Thread: Spreading the gospel

So, this is just a funny story for people who know how great it is to discover that there is a better alternative to the shaving that we've all been trained like sheep to accept and then how frustrating it is to try and share this information with others.

My story starts about a month ago, over Thanksgiving dinner, when there was a lull in the conversation, my wife mentions my new addiction to DE and then SR shaving, and the entire table starts hooting with laughter -- my brothers first, then my father, and you know how it goes, once someone is latched onto something funny, the conversation goes downhill from there. Afterwards, my wife asks me privately if I was upset at dinner and I said, "No, because I know this sounds like what a crazy person says, but they're just wrong and I'm right."

Anyway, so we're over at my folks house again this past weekend, and we're giving our young kids a bath in my folks' bathroom before putting them in pajamas and driving home. And of course, I look over and see a brand new DE razor and brush on my side of the sink -- a Merkur Vision, no less. Well, it turns out that after giving me so much grief, my Dad did some research and then quietly went to Art of Shaving and bought a DE razor for himself. (I didn't tell him how much I could have saved him if he had spoken to me first, but so be it.)

The bottom line is that he's now a total convert to wet shaving and he's waiting right now for me to send him some Feather blades to try out in his new Vision.

Not sure if this will inspire anyone or merely remind you of how difficult it is to get people to try something new, but I thought you might appreciate the tale.

Great story! Thanks for posting it..!

My dad gave me a load of grief about the SR shaving, calling me a nerd and all the rest of it. The "nerd" thing is fairly mutual, as he has these little things he gets all excited about and the rest of us all go "Nerd!" so its no biggy. Just some friendly mickey taking..! :-)

But now he wants to get a straight, and go to Trumpers and have a proper barber shave... Guess I got him interested!

that is a good story for sure!!
i never thought to much about using a straight i had always used those 2 blade gillete razors and a can of goop gel or foam whatever was on sale at the time...
but i always got a shave at the barber when i got my haircut so that was kinda my thing every two weeks after work on a fridays stop on the way home see the barber talk get a haircut and a shave and get .....well i got to korea and WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO BARBER SHOPS HERE.. the barber shops here are affaliated with ladies of the night it seems so it makes them off limits.
so it was time for a haircut so i was forced to go to a unisex like place kinda like super cuts or something you could say......well i go in there and sit down in the chair and soon as i sit down they are wiping my hands off asking if i want a manicure(this is when i knew i was in for trouble) they couldnt even get a high and tight right. so i pay for my haircut and leave no tip go directly to the BX/PX and get a new set of whal clippers
go home and cut my own hair got a shower and then got on the net and started looking up info on straight razors(because that was part of my ritual that i could no longer get) and ended up here with a RAD to go along with my love for motorcycles and tools
so i dont get the haircut i want because i cant cut my own hair i just buzz it all off i would rather do that than pay for a bad haircut..but on the good side now i get to enjoy a good barber like shave every day....now if i could just find a good woman that would do it for me

My dear Jeff,

I like your story very much. It has a shade of O Henry in it with that little surprising twist at the end. Well done, sir.

Regards,

Obie

Very cool story, thanks for sharing it. In case you or your Dad have any problems with the Vision the way it is adjusted from the factory here is a post from another forum on how to properly set it up. I had one that wasn't set up properly when it left the factory and the linked post by mparker762 allowed me to correctly adjust it .

Thanks for the words of support, my fellow asylum inmates!! I won't tell you the details of all of the ribbing I took over Thanksgiving, but it was not pretty! Anyway, my other brother (who is more of a follower than I am) now sees that my Dad is into DE shaving, and he wants some help with it too. This is turning surreal, actually!

Nerd!?! How the hell is shaving with a stra8 nerdy? It takea balls to put a bare blade to your face.

Very cool story. Thanks for sharing.

My Dad looks for vintage razors for me at antique shops when he stops in them. He's said several times after seeing my close shaves that maybe I should teach him how to shave with a straight. It may sound discouraging, but I emphasize the time and maintenance factor with him and we've left it at that. Not that I wouldn't want him to learn how to shave with a straight, but knowing his personality, I know he would never want to spend the time to beat the learning curve and then maintain his razor/s. That's fine too in my book.

Maybe I should at least get him reacquainted with DE shaving and a mug and brush though. Hmmm.......

Chris L

My dad's 60th birthday is coming up soon and I was thinking of getting him a DE, a brush and some shaving cream for his birthday. My dad is disabled, his right arm can only bend from straight to 90 degrees and his left hand can only bend from fully bent to 90 degrees. So for many years he grew a beard. But lately he has been finding that he can do many things himself and has shaved his beard down to a goatee. Because of his lack of mobility he uses an electric. But I don't think my father should have to resort to using an electric face chewer.

Awesome story. I have a pack of Feathers I will send to your Dad if you like. I will never use them.