old-timey shaving aka "Wet Shaving": C/D

"A good badger-hair shaving brush is the single most important ingredient in getting the perfect shave -- if you change no part of your shaving routine except to add a good shaving brush to the mix, you’ll be astounded at how much better and more enjoyable your shaves become."

elistest snob bullshit

elitist

http://www.mimifrommiami.com/beautymark/Oct3/beautymark_exclusive_files/00000001_r6_c10.jpg

+

http://kitcosmetics.com/image.aspx?type=ProductDisplay&file=288304013.jpg

=

http://www.bhspewter.com/pix/corporate/photo_a+_lg.jpg

shavist

the best shaving tip is do it in the shower. the absence of a mirror (or a foggy mirror) makes it a little tricky but the shave is so much smoother.

^otm

steam opens your pores and softens your skin

re: mirror, after you do it a few times you start to notice the places that you always miss and then it's not a problem. also feeling your face usually remedies the problem (although for people who have goatees or w/e may be out of luck)

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4277/imageuploadimagepl2.jpg

^^^ wet shaving

is that you?

i used to get shaved every week and a half or so on the street, right along a river, watching the sidewalk and the little market and occasionally traveling musicians that set up there, dudes with fiddles or opera troupes, and the garbage skimmer boats on the river. my friend got done up once by a migrant worker nigga with a bag of razors and had blood oozing out of every pore on his face but the ol auntie i went to it still hurt the first few times but it got me smooth as an hour in the shower with a mach 3 going against the grain, with it, sideways, and once over a few times. she just hit me with a bit of thin cream and started scraping. she did my nose up, inside and out, eyebrows, everything, and then gave me a head massage and some moisturizer. cost like one u.s. dollar.

my skin got real smooth, so every shave was like progressively smoother. i'm really passionate about a good straight razor shave. deprived of cheap straight razor shaves, i let my beard grow for a month, shave, and then grow for a month.

is that you?

No, my boobs are too big to cover with just one arm.

reduces skin irritation and improves skin health etc.

daerest metro

this is the way to do it, solves both problems: http://images.sharperimage.com/all/en/images/products/SE394-PIP.jpg

I had a friend whose beard grew in thick who did this for a while and thought it was good but was kinda too much making out-of-the-way-trips to get lather etc. - this was ages ago, now you could just order up a year's supply I guess

the notion that the cheaper, less extravagantly wasteful method = elitist is totally hilarious

You can buy lathering soap at CVS for like, two bucks tops.

I did this for many years and it was pretty much the way to go until a girlfriend gave me some Mango-smellin' stuff from Whole Foods that I grew accustomed to.

I don't use a straight razor, but I do use a brush, with shave soap in a sweet late '50s Old Spice Shaving Mug I inherited from my grandad. You definitely save money over buying shave gel bullshit. Those soap cakes are a buck-fifty each and I think I've bought only three or four in my entire (albeit irregular) shaving life.

here's a nice primer on this stuff for the completely uninitiated

i started shavin w/ a brush last year. same disposable razors but the brush and sandlewood soap bar is divine.

^ questionable heterosexuality

grow a beard, pussies

the notion that the cheaper, less extravagantly wasteful method = elitist is totally hilarious

-- J0hn D., Sunday, 27 January 2008 00:15 (2 hours ago) Link

totally. sort of (sort of...) equivalent to people that can't cook getting wound up about other people liking food: maybe try being good at something; it makes life easier/cheaper.

^ questionable heterosexuality

-- Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Sunday, January 27, 2008 2:56 AM

http://xs223.xs.to/xs223/08040/lazy_zing736.png

I only used shaving cream for about three weeks in college. mach 3 in the shower, no need for anything else. never miss a spot.

I just started using a *proper* razor. I have a brush too, but I haven't picked up proper shaving soap yet so I've just been using this thin neutrogena shave cream that's sort of a similar idea. I definitely have to be more careful with the razor, but the shave is WAY better

Anyone know how to get started doing this shit?

I'm gonna google it but figured I'd ask...

Also:

Do we really have to kill badgers for this purpose?

Colin here's a pretty good starter guide (lol "gourmet shaving experience" ew).

Re: our friend the badger, apparently there are some pretty good synthetic brushes out there.

What's the deal with there being two blades? Is one different from the other?

http://amadeo.blog.com/repository/425012/1082778.jpg

ya like i don't know wtf is going on here
http://xs123.xs.to/xs123/08040/double_razor427.png

lol was lookin for that earlier xp

Some of these look very steampunk.

if you have absolutely no yuppie shame these ppl can hook you up right.

Stop. I just had a stroke of genius. Are you ready? Open your mouth, baby birds, cause Mama's about to drop you one sweet, fat nightcrawler. Here she comes: Put another aloe strip on that fucker, too. That's right. Five blades, two strips, and make the second one lather. You heard me—the second strip lathers. It's a whole new way to think about shaving. Don't question it. Don't say a word. Just key the music, and call the chorus girls, because we're on the edge—the razor's edge—and I feel like dancing.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/170R297X1SU1

I know what you're thinking now: What'll people say? Mew mew mew. Oh, no, what will people say?! Grow the fuck up. When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top. Which Gillette is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, five blades, sweet Jesus in heaven.

xp

fuck i love that one.

Best quote:

Here's the report from Engineering. Someone put it in the bathroom: I want to wipe my ass with it. They don't tell me what to invent—I tell them. And I'm telling them to stick two more blades in there. I don't care how. Make the blades so thin they're invisible. Put some on the handle. I don't care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!

Real Talk:

I'm maaad Irish and pasty.

Do you think my sensitive-skin having ass will get all red and shit from using the old school straight razor or it will be actually cool?

