Thread: Some questions for younger shavers

Did the electric things for a few years, tried the M3 ad the Wilkinson (Shick) Quattro and then ended up on the straight. I'll never go back!.

I'm 27 btw.

I started shaving at 14 (am 27 now) and used the same single blade Bic disposables that my Dad does. I more or less used those until 2 years ago when I got a job in the oil patch and had to shave every day, my girlfriend bought me a electric razor that I've used up until recently when I quit that job and the foils are now worn out on it ($50 for a replacement) So I went back to using a cheap disposable razor. Now my wife bought me new foils for father's day so I'm back with the electric. But I just bought a straight off of Gugi on the forums here, so in the next few months I want to practice with that and use it when I have time. With my new job I have to shave every day again too, but sometimes it's an emergency call out or I have to get to work early so I have to shave fast, the electric works well for that.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

Hi Don - you started at 19, or your boys did, or you have 19 boys?
thanks

2 boys that are 19 started on straights when they just turned 18

Gillette sent me a mach3 when I was sixteen, their investment in an attempt to get me hooked on a system that keeps sucking your money. Well, they succeeded and I used it for years, especially since pops was buying the refills.

When I went to college, I had to start buying my own damn refills. I eventually realized that my beard had gotten a lot thicker then when I started shaving and the refills only lasted me about a week and a half each. When they were new, the sharpness irritated me. After a week, the dullness irritated me, and I was never happy with how it got my neck. They really tore me up!

Back in January, I was in the supermarket trying to buy a pack of refills. That's when they started keeping the razors at the front of the supermarket and only having a cardboard display on the shelf. I checked out at whatever the horrible price was (spent more on razors then on the food I bought that evening) and went home. Upset at how much money razors were, I unpacked what I bought and didn't find the razors in the bag.

Then I realized the woman at the register didn't give me the razors, she just bagged the cardboard display!!!



Thoroughly ticked, I drove back and picked them up. I went home, threw them in my pops bathroom drawer, and with a serious of explitives, I decided that that was the last time I buy disposable razors, and I've never been back since.

A lot of people on the board have said that SR-shaving is actually not a money saver, but I'm proud to say that after making my own strop, getting deals here and there, and doing some restoration work, I've been able to keep the hobby very close to a "net $0".

I'm 23.

Gillette Sensor Excel.

Then Schick Extreme3. I got it in a promo "Just send us your address and we'll send you the razor and 5 cartridges for FREE".

I started with a two blade thing, went to mach 3, gave it up for electric due to huge amounts of stubble burn and blunting of the blades real quick, grew a beard, then went to str8. I'm 24.

I'm almost 18, and when I started shaving at 14 (I was a hairy kid) I used a type of disposable Sensor 3s. When I ran out of those I switched to a real Sensor 3, but then I started growing out my sideburns when I was about 15 and the Sensor wasn't precise enough. I was wowed by the promise of the precision trimmer, only to buy one and find out its total crap. I floated around with the Fusion for about 2 years before I got fed up, and then found out about straight razor shaving.

28 here, started with a Trac II tried an electric, but it wasn't for me.

I did have a job where I had to shave daily, but it wasn't the military. By then I was using the Mach3

25.

I started with a Gillette that took the two-bladed cartridges. That's what's known as the "Track 2," isn't it? I didn't exactly refer to it by name at the time anyway, since shaving had yet to become something I enjoyed doing. It was just my "razor." I considered it my only real option for shaving. They were handing out free Mach III's and one or two cartridges in my first year of university. I gave it a try, but I thought that pivoting head was really annoying, clicking back and forth on the face. So I went right back to my usual one after a couple of attempts with the M3.

I made the jump to the straight razor three years ago. It took a little practice, but I got the hang of it quickly. It probably works in the opposite way most of the time, but I had absolutely no experience with a DE, even after becoming proficient with the straight. Everybody around here kept talking about them, so I asked a few questions... I then went out and bought a chrome Merkur classic. The first few shaves with it might as well have been with a cheese grater. I was not at all used to how sharp it was. But I got used to it really fast, and just as with the straight, I don't nick myself. Unless I'm being careless.

I bought a Merkur HD for my younger brother last august, and he really likes it too. He thinks straights are neat, but has no real interest in all the maintenance / patience that's requierd. So the DE is a good fit for him.

This is fascinating reading. I'm pushing a quick 62 and can't remember what I did yesterday, much less what I used while doing it.

I wonder what I'll be shaving with tomorrow. Will it be a straight... or a crooked?