And the journey begins...
Several years ago I'd gotten fed up with the high cost of the multi-blade monstrosities that served to clear our visages of the natural covering that so frequently re-appeared each day. Experimenting with facial hair was almost second nature, growing into my teens in the '70s it was very common to have some sort of facial hair, be it mutton chops or mustache. Like wise the general tonic for this was to grab a DE and the newest can of goo out there. My dad was a hard working blue collar man who had earned a fine living for his family digging black rock from miles below eastern Kentucky mountainside. His instructions regarding shaving was just do what ever it takes to keep your face clean. Dad was never one that would over communicate about much, add to the fact that coal mining required him to be out of bed at around 4 a.m., so everything I knew about shaving I picked up on the street, err, I mean from trial and error. Dad did use a Gillette DE, and usually a can of Gillette Foamy was our goo of choice.
Being ex-military I'd been clean shaven since college, and when I got out after 10 years in, I grew a nice thick bushy beard... to an extent, seems part of my face wants to grow patchy fine hair, other parts bristles. I had no luck controlling it so finally decided to clear it away, and reduced it down to a goatee, which did the double duty of letting the bristly part cover my cleft chin, which was always a challenge to shave, and clearing the patchy stuff from my cheeks, that is until the patchy part started invading parts of my mustache and goatee area. Got little thin spots developing so I just cleared it all off.
I've always had areas that just didn't want to co-operate. It didn't matter what blade or lather I used, I almost always ended up with weepers or razor burn on my neck, and believe me I tried them all.... 2, 3, 4 and 5 blade carts. Foams, gel's, cremes too... oh, some did better, some much worse... when I was very young Mom found I had an allergy to wool, or more pointedly the lanolin's in it. I didn't realize that many of the lathers I tried had a form of lanolin in it, until I put one on and it started burning before I'd ever put a blade to face.
Fast forwarding to the present, I'd wondered about straights for some time, especially remembering with fondness watching my grandpa strop and shave with his when I was a kid. Add in some issues I've been having as the arthritis in my hands continues to progress, as well as my stiff wrists from my carpal tunnel. This pondering brought on my asking the question on my hand arthritis, which led me to the wonderful opportunity provided by doc47's straight razor pass around. Tie into it the strong interest in open blades my Dad fostered in me, and his love of Case knives too, I wanted to give it a go. I was able to pick up a wonderful looking straight from a thrift store made by W.R. Case and Son's. My first attempt at a shave with that one is a tale for another day, but suffice it to say, I'll wait until I get a better honed, sharpened, shave ready, blade before I try my next one. :)
Straights Turning on the GasLight, RedsFan75's foray into bare blades
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