I’ll begin…







At about 14 or 15 – in the mid 70’s – I developed a few hairs on the point of my chin that were long enough and dark enough to see; they looked rather silly, so I had to get rid of them periodically, so I bought a Trac II. Didn’t need water for those few hairs, let alone shaving foam. At about 16 or 17, those hairs were thick enough and had developed enough friends and neighbors on my face that I had to start shaving for real. Used whatever canned foam was cheapest. Dad was no help. He had virtues, but patience was not among them. And he used an electric. I didn’t ask either of my brothers – I’m pretty sure they would have taught me wrong just to watch me bleed. I had to work it out for myself. One pass, downward on the cheeks and upward on the neck, just like in the TV commercials. I learned how to do so without bloodshed (though in my circle in high school, a visible shaving injury was manly, if not too severe; a little spot of blood proves you shave, but a gaping wound proves you’re inept). Irritation, bumps, ingrowns, were never an issue. From the age of 18, I worked 24-hour shifts on the ambulance with days off in between; I’d shave before work, and if I had a date on my day off, but usually there was at least one day’s rest between shaves until 2012 when I became a five-day-a-week administrator. Daily shaves did not hurt my face any more than not-daily shaves. (From the subsequent reading I’ve done here, I now consider myself quite blessed in that respect!)







I taught my son to shave before discovering the wonderful world of DE’s and stuff. I believe I started him out with a Mach 3. My instruction to him was to learn to feel when the razor is cutting well on any given spot, then do that every time. Go slow to begin; with the grain, then against the grain if needed (he is a wooly one!). He managed to learn it without significant bloodshed, and never had any questions. Of course, after I got into the DE, I bought him a Merkur 23C, Tabac soap, an Omega boar brush, and a sample pack of blades, and gave him a long tutorial. He still uses it, though he is by no means a daily shaver.