What have I gotten myself into?!!

I have for many years sported a beard. I am not for or against them but just hated shaving! At age 62 I finally realized their must be a better way of removing facial hair then just taking a couple of swipes with a Bic throw-away once or twice a week. I was puttering around on YouTube and saw someone explaining the virtues of shaving with a DE. Being the curious type I researched it a little and thought this would be something to try. Little did I realize... anyway I bought a nice Edwin Jagger razor and an assortment of blades and actually began to look forward to what had become a shaving ritual! I should have known something was up when I noticed there was now a second razor in the cabinet and the container of shaving soap grew to two, then three, then four, etc...

Waking one mourning the thought of shaving with a straight razor was on my mind. I tried to shake it but the more I shook the more it grew!! Now, you have to remember I just started with the first DE about four weeks previous and now I have a shavette in my hand brandishing it like a Samurai sword! The next evening with my shavette in one hand and a brand new styptic pencil in the other I preceded on to my second shave with the thing (the shavette that is). About two weeks later, and several shaves with the DE while my face healed, I found a new Dovo Shavette in my hand! This was followed by a few more shaves with the DE.

Up until this time I had never heard of SAD, or RAD, or HAD or... the list goes on. Now I find out I have these maladies and there seems to be no cure! I woke up this morning in a panic realizing there was a real straight razor on its way and I came home this evening after work to find a strop and two more containers of shaving soap/cream!!! I have even caught myself playing in the soap and practicing building lather!! What have I gotten myself into?!

My mind is now cluttered with things like hones, and lapping, and stropping compounds, and the virtues of horse hide over cow leather, and Russian leather vs English leather... MY MIND IS A MESS!! WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?!!

My wife is in rehab, at the moment, after having two knees replaced but what is going to happen when she gets home and finds out the truth?? If she gets home before the new razor gets here and I don't get a chance to hide it, I will be in big trouble and am afraid I will not be the first one to use it!

Can someone help me?? What have I gotten myself into??


Jim

I think it's best if you don't know what you've started. Just hide your head in the sand & pretend nothing is happening. Then you can suddenly wake up one day proud of your awesome & borderline obsessive collection of shaving implements/accessories!

Gawd! You've got it! It will be OK!

Jim,

I am so sorry. No, we cannot help you. The ADs, the anxious mailbox-watching, the inexplicably long times in the bathroom, the unprecedented obsessions with minutiae, the strange new passions for shiny sharp things and rectangular abrasive things and floppy stroppy things, these are your life now. It is an irreversible curse. The first inkling of curiosity, the first swipe of the badger brush, and you were a lost soul. And you must feed all these new addictions, because of course you cannot go without for so long that your hands shake!

At least you have found us, your bretheren.

We can help you with all the shaving-related stuff, of course, evaluating new blades for purchase, recommending nice soaps or good strops or any other sort of mechanical/logistical stuff. But the social and marital ramifications are all you, man!

Welcome, condolences, congratulations, etc.

Where do you live? There may be a support group we can hook you up with. We tend to avoid the agencies; nobody understands, as you can well imagine.

I hope your wife recovers comfortably and in a place out of view of your new passion.

What kind of straight razor are you waiting on?

We're here for you. And we like pictures of razors.

Sorry to say this is an incurable obsession. My wife has started looking on line for a 12 step program to cure me on my affliction. What started out as curiosity has now become a full fledged obsession for me. First it was just one more, now I wonder where I will stop. The straight razors, DE razors, soaps, sticks, and aftershave, all mount up. I suggested we add another room, and she asked: what will happen when that get full. Like other addictions the first step is admitting to your wife you have a problem. After the initial yelling and screaming, ask her if she wants to kiss a bearded cheek or a smooth nice smelling cheek, that should bring her around. Or you can do like I do and deny, deny, deny.

the original post was hilarious... my GF was gone today when i received another shipment of soap haha

Congratulations, Jim and welcome.
I congratulate you for taking the first step - admitting that you have addictions.
Unfortunately there is no cure, however, you have found the support group.
One advantage of your wife being in rehab is that she probably won't be able to chase you tooo far when she gets home....:D
Glad to have you on board

It won't be long till you're at the post office getting a po box. I'm lucky to have family close by that I can quickly change the ship to address :) though my mail lady is usually good about placing boxes to me inside the grill ;)

Welcome!

