Why did you start?

At the time, some years ago, I googled it and it came up with a result including a Latin name, and blamed it on multi blade shaving. I didnt take a note of the name and I regret I cant find it now. I remember it clearly stating that it was not dangerous or likely to spread. Just irritating. Sorry I cant be of more help. The last time I heard of this with a DE shaver it turned out to be overuse of alum block ie not rinsing the face.
Curious to hear more about this. I sometimes get itching on my non shaving day. I get this more with some DE blades than with others for some reason.

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For me, I wan unhappy with multi-blade cartridges; cost and performance - irritation on my neck.

I wanted to save money (no laughing at the back), with better shaves and improved skin condition.

My only wish was that I learned to shave with a DE when I started shaving.

Chris
similar story here, better later than never :D
 
Only just restarted and told 'her indoors' it was to save money. Within a week I have spent more than a years subscription to the shaving club and filled up 2 shelves in the bathroom. I think it is the jackdaw syndrome - can't resist collecting shiny things!
 
Only just restarted and told 'her indoors' it was to save money. Within a week I have spent more than a years subscription to the shaving club and filled up 2 shelves in the bathroom. I think it is the jackdaw syndrome - can't resist collecting shiny things!

Brilliant. I started DE shaving with the twin goals of getting a better shave with minimal irritation, and saving money. I've done the former, not the latter, so far.

There's something incredibly satisfying about brushing a nice warm cream/soap lather onto your face, gliding a DE razor through it and taking your time about it, as opposed to slapping ‘canned goo' gel onto your face and running an expensive cartridge down it in a couple of minutes

The rabbit hole goes as deep as you want it to. As I saw in a thread once, “Your face, your wallet, your choice.” After the initial outlay and trying a few brushes out, I've got enough blades to last a few months so don't NEED to buy anything at all for a while
 
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Amateur. I just worked out that I have enough blades for 19.2 years.

Good man, it's good to guard yourself against price increases and blades going out of production, forward thinking is what I like to think it is. During the Second World War you would have had great difficulty buying blades. Only those with forethought would have been sitting pretty. P.
 
I'm struggling to recollect why TBH. I'd been using cartridge razors for the best part 30 years and didn't have many issues over that time. I could get a couple of weeks out of one cartridge so it wasn't costing me a fortune either. I'd have a bottle of Nivea aftershave balm and a few cans of Nivea shaving gel for Christmas so I'd only have to buy a couple of cans of shaving gel and a couple of packs of cartridges a year. So I didn't get into this to save money. If only I knew what I know now…

The last cartridge razor I used was the King of Shaves Azor razor. I really rated it and had no issues with it at all. In fact a month or so before I moved away from cartridges I bought a years-worth of cartridges direct from KoS. I still have them in a box somewhere.

Why the move? Well I've always considered myself a bit of a traditionalist and liked the MOD ethos. Put it this way my dream job would be a Bespoke Tailor on Savile Row.
I'd fancied trying a Straight razor for years but the jump/learning curve from cartridges seemed too great and more importantly bloody dangerous!
I was on YouTube and a ‘Nick Shaves' video popped up on my recommendations. I started watching it and it really appealed to me.

As some of you may have noticed I'm quite an obsessive character so it didn't take me long to before I was completely consumed by it all. I watched hour upon hour of shaving videos. If someone asked me what I did over the weekend I'd just have to make something up. ‘'Oh you know drinking and fighting*, you know the usual''. If I told them I watched men shaving all weekend they would have thought I'd gone mad or have a very peculiar fetish…or just a saddo.

When I found this forum it was both a blessing and a curse. It's full of some of the most warm and friendly people you could ever wish to meet. They were very helpful and generous. Unfortunately the forum is full of enablers and photos of lovely shinning things at every turn. Not good for someone with no willpower and obsessive personality…Oh and definitely not good for my bank balance.



So what's the pros and cons of traditional shaving?



The Pros:

Enjoying shaving and actually looking forward to the next one.

The meditative ‘me-time'. When you've had a crap day or somethings playing on your mind you can lose yourself for a little while.

The finished results. When you have a great shave you feel great and basically you can't stop stroking your face.

The endless supply of things to buy and the rush of getting home to a cardboard box full of delights.



The Cons:

The Rabbit hole. I think most of us have been down there or still are. The obsession to buy stuff or to own the latest shiny new thing never seems to end.
We only have ourselves to blame though. We go on the forums and see what everyone else is using and fall for the hype. The hyper which we all help create.

