Thread: How did you end up here?

I have read in different places why people have started wet shaving: save money, better for the environment, and so on. The question is how did you get started? you can't just go to Fred Meyers and buy a straight razor or double edge, you have to find it.
You can, if you look hard enough, find a shave soap. The quality is minimal at best.
You have to work to wet shave. Once you're in, you're hooked and I have seen it myself quickly grow from personal hygiene to a hobby or even a business.
So, what drew you in? What brought you here? How exactly did you get started?

My story is rather ironic. I saw online ad for, of all things, The Rolling Razor. The advertisements on the web site looked good, and it wasn't that much money, and I was very tired of bad shaves. I went to an independent review site, and the reviews were... abyssmal. One caught my eye. it said that the Rolling razor was junk, and that if I wanted a good shave, to try a brush and Double Edge razor. I did some reading, and decided to give ti a go. I picked up a Gillette slim and a best badger brush online, as well as a blade assortment. For soap I picked up some CO bigelow and VDH locally. I tried it, and it turned a miserable chore into a pleasant experience that I look forward to. Needless to say, I have been wet shaving ever since.

A friend showed me a custom Dobson kamisori, and the day after last Christmas I hosted Phil to coffee and razor talk. I wound up buying 2 razors, and my friend bought a kamisori as well. We had a great time, and from that point on I was hooked into RAD among other things.

Great topic, nanna!

The result of an ill spent youth.

the result of misspent youth, decades of riotous living and this is how i learned to shave when i was a kid. my dad, grandfather and an old barber helped me along the way, they all used straights.

Purely by happenstance. In 2006 i was searching the internet for audio gear reviews by Corey Greenberg, and noticed he had a blog about old style shaving, that really sparked an interest. It brought back great memories of working in my grandfathers barbershop in my youth and the old school shaving that went on there. I was resigned to the daily drudge of scraping my face with a multiblade and canned goo, and was oblivious to the old style shaving revival prior to reading the blog. So thanks Corey for turning a daily drudge into all of the associated AD's, and mostly for a helluva lot of fun!

I have been enjoying straight shaves from the time when I used to go to the barber with my Dad. Everyone once in a while we would spend the afternoon and would go for a hair cut and shave to our local Barber. I always enjoyed catching up on things with Dad and the great shave done by the Barber. There were times over the years I was able to get a shave, but as years marched on, the availability was less and less.
My wife came home from work one day and brought me a 40 page paper which she received form her boss on wet shaving, both straight and double edge. I never thought about being able to shave with a straight razor before, but after reading the paper decided to try.

Well, here I am!!

It was a deed of necessity for me.
I shave my head every day, and got so sick and tired standing in the shower with another dull cartridge, just to find that it was the last one I had.
So, instead of walking around looking like funky Funk with half a head shaven properly, I went online looking for alternatives.
I found a Norwegian site at first, but soon ended up here.

I was at the barber awhile back, and we were talking about knives, and getting a pocketknife sharp enough to shave with. One of the barbers pointed out that the young guy cutting my hair shaves with a straight razor, and we began talking about straight razors. fast forward a few months, and my wife and I were discussing ways to save money. I kind of threw it out as a joke, to which she replied "don't do it to save money, do it because you want to." So I did . Now, I am hooked. Plus, there is something gratifying about seeing the look on people's faces when it comes up that you "Sweeny Todd style." Who doesn't want to feel a little more bada$$ anyways? Amazing shaves have been an enjoyable result, and my wife loves not being scratched by my stubble every other day, and I can shave more often without my skin fighting back.

I have always used a DE, it was the first razor I was given by my farther and after trying modern multi blade types razors I decided that I didn't like them and stuck with it for years.

My circle of friends and myself have always been into older styles when it comes to things like our cars, clothes and hair cuts etc and we are all drug and alcohol free. In 2010 one of our close friends passed away following a drug over dose which shocked us all, none of us had a clue he was even using. With two of the group being tattoo artists we decided to get tattoos in memory of our friend. In the tattoo world the straight razor is often used to symbolise the recovery from drug or alcohol related issues, it's also associated with the straight edge (drug and alcohol free) lifestyle and seemed fitting. After getting the tattoo my interest in straights took off and I decided I needed to get one.

Almost two years on and for the most part my daily shave is a straight of some sort, however I do use a DE if I'm pushed for time.