Well......should it get too bad and you decide to do something rash like leave town to go into hiding..........don't forget to pack a good razor and brush.........and soap and aftershave and....................................:w

Congratulations Jim and welcome to the club!
Don't worry about anything and just enjoy great shaves. It started like that for everyone of us. Look at me: I just wanted to try my father's old double edge razor (also because of sentimental reasons) and now I am a chronic straight razor collector/restorer.
I don't complain: I love it and I think to all those guys out there who still use a disposable plastic thing, even worse an electric shaver. They do not really know what they're missing!!! :-)

Enjoy and enjoy every small aspect of this noble art. Long live the Straight Razor!

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Originally Posted by mvacca7

the original post was hilarious... my GF was gone today when i received another shipment of soap haha

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Soap?? Did you say SOAP??

Jim

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Originally Posted by roughkype

Jim,

I am so sorry. No, we cannot help you. The ADs, the anxious mailbox-watching, the inexplicably long times in the bathroom, the unprecedented obsessions with minutiae, the strange new passions for shiny sharp things and rectangular abrasive things and floppy stroppy things, these are your life now. It is an irreversible curse. The first inkling of curiosity, the first swipe of the badger brush, and you were a lost soul. And you must feed all these new addictions, because of course you cannot go without for so long that your hands shake!

At least you have found us, your bretheren.

We can help you with all the shaving-related stuff, of course, evaluating new blades for purchase, recommending nice soaps or good strops or any other sort of mechanical/logistical stuff. But the social and marital ramifications are all you, man!

Welcome, condolences, congratulations, etc.

Where do you live? There may be a support group we can hook you up with. We tend to avoid the agencies; nobody understands, as you can well imagine.

I hope your wife recovers comfortably and in a place out of view of your new passion.

What kind of straight razor are you waiting on?

We're here for you. And we like pictures of razors.

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Thanks for the welcome! I am one that is prone to ADs so this is probably the hobby for me. My poor wife has put up with my craziness for 42 years so she is used to it. We have raised 3 children of out own and, presently, 3 grandchildren (and a daughter who is here for a refresher course). Her tolerance for nonsense is pretty high! As a precaution I keep my life insurance on the low side so I am more valuable to her alive. No sense putting a price on my head!

The razor that I bought is one from the Classified section of this site. I don't remember what it is at the moment. I just hope it is sharp and shiny. Do you want the pictures with the blood still on there or would you rather see it with the blood removed? It is more colorful with!

Jim

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Originally Posted by ZeroCool

It won't be long till you're at the post office getting a po box. I'm lucky to have family close by that I can quickly change the ship to address :) though my mail lady is usually good about placing boxes to me inside the grill ;)

Welcome!

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I often have my toys sent to my place of employment then sneak them home when she is asleep.


Jim

With blood, to be used as evidence! Against the butler, of course.

Years ago I bought a small metal lathe--a four-digit toy--and my friend Jeremy volunteered to claim ownership. The story would be that he had it delivered to my address so his wife wouldn't find out and go ballistic, and then I was supposed to grumble a lot about that damn lathe taking up space and at least I was going to use it...

There was a pretty funny post here a couple of years ago, by a guy whose wife wandered out into the garage while he had his ENTIRE collection spread out--Busted! She took it all in, drew a breath, and said something like "Well, at least they don't take up a lot of space, and we can use them if we ever need to kill someone." They're so sweet when they try to understand...

You're in deep. Too deep to get out. The only reason we post our locations is so you know where the safe houses are.

I used to laugh at these type of threads, but now after razor number twenty two or three not sure....and last night I wanted to bid on another and she just flat out said "isn't that enough? You just bought one this week and it's not even here yet." needless to say I was a little disappointed, but I guess I will just have to wait a week...LOL

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Originally Posted by JoeSomebody

I used to laugh at these type of threads, but now after razor number twenty two or three not sure....and last night I wanted to bid on another and she just flat out said "isn't that enough? You just bought one this week and it's not even here yet." needless to say I was a little disappointed, but I guess I will just have to wait a week...LOL

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A little tip and a note to the mail lady and she can easily hide the package in the grill :)

If I have to live like that, it's just not worth it. Besides, SOMEBODY has to put on the brakes,lord knows I can't...:rofl2:

Joe, my only question is why... I'm with you. I know i can't put the brakes on as is in evidence by my passion for cigars. I don't much see anymore self control with this.

