Thread: Shaving, As It Was Then, As It Is Now

Gotta say - there's a funny paradox with how you can get into the 'manly' and 'scary' straight razor, but get absorbed with soaps / creams and making nice lathers... kind of a fusion between manly and feminine.

I don't know, I've never really thought of the making uberlather, using expensive aftershaves/colognes thing as feminine, and yes I'm very guilty of this! I see it more as part of the same masculine ritual--a way for a man to take care of & (I hate this word, I'm just using it for illustrative purposes here-- promise!) "pamper" himself, albeit in a manly way without forfeiting his cojones/dignity in the process. A form of personal care that he can be proud to do.

Sort of like lifting kettlebells instead of those sissy machines you find @ big chain gyms. More effective too, in both cases.

(My apologies - Any more off-topics and I'll have to ask myself to step outside and take this discussion elsewhere... like a new thread.)

Manliness - in my view a "real" man can smell nice if he wants to and can have another serve of quiche (and make it a big slice this time).

Having courage to choose your own way regardless of societal expectations is pretty manly.

(And if we want to continue this off-topic - someone can start a new thread).

Your initial post was beautifully written and expresses my feelings exactly. This is a wonderful site and has allowed me to no only meet some wonderful people, but also learn a valuable skill. I count myself among the many who look forward to my morning shave.

Lewis

We were discussing this thread last night during the Sunday chat...
I had a thought, that yes maybe we were taking the "Art of Shaving" to the next level, my "proof" was the ATG pass...
Honestly advice from back in the day all says to stay away from ATG passes, I realize that many here do not use it I rarely do but we can and it seems we can without much problem....So I was thinking I was pretty smart at that point when CarrieM said something that took some of the air out of my sails...
CarrieM said "Glen that might be more because you guys are shaving yourselves, and can feel better when the ATG pass is becoming irritating"

So I am back to square one again, I do think that some of us on here are more hobbyists than shavers and I think that we do take the honing to the next level...
Myself I started in 1981 with 2 razors 1 strop and 1 stone I got good shaves with that until 2000-01 when I finally dropped the second razor...
I came back to straight razor shaving in 2007 and then found SRP...
we won't go into how many stones, razors, and strops I have now but it is way more... I am way more involved than just simple shaving now.....
My shaves are even more comfortable now then they were in the past so something is going right...

The Art of Shaving is alive and well. SRP helped bring many of us along quickly and allowed us to become well versed in straight shaving.

I am convinced the movement of straight shaving is up and running and will continue to be a building trend that will go on for many years. It represents the best shave available and I was always told that since I was a child, but never had the information or guidance to give it a try until recently.

Men are spending more on grooming themselves and the Art of Straight Shaving is back!

Thanks to All and SRP!

Pabster