What is your biggest SURPRISE since switching to traditional shaving?

My biggest surprise has been how the various Acquisition Disorders totally take hold and won't let go, even when you have almost every razor, soap, brush, bowl, cream and aftershave known to mankind.

I have to agree that it's a disorder. A disorder that's really really FUN! It's also an addiction for sure. An addiction that makes you feel GREAT after every shave. LOL! Who ever thought that a disorder & addiction can be such a GOOD thing ? SURPRISE !



Happy Shaving!
49erShaver

My biggest surprise has been how the various Acquisition Disorders totally take hold and won't let go, even when you have almost every razor, soap, brush, bowl, cream and aftershave known to mankind.

I have to agree that it's a disorder. A disorder that's really really FUN! It's also an addiction for sure. An addiction that makes you feel GREAT after every shave. LOL! Who ever thought that a disorder & addiction can be such a GOOD thing ? SURPRISE !



Happy Shaving!
49erShaver

Yes. Definitely a disorder. Some of us are more prone to disorders than others. I seem to suffer from the same disorder for many things. Shaving. Coffee. Drums. Bikes.

My biggest surprise was learning how to smell. When I first started wet shaving I couldn't tell vetiver from sandalwood from oatmeal. I thought amber was just a name for a girl. Vanilla was strictly for ice cream. Labdanum and olibanum were strange and alarming words. Five years passed, it now it's all starting to make sense. My schnoz is starting to "see" for the first time. Fragrances now make a sharp picture that before was just a blur of sweet smells.

Same here, but now I have a new problem. My purchases have moved from shaving into fragrances. It won't be anywhere near as expensive though as I only wanted about five or six to wear. The other problem this creates is that before I just used my aftershave as a fragrance as some of them are quite strong. PAA was actually a favorite brand because they doubled as an aftershave and a cologne. Now I have to choose between one or the other so the scents don't clash, but I do have some soaps and aftershaves that work well with the EDTs, etc. that I do have so it isn't a big deal.

I actually can pick different notes out in soap, aftershaves, and fragrances that I couldn't pick out before. That part has been educational and interesting.

Not much of a surprise, since I've been wet shaving for 56 years, about 50 years with a Slim and a Fat Boy, and the last six predominately with a straight. I've only done "traditional shaving," as I've never used a cart or an electric razor. The biggest surprise in shaving in general has been the sudden increase in stainless and titanium DE's and SE's. After so little change for much of my shaving career, there are now new quality razors being produced all the time. I enjoy shaving with straights that are over 100 years old, and future generations will be able to say the same about current DE's and SE's.

My biggest surprise was learning how to smell. When I first started wet shaving I couldn't tell vetiver from sandalwood from oatmeal. I thought amber was just a name for a girl. Vanilla was strictly for ice cream. Labdanum and olibanum were strange and alarming words. Five years passed, it now it's all starting to make sense. My schnoz is starting to "see" for the first time. Fragrances now make a sharp picture that before was just a blur of sweet smells.

Same here, but now I have a new problem.  My purchases have moved from shaving into fragrances.  It won't be anywhere near as expensive though as I only wanted about five or six to wear.  The other problem this creates is that before I just used my aftershave as a fragrance as some of them are quite strong.  PAA was actually a favorite brand because they doubled as an aftershave and a cologne.  Now I have to choose between one or the other so the scents don't clash, but I do have some soaps and aftershaves that work well with the EDTs, etc. that I do have so it isn't a big deal.

I actually can pick different notes out in soap, aftershaves, and fragrances that I couldn't pick out before.  That part has been educational and interesting.

All familiar symptoms of the disorder we share! It doesn't get worse, it just gets more complex & sophisticated! And we love it!



Happy Shaving!
49erShaving

Like many have said, I was surprised at the sheer volume of shave options, especially soaps. I have already procured a lot of soap in under a year. It has become a very expensive hobby.

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Like many have said, I was surprised at the sheer volume of shave options, especially soaps. I have already procured a lot of soap in under a year. It has become a very expensive hobby.

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What are your favorites out of that pic?

My purchases have moved from shaving into fragrances.  It won't be anywhere near as expensive though as I only want about five or six to wear.

Let's talk about this again in a year.

I started off thinking I needed only one fragrance. That worked really well for about a month. But after thirty days with the same scent, I thought I should get a different fragrance for each day of the week (so that my nose wouldn't get tired). After seven bottles of cologne though, I was just getting started. I thought I'd order just one bottle each month (after all there are some great bargains out there ). I finally got set up for summer, when temperatures began to fall and I decided I needed a different fragrance wardrobe for each season. Then ....

My purchases have moved from shaving into fragrances.  It won't be anywhere near as expensive though as I only want about five or six to wear.

Let's talk about this again in a year.

I started off thinking I needed only one fragrance. That worked really well for about a month. But after thirty days with the same scent, I thought I should get a different fragrance for each day of the week (so that my nose wouldn't get tired). After seven bottles of cologne though my interest was just getting starting to be whetted. I thought I'd order just one bottle each month (after all there are some great bargains out there ). I finally got set up for summer when temperatures started to fall and I decided I needed a different fragrance wardrobe for each season. Then ....

I have my fix or six and with all the aftershave/cologne I have I think I'm good. Like you said we'll see, but I don't feel the urge to buy this stuff the way I did things for shaving. Anything that interests me I'll probably sample a very small amount. I think I learned my lesson from buying soap. I look at all of it and know I'll never use it, so I don't want 40-50 frag bottles sitting there collecting dust.

Like many have said, I was surprised at the sheer volume of shave options, especially soaps. I have already procured a lot of soap in under a year. It has become a very expensive hobby.

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What are your favorites out of that pic?

Top 5 would be (no particular order):

*Siliski Santa soap and Ogalalla Bay rum Vanilla Mix

*West coast oriental

*Stirling barbershop

*Ogallala Bay rum vanilla

*Fuzzy face burnt sugar


Of course, if you ask me again in a month, that list could change. Lol.

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