Thread: rednecks and blue collers. roll call. shaving related

Ha ha, I'm feeling your original post brother! I shaved with a straight for about 12 years on a tight budget before going over the top on soaps and creams but I still run homeade strops and buy knackered razors and do them up myself. Up until a few weeks ago my highest grit stone was 6000, that's what I shaved off after stropping. Now I've got a Chinese phig for finishing for £16.50 delivered. Lur dee dur! Moving on up like my man George Jefferson!

It can be done on a more than realistic budget but I wasn't doing it that way because I had to, just because I wasn't bothered by all that product out there. As soon as I got a couple posh shaving soaps I was hooked though. At the same time I work hard for my money and personally hate to spend more than I need to on certain things. I enjoy making things so I'm more than happy to spend £5 on an old Joseph Rodgers razor and do it up then take it to my stones and diy strop, can't beat the feeling of restoring an old tool for another generation or two in my mind.

I'm still not sure I should be proud to meet the criteria you set in your original post but I pass with flying colours. I'm no criminal but you can take the boy out of the country and all that...welcome to the forum!

If you're going minimal, all you need is a shave-ready razor. At the beach, I used hand soap, applied it with my hands and shaved quite nicely. Cold water (free), hands (free) and a towel (free). Cost, beyond the razor, zip!

Originally Posted by ace

a towel (free)

Please sign me up for free towels.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Please sign me up for free towels.

yea me too if ur giving them out, not to be too pickey but i prefer american grown cotton only lol

Affordable shave gear, like other affordable luxuries are a key interest item for me. Most of the time, I'm just on a pretty tight budget and there always seems to be a bill or two left at the end of the money. As a response I've figured out lots of cost cutting measures that will still deliver luxury shaves.
1. Hone your own razors. Yeah there's a learning curve at first but it's not rocket surgery (sorry to let the cat out of the bag)
2. Most of my razors are flea market finds and many set me back less than $10. Clean them up, hone them, strop them and you're good
3. Between Williams and VDH, I prefer VDH but both are available at Walmart, Publix, etc. If you've got a Bath and Body Works available, a large tube of C.O. Bigelow (Proraso) will cost you $10 and last forever
4. Lots of folks dismiss the old school aftershaves that are widely available almost anywhere. The following is a short list of stuff that is affordable but I've found works like a champ and is generally available locally:
Aqua Velva Classic
Skin Bracer
English Leather
British Sterling
Brute
Nivea ASB
Clubman AS
Clubman Bay Rum
Murray and Lanman's Florida Water
Remember, you only smell like an old man if you smell like Swisher Sweets, beer farts, Ben Gay and Vitalis.
5. My mantra is simple, "We don't need no steenking badgers!" Omega, and Semogue both make very good, and affordable brushes. My current VDH is actually pretty good quality but they tend to be hit and miss. I bought this one on sale for $4
6. Other than that, I'd recommend buying the best strop you can afford. The trick really is separating affordable gear from cheap $H!T that doesn't work. There's plenty of both to be had, experimenting is half the fun (IMHO) and it's amazing to me that many of my shaves are absolutely bare bones, brick simple but seem to turn out so well.
7. Now I'm not hating on anybody that can afford high brow shave gear. In fact, if you can afford it good for you but I seem to do just about as well and I have lots of fun with my budget/redneck/blue collar shaves.

Lost count of how many tattoos I have.. About 20. New to str8s but certainly am a redneck.. Even live in a town named Plainsboro.. Enough said? F150 with manual trans, GSX-R 1000, and married at 27.. Went to county college for 9 yrs just to get an AS degree.. Lazier than most, but put in extra effort to not nick up my face shavin! Sportin an Original Athlete 6/8, half hollow that strops on the "El Toro." Fav thing about shaving is the feel of lathering my face with the badger hair brush. Lotsa lock to ya friend, from a fellow redneck down in Dirty Jersey.

Originally Posted by bulldog

I've got tats on the knuckles of both hands, a full sleeve, a half sleeve, and my high school was so small my graduating class was 54 people. When we got a traffic light and a Dollar General store, my "town" felt like we were moving up in the world. The passenger side mirror on my car is held on with duct tape. I live in the middle of the bible belt. If you fall into someones swimming pool here, you come out baptized. The "town" I live in is so rednecked they named it Stoney Creek. I think that fits almost all of your criteria.

Your posts don't count - unless you post a valid link to a viewable image of whatever endangered species that is in your avatar that you obviously hit with your Landrover and fed to your village afterwards.

Oh.. And how is this for redneck?? I have a pet hedgehog named knuckles..

On a side note.. Have you ever woken up still drunk with your boxers on the outside of your inside out
pants??