banker, and after the Great Depression lived very frugally. He raised 4 kids, and sent them to college. They were very much savers. I have a very addictive personality and chase the elusive perfect (for me) this or that. Shaving stuff is a fun way to keep that side of my brain busy and happy. I can buy a $20 puck of soap and it feels like a big reward. I know it's a bit foolish, but I love the community here and don't think I will be changing much anytime soon. I am however participating in the 2024 sabbatical, and hope to go 365 without any shaving purchases. God knows I don't need anything. Cheers!

 

[Quaznoid]

Good for you

 

[The Roof Seal]

Doe to being much younger than much of the members here, I was lucky enough to start needing to shave after the advent of this forum. I was able to find this forum and helped me choose traditional wetshaving right from the start. BUT, despite this, regarding gear I was very much relying on what was available locally. Other than the initial purchase of a Merkur 1904 and a blade sampler as a gift from my parents from a modern wetshaving shop, all the rest was was what was available in brick and mortar stores for essentially pocket money (Palmolive stick and a $2.80 boar brush).
Only this year have I forayed into online shopping and even then it's all been mostly local and cheap.
But even that has lead me to want to sit with things, learn what I have and winnow down to something I can use from here on out.

 

[Quaznoid]

Great!

 

[AshleyC]

I am old enough to remember the Gillette commercials of the 1970s showing how the first blade lifts the hair up while cutting and how the second blade quickly moves in to cut that lifted stubble even closer.

Looking back, I realize how considerate that stubble was to stay lifted up and waiting for that second blade to come for it, rather than collapse back down into the skin!

Other than that, the 70s were to me a lot of adults staying up all night playing Risk, smoke in the air that wasn't tobacco, Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road" album seemingly on continuous play, and the Six Million Dollar Man uprooting a tree trunk and hurling it at an unstoppable mini-tank.

Good times...

 

[Quaznoid]

I preferred Star Trek and Stooges reruns on a nearby big city tv station.

 

[gurdygurds]

I was all about Dukes of Hazard, CHiPS, and Night Rider. Had the action figures as well.

 

[OkieStubble]

I preferred Star Trek and Stooges reruns on a nearby big city tv station.

I still faithfully watch, Mayberry RFD with Sheriff Taylor, Opie and Barney, Perry Mason, Mannix and many other black & white sitcoms.
I just prefer that kind of television over the modern day crap I see now.

I don’t think I will ever be as minimalist or frugal as you when it comes to shaving or many other things in life, but because of you and your posts, my life is becoming less cluttered with things, stuff and a lesser agenda to gain more stuff.

I do definitely seem to pay much more attention to that lifestyle and attempt or try now to make the most of minimalist and/or frugal opportunities when they plainly present themselves to me.

So I do thank you for that.

 

[VBH37118]

21st century shavers have a multitude of shaving choices that make RAD a difficult disease to avoid. The Web has made available so many choices that it can almost compel one to buy and shop and buy and shop without restraint. This helps explain why so many post-Web shavers view my habits as a minimalist cult.

In reality, it’s nothing of the sort. The pre-Web culture dictated my behavior as much as the Web dictates the modern culture.

Let me take you back to the ancient days, the early Seventies. There was no web, no internet, nor the vast community they facilitate. There was you. You and people you knew, actually knew, breathing flesh that you could see and talk to. Family, friends, acquaintances and a universe of strangers, seen and unseen, that was everyone else.

You became aware of a consumer product by advertising on tv, radio, newspaper, magazines or word of mouth. Or you stumbled upon it at a store. That’s it. Your selection was limited to what you found in the stores near you. Even if it was advertised, you couldn’t buy it unless it was in the store you were in. Mail order was possible, but only if you knew the product existed and knew where to order it from. Each consumer was on an island limited to the products on his island with no communication with the other islands and no way to get to them.

In this isolation I learned to shave. I found a brand new 1973 SuperSpeed at my local drug store for $1.99 with 5 Thin blades included. I found a boar shave brush for a couple bucks and a puck of Williams. I didn’t know how to make decent lather and there was no one to teach me. My first shave was a bloody mess because there was no one to teach me. I struggled on with the kit and figured it out. When the Williams ran out I couldn’t find any more so I used regular bath soap scraps from around the house. It worked. It worked well, and I didn’t look for the Williams anymore. And I shaved with that kit for most of the next 30 years or so. I did try the Wilkinson Bonded for a bit; I grew a beard for a while. I used canned shave cream sometimes.

Not until the 21st century did the Web bring me to The Shave Den and B&B and the giant universe that so many take for granted. Only then did I discover the variety of products that are available. I caught some RAD and tried a few things. I learned that what I had been doing couldn’t be much improved on. The discovery of the vintage Schick injectors was eye opening. So there WAS a better shave! I embraced the Schick; the other stuff didn’t impress me.

So that’s how I got here. It’s not a cult; it’s not particularly deliberate. It was how I was brought up, in the pre-Web world. We had fewer choices but were we worse off?

We were not worse off in any way !