Houston we have lift off! Energizing a new generation...
Here is a good story.
In my men's group, we have 9 men. At New Years, I was the only regular user of a straight. One man uses a straight occasionally to trim his beard and another had used one (his grandfather's Red Injun) years ago but quit and the razor was in not so good condition.
For the holidays, I cleaned up and honed the Red Injun. Since then, there has been increasing interest in our group. In early March, we held a shave night at my house for our meeting that week. 6 men made it to the meeting and we all watched Lynn's video. I handed out some unrestored and dull razors for the men to handle/practice. After that, any man that wanted to shave with a straight was free to choose a razor from my rotation and head to one of my bathrooms to get started. One man chose not to shave. In all it worked out well and all the men that shaved that night have bought straights.
Fast forward to last week, Aaron the man with the Red Injun has a bit of RAD going and has 4 boys. The oldest is 16. The 16 had a bit of fuzz going on his lip and Aaron suggested that he shave it off. The boy wanted to try a straight for the task. Aaron thought that was cool and helped his son dispatch the fuzz. Things went well with Aaron's help until near the end when his son decided to “wiggle” his upper lip and wound up getting cut. Aaron passed him the styptic and told him how to use it. Aaron reports that the howl accompanying the application of the styptic was quite funny.
Several days later, all the boys had gathered to watch dad shave. When Aaron was done, his son wanted to do a complete shave with a straight. Again Aaron agreed and helped his son. Aaron had to finish the shave when his son didn't trust his left hand for that side but the shave ended with success. At that point Aaron's wife arrived on the scene. She was not too amused that he was letting HER son use such a dangerous implement.
She quickly pointed out her plethora of BIC's under the sink and suggested that in the future that would be the preferred way to accomplish the task. Aaron and the boys were basically speechless until the youngest spoke up, “Mom, women use those, Men use straight razors!” Aaron couldn't stop laughing.
Our group is planning another shave night soon to get the other 3 men “on board.”
