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My own shaving journey is a tale of boom to bust. I first got into the shaving game by looking online because I'd thought I'd seen somewhere that you could buy a twin blade cartridge blade sharpener contraption and for some reason I ended up finding TSR. Intrigued, I joined the forum. I, like many eagerly took in all the posts of all this fantastic new man gear, perfect for a character like mine, I'm either madly into something or not at all interested, take it 1000% or completely leave alone as not for me.
I bought a Muhle R89 as this is often the recommended starter razor to own. I paired it with a Palmolive stick soap ( classic ) a cheap Wilko Boar Brush and an Astra Green blade. First time out and because I used Cartridges with flex heads I pressed too hard and it was a blood bath, I literally looked like I'd been in Sweeny Todds. My face was sore for a few days afterwards.
When I managed a good clean shave a few times later, that was me hooked. From then on the bug really bit, I ploughed thousands into shaving tackle, no lie, I bought the lot, Mongoose, Wolfman, Timeless, Charcoal, every conceivable rare Razor apart from vintage I've owned, along with a massive Soap and Badger Brush collection from all the top guys in the game, I've had 'em, flogged them, bought them again, flogged them again.
Luckily I've never really lost much, cash wise from the hardware but software has cost me more than a few quid and I realised selling soap was a waste of time and effort and I've literally binned £100's worth of Soap in my time, it was even a standing joke at one time that my Bin Man had the smoothest face in Leeds.
These days the boom is over and I've whittled my once massive collection down to a Leaf, a Twig and a newly acquired Tatara Masamune. I have about 8 Synthetic Brushes, all good stuff, but worthless on BST and a big cash loss if I tried to sell them. I soon lost the Badger Bug when I realised even though I'm no eco warrior or Rabid Vegan that killing an Animal so I could build a face lather didn't sit right with me, especially with the way the country of origin treats animals, I couldn't any longer justify that. Not preaching here, if you enjoy Badger, go for it, and a still too big soap collection, these days it's all pretty much out of date stuff from around 3 years ago, so none of the latest and greatest but it all does the same.
I then made the fatal mistake of getting into Fragrance. Now, that was a mistake, that did cost me a pretty penny and to this day I still have over 100 bottles of really expensive smelly stuff. I always smell nice however and have enough to last me and my Son out for our lifetimes. Fragrance is something I regret spending on, big time, as even though I get the occasional compliment to boost the ego, I don't get enough to justify the outlay.
So that's about it, a tale of boom and bust, of wanting to have the best a man can get, then once I had it, I wanted more and more until I came to my senses and stopped, took a deep breath and got out of that damned Rabbit hole of spending. I'm still here, still enjoying having a shave, but I've realised it is just a shave and I'll have to do it again in two days time no matter how smooth my face is and I don't need to have all that stuff I thought was essential to enjoying my shaving.
What's your stories then Lads?
I bought a Muhle R89 as this is often the recommended starter razor to own. I paired it with a Palmolive stick soap ( classic ) a cheap Wilko Boar Brush and an Astra Green blade. First time out and because I used Cartridges with flex heads I pressed too hard and it was a blood bath, I literally looked like I'd been in Sweeny Todds. My face was sore for a few days afterwards.
When I managed a good clean shave a few times later, that was me hooked. From then on the bug really bit, I ploughed thousands into shaving tackle, no lie, I bought the lot, Mongoose, Wolfman, Timeless, Charcoal, every conceivable rare Razor apart from vintage I've owned, along with a massive Soap and Badger Brush collection from all the top guys in the game, I've had 'em, flogged them, bought them again, flogged them again.
Luckily I've never really lost much, cash wise from the hardware but software has cost me more than a few quid and I realised selling soap was a waste of time and effort and I've literally binned £100's worth of Soap in my time, it was even a standing joke at one time that my Bin Man had the smoothest face in Leeds.
These days the boom is over and I've whittled my once massive collection down to a Leaf, a Twig and a newly acquired Tatara Masamune. I have about 8 Synthetic Brushes, all good stuff, but worthless on BST and a big cash loss if I tried to sell them. I soon lost the Badger Bug when I realised even though I'm no eco warrior or Rabid Vegan that killing an Animal so I could build a face lather didn't sit right with me, especially with the way the country of origin treats animals, I couldn't any longer justify that. Not preaching here, if you enjoy Badger, go for it, and a still too big soap collection, these days it's all pretty much out of date stuff from around 3 years ago, so none of the latest and greatest but it all does the same.
I then made the fatal mistake of getting into Fragrance. Now, that was a mistake, that did cost me a pretty penny and to this day I still have over 100 bottles of really expensive smelly stuff. I always smell nice however and have enough to last me and my Son out for our lifetimes. Fragrance is something I regret spending on, big time, as even though I get the occasional compliment to boost the ego, I don't get enough to justify the outlay.
So that's about it, a tale of boom and bust, of wanting to have the best a man can get, then once I had it, I wanted more and more until I came to my senses and stopped, took a deep breath and got out of that damned Rabbit hole of spending. I'm still here, still enjoying having a shave, but I've realised it is just a shave and I'll have to do it again in two days time no matter how smooth my face is and I don't need to have all that stuff I thought was essential to enjoying my shaving.
What's your stories then Lads?