Good morning. I'm a new guy. I saw "The Art of Shaving" store at the local mall a month or so ago, and started thinking it might be fun to go there for the works some day. It would be kind-of like a Dad's visit to the spa! My wife reminded me that Father's Day is coming.
Well, not well known for patience when it comes to something fun and/or a new experience like that, I started doing a little research. This led to my first visit here and have been wallowing through your site for a few weeks now, and have certainly learned a lot.
It also led to me gaining my first step in the direction of a new shave. Growing up in the 50s-60s, my Dad really never had to teach me anything about shaving (because I didn't). Of course I saw him shave, never knew either of my Grandfathers, and had left home and joined the military before really starting to to shave. That said, my norm was probably like many others that shaving was a chore that guys just had to deal with, and whatever brought the most convenience, was the way to go.
After having the bug placed firmly in the back of my head, a visit to our local antique shop brought me 2 perfect condition Gillette safety razors (seems like 1 had never been used) for $ 5 each! I figured that would be a good place to start and now that I'm regularly using those I feel that I've learned enough and my face has adapted enough that I'm "half way there" to my entry into a first straight razor shave.
Things I've learned include; 1. don't be in a hurry (leads to blood loss); 2. don't travel through airport security with a loaded safety razor (leads to blade loss); 3. don't be distracted (leads to blood loss); 4. don't combine #1 with wearing a white shirt and a tight work schedule (leads to blood loss and all day smiles due to blood spots all over your collar; 5. a good shave really increases the amount of time your wife will be stroking the side of your face to feel that baby butt smoothness (leads to, well, never mind); and many other things.
I just spent a few days relaxing in MI and while there wandered through a good number of antique shops. By so doing, picked up a number of straight edge razors based on things I've learned on this forum. I picked up a Wade & Butcher "The Celebrated"; a Joseph Elliott's Best; a Jassiano & Co; a Geo. Wostenholm, a Geneva (my wife and I grew up near Geneva NY so that had to be part of the set) and a no-name that just looks pretty good. I spent less that $ 60 on the lot!
I'm certainly NOT interested in becoming a collector, a dealer or a restorer but with the right touch think that I should end up with a few nice shaves from this set. I'll go through and give each a good cleaning and polishing but will do the heavy lifting to someone that knows what they're doing.
By that time, I'll be ready to step up from the safety razors to one of these "bad boys" and be "the rest of the way there" (at least at the start of a new shaving experience).
Thanks for all your good information and I'll let you know how things progress.
