[Johnny J]

I started shaving with a DE when I was a teenager, and always got crappy, painful, bloody shaves. I thought the DE was a piece of junk, so I got rid of it. Recently, I bought one again for travel, and discovered that I can get a shave out of it that rivals the straight. (Not quite as good, but plenty close enough). The reason the DE shaves of my youth were so lousy & brutal was a failure of knowledge. I used to put cream from a can on my dry face & start scraping away. I didn't know any better. I thought that's how you shave.

While away on a motorcycle trip this weekend, my GF wanted me to shave her, but I had used all the cream in the little AOS packet. So we bought a can at the drugstore & I went to work with my DE. Now, everybody knows you can't get a good shave out of anything that comes in a can, right? I thought, maybe it will make better lather if I whip it up in a cup with my brush. Hmmm, I thought, this looks a bit dry. Better add some water. Long story short, I gave her a shave that was quite nice & irritation-free. Canned stuff is not as good as real shaving soap, but not half bad. It'll do in a pinch.

Cream in a can. This is the same stuff I had used in high school. Why was I unable to shave with it? I didn't know it was going on too dry. Failure of knowledge.

Glen just got the razor I sent him, and apparently my honing ability is still on the crappy side of mediocre. (He said it more nicely, of course, but it is what it is). My current sticking point is failure to create a good bevel with the lower grits before progressing to the higher grits. Or, put another way, failure of knowledge.

I wish I could get a refund for my 15 years of agony-filled shaves. This is only one of the many things our fathers were not there to teach us. How amazing it is that I now look forward to every shave with anticipation. I actually think, "I can't wait till tomorrow morning because then I get to shave again!" What a difference a little knowledge makes.

Not sure what the point of all this is, but it's been on my mind, so now it's on yours. Happy shaving

[clrobert60]

Actually my dad taught me pretty much everything I needed to know about being a man, including how to properly shave with a DE, shoot a gun, sharpen a knife, clean game and dress for a date. It took far too many years but thankfully I realized how lucky I was before he was gone.

[Detach]

the only real thing that my dad taught me was how to drive a stick like a champ (heel & toe, rev matching, double clutching) but my friend's dad's taught me to shoot skeet, work on cars, fight, play pool, CPR, respect women, and make fart noises with my armpit :-) and yeah i learned to shave on my own...