Having come to reside on this site for an extended period of time, I can think back to when I had no idea of what a good shave meant. Oh, sure, I like many others 'thought' I was having a great shave- but then the ingrowns, razor bumps, and 'road rash' would make their appearance leaving me worse off than what i was before.
I went through the majority of my military career under a 'shaving profile', ie, having a beard. This really didn't matter unless I was appearing before a board, at which time, the beard was shaved off using a multi blader and goo. Of course, the next week or so was spent in a miserable condition due to the hairs growing back, the equipment used, and my lack of knowledge. If B&B had been around then.....
After leaving the Army, shaving became a matter of choice rather than necessity. The funny thing is, now that it was my choice, I actually chose to shave. This led to me going through my 'electric company' phase starting off w/ the Norelco razor Santa rode on in the holidays. I could get close, smooth shaves w/ an electric, but the ingrowns did not disappear-in fact, they got worse. this led to periods of wearing a beard until my face had healed.
I would then head back to wetshaving again, hoping that by now, my face would 'take to shaving' the right way. In fact, in the hopes of upgrading my products used, I would always go to whatever was being touted as the best a man could get. When it came to shaving cream, however, I would gravitate towards that prepared for women as it had more moisturizers and was gentler on the face-according to the company that produced them. Sadly, this change would make no difference in the results- I could shave once every 3 or 4 days for about a 2 week period before my face rebelled greatly and it was back to Grizzly Adams for a while.
Of course by now, Norelco had gone to 3 heads and this had to be much better! yeah, right- no ingrowns, but the razor bumps and road rash were smaller, more numerous, and much harder in feel. (having tried Magic shave powder in my early years w/ disastrous results, there was no way I would ever use another depilatory ever.)
Along comes ye olde internets and eventually i get around to looking for shaving information and stumble upon the MSN shaving site/blog/club. I then realized there was a better way and others had found it. I was on my way. Reading posts there led me to Badger and Blade.
Lo and behold, there were other people like me going through the same problems w/ shaving and looking for a better way. By the time I had arrived here, I had switched to soap and a brush, but did not have a razor. The majority of posts kept mentioning the Merkur HD and soon that was on its way to me. of course, I had to pick up a birth year razor(61 Fatboy). My first real shaving kit consisted of the Merkur HD, Col. Conk Amber shave soap, and Israeli blades.
Other than the soap, I was satisfied as my shaves had improved- I was still only doing one pass, but no ingrowns raised there ugly heads. Many of the members who were here then have gone in different directions, but their insights, posts, jokes, and general friendliness made B&B not just a website, but so much more.
I have learned more about shaving than I ever knew actually existed. Whenever I think that there is nothing new to learn, along comes something different( Marco's method, another post about adding water to the back of the brush, Matt's shave cream soap[which ends the argument as to which is better-cream or soap] etc,etc,. Each time I read a post like that, I am once again that not young, not old, man who didn't know how to shave, but couldn't wait to try what had been posted.
Many who are familiar w/ me on this site know that I am an enabler. However, you may not know, that initially, that persona was tongue in cheek-if there's a problem, buy more! funny thing though, for every so called problem that cropped up, buying more for me has always solved it! Granted, if I had it to do all over again, I would probably only have a Chubby 2 in best, a B&B LE, and a boar brush.-instead of the 14 I currently own. This applies to razors, and soaps, and creams, and aftershaves-which I never used before B&B convinced me to try the 'velva'! But being a man, I probably would have just as much stuff anyway!
For me, it hasn't been about collecting, but more about 'connecting'. When someone makes a post about a product that helps them w/ a shaving problem that I experience, or how impressed they were w/ a product, I may not rush out right there and then to buy it, but the seed has been planted. It took me over 5 years to pick up either DR Harris shave soap or a Simpson's Chubby- but now that I have them, i have insight and understanding of what all the fuss was about. Well regarded products are that way for a reason-they flat out work for the majority. Sure, there are always some who no matter what, they do not get what others do from a product( I don't care what anyone says- Williams SS and The VEG are useless!-for me).
As this is my 7000th(!) post, I felt the need to make meaningful comment on my time here. I look forward to many of your posts more than I look forward to the news. When I am down, youse guys pick me up. When I am alone(never lonely) and need to talk, B&B is here. When I need a fresh idea, B&B to the rescue. Yes, there are other shaving sites that can provide the same experience for others, but this one is mine and there is no other like it. When I am here, I'm home; where everybody knows my name and is always glad I came.
Without B&B, I'd still be shaving badly- but I also would be less intelligent, less tolerant, and less patient(but much richer!). In fact, I would be miserable w/o knowing the reason why. Fortunately, I do not have to contemplate such an existence.