In the beginning it can be disheartening when you start to buy everything you can get your hands on and a lot of the time you can be disappointed. 99% of the time this isn't the products fault, it's user error. Something I've been guilty of on many occasion.

The cost: A lot of ‘newbies' say they've come to this way of shaving to save money. For those of use who've been into this hobby for even a few months read it and say to ourselves ‘'Run! Run while you still have money in your pocket and a roof over your head''.

Cheers
Rob

*I'm a lover night a fighter.
 
I'm struggling to recollect why TBH. I'd been using cartridge razors for the best part 30 years and didn't have many issues over that time. I could get a couple of weeks out of one cartridge so it wasn't costing me a fortune either. I'd have a bottle of Nivea aftershave balm and a few cans of Nivea shaving gel for Christmas so I'd only have to buy a couple of cans of shaving gel and a couple of packs of cartridges a year. So I didn't get into this to save money. If only I knew what I know now…

The last cartridge razor I used was the King of Shaves Azor razor. I really rated it and had no issues with it at all. In fact a month or so before I moved away from cartridges I bought a years-worth of cartridges direct from KoS. I still have them in a box somewhere.

Why the move? Well I've always considered myself a bit of a traditionalist and liked the MOD ethos. Put it this way my dream job would be a Bespoke Tailor on Savile Row.
I'd fancied trying a Straight razor for years but the jump/learning curve from cartridges seemed too great and more importantly bloody dangerous!
I was on YouTube and a ‘Nick Shaves' video popped up on my recommendations. I started watching it and it really appealed to me.

As some of you may have noticed I'm quite an obsessive character so it didn't take me long to before I was completely consumed by it all. I watched hour upon hour of shaving videos. If someone asked me what I did over the weekend I'd just have to make something up. ‘'Oh you know drinking and fighting*, you know the usual''. If I told them I watched men shaving all weekend they would have thought I'd gone mad or have a very peculiar fetish…or just a saddo.

When I found this forum it was both a blessing and a curse. It's full of some of the most warm and friendly people you could ever wish to meet. They were very helpful and generous. Unfortunately the forum is full of enablers and photos of lovely shinning things at every turn. Not good for someone with no willpower and obsessive personality…Oh and definitely not good for my bank balance.



So what's the pros and cons of traditional shaving?



The Pros:

Enjoying shaving and actually looking forward to the next one.

The meditative ‘me-time'. When you've had a crap day or somethings playing on your mind you can lose yourself for a little while.

The finished results. When you have a great shave you feel great and basically you can't stop stroking your face.

The endless supply of things to buy and the rush of getting home to a cardboard box full of delights.



The Cons:

The Rabbit hole. I think most of us have been down there or still are. The obsession to buy stuff or to own the latest shiny new thing never seems to end.
We only have ourselves to blame though. We go on the forums and see what everyone else is using and fall for the hype. The hyper which we all help create.

In the beginning it can be disheartening when you start to buy everything you can get your hands on and a lot of the time you can be disappointed. 99% of the time this isn't the products fault, it's user error. Something I've been guilty of on many occasion.

The cost: A lot of ‘newbies' say they've come to this way of shaving to save money. For those of use who've been into this hobby for even a few months read it and say to ourselves ‘'Run! Run while you still have money in your pocket and a roof over your head''.

Cheers
Rob

*I'm a lover night a fighter.

Nice post Rob!:cool:
On the whole I have to agree with 99.9% ..apart from the fact that I started because my skin was knackered using carts and canned foam. Also my Father always shaved with a DE when I was a kid and I was fascinated with it (it was Gillette slim TTO) and I used to mess around with the mechanism ect. Also I can remember my Grandfather using a straight razor and stropping it on (what I thought was his belt) on the bathroom door and I was totally fascinated.
Now I've been at this game nearly 10 years before I joined any forums and boom sooo much stuff. That said the communities are wonderful with great people like your good self..soo generous and helpful and I love my shaves. I would never go back to canned foam and carts..plus if I did I'd need a couple of removal vans.
All that said it's a great hobby and I get he best shaves of my life these days so what the hey.!
 
Thanks for the kind words Chris.

I never got the fascination bit from my Dad TBH. My Dad's still got a DE razor (a Gillette from the 70's but can't remember the name of the model) and a Palmolive stick. The Palmolive stick must be well over 20= years old. I might use it and see how it performs. Or I might put it on eBay for a silly price seen as it's now ‘vintage'.:p;):)
 
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