my introduction to wet shaving

A look at my personal shaving habits past, present, and future

I just started into the whole wet shaving thing and I thought I'd post my experiences here since they seem to be related.

First of all, I have never enjoyed shaving in any way. It has always been something I did out of necessity and even then only when it was absolutely necessary. Prior to my discovery of wet shaving about a week ago, I had only shaved once in 2006 with a razor. All other facial hair removal was done with hair clippers. The source of my reticence was intense razor rash after each shave.

Backstory (Skip this if you wish)

I was never taught to shave by my Dad. I think this is something that most people my age would have in common. I did, however, see him shaving and he used those Bic single blade disposables with Colgate shaving foam. When I came of age, it was with these products I started my shaving career. It was horrid and I hated every second of it. Quickly I asked for an electric shaver for Christmas, hoping to alleviate the pain. I received a Norelco 2 head electric shaver. With it the rash was a bit better, but my Adam's apple looked more like a strawberry and my shaving took about 30 minutes for only mediocre results. After losing the Norelco in a move, I switched back to Bic.. ugh. I then discovered the Gillette Sensor. It was by far the best shave I'd ever had, but the rashes were still persistent. I then moved up to the Mach III which slightly improved the rash, but it was still there in full force. All this time I had also been switching from one foam to another with various gels and pastes thrown in for good measure. If there was a difference I could not tell. I also tried various aftershaves from Skin Bracer to Nivea. I thought I had a breakthrough with the Mach III Power and the Nivea aftershave, but the success lasted only about 2 shaves and the rash was back in full force. Since then I've avoided razors at all costs and used the clippers.

Fast forward to the present. About 2 weeks ago I was sitting at my computer , scratching my facial hair and reading Wikipedia. Somehow I ended up searching for information about shaving. It was at this point I discovered wet shaving. The more I read, the more it seemed like wet shaving was the way to go. Since I live in Austin, I decided to go meet Charles A. Roberts and see what this was all about. I drove over to his shop and "cased" it. I looked inside to see Charles at the counter and no one else in the store. I decided to come back another day because I wasn't looking for someone to put the hard sell on me.

The next day as I scratched my growth and busted out the hair clippers, I decided I was going to find out what this wet shaving was all about, hard sell or not! So it was time for another trip down to Enchante.

(Rejoin here)

I walked into the store and was greeted with the fresh smells from all the products in the store. Charles walked over and said, "Interested in some shaving products?" I said, "I'm thinking about it." And thus began my education. Charles talked about the history of shaving, the generation gap, shaving theory, and topics I didn't even pretend to understand. I kept waiting for the hard sell to come on, but it never did. He just kept talking about shaving and all the pitfalls of the modern shaving method. Then he took me back and demonstrated the shaving cube and paste. He had me rub it between my hands for about 30 seconds, then I rinsed it off. When I put my hands back together, I knew there was more to all this than just talk. After little more chatting he invited me to come back to the store for a clinic on wet shaving.

I walked into the store two days later with t-shirt on and towel in hand. Charles immediately took me back to the small bathroom and started running water in the sink. He kicked the small shaving cube into the sink and told me to wash my face. After washing my face I lathered up with the cube and he put some paste in my hand. I put it up on my face and was ready for my first experience with the Double Edge. He walked right up behind me and started doing N-S on the right side of my face. It was so quick I was almost startled. Then he handed me razor and told me to do the left side. It was a lot easier than I thought. It was also a lot bloodier. By the time I had made it through all the shaving forms my neck was a bloody mess and I was starting to get concerned. I let Charles know how I was feeling and he told me it was my technique, I was shaving too hard. Sure enough, when I cleaned my face off and patted dry, I discovered it was the side of my face that I had been shaving that was so bloody, there were only a few nicks on Charles' side. Charles then pumped out some conditioner for me and strayed on some tonic. We then went back out to the showroom and he finished me off with some Trumper's Extract of Limes aftershave. My skin felt great and the shave was the closest I had ever experienced!

Again I asked about all the blood, and Charles had to admit there was a lot, but he asked me if there was any burning. I had to admit there was not. I was still uncertain about all of this, but I decided to give it the old college try. Without any pressure, Charles started making his recommendations. He recommended 2 different brushes, I selected the Edwin Jagger Super Badger. Then he got me a cube (sliced) and I selected the Lime and Green Tea Hydrolast shaving paste and Peppermint Hydrolast conditioner. When it came to the razor he did not give me a choice. He handed me the Merkur HD and said it was mandatory (!!!). He wanted to put me into Feather blades right away, but I balked at that and went with the Derbys. I also picked up some of the Trumpers Extract of Limes aftershave I'd tried earlier. After checking out Charles threw in some Eucalyptus tonic at no charge (a nice touch).

At this point we talked about a few non-shaving related topics. Whatever your opinion of Charles Roberts, he's a person you really should try to meet. He is SMART and is the type of person who suffers no fools. I enjoyed just listening to his opinions and views on a variety of topics. We then parted ways and he invited me to come back for another shaving clinic whenever I wanted.

The aftermath

The next day I awoke to burning on my neck. The rash was back. I did not shave because of the rash and also I didn't really need a shave. I was a bit disappointed, but decided to give the method a shot before deciding it didn't work. As the day went on, the rash didn't seem so bad and it was mostly confined to the left side of my face where I had done all the shaving. I decided that the rash had more to do with my heavy handed technique.

Since then I have shaved each day using the RMWS (well, I'm trying at least). Although I am still searching for a shave as close as that first one, the rash has all but disappeared and the blood has almost completely vanished. I look forward to shaving each day, to see what new lesson I will learn. Shaving is now a pleasurable part of my daily hygiene regimen.