DE woes

When I first started shaving the three or four hairs that showed up in my early teens I used my moms cheap disposable bic razors she used to shave her legs. Probably even used her 'used' ones. Single mother, only child, so I never had a man to teach me about shaving. One summer staying with my grandparents my grandmother saw this, saw the razor burn and cuts and told me I had it all wrong. She went in my grandfather's drawer of retired manliness tools and gave me his old DE. In that drawer he also had some old zippo lighters, and a very nice straight with ivory scales that had a print of an old dock and fishing boat on it among other things. The thing I remember most about that straight was the smell. The whole drawer had a smell. It smelled like awesomeness mixed with knuckle sandwich. He had a nicer newer model DE so his old one was mine to keep. I learned how to shave proper with that old thing. It gave a very nice shave but was brutal while learning. I used it for a couple of years. I left home at 15 and somewhere between then and getting married it was misplaced.

I've looked at some of these new DEs and their prices. Wow. My old one was much nicer. It was burgundy with silver trim. The top opened like french doors and the razor just dropped in. I am now holding some regret over that loss. I recently retrieved some boxes among other items that I had kept in storage for over a decade and I'm hoping that when I go through those boxes I will run across that little gem.

Regrets,
John Paul

If I had a dime for ever really cool item that I lost or messed up on the road to becoming an adult, man o man. I hope you find it too. Welcome to the forum.

I feel you on that one RezDog. Another item I lost from the Drawer of Retired Manliness was an old zippo. He was a grocer, and this zippo was from sunkist oranges. It had a little orange cart with a clown on it. It was probably given to him in the late '50's or early '60's. It wasn't screen printed, it was a stamped, colored piece fastened to the lighter. I hope I find that one day as well.

Two really neat items I still have from the Drawer are an old Accutron watch that had a square frame with an oval face that looked like something they would have used in a '60s spy show as a Television watch that has an inscription on the back, "Bessie to Kenny 12-25-74" and the original gold wedding band my grandmother gave to my grandfather. The band itself wouldn't be worth much, but it is inscribed on the inside with their names and the date of their wedding so it is very valuable to me. My wife then gave it to me for our wedding and it has our first names and the date of our wedding opposite theirs. I now wear another wedding ring I made and keep that one safely stored.

Thanks for the welcome.

> The top opened like french doors and the razor just dropped in.

Erosadis, I _think_ that kind of DE is called "twist to open" or TTO. If you use those words in a search, you should find some of that kind. (More experienced DE shavers can correct me or add to this.)

Not that that replaces the one(s) lost. But yeah, what RezDog said. :)

(Edit: Typo fixed.)