The Big, Merged, Master Shaving Thread

[First Shirt]

I'm using the Gillette DE that my grandfather bought in August of 1955, and a mug and brush. I've tried just about every multi-bladed abberation on the market, but I can buy a ten-pack of Personna blades at Walmart for less than two bucks, and a blade will last four or five days.

Different is not necessarily better.

[mekender]

shave... whats that?


i use a mach 3 turbo... but i have been known to stop in at a barber's shop for a straight razor shave with some hot foam

[Catbird]

90% of my shaving is done with the Braun 1775 on the left. It doesn't shave as close as a blade, but good enough for most days. I actually have two of these since I bought another one while the first was lost for about three weeks under the seat of my truck! It's main advantages are:

1) compact and portable
2) cordless and dry, (I can use it in the car on the way to work)*
3) charges on any voltage from 12 VDC to 220 VAC
4) if the battery is dead, you can plug it in and run it from the charging cord
5) cheap - around $40-50

In the center is a Gillette 1-9 adjustable. I bought it at a thrift store just before I enlisted in the army and used it the entire time I was in. My dad used one just like it while I was growing up. (He uses an electric now as well). I use it when I want an especially smooth shave or when the mood strikes me.

On the right is a cheap, store-brand, triple-blade disposable. I use it for clean-up and for the stubble on the top of my head. I also carry one or two in my travel kit for emergencies.

razors.jpg

*yeah, I know it's unsafe, sue me.

[Jered]

*yeah, I know it's unsafe, sue me.

You're driving among Seattlites.

I shave with a Gillette Mach 3.

[SeekHer]

From the Old GTF I came across my reply to this thread that BenS started:

I just love to shave, first I wash with hot water and soap, then use a cloth soaked in hot water to soften the skin and open the pores, a brush with good shaving soap –not cream or lather--to work it into the beard and a sharp blade to slice it all away…such a great feeling and when done it’s as smooth as a baby’s bottom and everywhere the blade has traveled is a lovely shade of bright red for a couple three days afterwards…

I love it so much that the last time I shaved, I really made it close so it would last, that was Nov. 12th, 1974, and I haven’t had to shave since…

I “shave” with a pair of scissors and an electric barber shears once every couple of weeks to keep my full beard in a fairly close cut and the beard trimmer is for making the bottom line straight and getting real close to the skin so I don’t have to shave it with a razor except for those few times I get dressed up in a suit for some special event, like my daughters’ weddings…

I used to use Barbasol foam when I did shave and I see that it is still available--they were famous from the 1940s to 1960s for their multiple road signs to lay out a message to travellers--“If you want a” drive another 500 yards “a really great shave” drive another 500 yards “then try the new” drive another 500 yards “Barbasol”

BenS did a post on this subject last year or so, will have to find it…

There was of course the famous Burma Shave ads (that style is called a Burma Shave ad) but there was also Barbasol and a couple of other companies, like Gillette, as well...all using that style of roadside travel advertising...not necessarily before billboards but at the same time as they started appearing on roadways...Since Burma Shave didn’t make it into Canada, we had Barbasol and the others, including Gillette that used that method of promotion…

I remember telling Ben about the benefits of a strop and I’m glad he finally got one...They are a pure delight for a final edge--nothing better...Had two uncle-in-laws and a couple of cousins who were barbers and learned from them...Always strop before and after using the blade…

When I was about 8 or so my Uncle Schmuel (Sam) let me sharpen one of his “other” razors on the stones and then to strop it...It was a big deal for me and it took me all morning to do it, which also meant that I didn’t bother him while he was working...He actually used the blade on a customer, my father, and both pronounced it good--as blood is dripping down my fathers face, just kidding!

Old style barber shop, sitting & waiting on the chairs for your turn to come and ”schmoosing” with your friends and relatives, drinking coffee with a little something extra added for flavour, being allowed to use the push brown to sweep up the hair and to put it into a special container--was used to stuff furniture and to insulate other things--that got delivered every week by the company...Just no big cast iron stove to sit around--that was earlier and almost always in the general stores when portrayed in the movies!

