Thread: How did you do it prior to straights?

Where I come from you use some lighter fluid and burn the whiskers off.

Actually I used an electric for many many years before going to a DE then a straight.

I started with a fatboy that my father gave me and have used it solidly over the past 30+ years , yeah Ive had periods of using disposables and never thought any more of shaving other than it being a chore ..hehe till I discovered straits what a pleasure I wish my father had introduced me to , as I have fading memorys of watching my father shave with a straight when I was a young fella , he's passed now but my mother told me that he always shaved with a straight in his younger days .aleast I do have a strop that was my fathers , great post Mick

I started with the gunk in the can and a Gillette sensor.

My wetshaving started with a Merkur.

I never thought I would try a straight until a guy at work talked to me and the rest, they say, is history...

I voted DE, but it's not the entire story. Prior to picking up a straight, I shaved with a DE for about 6 months quite happily. Before the DE, I had been using a Gilette Sensor Excel (twin blade) since I started shaving, just picking up new (and ever more expensive) cartridges for it.

Of the three, I probably still get the best shave from two passes with a DE, but the straight is catching up (I'm about 6 months in with the straight).

I have used in order of their sequence, my father's DE, my own techmatic, injector blades, disposables, a Norelco electric, back to disposables, Mach 3 and finally, the straight. I've never tried the battery powred, pulsating things or the ones with enough blades to look like a window shutter. Those came along after I discovered the glorious way of the straight razor!

Shards of flint.

I used mostly the bic disposables, and tried an electric, that gave me a super crappy shave with a side order of hamburger-y face from all of the irritation, also tried the multi bladed crap for a little while until I had to sell one of my kidneys to get a package of blade cartridges

Started with DEs, went to electric to disposables to multi blades of all variations. Hated all of them and finally rested on cheapest multis I could find (mystery brands) on the basis that I might as well spend as little on a boring and painful chore as possible. In 25 years of shaving I never once enjoyed it. Switched to straights, moved up the learning curve and now I enjoy every shave and rarely miss a day. This site was instrumental in the process.

I used this one:

Gillette Aristocrat. Still do, once in a while..

Started with a Schick injector, then inherited a straight. When I dropped it and knocked a chunk out of the middle of the blade I could no longer find injector blades locally, so I went back and forth between twin-blades and electrics. I, too, have worn a full beard (shaved cheeks and neck) almost all my life, but I could never get a nice, sharp edge on it with an electric.

Now I shave with a Fatboy, and neaten the edges with a straight when I'm done. Occasionally I'll use a straight for the whole shave but I have arthritic hands and some days it would be a bloodbath to do so.