Symbols of Sins Past

Gentlemen,

I have mounted a plastic disposable razor with a bow tied around it on the shave den wall as the symbol of my shaving sins past. The razor also reminds me of the joy I feel with a proper shave every morning — a gentleman's shave.

I wanted to shave with the straight razor in my twenties, but life got in the way and I had to wait until my sixties to embrace the art. Through the years, like many of the old timers, I used a variety of razors, from single and double edge to the ghastly cartridge and disposable ones. From time to time, I also used a brush and whatever shave soap I could find at the local pharmacy.

At one time in San Francisco, just for a short period, I also sported a goatee. I looked like a Corsican assassin, so I got rid of it.

These days, because of the arthritis in my hands as well as occasional straight razor fatigue, I split my shaves between the straight and the safety razor. Either way, the disposable razor with the bow tied around it serves as the gatekeeper for the purity of my humble shave den.

And you, gentlemen, do you have reminders in the shave den of your shaving sins of past? 

My Better Half uses my old Sensor Excel to shave her pits, so I'm reminded every time I look in the shower caddy... that said I find the BiC Sensitive SE disposable you mounted to give a better shave than any cart I've tried

Oh dear Obie, I have two full packages of those bow tied razors in my closet.  When I use to travel on business trips, that was the razor I took and I still take one as a backup when I vacation now.  What I have not done is to use one of the multi-blade Gillette razors or canned cream.  I've been either a DE or Injector shaver my entire shaving life, with a straight thrown in from time to time.

My reminder is not in the den but sleeping in three different bedrooms over my head as I shave. My wife and two daughters. I will never forget the feeling of my first properly shaved face against my infant daughter's baby cheeks.

That is great stuff!  It's nice to reflect on your evolution of shaving like this. 

I should take a pic of my first shave brush, a scrubby old thing that shed hairs everywhere.  I still have it.  LoL.

Eric

My past shaving sins have more to do with soap than razors. I started shaving with a Slim and then a Fatboy in 1962, and used them for over fifty years, then discovered forums and straights. However, there were times when I couldn't find Old Spice refill pucks, or any puck, in local pharmacies, and did resort to canned goo on occasion. Unfortunately, my wife prefers carts, so my other sin would be not being able to convince her to return to a DE. I wish that I had the supply of soaps that I have now back then. I'm sure that they would have lasted at least fifty years.

Old photographs belie my cultural shame. HS graduation photo shows a rash from first generation disposables. Military and university photos with beards, moustaches and goatees the vain attempts of youth to display gravitas  now disdained  for furtive grasps on the flickering embers of youth and vitality.
As for your 'Corsican Pirate' goatee in SF? Actually that is the  UCB-SFS Teachers Aid  clan symbol of Ch Guevara wannabees. One can still I.D. the remaining patriarchs of SF old money by shaves available at TOP OF THE  MARK with scented Italian talcum and the smell of the whiskysours served at the bar.
Moustaches circa 1976 were universally removed that summer. The gay community suddenly adopted moustaches and leather flying jackets as de riguer. I
discovered this at City Lights Bookstore when an ardent admirer followed me via public transit all the way back to USCG TRASUPCEN Government island, Alameda
where he somehow fell off the causeway into the polluted water below. I immediately shaved my moustache and shipped the leather flight jacket home.

I always enjoy reading your posts Obie, such eloquent prose. 

My reminders I wear on my neck - multiple scars.  

Made from surgeon's knives to cut out sebaceous cysts. Formed as a result of ingrown hairs. Due to years of uneducated shaving with carts and canned goo.

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the kind words. Ben, thank you.

(02-19-2016, 12:54 PM)evnpar Wrote: However, there were times when I couldn't find Old Spice refill pucks, or any puck, in local pharmacies, and did resort to canned goo on occasion.

For most of those fifty years, you could have purchased Col. Conk Amber (which is what I regularly purchased) and — probably — English shaving soaps at the late, lamented George & Sons Cutlery shop in the Bullier Building, next to the still-extant Kelly’s Olympian Bar, on SW Washington Street just east of Fifth Avenue, not far, IIRC, from the original location of the iconic Expose Yourself to Art statue for which Bud Clark modeled.  The owner of George & Sons and his employees had infinite patience for whatever questions you had; would that such shops continued to exist today.  I bought my first badger brush at George & Sons, a Vulfix 2234S Super Badger that the owner recommended to me, after taking the time to explain in detail about the differences among badger brushes; I still have that brush today.