Thread: What Has Changed About You???

Str8 shaving is a large part of a complete life change. I have quit my job. Started charging for my custom fly rods. I am going back to school now. I bought new glasses changed my wardrobe. My haircut is different. My sideburns are back (kept cutting a mole.) In general I have begun a totally new life.

Yes, I'm all down with the feeling better bit, saving money (ha!), enjoying shaving, etc.

But I've also developed some weird habits. Specifically, whenever I have silverware in front of me at a friend's house or in a restaurant, I always look for the hallmark. Seems that they're nearly always from China now, but I do enjoy finding silverware made elsewhere.

It's gotten so bad that I've almost asked my wife about replacing all of our Chinese flatware because whenever I go antiquing around here, I find lousy razors but tons of nice looking silverware. Once saw a complete Boker set with MOP handles but it was a bit too pricey for me at the time.

These habits have developed in the past. I got into coin collecting as a child and still tend to look for mint marks. I worked in a dairy section while in college and developed a habit of looking for expiration dates on everything. Now I'm into razors and I look at silverware. Yeesh!

Having been wet-shaving for the last 30 years, I always enjoyed it, but now I really look forward to it. It still takes me 30-40 minutes to get WTG on my whole face and neck plus ATG on the neck and chin plus XTG and ATG on my cheeks--so I get up earlier than I used to so I have time to do that every day. i've also changed my shave pattern. I used to go (in my Atra days) from left cheeck to neck to right cheek, then upper lip and finish on the chin. But I've noticed that my upper lip and my chin don't like being at the end of a straight-razor shave, so I do them first now, followed by the cheeks and neck.

I also think I may have been stricken with an AD not previously described: "Oh, man look at that Boker . . . but that Bengall, ooh, shiny . . . or I could buy that TI--look at those scales . . ." = Razor Acquisition Attention Deficit Disorder

My enjoyment of shaving with a straight has changed. Originally, my enjoyment was primarily the challenge, and secondarily the experience. Now, I shave with little conscious thought. As shaving has become second nature, the experience side of things has risen to the top.

It's fun learning to drive or snow skit or fly a plane. Or, shave with a straight razor. It's even better when the conscious part recedes, and the visceral and subconscious part takes over.

What has changed since I began wet shaving and using a straight.

First, I never used to look forward to shaving. Now I not only look forward to shaving, I enjoy it.

Second, I never used a brush, soap or cream. I have had the opportunity to try many badger and boar brushes, soaps, and creams.

Third, had never used a DE or straight razor. I have been able to try many vintage razors and love the art, history, and tradition surrounding them.

As a result, I have cycled through the AD's, enjoy shaving very much and openly discuss and encourage others to give wet shaving a try. Even though I believe I have settled on a smaller usable and functional collection(this may be subjective), I cannot stop the urge to duck in an antique store or stop at a flea market to see what I might find.

What a great thread Lynn!

1. I love to shave now - I would shave twice a day if my whiskers would grow that fast.
2. I start my day with a real sense of accomplishment when it goes well, and with humility when it doesn't.
3. I have approached everything that I must maintain, from keeping my car clean to polishing my shoes much more responsibly and gentlemanly.
4. I really feel like my subconscious is solving problems in a background loop while I'm concetrating on shaving in a foreground loop.
5. I am open to meeting more people and have a greater variety of freinds than I ever have in my life.
6. It inspired me to loose 33lbs - which I have!
7. I feel like I take on even more difficult projects at work.
8. I loose control of my finances whenever I see a razor I don't have.
9. I am humbled by the skill required to do any aspect of straight razor shaving.
10. I am humbled by the skills of the members here when I see their work and listen to their experience.
11. I have been taught what true generosity and lack of ego mean. I have never found an activity where so many were willing to share so much hard faught for and won knowledge and experience - and do it in so gentlemanly a fashion.
12. I have never found something so beautiful, simple, elegant and functional as a straight razor, with the possible exception of my pipes.

In general, this has been one of the most positive experiences and influences on my life that I have found.

Cheers,
David

Before I started using straights, I hadn't shaved for about 4 years, which was also when my facial hair first started coming in. I always got such bad irritation from cartridge razors and could never get a good shave from an electric, so I just didn't shave. I always had some form of facial hair, be it a beard or whatever is left behind by clippers without a guard.

So, from about my junior year in high school through my junior year in college, I was razor free. Now I'm buried under razors and loving it.

Originally, I started wet shaving to save money....that's definitely not the case now. I have spent far more on shave gear then I ever would have on Fusion cartridges. BUT, I don't mind. Shaving is something that is truly therapeutic for me now. I look forward to my morning shaves with great anticipation. I LOVE the nostalgia of it all. Thinking about my ancestors before me gives me a link to the past whereas before shaving was merely a chore that I had to do to look presentable.
I too, can't pass an antique store without popping my head in. The AD's come and go but I am always on the lookout.
I suppose the biggest change will come in the future as I intend on teaching my boys that THIS is how a man shaves. Hopefully these old steel blades will be popping hairs well into the 21st century just as they were in their heyday.
Some things are better left untouched by advancing technology. The art of shaving is one of them.

Originally Posted by Alembic

What a great thread Lynn!

1. I love to shave now - I would shave twice a day if my whiskers would grow that fast.
2. I start my day with a real sense of accomplishment when it goes well, and with humility when it doesn't.
3. I have approached everything that I must maintain, from keeping my car clean to polishing my shoes much more responsibly and gentlemanly.
4. I really feel like my subconscious is solving problems in a background loop while I'm concetrating on shaving in a foreground loop.
5. I am open to meeting more people and have a greater variety of freinds than I ever have in my life.
6. It inspired me to loose 33lbs - which I have!
7. I feel like I take on even more difficult projects at work.
8. I loose control of my finances whenever I see a razor I don't have.
9. I am humbled by the skill required to do any aspect of straight razor shaving.
10. I am humbled by the skills of the members here when I see their work and listen to their experience.
11. I have been taught what true generosity and lack of ego mean. I have never found an activity where so many were willing to share so much hard faught for and won knowledge and experience - and do it in so gentlemanly a fashion.
12. I have never found something so beautiful, simple, elegant and functional as a straight razor, with the possible exception of my pipes.

In general, this has been one of the most positive experiences and influences on my life that I have found.

Cheers,
David

I think this sums up my feelings as well, I would like to add one more thing to the list. Every man I have met through SRP has been a man I have been proud to meet, if I could say this about everyone in my life I would be riding the gravy train.

Good post, Lynn

I've shaved every day for past 30 years. Before straights i used mostly DE or yellow Bics. I didn't like shaving at all; it was just something that i had to do every day.
Some years ago i started to learn how to use straight razor. I had some of my grandfathers straights (2 Swedes) and maybe i just wanted to give them a try after honing them. My first shaves weren't too comfortable but i took it is a challenge. I kept trying because i knew that so many generations have been able to use straights before me; there is no reason why i couldn't do it after some practice.
Little by little i learned it, and somehow, by itself, learned to enjoy it too.
That is the big difference between then and now. If i have to do something i might as well enjoy doing it.