My Shaving History

The facial fluff appeared at 15 years of age on the upper lip. I remember it as being vaguely embarrassing. Razors weren't common in our household at the time as my father used an electric shaver and my mother an electric to shave her legs.

I used to use my fathers red philishave to get rid of the upper lip fluff until he got fed up of me using his shaver and my parents bought me my own electric shaver. It was a noisy, no name affair that made the removal of facial hair even more embarrassing as the whole house knew i was trimming those wispy strands of hair on my face.

As my father didn't shave with a razor there were no tips or advice available when i got my first Gillette, the sensor excel. around 18 years of age. A can of Gillette foam or gel and one quick pass with the razor was all I did for many years.
At the age of 20, shaving became a daily chore as i worked in a top class hotel and being clean shaven was a requirement. Late for work and in a rush I could shave in less than 5 minutes.
My face though could look like a disaster. Razor burn, and bumps were common along with in growing hairs.
It was at this point I discovered that moisturiser was vital, again the Gillette stuff seemed to suffice.

Over the years I've tried various different razors, disposables and cartridges, Wilkinson sword, Bic and supermarket own brand, continuing to shave with just one pass.

Then a couple of weeks ago while searching for information on something unrelated I came across this article:-

http://www.kinowear.com/blog/the-elusive-perfect-shave/

It seemed to make sense and I've spent any number of hours in the last few days researching the information on wet shaving that is out there. YouTube has video tutorials and there are several useful forums and websites on shaving.

So last week I decided to dip my toe in the water and bought a couple of items. A Wilkinson Sword shaving brush, Palmolive shaving stick and a bottle of nivea after shave balm which I used with a Bic (1) sensitive razor.

My Journey Starts Here.

What's this about?

I've made a decision, I'm going back to the old school to shave like my grandfather did with an old safety razor and shaving brush. Why?

Well it's for a couple of reasons:-

1) To see if it is a financially viable alternative to electric shavers, disposable razors and the plethora of multi-bladed razors out there.
2) Will it give me a better shave? By that I mean, closer, smoother, less ingrown hairs and shaving bumps or razor rash.

Finally and possibly the main reason is Gillette's latest advertising campaign for the fusion. They're advertising against one of their own successful products, the Mach3 a razor that I have shaved with regularly for many years.

Am I tempted to buy one? No. Just check out the prices. The regular fusion costs £5 with 2 blades. The fusion power with one blade and battery costs £6.50, replacement blades costing around £2 - £2.50 each.

So a bit of basic maths. In my experience (albeit with mach 3 blades) these blades will last approximately one week of shaving. So initial purchase of the basic fusion at £5 plus 50 weeks of blades totals £105. That's before the cost of shaving gels or foams.

This blog will hopefully become a diary of my discovery of traditional wet shaving and will chart my experiences of it over the coming months.
Laters