Well, she finally figured out around No. 15 that they were coming in and not going out... Told her I was going to 'flip' some of them. After No. 20 she realized the only time they left the house was if they were given away to my brothers or sons. SWMBO is really pretty tolerant, but it's like anything else, there is a limit...LOL

Well... Yea... Ok... There is that I suppose. I was told that several years back about our boats. We had three of them and she told me that if I brought another one home that I had better be able to sleep on it.

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Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

You're in deep. Too deep to get out. The only reason we post our locations is so you know where the safe houses are.

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I know this isn't a safe house!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JoeSomebody

I used to laugh at these type of threads, but now after razor number twenty two or three not sure....and last night I wanted to bid on another and she just flat out said "isn't that enough? You just bought one this week and it's not even here yet." needless to say I was a little disappointed, but I guess I will just have to wait a week...LOL

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I hope I don't get too out of control with this. Got that way with firearms and reloading and am still that way with cigars and electronics!

Went there with fly rods, rod-building tools (built my own), fly tying, now razors, shaving-related supplies, razor restoration tools and supplies, etc. The price point is just achievable. The only place I didn't go there was with shotguns, since you get to price points where you can a) get a nice new gun, or b) re-roof the house. I did get a rifled barrel for it, though, for deer season. And, eventually, a new roof on the house.

JG… I won the war on cigars. She happens to like the “occasional” cigar too. I had to buy her a humidor of her own when her cigars took up almost a third of mine. She stole my best line and told me, very innocently, that her cigars kept having babies.
I’m working on her about the straights now. She is shaving with her own DE, but insists that the only way a straight is getting near her is if I’m doing it. Mind you now, she is 6’1”, and that’s a lot of real estate! Consider how long it takes to shave your face. However, the adventure is fun and the rewards of getting her hooked could be beneficial in several ways. I keep trying to get her on the site over in the women’s corner, but I think that my arguments for that are probably spurious at best.

Rough… I don’t really go much for the guns anymore, though I can understand it. I kinda got my fill of the weapons in the Navy. My youngest daughter, however, would love to raid your fly rods. She’s almost as mush fish as she loves to fish and she’s gotten on this kick of trying to fly fish.

Add to all of this, the fact that I’m an obsessive diver… can’t begin to imagine why we’re always broke.

I'm starting a local chapter of RA (razors anonymous). It's one day at a time but I have to get past denial and must become rigorously honest, including with my spouse. One month into this I have 15 straights already so don''t know how that will go. The postman wonders what the heck is going on but at least the boys in brown aren't lugging heavy packages up to the porch.

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Originally Posted by mumpig

I'm starting a local chapter of RA (razors anonymous). It's one day at a time but I have to get past denial and must become rigorously honest, including with my spouse. One month into this I have 15 straights already so don''t know how that will go. The postman wonders what the heck is going on but at least the boys in brown aren't lugging heavy packages up to the porch.

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"Hello, my name is Mapleleafalumnus and I'm addicted to stropping."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mumpig

I'm starting a local chapter of RA (razors anonymous). It's one day at a time but I have to get past denial and must become rigorously honest, including with my spouse. One month into this I have 15 straights already so don''t know how that will go. The postman wonders what the heck is going on but at least the boys in brown aren't lugging heavy packages up to the porch.

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Not until you discover bulk purchasing, anyway.

I just found a deal at RazorsRUs for a gross of SR8s but they are all pakistani. Seriously, I have 4-5 hobbies and am highly addiction prone. I go crazy on whatever I get into and this seems to be another. I love it! Don't know if, at a younger age, I could have found the time for SR8 shaving but I have it now so look forward to more. I plan on retiring in a couple more years and figure I can REALLY get into it then (but then...what is it I'm doing now?). Anyway, regarding RA..."keep coming back."

Hi Maple.... My name is Toymkrreed and I'm addicted to stropping.

All I can say is, "Damn...that was friggin funny!!" LMAO

Yea...ok... I fixed it... so lets keep it quiet and maybe nobody else saw how bad my typing is; and from my phone no less:aargh:

I'm just relieved it was a typo.

now that i have hit 30 razors, the wife doesn't know one from the other, and i check the mail, he he.