Thread: Old timers, what have you seen change over the last ---- years?

Originally Posted by Geezer

The bad news is I am seeing more artisan soaps and creams.
~Richard

All of a sudden everyone knows how to make soaps...I have tried some of the most hyped ones and compared to proven stuff like Tabac, MDC, CF, only a few are close to performance. It seems that the so called "artisans" are more busy creating the next fancy scent than to make the lather more slick and with more cushion.

Originally Posted by Badgister

1) Egg: Actively watching youtube videos before purchasing their first gold dollar razor.
2) Caterpillar: An enthusiastic but very slow display of a new shaving skill.
2) Chrysallis: the transitional phase, marked by publicly touting a vendor's honing skills and discretely learning how to hone gold dollar razors.
3) Butterfly: The shameless display of the greatness of their gold dollar honing abilities and the selling phase ( egg laying)

Totally agree.
This is a new phenomenon that has developed recently.
Making every day videos of one shaving themselves. People seem to perceive that is a sure sign of being an expert in the field.
Constant positive reviews of soaps/AS provided by the maker. Talks about developing new honing methods, like there is anything new left to "invent" about how to draw a piece of steel across a stone to abrade it.
Worst part is newbies see those videos and think those guys know all the ins and outs of the hobby. Those guys have been in the hobby for less than two years and are promoting for money and cut of the pie, and are hurting the hobby more than helping it. I have heard from different internet "celebrities" how the GD is as good as any quality vintage blade, they sell GDs of course...just ridiculous.

All the new spawned honers, that have no clue how to hone a wedge and do not take that kind of work...it is really getting crazy out there.

Most of the shaving vids I find horrible (some are classics tho)

This just in from one of the self proclaimed honing godfathers

Starting out honing? DONT do circles. You will not be able to do them accurately and your learning curve will be MUCH longer than it has to be. Now circles done correctly are not bad strokes! Use 2 handed heel leading half strokes. Once you develop one method of honing, and your hands are more used to doing this, you can branch out into whatever you want to do.

This nonsense, circles are bad for you, is being taught to newbies right now...just outrageous IMHO.

Soaps...I can go to a large craft store and buy a glycerin pour soap base, any stink I want, and molds to pour it into. I can make beaucoup chunks of soap(?,) buy containers and labels for them by the hunnert, and be in the soap business for about 2 hunnert bux.
To me shave videos seem to be glorified "Looka Me!"
"Shave of the day" is where we enjoy the goodies. Drool and show off for my tastes!!
YMMV
~Richard

Not an oldtimer by any means, but it is interesting to read all this information. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Geezer

Soaps...I can go to a large craft store and buy a glycerin pour soap base, any stink I want, and molds to pour it into. I can make beaucoup chunks of soap(?,) buy containers and labels for them by the hunnert, and be in the soap business for about 2 hunnert bux.
To me shave videos seem to be glorified "Looka Me!"
"Shave of the day" is where we enjoy the goodies. Drool and show off for my tastes!!
YMMV
~Richard

Agreed, Richard

You will learn more about what is available to wet shaving by perusing SOTD than about anywhere else. I see something new nearly every day.

Originally Posted by mainaman

Totally agree.
This is a new phenomenon that has developed recently.
Making every day videos of one shaving themselves. People seem to perceive that is a sure sign of being an expert in the field.
Constant positive reviews of soaps/AS provided by the maker. Talks about developing new honing methods, like there is anything new left to "invent" about how to draw a piece of steel across a stone to abrade it.
Worst part is newbies see those videos and think those guys know all the ins and outs of the hobby. Those guys have been in the hobby for less than two years and are promoting for money and cut of the pie, and are hurting the hobby more than helping it. I have heard from different internet "celebrities" how the GD is as good as any quality vintage blade, they sell GDs of course...just ridiculous.

All the new spawned honers, that have no clue how to hone a wedge and do not take that kind of work...it is really getting crazy out there.

I think like anything internet related there is a LOT of fluff to filter through....I think some of this is just people showing off what they did successfully and are proud of...

There is also, of course, the element trying to squeak a bit of a profit out of it...and like any research for any hobby, some are garbage, some are great, and anyone who really looks more than skin deep and has an ounce of common sense can separate the wheat from the chaff.

Having said all of that...making blanket statements that someone who has or has not been a part of this hobby for "x" period of time, and by extension then has no credibility is also a bit of an overstatement. I hate to say it...but this is NOT rocket science. Both some of the smartest and also dumbest people throughout human history have been able to successfully shave and hone...and while it is a skill mostly lost, it is not that hard to pick up.

I am very confident in my ability to hone, as an example, and have only been doing so for a few months. While I would not presume to try and sell this service because my only desire was to become completely self-sufficient....I don't see how your last remark honestly has anything to do with anything. If I were to sell my services and don't want to or like honing wedges, how in any way does that affect the quality of my honing of a hollow grind?

The funnyist thing About the every day vids is, if I did a two pass shave,the next day there would be nothing to shave (and I have a heavy beard)
Took awhile but I learned how to hone my user blades,Pro honing is cheap,I no longer hone,send them out (I do maintain them tho) some for up to several yrs.
One day I looked at my stones and said: ya know, You have maybe $2500 worth of stones.I sold them all and bought very nice razors.
To me it is like trying to do a self Prostate exam,let the pros do it JMO

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

The funnyist thing About the every day vids is, if I did a two pass shave,the next day there would be nothing to shave (and I have a heavy beard)
Took awhile but I learned how to hone my user blades,Pro honing is cheap,I no longer hone,send them out (I do maintain them tho) some for up to several yrs.
One day I looked at my stones and said: ya know, You have maybe $2500 worth of stones.I sold them all and bought very nice razors.
To me it is like trying to do a self Prostate exam,let the pros do it JMO

Amen brother. Tc