Thread: coarse heavy beard & hollow

Gee, you guys get all rilled up over these things.

I'm just going to say what I've said many times here. If you prefer a particular grind or size because you just prefer it and enjoy it thats one thing but if you do it because you think its the only type you can get a decent shave with that's another thing.

If you could time travel to a barber shop in the 1930s,40,50s you would find full hollow grinds and mostly 5/8s and 6/8s being used. Barbers had to shave everyone who came into the shop with those types and they did it very well. If you needed a certain blade for a certain type of beard then this should not have been possible. It was mostly old timers who learned in the early parts of the 20 century who liked their wedges and they used them on everybody.

Those are just the facts guys.

[QUOTE=thebigspendur;401652]Gee, you guys get all rilled up over these things.

That is the fun of the forum!!!!! Better rilled up with words than fists. Juan.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Well he has bought 30+ new razors from John Crowley in the last few months, so I suspect he's pretty committed to that approach by now.

I plan to reach 100 razors at least. I am a compulsive collector; swords, pocket knives, guns, fountain pens, watches and now razors both new and used. Juan.

Originally Posted by juannaredo

I am a compulsive collector;

I was like that once, too. Ever since I started collecting wisdom instead of worldly items, my life has just got so much better.

Originally Posted by BeBerlin

I was like that once, too. Ever since I started collecting wisdom instead of worldly items, my life has just got so much better.

I'm a bit of a compulsive collector myself. I reached over 100 razors a long time ago. I didn't stop but became far more discriminating. I have collected guns, pocket knives, tobacco pipes and bicycles. After years of doing it I have determined that it is the action more than the item that entices. When Steve McQueen died he had 10,000 pocket knives and over 100 rocking chairs. Regrettably he couldn't take any of them with him. Not even one.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'm a bit of a compulsive collector myself. I reached over 100 razors a long time ago. I didn't stop but became far more discriminating. I have collected guns, pocket knives, tobacco pipes and bicycles. After years of doing it I have determined that it is the action more than the item that entices. When Steve McQueen died he had 10,000 pocket knives and over 100 rocking chairs. Regrettably he couldn't take any of them with him. Not even one.

Are you sure about that?

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

....
If you could time travel to a barber shop in the 1930s,40,50s you would find full hollow grinds and mostly 5/8s and 6/8s being used. Barbers had to shave everyone who came into the shop with those types and they did it very well. If you needed a certain blade for a certain type of beard then this should not have been possible.......

I believe that you're 100% correct and factual in that.

BUT... just a few extra comments come to mind. (1) I think that it's much easier to shave someone else than it is to shave yourself. (2) Most barbers would not go ATG and get a BBS 100%; everyone just expected a DFS as the norm.

It's not just the grind or the weight, but the rigidity that counts here. I have a Dovo Renaissance which is FHG, but very rigid because it's Inox. I can easily go ATG anywhere with it, but not so with my carbon steel FHGs, which are just as sharp. So, presuming my technique is just as good with either razor, then the difference in results is due to the tool itself.

Originally Posted by fritz

(1) I think that it's much easier to shave someone else than it is to shave yourself.

So, presuming my technique is just as good with either razor, then the difference in results is due to the tool itself.

Is it much easier to get an exceptionally close shave on someone else, though?

That seems an odd presumption to make if you're not getting equal results. Perhaps your technique is too, well, rigid.

This is a great example of what I think I'm getting at and what TBS is getting at, it is much easier to blame the tool, perhaps if your technique adapted to the different stiffness, you could get equally close shaves. Certainly guys were shaving with relativly flexible HCS for many many years, the flexibility was a demonstration of the quality of the hollow.

Personally, I would bet my bottom dollar that it is possible for you to go ATG with a full hollow HCS razor and get equally good results, and comfort, than you do with the INOX.

Sorry if I'm singling you out, but it seemed appropriate to make the point in this thread.

Originally Posted by gregs656

love my hollows now, the auditory feedback alone makes it worth while!

+1
I'm beginning to really like that sound too.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'm a bit of a compulsive collector myself....I have collected guns, pocket knives, tobacco pipes and bicycles.

I'm beginning to think I'm a compulsive elitist. hah!
I jump into something really intensely, and find the 1 or 2 pieces that really do it for me and eschew the rest: I.E. Telefunken audio tubes for bass amps, the Bodley Head edition of Ulysses, John Coltrane, gut strings... which is why I don't think I'll end up with more than half a dozen razors. I don't want to have to worry which one I'll bring with me on vacation, or which one to use that day. Some guys can handle that, I can't. I want a couple great options, not hundreds. I might still buy, clean, and resell them, but I suspect we all have better things to do with our lives than hoard and obsess over razors. It's ok that we do once in a while. Find what works and move on. That's just me. I need to practice.

(steps off box)

Anyone have a Puma they don't need?