Thank you to Nick, Joel, the moderators, the stewards, the vendors, and the members(former, current, and future)-without all of you, I'd be a different person.
marty
I went through the majority of my military career under a 'shaving profile', ie, having a beard. This really didn't matter unless I was appearing before a board, at which time, the beard was shaved off using a multi blader and goo. Of course, the next week or so was spent in a miserable condition due to the hairs growing back, the equipment used, and my lack of knowledge. If B&B had been around then.....
After leaving the Army, shaving became a matter of choice rather than necessity. The funny thing is, now that it was my choice, I actually chose to shave. This led to me going through my 'electric company' phase starting off w/ the Norelco razor Santa rode on in the holidays. I could get close, smooth shaves w/ an electric, but the ingrowns did not disappear-in fact, they got worse. this led to periods of wearing a beard until my face had healed.
I would then head back to wetshaving again, hoping that by now, my face would 'take to shaving' the right way. In fact, in the hopes of upgrading my products used, I would always go to whatever was being touted as the best a man could get. When it came to shaving cream, however, I would gravitate towards that prepared for women as it had more moisturizers and was gentler on the face-according to the company that produced them. Sadly, this change would make no difference in the results- I could shave once every 3 or 4 days for about a 2 week period before my face rebelled greatly and it was back to Grizzly Adams for a while.
Of course by now, Norelco had gone to 3 heads and this had to be much better! yeah, right- no ingrowns, but the razor bumps and road rash were smaller, more numerous, and much harder in feel. (having tried Magic shave powder in my early years w/ disastrous results, there was no way I would ever use another depilatory ever.)
Along comes ye olde internets and eventually i get around to looking for shaving information and stumble upon the MSN shaving site/blog/club. I then realized there was a better way and others had found it. I was on my way. Reading posts there led me to Badger and Blade.
Lo and behold, there were other people like me going through the same problems w/ shaving and looking for a better way. By the time I had arrived here, I had switched to soap and a brush, but did not have a razor. The majority of posts kept mentioning the Merkur HD and soon that was on its way to me. of course, I had to pick up a birth year razor(61 Fatboy). My first real shaving kit consisted of the Merkur HD, Col. Conk Amber shave soap, and Israeli blades.
Other than the soap, I was satisfied as my shaves had improved- I was still only doing one pass, but no ingrowns raised there ugly heads. Many of the members who were here then have gone in different directions, but their insights, posts, jokes, and general friendliness made B&B not just a website, but so much more.
I have learned more about shaving than I ever knew actually existed. Whenever I think that there is nothing new to learn, along comes something different( Marco's method, another post about adding water to the back of the brush, Matt's shave cream soap[which ends the argument as to which is better-cream or soap] etc,etc,. Each time I read a post like that, I am once again that not young, not old, man who didn't know how to shave, but couldn't wait to try what had been posted.
Many who are familiar w/ me on this site know that I am an enabler. However, you may not know, that initially, that persona was tongue in cheek-if there's a problem, buy more! funny thing though, for every so called problem that cropped up, buying more for me has always solved it! Granted, if I had it to do all over again, I would probably only have a Chubby 2 in best, a B&B LE, and a boar brush.-instead of the 14 I currently own. This applies to razors, and soaps, and creams, and aftershaves-which I never used before B&B convinced me to try the 'velva'! But being a man, I probably would have just as much stuff anyway!
For me, it hasn't been about collecting, but more about 'connecting'. When someone makes a post about a product that helps them w/ a shaving problem that I experience, or how impressed they were w/ a product, I may not rush out right there and then to buy it, but the seed has been planted. It took me over 5 years to pick up either DR Harris shave soap or a Simpson's Chubby- but now that I have them, i have insight and understanding of what all the fuss was about. Well regarded products are that way for a reason-they flat out work for the majority. Sure, there are always some who no matter what, they do not get what others do from a product( I don't care what anyone says- Williams SS and The VEG are useless!-for me).
As this is my 7000th(!) post, I felt the need to make meaningful comment on my time here. I look forward to many of your posts more than I look forward to the news. When I am down, youse guys pick me up. When I am alone(never lonely) and need to talk, B&B is here. When I need a fresh idea, B&B to the rescue. Yes, there are other shaving sites that can provide the same experience for others, but this one is mine and there is no other like it. When I am here, I'm home; where everybody knows my name and is always glad I came.
Without B&B, I'd still be shaving badly- but I also would be less intelligent, less tolerant, and less patient(but much richer!). In fact, I would be miserable w/o knowing the reason why. Fortunately, I do not have to contemplate such an existence.
Thank you to Nick, Joel, the moderators, the stewards, the vendors, and the members(former, current, and future)-without all of you, I'd be a different person.
marty
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