The J. Peterman Co., before they went bankrupt, there really was a company by that name-- they were the company parodied in Seinfeld--had a Island Bay Rum & Lime after shave balm, shave soap and cologne that was great and would love to be able to find again…Alas, it’s not the stuff on your site!

From your last posting I got these links:
General Info:
How to get a perfect shave
Wet Shaving
What does the razor say about you
Would a DE razor make more sense

And these Shaving Suppliers:
Carter & Bond
***Classic Shaving.com
Shaving Stuff.com
Best Grooming & Shaving Tools
Lee’s Safety Razors
UK - Executive Shaving
UK - The Gentleman’s Shop
Finland - Men Basics – Miehen Kauppa
Sesto Senso

And these Shaving Makers:
Amazing Shaving
Barclay Crocker Inc.
Col. Ichabod Conk Shaving Products
Cool Shaving.com
Momentum Grooming Head to Toe
Em’s Place – Razors Brushes

And now these Virtual Sites:
Badger & Blade forum
Shaveblog

EDIT
You can find in this The Hack, Slash & Strike forum
Knife Sharpeners and also in The W I K I

[Bob K]

SeekHer,

Actually, signs were courtesy of Burma Shave.

Shona Tovah!!

[Cybrludite]

Thanks to previous threads on this subject, Merkur Futura, lavender soap (And a can of Barbersol in the shaving kit for when on the road), badger hair brush, and Bay Rum aftershave. Granted, it only gets used on my cheeks & neck, but it does a great job on the bits I do shave. Next order I put in, I'll probably get sandalwood scented soap as it'll go better with the Bay Rum.

Prior to this, it was shaving dry with a Gillette Sensor. Big improvement. Nearly shaved my beard clean off, it went so well with the proper lather and the Merkur.

[SeekHer]

Boker, the famous German cutlery firm, is bringing back, what I shall call their "Prestige" line of stright razors including the first ever 300+ layer Damascus steel version and models with either round, French or Spanish style blades--Spanish bottom point flares out, French almost square and round over the tip and spine are rounded back...

$339.00 for the compact traveller, round tip, hollow ground,
$399.00 for the quite large round tip, extra hollow ground,
$579.00 The Silver Steel, French tip, hollow ground,


$1,299.00 for the Damascus, Spanish tip, hollow ground

[SeekHer]

Actually, signs were courtesy of Burma Shave.

One of the uncles had "them there doohickey signs" on his roadside by Barbasol--but his brothers say it was Gillette...

The ad company went up to the locals and asked permission to place them on the land and would pay the landowner a small stipend for the care and feeding of the signs--clear grass around the sign and report any damage (bullet holes primarily) and the company would come out and fix or replace it...

My Uncle Laibel (Lou) says that it was enough to keep him in tobacco and that was about it...he was at that time a pipe smoker and would have a maximum of three bowls a day every day but the Sabbath so I wouldn't think they got that much in the way of monetary remuneration...

The reason of the weird spacing on the signs was deliberate, called anticipation advertising, but where they went was strictly at the behest of the farmer or landowner, so sometimes they had to skip a farm and the distance got longer between them...There were also local highway or county regulations of where they could be put…I read that they couldn’t be within X number of feet of a road marker (BUT not from a posted speed sign—wonder why?--or X number of feet from the road or ditch edge, had to be so far back from a junction of two highways, etc.

I’ve seen them while driving the by-ways of Canada and the US, some of them are still around from the last century but I’ve some recent ones by local companies to that county or township as well…

If memory serves it was “Frito Lays or Lays” that had a campaign about 10 years ago that featured that type of roadside advertising…I saw them on a trip on US2 through Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin…It may have been just a local advertising campaign by the regional “Lays” chip maker…

Although some of the “special interest” groups are up in arms over them as they say it distracts the driver, wanting to see the next sigh, and not paying attention to the road…Then again, any of the large billboard ads will do the same thing, of course without the anticipation factor, but still distracting…

[Jered]

Ye gods! Three hundred simoleons for a razor?