Baxxer's brief venture in the growing of facial hair.

As someone who picked up the straight razor when most of my facial hair was either non-existent or barely qualified as peach fuzz and who's been consistently shaving at least once or twice a week since then, I've never seen what my face looks like in anything longer than short stubble.

Over the holiday I figured that why not skip having for a while just to see how it turns out, I didn't have any plans to meet any people who weren't blood relatives anyway.

The first two weeks it looked really awful, especially the mustache, by the third week it actually started to look kind of OK, it was a far cry from my father's thick dense beard that could make most beard-sporters cry out in jealousy and if I were to wear it in public I'd probably have to trim it to something like a Van Dyke for it to look acceptable enough for my standards but by the end, the face that was looking back at me in the mirror was very different from from a few weeks before and it actually went alright with my hair that I've also let grow a bit longer than I usually like(which is still fairly short).

Since tomorrow is the first day that I'll have to go out again and interact with other people, I decided to shave it all off today.
I've also wanted to try out my new 8k Shapton GS for a awhile now, so in preparation for the shave I grabbed the Rosette Ribbon razor(which quickly became a favourite when I bought it) and refreshed the edge with a few laps on the Shapton and after that I just stropped it on leather instead of going on to the 12k Nani.

The shave was great, the edge was great and I could very well imagine having the Shapton 8k as my only finisher and be completely content with the shaves but I still have the Gok 20k at the top of my wish list.
I hadn't realised how much I had missed shaving and it was nice to again see the clean shaven face that I prefer when I looked in the mirror, I also discovered that I'd grown a pimple, which I blame on the lack of skin care maintenance that you get as a bonus from proper wet shaving.

I'm back.

i find this article kinda funny in a way , funny because the only reason i even shave is because of my " always wanted to shave with a straight razor" for as long as i can remember !! a shave for me was shaving my head once a month with the 5 blade Gillette , and trimming my beard with the hair clippers .. i was known for the saying " shave my head & trim my face " ..lol

finally after getting this wet shave thing figured out the fascination went from wanting to do it to only shaving because it still fascinates me and now am even wrapped up in the history of the razor and what was once a WANT TO DO has grown into a passion !!! i still think i have only balded my face 2-3 times at the most but always have something to shave for the enjoyment

I'm enjoying my 1st beard so much right now, I'm tortured as my blades are calling my name. I mean, I'm really enjoying it.

I've have go-tees and stuff before but never before a big on Scottish red beard. No SWMBO to consider, only my little girl who greatly admires it at the moment as well. She has asked me when I'm going to use my straight razors again. I wonder if that's a hint. Hmmm.... Have to interogate her further.

I'm absolutely sure when the shave comes, it will be as exciting as the 1st time. Can't wait.

Good to hear from you, Baxxer.