Just wonderin.

i got a straight razor shave from these guys when i was in NYC. i didn't need to shave for almost a week afterwards.

Those guys give good haircuts?

I hope they take the back shaves into a back room.

i went insane on the conspicuous consumption bs and went here for a $have/haircut
http://www.theshavebeverlyhills.com/store/

I can't stand electric shavers, they just don't feel like having a proper shave.

OTM. What's with a warm face?

old=-timey not shaving aka "Being a Beardy Bastard": C/D

I do this with a lil' german razor. I've never had an electric shave, the sound/vibration gives me the creeps.

As far as I can tell, a lot of this hype (I read boing boing too) is due to a load of San Franciscan nerds who think some British guys with shops on Bond St know something about shaving that the rest of the world doesn't, much to the already very wealthy British guys' amusement. It's total bullshit.

I've found the best thing to use is the aftershave lotion you're suppose to put on afterwards in place of the foam. I have quite thick stubble too. A friend said it was nuts, but now he does it as well. I'd never go back to foam. This doesn't work with more than a couple of days growth, though.

a lot of this hype (I read boing boing too)

this shit was on boing-boing?

it certainly fits their steampunk fetish, i suppose.

Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades

this shit was on boing-boing?

Just remember this ever time you're going to post a "clever" link, aight?

joke already done kenan.

though it is the best onion article of all time.

You guys read too much Esquire.

Just remember this ever time you're going to post a "clever" link, aight?

-- Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Sunday, 27 January 2008 20:29

I mean I read it for a month before I figured out my RSS feeds were ahead of theirs or something. I thought it was common knowledge shit had reached a certain degree of notoriety by the time it showed up on BB.

Men: please let yourselves get stubble.

why because it stimultaing

;)

HEY BIG HOOS JON WILLIAMS READS BOING BOING

sites better than boing boing:

1) neatorama
2) metafilter
3) everything else

http://www.google.com/reader/view/

http://xs123.xs.to/xs123/08040/greader116.png

Bought a locally-made boar's hair brush/"shaving soap" set from the grocery today.

$5!

I found Mug shaving soap today for $1! I couldn't quite figure out how to use it properly so I didn't get a great lather, but later I called my dad and he set me straight.

later I called my dad and he set me straight.

that is awesome

so i just maed one of these.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7631/awesomeddv6.jpg

amateurish, i know, but it'll work.

sweet shaving hack

^ my legacy

lol

about two years ago, I spent a good month reading about all the old-timey wet-shaving techniques (I actually started off with that Corey Greenberg MSNBC article, it's a good start). My beard comes in ridiculously thick and I've always had a lot of irritation using the multi-blade razor + shave gel crap method.

So I picked up a shaving brush (no need to harm a badger if you don't want to - I order a synthetic brush and it works just fine), one of those double-edge safety razors, and bunch of blades. There's definitely a learning curve with either the DE razors or the really old-time straight razors, and I still haven't figured it out (granted I don't actually use my DE razor that much).

As far as the Gilette razors go, fuck all that 5-blade bs. The best razor they put out, I think, is the regular Sensor (fuck the 3-blade Sensor excel, too, just get the regular Sensor). So that's mostly what I use, but I still use the shaving brush and a nicer cream. I think the brush + cream combo is the most important part of a decent shave. Right now I've been using that Neutrogena cream that Hurting mentioned upthread.

Shave gels are pretty crappy and they are far more wasteful/expensive in the end.

But really, I think the best aspect of looking into the old-timey methods is that you learn to take your time shaving and to pay attention to the little details that make a better shave, rather than just slapping on some gel and dragging a mach 3 across your face in 5 minutes.

you learn to take your time shaving

and then floss, and brush your teeth for two whole minutes, and mouthwash, and exfoliate, and, and... why don't i just move in to my bathroom?

5 minutes twice a week all I can afford. I'm a BUSY MAN! Get out of my way!

seriously.

i wish i could get a decent shave in 5 minutes, but for me it's impossible. my beard is too thick. if you can get a good shave with no irritation in 5 minutes, i'm extremely jealous.

depends what your irritation threshold is i guess.

Low.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2398/2228798506_f3da36ef39.jpg?v=0

OMG!
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/qf/c/PopularScience/7-1933/med_five_bladed_razor.jpg

damn!

wow!

i must say, that ILX >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> old-timey shaving messageboards. i spent an embarrassing amount of time on shaving messageboards during that month of research two years ago. you wouldn't believe how much these guys could be interesting in comparing badger-hair shaving brushes.

you wouldn't believe how much these guys could be interesting in comparing badger-hair shaving brushes.

Sounds like a euphemism to me.

lol

I only shave in the shower if I can help it. Mach 3 razor, Gillete shaving gel from a squeeze tube, a brush I've had for a million years, and a cheap mirror from Walgreens, though I can do it blind if need be. My beard is lame and it's irritatingly itchy if I don't shave for more than a few days, but it's always a diaster if I shave in the sink. I can shampoo, wash, shave and brush my teeth in the shower in about 15 minutes so it's quicker (I can do my entire morning toilette in one place, hair combing aside), cheaper, is easier to transport all the items than it would be with shaving cream in a can, and has better results.

lololol @ 5-bladed razor

really dumb question: where's a good place to buy replacement double-edged razors? Can I just like go to the hardware store? Normal drug stores don't carry them. Also, how often should I replace?

http://www.totalshavingsolution.com/

This stuff is fantastic. Five drops, shave in the shower, and I get the best shave of my life. I did the old-timey shaving thing for a couple years way back, but good shaving oil completely smokes it. Plus, it's easier and cleaner. I'll never use anything else. If only I could find it in stores!

I think I hit a new shaving high tonight. Man it was good.